Jul 19

Bob Barr: the Nightmare of Single Payer Health Care

Baby Charlie, a British infant suffering from an incurable disease, has been ordered to be “humanely” killed by British courts.

This is against the wishes of his parents who are desperate to explore all options to extend his life.

In the words of Bob Barr, “In the healthcare system in a free society, the ability to seek treatment for a seriously ill infant would not even be a question for debate. However, in a government-run healthcare system like that in the UK, resources are rationed, with government bureaucrats serving as all-powerful gatekeepers, whose decisions are backed by black-robed judges whose allegiance is to the system and not to human beings.”

Jul 18

Socialism lowered life expectancy in Venezuela while capitalism raised life expectancy in Chile

Many government lovers condemn and criticize the rightist regime that took over Chile in the 1970s.

Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” begins with a (mostly false) story that Chile’s Pinochet adopted free-market policies and followed the guidance of free-market economist Milton Friedman.

But while Chile under Pinochet was hardly the free-market model its enemies depicted, the country did make some good movements toward lower taxes and some pro-business reforms.

At the time of Pinochet’s “rule,” Chileans were poorer and had lower life expectancy than nearby Venezuelans who were the wealthiest people in Latin America.

But now after 15 years of Venezuealan socialism and relative capitalism in Chile, Chile has HIGHER LIFE EXPECTANCY, better average health, higher per capita wealth and income, cleaner air, cleaner water, and fewer problems with disease than Venezuela. See here.

Jul 16

A majority of self-described conservatives now view America’s colleges as a DRAIN on society

An astounding new study by the Pew Research Center is out:

A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (58%) now say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country, up from 45% last year. By contrast, most Democrats and Democratic leaners (72%) say colleges and universities have a positive effect, which is little changed from recent years.

See here.

Thus, increasingly, America’s massive experiment with government-subsidized colleges is losing its support among half the country.

Jul 16

Is global warming the biggest financial scam in world history in addition to being the world’s biggest scientific scam?

Several science professors have said that apocalyptic-manmade-global-warming-by-carbon-dioxide hysteria is the biggest scientific scam in world history.

The hoax has relied on worldwide collusion of government-funded scientists and censorship of dissent in important channels and media outlets.

It is the first major scientific fraud that went worldwide, with almost all of the world’s governments embracing it.

But data analysts have increasingly found that the government agencies responsible for storing and maintaining climate data have obviously and deliberately altered their data sets to spread the hysteria. See here.

Thus, writes Karl Denninger,

It is therefore quite-clear that the data has been intentionally tampered with.

Since this has formed the basis for plans to steal literal trillions of dollars and has already resulted in the forced extraction of hundreds of billions in aggregate for motorists and industry this quite-clearly constitutes the largest economic fraud ever perpetrated in the world.

Jul 14

U.S. Taxpayers are forced to subsidize Amazon.com deliveries

The Wall Street Journal is out with a fascinating article about a-mostly-unknown agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and Amazon.com.

The U.S. Postal Service has failed to innovate as the world has gone increasingly digital.

But in order to stay “competitive” with FedEx and UPS, the Service subsidizes box delivery. Letters pay for the subsidy. (Of course, the USPS has lost $50 billion over the past decade).

According to the WSJ analysis, every box delivered by the USPS for Amazon (which owns the pro-government extremist paper The Washington Post), comes with a $1.46 subsidy from U.S. taxpayers!

Jul 13

Turkish government arrests film maker for making documentary about Turkish government

The world’s safest profession: being a pro-government news reporter or observer.

The world’s most dangerous profession: being an anti-government news reporter or observer.

In recent years the Turkish government has arrested hundreds of critics–including comedians, reporters and actors–for such crimes as terrorism and sedition.

Now there is a report that movie director Ali Avci has been arrested for producing a film about last year’s unsuccessful attempt to topple Turkish President Erdogan.

Erdogan claimed last year that rebels led, paid or inspired by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen attempted to assassinate Erdogan and take over the country.

(Gulen denies the claims.)

