I'll be out of pocket for a while this morning as I speak about free trade to a group of supporters -- and, apparently, some protesters -- at Thiel Audio in Lexington.
Come on by at 9 AM if you can.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Burying good health insurance news
Buying insurance for something consumers can afford to pay out of pocket is always an expensive proposition. Think about it: which would cost more, an insurance company processing and paying a claim you have the money for in your pocket, or you reaching in your pocket and paying for it yourself?
So it was good to hear from the Mercer consulting firm that 19% of companies surveyed will begin in 2009 to offer consumer-directed health plans that encourage employees to watch health costs by letting them pocket savings.
Interesting that the Lexington Herald Leader didn't mention this key fact until the thirteenth paragraph of a fourteen paragraph story that started with the headline "Study: Workers to pay more for health care."
I'm surprised the AP story didn't end with some nonsense about 50 million Americans dying in the street for lack of health insurance.
So it was good to hear from the Mercer consulting firm that 19% of companies surveyed will begin in 2009 to offer consumer-directed health plans that encourage employees to watch health costs by letting them pocket savings.
Interesting that the Lexington Herald Leader didn't mention this key fact until the thirteenth paragraph of a fourteen paragraph story that started with the headline "Study: Workers to pay more for health care."
I'm surprised the AP story didn't end with some nonsense about 50 million Americans dying in the street for lack of health insurance.
Barack Obama, what is a community organizer?
Community-organizer-in-chief Barack Obama may not want to talk specifics about what exactly a community organizer is and does. But his campaign manager does.
Sort of.
Apparently it has to do with responding, or failing, or ... something. (click to read)
When your best ideas are socialized medicine, empowering union bosses, and keeping women in court and out of the workplace, you may want to avoid specifics about your life's work.
Sort of.
Apparently it has to do with responding, or failing, or ... something. (click to read)
When your best ideas are socialized medicine, empowering union bosses, and keeping women in court and out of the workplace, you may want to avoid specifics about your life's work.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
What's with all the optimism?
Survey USA put out the chart below showing poll numbers in fifteen states of people mostly predicting economic doom and gloom. Oddly, no other state had a higher percentage than Kentucky of people taking the Phil Gramm approach.
EKU professor lost in the woods
When it comes to tracking government-related nonsense, one fertile field is that populated by education bloggers who live inside the system.
Such is the case sometimes with Richard Day, an Eastern Kentucky University education professor.
In a post yesterday, he reprinted a Kentucky Department of Education press release and headlined it "Draud Touts Progress under KERA."
The press release is riddled with factual errors. Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes already pointed several of them out on the Bluegrass Policy Blog.
But when Mr. Innes tried to point these errors out again and engage in a reasoned discourse, Dr. Day responded with this:
Unfortunately, that is an all-too-typical response one gets when daring to call Kentucky's education establishment on the carpet for their incompetence and the arrogant way in which they try to cover it up.
Such is the case sometimes with Richard Day, an Eastern Kentucky University education professor.
In a post yesterday, he reprinted a Kentucky Department of Education press release and headlined it "Draud Touts Progress under KERA."
The press release is riddled with factual errors. Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes already pointed several of them out on the Bluegrass Policy Blog.
But when Mr. Innes tried to point these errors out again and engage in a reasoned discourse, Dr. Day responded with this:
"Arguing specific data points in the face of the larger picture might be seen as an attempt to focus on a tree while ignoring the forest."
Unfortunately, that is an all-too-typical response one gets when daring to call Kentucky's education establishment on the carpet for their incompetence and the arrogant way in which they try to cover it up.
A "moral obligation" to increase welfare fraud?
Gov. Steve Beshear announced yesterday to the Herald Leader editorial board that his latest great idea is to make it easier for people to sign up for the KCHIP health insurance entitlement.
Given that anyone can now qualify for KCHIP by showing up with two pay stubs to "prove" a low income, I'm not sure how excited we should be about a plan to advertise the program more heavily and reduce recipient accountability in hopes of further inflating health insurance costs with our own money.
Beshear has now put out a press release also.
"His administration estimates that the changes could encourage the parents of the 67,000 children who are eligible but not enrolled to participate in the federally sponsored program."
""To me, it is a moral obligation for Kentucky to provide adequate health care for its children," Beshear said."
Given that anyone can now qualify for KCHIP by showing up with two pay stubs to "prove" a low income, I'm not sure how excited we should be about a plan to advertise the program more heavily and reduce recipient accountability in hopes of further inflating health insurance costs with our own money.
