Taxing Health Benefits 15 March 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in economy, medicine, politics.Tags: taxes, taxing health benefits
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Many in this country have been against the idea of public health care. The idea of our tax money going to provide health care to the population was repugnant to most. As our children attend public schools and we drive on public roads, the idea of ensuring (with an e) that every citizen had access to health care (diagoses, medicine, treatment) was just too much for some. I never understood their rationale, myself.
Interestingly, the white house has recently stated that it would consider the idea of taxing our health benefits (full story) in order to raise money to help pay for the new health care plan. I assume that is because we are broke from bailing out the banks.
For those that don’t see the irony here, let me break it down. Our free enterprise system implies that we pay for our own health care. But it is too expensive, so we get some assistance from insurance companies. But they end up being too expensive, so we get help from our employers where they pay an ever decreasing portion of the cost of the insurance. All of a sudden, someone sees that as an opportunity to extract more taxes from either you or your employer. So this means that instead of you paying taxes to get free health care, you pay for health care, and you pay taxes for any assitance you get to pay for your health care. Just the opposite of socialized medicine.
What’s worse is that our Government is just blatantly making up new taxes without justification in order to pay for the bailout. When I say ‘justification’, I refer to the fact that a tax must serve some purpose against the thing being taxed, not soley for the sake of bringing in revenue. If this is allowed, there is no theoretical end to this scope.
But the funniest part of this story is where it states, “Those who want to tax benefits in whole or in part make two main arguments. They say the tax exclusion is a generous subsidy that insulates employees from the true costs of health care, …”
I thought that was the whole point of insurance.
The Bailout 2.0 (Why it Won’t Work) 11 February 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in economy, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: bailout
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Let’s see, it didn’t work the first time (for the reasons I mentioned), so let’s do it a second time. Hmmm, what a strategy… Oh yeah, and the majority of the population was against it the first time, they have not yet benefitted from it, so what are the chances that the majority will be behind it the second time? Oh, and did we forget that the huge sum of $700 Billion did not fix anything – we are still declining!
OK, here are some reason why these bailouts will not fix the economy:
- You are putting money into the wrong end of the pump. Giving money to banks is supposed to unfreeze credit. People don’t need credit to get new homes, they need to pay for the mortgage that increased so they can keep their homes. If you lost your job, no one is going to give you credit. Not to mention, our economic system is not designed to run this way.
- Psychology is not being considered. The executives running the banks are in this business for one reason, they like money, and they use these institutions as their personal investment projects. They have absolutely no desire or even incentive to spend this money in the manner that congress would prefer.
- There is no accountability or enforcement. To simply state that the behaviour (described above) is unethical soungds good, but the situation is actually worse than that. It should be illegal. The Government has given these commercial institutions tax money, and they should be able to enforce how that is used.
There is a much simpler solution that will fix the economy immediately, but no one is talking about it. I will save it for another post.
The Bailout 30 October 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in economy, politics.Tags: bailout
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Not only has it been over a month since my last entry, but apparently I have not yet grasped the concept that one of the main reasons for a blog is to write on the day you think of something. I had several opinions about the bailout before it was voted on, but did not post them until now. Here’s my bottom line.
There were many theories about what might happen if the US Government did not bail out the financial institutions, but some of those things are still going to happen.
Regardless, this is the middle class bailing out the rich. You cannot debate that fact. No one said anything about controlling executive salaries or bonuses for the companies being helped. Nothing was done to change their business practices, so don’t be shocked when these guys walk away with billions in their pockets.
The bill changed from a few pages to over 400. No one had time to read it except the press who cited several cases of pork in the bill.
The middle class needs help immediately due to rising interest rates. People are loosing their homes now. Unfreezing credit is not going to help them. No one ever explained how this would help the general public.
Last year, there was so much talk about not helping the poor in this country. “We can’t have a nanny state”, was a common mantra. So how can we justify this.
The fact that both major presidential candidates voted for this, not against it, means that neither one is really for change in Washington, and they are not looking out for the 85% to 95% of the population (dependig on which poll) that was against this.
What this event has taught us is that many decisions like this are not really a debate of Republican vs Democratic viewpoints, but rather rich vs not-rich view points. Sound familiar? Hence, we are clearly on the road to an aristocracy – in the HOT lane!
