David Leonhardt has been writing some of the best articles out there on health care. His article on Intermountain Healthcare was superb. The Intermountain system is one of those low cost high quality organizations, maybe the best. Like the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser, it has salaried physicians. The biggest difference [...]
Archive for the ‘Steve S.’ Category
Government Improving Health Care
Posted in Commerce, Community, Health Care, Nation, Public, Science, Steve S., Technology on November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Aiding Terrorism
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Asymmetrical war, Overreacting on November 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I have held off writing about the Fort Hood incident as I do not see that much is gained by speculation. I would prefer to discuss causes and prevention after we know all the facts. However, Marc Lynch has a piece up at Foreign Policy that is too good to pass up. [...]
The Cost of No Health Care Reform
Posted in Commerce, Community, Health Care, Nation, Politics, Public, Science, Steve S., tagged Deaths from lack of health care, health care costs on November 9, 2009 | 5 Comments »
There were two very interesting articles out on health care this weekend. One of very high quality that everyone interested in reform should know about. The other has some flaws but brings up interesting thoughts.
First, Wilper, et. al. have published in the American Journal of Public Health the best, recent study [...]
Wrong About Torture
Posted in Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Amateur hour, arrogance, inexperienced on November 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of the aspects of the torture program that really bothered me was the amateurs they hired to consult and advise about torture. The lack of any experience with interrogation by the psychologists they hired was well documented in Jane Mayer’s book, The Dark Side and here, by Ackerman. I had [...]
George Washington, Justice and the Taliban
Posted in Culture, Nation, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Afganistan, Commitment, extended deployment on November 8, 2009 | 6 Comments »
“During one of his liaison trips to Hanoi, Colonel Harry (Summers) told Tu, “You know, you never beat us on the battlefield,” Colonel Tu responded, “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.”
George Washington led one of the most famous insurgent campaigns of all time. On paper, it was [...]
WalMart and Health Care
Posted in Commerce, Community, Health Care, Public, Steve S., tagged health care costs, signaling on November 7, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Did you ever wonder why there is no WalMart equivalent in health care? I have. While the current emphasis in the health care reform effort has been on expanded coverage, it is health care costs which need to be addressed in the long run before only the most well to do [...]
Troop Levels: Reality Hits Home
Posted in Community, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Afghanistan, Troop numbers on November 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
David Wood at Politics Daily answers the question I have been pondering in the debate about troop levels for Afghanistan. Do we have enough troops? Key quotes…..
Here’s what worries the planners: The Army has 44 brigade combat teams (BCTs), its basic deploying unit of between 3,500 and 4,500 soldiers. Of those, [...]
History and Tax Cuts
Posted in Community, Culture, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged fiscal responsibility, taxes on November 5, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Thoma had too good of an article up yesterday for me to pass it up on tax cuts and recoveries. Key quotes…..
In 1982, with the economy in the second part of its double-dip recession, Reagan signed a tax increase, meant to reduce the deficit. Here’s Bruce Bartlett, writing at Forbes.com:
According to a recent Treasury [...]
Frame Ups Are Legal
Posted in Community, Law, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged Illegal prosecution on November 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Driving to work this morning I heard on the radio that the Supreme Court will be hearing a case that deals with prosecutorial immunity. Outside the Beltway has a short piece on this case also.
In brief, a policeman was killed. The only witness was a 16 y/o with a [...]
U.K. Breaking Up Big Banks
Posted in Commerce, Community, Nation, Public, Steve S., World, tagged Splitting up banks, United Kingdom on November 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I forgot to reset the alarm clock, so I was up early and scanning the news. Via Baseline Scenario I learned from the WSJ that the UK is breaking up its big banks. Key quotes….
The U.K.’s top treasury official Sunday said the government is starting a process to rebuild the country’s banking [...]
Clinton Speaks The Truth
Posted in Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged al Qaeda, diplomacy, Pakistan on October 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Nope, that is not a misprint. Ricks at FP gives kudos to Hillary Clinton for speaking the truth in Pakistan. Key quote…
The US secretary of state questioned Pakistan’s commitment to the fight against al-Qaida, saying she found it hard to believe that no-one in the Pakistan government knows where senior figures are hiding.
“I find [...]
Defusing the Taliban
Posted in Media, Nation, Politics, Steve S., War, World, tagged Afghaistan, Recruiting Taliban on October 31, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Sean Naylor at Army Times (via Ackerman I think) has a nice piece up on how we are attempting to reintegrate reintegrate Taliban members. Key quotes….
KABUL, Afghanistan — A new initiative to persuade low- and mid-level Afghan insurgents to lay down their weapons and rejoin society is already bearing fruit and holds [...]
Solving the Peanut Allergy Problem on Halloween
Posted in Community, Culture, Humor, Steve S., tagged Clever spouse, Peanut allergy on October 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Early in the evening while passing out candy, one of the children announced he had peanut allergies. I gave him some Dots and Starburst and off he went. I passed this on to my wife and she, being the brilliant woman she has always been, immediately solved the peanut allergy problem. She [...]