Beshear has now put out a press release also.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
More misuse of federal grants in Kentucky
If you followed the Page One Kentucky coverage of the Robert Felner scandal at the University of Louisville, then you can certainly understand that the mainstream media in Lexington will be very slow to cover the federal investigation of former Fayette County Detention Center administrator Don Leach for also pocketing grant money.
Just a teeny, tiny tax increase on the other guy
Anyone who believes the people pushing for a cigarette tax increase to educate our children, build roads, improve the economy, keep social workers safe, and encourage people to stop smoking will be satisfied with that one little sin tax probably also believe Sen. Barack Obama is really going to fund trillions of dollars in new programs without raising taxes on everyone.
Most conservative GOP platform ever
In an on-the-record conference call this morning, Secretary of State Trey Grayson called the 2008 Republican Party Platform the most conservative ever written.
A couple of bright spots I noticed quickly glancing at the platform was urging for private accounts to preserve Social Security and urging, in the event of passage of a national sales tax like the FairTax, a simultaneous repeal of the 16th Amendment, which allowed the federal government to levy a permanent income tax.
In other news, the platform discusses "global warming," but uses the term "climate change."
Here is the platform.
A couple of bright spots I noticed quickly glancing at the platform was urging for private accounts to preserve Social Security and urging, in the event of passage of a national sales tax like the FairTax, a simultaneous repeal of the 16th Amendment, which allowed the federal government to levy a permanent income tax.
In other news, the platform discusses "global warming," but uses the term "climate change."
Here is the platform.
A Senate vote for lower taxes, transparency
State Senate candidate Chuck Ellinger is running against Rep. Kathy Stein, who wants to make bullets illegal in Kentucky.
Ellinger has already been promised a spot on the powerful Senate Appropriations and Revenue Cabinet, while Stein, now thankfully the former House Judiciary Chair, would be reduced to making easy-to-ignore floor speeches.
By the way, I'd like to point out here a major advantage to tracking the legislature through Kentucky Votes. The above reference to HB 715 will always stay up as an example of Rep. Stein's radical anti-Second Amendment stance. At the LRC site, this evidence has been scrubbed just because Stein asked for it to be.
Please sign up for email updates at Kentucky Votes to track the action in Frankfort.
Ellinger has already been promised a spot on the powerful Senate Appropriations and Revenue Cabinet, while Stein, now thankfully the former House Judiciary Chair, would be reduced to making easy-to-ignore floor speeches.
By the way, I'd like to point out here a major advantage to tracking the legislature through Kentucky Votes. The above reference to HB 715 will always stay up as an example of Rep. Stein's radical anti-Second Amendment stance. At the LRC site, this evidence has been scrubbed just because Stein asked for it to be.
Please sign up for email updates at Kentucky Votes to track the action in Frankfort.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Incest pays in Lexington
On Thurday September 4, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Coffman will announce a settlement in a class action lawsuit between employees of the Fayette County Detention Center and the City of Lexington.
But the fix is already in.
Jail employees got caught in the middle of an incestuous relationship between the attorneys who run the city and the attorneys of Miller, Griffin & Marks who represented the jail employees.
The attorneys are all going to get paid, as usual, but it appears the employees are going to come up short with a surprisingly low settlement.
It's worth mentioning at this point that the biggest ongoing civil lawsuit against the city related to mismanagement of the jail is taking place in Jessamine County.
But the fix is already in.
Jail employees got caught in the middle of an incestuous relationship between the attorneys who run the city and the attorneys of Miller, Griffin & Marks who represented the jail employees.
The attorneys are all going to get paid, as usual, but it appears the employees are going to come up short with a surprisingly low settlement.
It's worth mentioning at this point that the biggest ongoing civil lawsuit against the city related to mismanagement of the jail is taking place in Jessamine County.
Educating ourselves into oblivion at $4000 a pop
Now that I have two children in college, I sure don't want Sen. Barack Obama making higher education "more affordable" as he promises to do.
In an outstanding post on Jay P. Greene's Blog entitled "Obama's Higher Education Plan: Throw Money Now, Ask Questions Later?" about Obama's proposed $4000 "gift" to every college student, Mathew Ladner gets to the heart of the matter:
With with lower academic standards gaining acceptance at our institutions of higher education and no check on higher costs, much of what we are going to see is colleges growing larger on borrowed taxpayer money turning out less-educated graduates and charging much higher fees for the whole mess.
Better to spend more on merit-based aid, less on need-based aid, and watch education results and consumer value appreciate.
In an outstanding post on Jay P. Greene's Blog entitled "Obama's Higher Education Plan: Throw Money Now, Ask Questions Later?" about Obama's proposed $4000 "gift" to every college student, Mathew Ladner gets to the heart of the matter:
"The Congress has been chasing its own tail on "college affordability" for decades -- providing more and more subsidies, watching costs go up and up, begin process again. Einstein's definition of insanity certainly comes to mind."