Video Did Kill the Radio Star! 1 September 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in arts, entertainment, media, politics.Tags: mtv, music, music video, rock
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Some of you may be familiar with the new wave song (far on the geeky end of the spectrum) by the Buggles entitled, Video Killed the Radio Star. Intentionally ironic, it was the first video played on MTV, back when MTV meant Music TeleVision, not Teenager BrainWashing. Videos added a new dimension to music (literally). However, even though pop music has been around for decades – whether popular due to constant, unsolicited air play, or popular because it spoke the language of the adolescence mindset rather than that of music – video gave pop music an even greater power. Video made songs a visual experience as well as audio experience. Hence, songs that had videos that were visually entertaining, sexy, or otherwise appealing became popular even when the music quality was obviously lacking. This progressed to the point where it is now where the is very little if any music quality in mainstream music these days. The age of the manufactured commercial “bands” (collection of pretty faces with no musical talent) is squelching any attempt for real musicians to become successful. I envision this small collection of 40-something executives that sit around a table suffling magnetic word puzzles around to create new songs for each of the pop stars that are currently in the business. And, apparently, the word pool is quite small. Picking a radio station these days is like picking a president, they all suck, but you know you have to settle on one of them, so you pick the one you can tolerate for awhile and hope the trip will be over soon, constantyl thinking to yoursefl, “Isn’t there something better out there.”
Overpacification 13 August 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, law, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: offensiphobia, overpacification, tyson, wright state university
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I have been thinking about this obvious problem for a while, but wanted to wait until I could come up with a good word for it. This is the best I could do right now, but I am open to suggestions.
There is another social trend plaguing this country (it seems to be more prevalent in the US, but this may just be a perception due to my proximity to US media). It is the irrational drive to appease smaller minority special interest groups even at the expense of larger special interest groups. In other words, the needs of the loud few outweigh the needs of the obvious many.
Such incidents are probably due to a combination of current social trends as well as pressure from these minority special interest groups, and possibly offensiphobia.
A recent example is when the Tyson company decided to give up Labor Day as a paid work holiday in exchange for a Muslim holiday. I am not saying that they should not allow Muslims to observe their holidays as well, but this is silly for two (2) reasons.
- Labor Day is a national holiday available to most workers regardless of religion.
- I would guess that Muslims are a minority within the company, so why should non-Muslims give up their Labor Day for a holiday they don’t celebrate?
The fact that we are currently at war with several facets of the Islamic religion suggests that overpacification might also be due to either of the following:
- Fear of retribution from the minority group
- An uber liberal sense of sympathy
Giving everyone a specified number of holidays / year to take as they see fit would have completely solved this problem for everyone.
Another example was when I was a graduate student at Wright State University (WSU). Many US students (including myself) had been asking for years to turn the 3 credit hour classes with 0 credit hour labs into 4 credit hour classes because 4 credit hours were required to be considered part-time and deferred payments on your student loans. WSU always refused. Following 9/11, there was a new federal (or possibly state) law that if foreign students on student visas were less than part-time, they could be deported (or investigated, I don’t recall). So, to assist the foreign students, WSU decided to change all 3 credit hour graduate classes to 4 credit hours. Not only is this overpacification, but it circumvented and defeated the whole purpose of the new law.
I hate to have to quote Spock, but there is ridiculously simple rule of thumb. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”.
Offensiphobia 10 August 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in law, media, philosophy, politics, sociology.Tags: offensiphobia, offensive, politically correct
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There is a new fear amongst us. It affects the media, politicians, and is starting to infect the scientific community. It is the fear of offending someone. Someone living with offensiphobia may exhibit the following symptoms:
- Having someone else prepare / review their speech
- Restating bad truths into good lies
- Addressing the audience in a condesending manner of comradery
- Apologizing for every statement made the day after it is made
- Not acknowledging they are human capable of poorly worded statements in haste
- Easily convinced by others that what they said was somehow offensive, even when it may not be
- Overestimating the importance or legitimacy of small or strange special interest groups
This fear is a powerful force in politics and the media these days. If untreated, it often results in politicians making incredibly bad decisions and science misinforming the public.
Racism Detection 24 July 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, media, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: bad science, ethic food, national children's bureau, racism, racist toddlers, young children and racial justice
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Ah, I found a case in point of raciphobia.
I heard this news story about a week ago, and I honestly thought it was a joke because it is so insane, but today I found another blog talking about it at detecting racism in your toddlers. The original news article can be found here (it may take some time to load).