Iraq: Preparing For The Civil War
Posted in Culture, Nation, Politics, Steve S., War, World, tagged Civil war, democracy, Iraq on October 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I missed this from the NYT by the ex-mayor of Tel Afar in Iraq. Those on the right side of politics seem to think that we already “won” in Iraq. I believe that we had tactical success in controlling violence, but most of the essential political solutions were not achieved. [...]
Assessing the Economy: What We Need To Do
Posted in Commerce, Community, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., World, tagged breaking up banks, Japan's lost decade on October 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Baseline Scenario people have redone their assessment and forward looking policy recommendations here. Simon Johnson was past head of the IMF and has a lot of insight into international economics. There is a little bit to like and dislike in his recommendations for everyone. His comparisons with our economy and Japan’s during [...]
Did the Great Society Fail?
Posted in Community, Culture, Nation, Public, Steve S., tagged Charity for the elderly, poverty on October 29, 2009 | 7 Comments »
In many ways, yes. However, the graph of the day indicates that one group has benefitted from the programs which came from that era, the elderly. Looking back to a time before Medicare, when families were bigger, when government was perceived as smaller, we see that the elderly really did suffer quite a bit. We [...]
Moral Hazard as the Goal
Posted in Commerce, Community, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., World, tagged central banking, Justice, moral hazard on October 29, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Steve Waldman at Interfluidity has a (via Cowen) great piece up on central banking. Key quotes……
The Greenspan/Bernanke doctrine can be summed up by three familiar words, “Yes We Can!” Greenspan famously concluded that we can “mop up” asset price bubbles after they burst, rather than interfering with the dynamic whereby asset [...]
Public Option with Opt Outs
Posted in Commerce, Health Care, Health Care Proposals, Nation, Politics, Steve S., tagged Opt outs on October 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »
My priorities for health care reform were costs, portability, opt out options for individual states and universal coverage, in that order. I knew it was unlikely that any of those other than broadened coverage was very likely. There is a big group of people who think that we should insure everyone [...]
Cheerleader-In-Chief
Posted in Culture, Ethics, Media, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged honesty, President as cheerleader on October 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The office of President of the United States combines the position of head of state and head of government. This meant that we had Bush telling us the wars in Afghanistan and iraq were going well, when we were obviously in trouble. Bush defended the economy when the disaster was unfolding. We now [...]
Unemployment Graph of the Day
Posted in Commerce, Community, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged ideology, lagging indicator, unemployment on October 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Via Thoma , the following graph of unemployment should be kept in mind when assessing the economy. Two points:
1) No matter what we are promised by the Obama administration, unemployment is most likely going to continue and probably worsen. We should expect this to be worse than in our usual bubble deflating recession.
2) This is [...]
Drugs and Red Light Districts
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., World on October 27, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Peter Moskos, whose book Cop In The Hood I reviewed a bit ago, has a great piece up on decriminalizing drugs. Key quotes….
In Amsterdam, the red-light district is the oldest and most notorious neighborhood. Two picturesque canals frame countless small pedestrian alleyways lined with legal prostitutes, bars, porn stores and coffee shops. [...]
Taliban Copy Petraeus
Posted in Community, Ethics, Nation, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Afghanistan, hearts and minds, Insurgency on October 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Steve Coll reports that the Taliban are now following many of the tenets of COIN developed in FM 3-24. Key quotes…
Over the summer, the Afghan Taliban’s military committee distributed “A Book of Rules,” in Pashto, to its fighters. The book’s eleven chapters seem to draw from the population-centric principles of F.M. 3-24, the [...]
The New Economics
Posted in Commerce, Community, Culture, Nation, Public, Steve S., tagged Changing economic theory, simplify on October 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Joseph Stiglitz, via Thoma, has a nice piece up on the future of economics. Key quotes…..
But there is, in fact, a much greater diversity of ideas within the economics profession than is often realized. This year’s Nobel laureates in economics are two scholars whose life work explored alternative approaches. Economics has generated a wealth of [...]
The Taj Mahal of Medicine
Posted in Commerce, Community, Culture, Health Care, Nation, Public, Steve S., tagged Health care spending, lavish facilities on October 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As I noted in an earlier post, I have been reading more on international health care, starting with T.R. Reid’s The Healing Of America. One of the things which has struck me in my readings has been the emphasis on keeping down costs in the rest of the world. Words [...]
Health Insurance Company Profits
Posted in Commerce, Health Care, Nation, Public, Steve S., tagged denial of care, health insurance, not-for-profit, profits on October 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Suppose, arguendo, that physicians are engaged in best practice medicine. Assume that hospitals and other care providers are doing the same. What then would insurance company profits mean? Profits are supposed to act as a signal for investors. What would that tell us? Would it mean, since the care provided would essentially [...]