Jul 09

IRS accused Texas bridal shop of “structuring” deposits under $10,000. When the owners resisted, the IRS shuttered the store, seized all inventory and “auctioned” it off for pennies on the dollar

Astounding story of a small bridal shop in a suburb of Dallas. See here.

It seems that the IRS accused the shop’s owners– Tony Thangsongcharoen, 68, and his wife, Somnuek Thangsongcharoen, 72–of “structuring”: making bank deposits just under $10,000 to avoid federal “reporting requirements.”

The IRS shut down the small business and quickly held an “auction” inside the store–“auctioning” off the entire inventory of wedding and bridesmaid dresses, valued at $615,000, for about $17,000 — not enough to cover the roughly $31,400 in tax debt the IRS claims the store owed.

Even worse, it seems that government officials may have purchased items. Designer dresses went for about 4 bucks apiece.

According to the Dallas News:

[T]he government said in legal filings that the IRS used a special law that allows for a streamlined procedure if the agency determines the goods seized could “perish or waste” or become greatly reduced in value.
As a result, the IRS didn’t have to post advance public notice of the Mii’s sale or wait at least 10 days before selling the goods, as is normally required.

Jul 07

British “health” officials knowingly poisoned thousands with HIV-tainted blood

The British government imposes “single payer” slave-plantation “health care” (as many Americans claim to want).

Brits are not allowed to purchase health care supplies on the open market.

For years, British “health” officials knowingly supplied HIV-tainted blood products to victims . . .er, “patients,” of the National Health Service. See here.

New documents revealed officials used tainted blood for at least five years after they were aware of the contamination.

Thousands died.

Jul 06

“Global warming” star professor Michael Mann fails to obey Canadian Court order that he produce his data

Foremost among the “stars” of the government’s manmade-global-warming movement is Michael Mann, a professor at Penn State.

Mann and his research agenda have received millions of dollars in federal government research grant money.

Mann’s (always secret from the public) global-warming data and calculations have provided the backbone for the UN’s claims that increasing CO2 levels are causing catastrophic global warming.

But although Mann’s “data” is generated by massive U.S. government funding, Mann has never been forced to disclose the data to the public.

A U.S. court took Mann’s word for it that his data is his own private property.

But a court in Canada ordered Mann to produce his data and formulas in February.

And now Mann is refusing to produce the secret formula. According to this report, Mann is now in serious risk of being found in contempt of court and having his defamation lawsuit against Professor Tim Ball thrown out.

Mann has been suing Professor Ball because Ball once said that Mann belongs “in the State Pen rather than Penn State.”

Jul 05

Seattle’s experiment with the $15 minimum wage results in greater poverty, unemployment

Three years ago, the city of Seattle voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour.

As usual, government-trusters promised that the minimum-wage increase would lift the poor out of poverty.

But a new study by the University of Washington’s School of Public Policy and Governance finds the opposite.

The study concludes that there are now 5,000 fewer low-wage jobs in Seattle, and that total hours of low-wage workers have been cut by around 9 percent. Thus, low-wage workers in the city are now poorer than they were before the imposition of the $15 minimum wage law.

The minimum wage ordinance lowered low-wage employees’ earnings by an average of $125 per month in 2016.

SEATTLE’S CORRUPT GOVERNMENT TRIED TO BURY THE STUDY

The Seattle Weekly’s Daniel Person reported that “The City Knew the Bad Minimum Wage Report Was Coming Out, So It Called Up Berkeley,” with quotes from Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s spokesperson indicating that the Mayor’s office was aware that University of Washington’s report would not have favorable results for minimum wage increase advocates.

Astoundingly the mayor and City Council tried to preempt the release of the study by commissioning a “study” by more-government-friendly ‘economists’ at UC-Berkeley that showed the minimum wage increase improved the economy.

Meanwhile the NY Post reports that “The Empire State lost 1,000 restaurants last year” after New York enacted a $12 an hour minimum wage. See here.
Last year, San Diego’s recent experiment with requiring a $15 minimum wage also caused massive job losses, business failures, and increased poverty. See here.

D.C.’s recent minimum-wage hike caused an immediate loss of 3 percent of restaurant jobs. See here.