Apparently, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) in the UK wrote a guide (over 300 pages) for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice. It contains some very outlandish concepts for identifying racism in young children, and recommendations for how to react.
Every now and then, something so ridiculous comes along that you just don’t know where to begin.
First, not liking certain ethnic foods cannot be an indicator for racism (even in people old enough to like everything you put in front of them). Despite the fact that toddlers are picky eaters ANYWAY, food is a CULTURAL artifact, and not a by product of any race. If you don’t know the difference between culture and race (and how they have absolutely nothing to do with each other), then you are too stupid to be talking about the subject at all. The recommendations are not even based on science. The fact that it urges child care facilities to REPORT and DISCIPLINE this so called “racist” behavior is quite disturbing.
Second, children are learning about the world. Racism is a structured concept (that does not mean it is something to be proud of, I just mean it relies on a multi-level propositional network, albeit a flawed one) that preschoolers are not yet equipped to formulate. This begs me to write a post on the definition of racism.
Third, it is quite normal for a young child to be apprehensive towards people that are different from them. They usaully grow out of this after learning how alike we all are and that skin color is just skin color. Racists are adults that don’t reach that level of cognitive development.
Finally, it always disturbs me when we are harder on our children than we are on adults. I can’t imagine what people would say if you “punished” an adult in a restaurant that didn’t like an ethic dish. Would people call them racist?
Hmmm, so if I didn’t like Taco Bell, since it is not authetice Mexican food, would I be a racist towards fake Mexicans. Oh wait, Mexican is not a race…
The Number One Problem In America 25 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in child abuse, law, politics, sociology.Tags: kennedy v. louisiana, supreme court
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There is a war going on. Our economy is now in a positive feedback loop on the fast track to depression. There might be global warming. Much of our food is not safe to eat. However, in my opinion, there is a bigger problem in the US right now, and none of the presidential candidates are really addressing it. It is the safety of our children. Does it not bother more people than myself that our children can’t even play outside??? No one knows what is contributing to this epidemic, but it is clear that the courts are partly to blame for being too soft. Pedophilia has nearly a 100% repeat offense rate; hence, it defies logic to release these individuals from incarceration ever. In addition, many recent cases where the abuse was undisputed have been thrown out of court on technicalities. When Judge Savage of MD threw out the case last year due to a lack of an interpreter, the technicality was not even cogent because the defendant graduate from a MD high school. A friend of mine had a theory that all judges are pedophiles. I am not claiming this is true, but the news today is compelling. Apparently, the supreme court decided that the death penalty is too extreme for child molestation. The US Supreme Court has been wrong on most major decisions in our nation’s history, so this is not surprising. If their logic is that the punishment should fit the crime, then prison alone is not enough!!!! Something needs to be done, more than what is done now because it is apparently not working. We need to decide what kind of world we want to live in, then ensure that the courts do their job to keep it that way. If you have ultimate responsibility for the decision and you let a criminal walk, then you are partly to blame for any crimes they commit after. Full Story.
Oil and Gold 27 May 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in economy, politics.Tags: economy, energy, gasoline, gold, oil, real value
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There is no doubt that the current US economy in trouble. This is evident by the rapid increase in gasoline prices to the point where it is having impact on everything (driving to work, shipping products, airlines), and many average income people loosing their homes. What better signs could there be? Many are debating whether this is a recession or not because it has not met the formal definition of a recession. This is just semantics. The point is that yes, of course, the economy is in trouble, and you can call it whatever you want.
Interestingly though, I have been hearing a lot of people talk about gold as the ultimate investment because there is security there based on the premise that gold has always been valuable in this world, and always will.
The truth is that gold does not have any real value. It has been the most common bartering chip over the years, but, by itself, you cannot eat it, drink it, and it will not keep you warm in the winter. If the world’s infrastructure totally collapsed (pick your favorite 80s sci-fi movie, e.g., The Road Warrior), gold would be totally worthless. Food and water have real value, but even more valuable (and with real value) is oil. Oil is the lifeblood of an industrial society. Unless you want to revert to pre-industrial times (which could have its benefits), or until there is something that can replace it, we need it. My only regret is not having bought stock it in before 2000. The problem, of course, is that the world’s supply is not infinite at the rate we are using it, and that rate is increasing exponentially. We need to develop a back-up fast.