"Sadly, the Obama plan would simply add more fuel to the fire and leave our very serious higher education problems unaddressed. We need to take a long, hard look at higher education, not simply throw more money at the problem."
With with lower academic standards gaining acceptance at our institutions of higher education and no check on higher costs, much of what we are going to see is colleges growing larger on borrowed taxpayer money turning out less-educated graduates and charging much higher fees for the whole mess.
Better to spend more on merit-based aid, less on need-based aid, and watch education results and consumer value appreciate.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Obama: keep Palin barefoot, pregnant, jobless
Sen. Barack Obama can be forgiven for not understanding economics given his life as a "community organizer" and rabble-rousing government employee.
We can even sympathize with his lack of business acumen for the same reason.
But when he tries to pass off a muddle-headed equal-pay policy as some kind of attack against Gov. Sarah Palin, it is out of more than a sense chivalry that our patience runs out.
Businesses who discriminate against women in the workplace do so at great risk to themselves. But the "Paycheck Fairness Act" Obama refers to is no more than a slick payday bill for trial lawyers like John Edwards.
Further, passage of that bill will only make it more difficult for women to get jobs because employers will judge the enhanced risk of a lawsuit to weigh more heavily than the risk of hiring a woman if a qualified man is available.
We can even sympathize with his lack of business acumen for the same reason.
But when he tries to pass off a muddle-headed equal-pay policy as some kind of attack against Gov. Sarah Palin, it is out of more than a sense chivalry that our patience runs out.
Businesses who discriminate against women in the workplace do so at great risk to themselves. But the "Paycheck Fairness Act" Obama refers to is no more than a slick payday bill for trial lawyers like John Edwards.
Further, passage of that bill will only make it more difficult for women to get jobs because employers will judge the enhanced risk of a lawsuit to weigh more heavily than the risk of hiring a woman if a qualified man is available.
Pray for the people in Gustav's path
... or take the Michael Moore approach and have a good belly laugh about all the political gain you might get from the suffering. The point missed by some like Moore is that Louisiana replaced Gov. Kathleen Blanco with Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Changing the way Kentucky votes
Rep. Jimmy Higdon has pre-filed a bill to allow voters who aren't registered with either of the two major political parties to pick a party in primary elections and choose among its candidates.
The bill would still keep candidates who are not Republicans or Democrats off primary ballots. This means Kentucky taxpayers will continue to subsidize the candidate selection process for the two major parties. Smaller parties will continue to choose their own nominees at their own expense.
While the state is supposedly trying to spend tax dollars more wisely, perhaps we should consider letting the political parties pick candidates on their own, without taxpayer money. That would save state and local governments millions of dollars.
At the very least, we should try again to move the candidate filing deadline to after the General Assembly session to improve legislative efficiency.
The bill would still keep candidates who are not Republicans or Democrats off primary ballots. This means Kentucky taxpayers will continue to subsidize the candidate selection process for the two major parties. Smaller parties will continue to choose their own nominees at their own expense.
While the state is supposedly trying to spend tax dollars more wisely, perhaps we should consider letting the political parties pick candidates on their own, without taxpayer money. That would save state and local governments millions of dollars.
At the very least, we should try again to move the candidate filing deadline to after the General Assembly session to improve legislative efficiency.
A little help from McCain's running mate
Gov. Steve Beshear would do well to learn at least one thing from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Friday, August 29, 2008
A view of the madness in Dayton
I was pretty excited to get press credentials for the John McCain/Sarah Palin event in Dayton, Ohio Friday.
Then I realized that meant I had only a so-so view of the screen. So here is a unique view of press row and the backs of 15,000 heads:
From the Wall Street Journal:
Then I realized that meant I had only a so-so view of the screen. So here is a unique view of press row and the backs of 15,000 heads:
From the Wall Street Journal:
"For starters, we'd say Governor Palin's credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama's. Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska's politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on. This is one reason her selection -- despite its campaign risks -- seems to have been so well received by Republicans yesterday. They are looking for a new generation of leaders."
Blog shot around the world
You probably have never heard of Gary Pearce. He is a Democratic political consultant in North Carolina who has managed several successful gubernatorial campaigns there.
The reason he needs a little attention today is because of a sentence in a post on his blog in which he summed up a very interesting element of the political discussion in America.
He said:
The reason he needs a little attention today is because of a sentence in a post on his blog in which he summed up a very interesting element of the political discussion in America.
He said:
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