New Clarion

I have added the New Clarion to my regular reading list (and to the blogroll) and am very excited to see some of my favorite bloggers there. Be sure to check it out!

OC Register LTE

My LTE in response to this story was published today (half way down the page). My original letter, which was edited by the OC Register, was slightly longer and finished with a rhetorical question that I liked, but that they shed. The original is as follows:

As scandalous as the expenditures detailed in today’s story (“UCI study: Egregious example of wasteful spending”) undoubtedly are, the deeper question remains: “Why have we entrenched a system where government routinely pilfers from the industrious and then determines how, and to whom, it will redistribute the spoils?”

As an alternative, I suggest we return to the original American system—that of capitalism—under which those who earn the wealth decide what to do with it. If a producer wishes to study “World of Warcraft”, or anything else for that matter, he’s entirely free to use his own money to do so, isolating the rest of us from the costs of his desires. Simple, practical and moral—what more could one ask for?

Laissez-Faire Punditry

Via the OActivists list comes this excellent editorial by David Harsanyi.

Activism

In the coming year I hope to be much more vocal in the cultural debate, and have set myself goals of writing 12 editorials, 3 LTE's and 52 comments on public media websites by the end of 2009. (The editorial goal may prove to be too ambitious, but it seems better to set my sights too high rather than too low.)

I've joined Diana Hsieh's enormously helpful and motivational OActivists email list as an essential tool toward achieving these activism goals and would urge other like-minded people to do so too.

Via that list comes this story on the Massachusetts Health Care system being proposed as a model for a national system. In response I wrote the following LTE and comment:

LTE

I was initially dismayed to see a health care system which routinely destroys individual rights, increases costs and rations supply, lauded as a “model” for the nation to follow. (Mass. Health plan has national appeal, Dec 19). But my shock quickly wore off when I remembered how for decades the press uncritically lavished praise on Lenin and Stalin’s “noble experiment”. We all remember how that turned out, don’t we?

Comment:

I was initially dismayed to see a health care system which routinely destroys individual rights, increases costs and rations supply, lauded as a “model” for the nation to follow. But my shock quickly wore off when I remembered how for decades the press uncritically lavished praise on Lenin and Stalin’s “noble experiment”. We all remember how that turned out, don’t we?

PS For a more critical look at the Mass. system, see http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2008-fall/mandatory-health-insurance.asp

A Little Education

I enjoyed this post over at the New Clarion, including this conclusion:

Just think: one plumber who has read Mises rocked the Obama campaign for days. If one educated American can have such an effect, imagine what would happen if just 5% of Americans read good economics and good philosophy. The welfare state would be seriously challenged. It might even be over.

Doctors Disappearing

A couple of stories on doctors shrugging (as Instapundit puts it); NY Times and LA Times. I hastily penned the following LTE in response to the latter:

Yesterday’s story (Primary Care Doctors Struggling to Survive) is the tragic—but predictable— consequence of the immoral idea that health care is somehow a “right”.

Instead of respecting legitimate rights, viz. those of doctor’s to engage in their trade on their own terms, including deciding who they’ll see, how much they’ll charge and what form of payment they’ll accept; today’s quasi-socialized health care system makes doctors the virtual servants of anyone with an ailment, real or imagined. Paid and treated as servants, primary care doctors are understandably leaving the profession in droves.

If we truly value them and the life-giving service they provide, we must halt our headlong plunge down the road of socialization, and instead act to restore individual rights in the field of medicine.

HT for the NY times article to the New Clarion

Market Success

I enjoyed this short post over at the Rational Capitalist.

John Allison Interview

The Charlotte Observer just published a short interview with John Allison. The whole thing is good, but I particularly liked this observation:

Market corrections are not all bad; they get rid of irrational and poorly run companies. … The classic example is Citigroup. In my career, this is the third time Citi has failed (and been bailed out), and every time, they've gotten bigger and worse after the fact.

What Capitalists Need to Know

Alex Epstein has a good blog post up at the Telegraph blog.

Housing Boom

I'm not a fan of Cato, but I found this article of value in outlining the causes of the real-estate boom/bust cycle.