Tennessee's socialist model doesn't work

Tennessee is one of those states that experimented with "universal health care." Unfortunately for people in Tennessee, they got stuck with socialized medicine, and it doesn't work. Read the article, and notice how fast costs are rising.

No one can repeal the fundamental laws of economics. Government's try, but they always fail. Socialized medicine is terrible around the globe. Let's not get stuck with it here in the U.S.

Maybe there's some hope after all

Russia has now remarked that they think at least a partial return to the gold standard would impose some discipline on the governments of the world. Allright for the Russians! They're starting to figure it out. Read the article, and hope that somehow, someway, the U.S. starts to consider gold once again.

Leave America to get lower costs!

Why spend $175,000 for an operation here when you can go to India and pay only $10,000? Yes, the U.S. government has pretty much wrecked the system, so now the costs are astronomical.

As you can read here in this article, Americans are traveling abroad ("medical tourism") to get high quality, low cost health care. And it's only the beginning. Once we get socialized medicine (I mean "universal health care"), many more of us will be leaving to get better and less expensive care around the globe.

Same old rhetoric on health care

The Houston Chronicle took a turn to the left about ten to twelve years ago if I remember correctly. Prior to that, I had over twenty letters to the editors published, but alas, that is no more. The less the Chronicle prints about free markets and limited government these days, the more happy the editor of the editorial page is.

In tomorrow's Sunday edition they are rolling out yet another tired op-ed about how the government needs to fix health care. Of course, this op-ed was written by a doctor, not an economist. So as usual, there is nothing on the root cause of the crisis. Just symptoms and more state solutions. Stick to the medicine, doc, or take some courses at the Mises Institute.

James Madison knew over 200 years ago what this doctor cannot grasp: once you interfere in the markets, you've messed things up and must continue to meddle, meddle, and meddle, all the time attempting to undo or fix the mess the government's created. I quote Madison:

They have seen, too, that legislative interference is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions; every subsequent interference being naturally produced by the effects of the preceding.

Only off by $2.3 trillion

He's only been in office for two months, and the new left-wing prez has managed to miscalculate the budget. As you can read in this article here, Obama's budget is off by $2.3 trillion. That's not too bad, since he's new at this (sarcasm).

This is just the latest on why we don't want the government involved in the economy. Let the "invisible hand" of the economy run itself. If they would only get out of the way and stop printing paper dollars while regulating and taxing us from cradle to grave, we'd be just fine.

The Gold Standard

Thanks to the Mises Institute for posting another great article by Robert Murphy. Read his concise defense of the gold standard here. Note the chart regarding consumer prices. See how it really starts to go up at the beginning of the 1970's - that's when President Richard Nixon put the final nail in the coffin when he closed the international gold window.

By the way, I own and highly recommend Murphy's book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism.

Minta doesn't get it

Minta Garcia, a bus driver, and her husband, a construction worker, don't understand economics or finances. You see, Minta and her husband bought a house a few years ago in suburban Washington for $800,000. Somehow, they couldn't figure out that a bus driver and a construction worker can't afford a house approaching $1 million.

She hasn't asked for help, but says she is waiting to see if she qualifies for help from you and I (through the confiscation of our taxes by the federal government). Sorry, Minta, time to move into an apartment and save up for a down payment on a house that a bus driver and construction worker can afford. I'm sure you wouldn't stick a gun in my face to steal my wallet. Then why ask the federal government to do it for you?

Inflationary Time Bomb

Kyle Bass understands economics, and he knows the history of what happens when government ratchets up the printing of money. He says we all need to protect ourselves:

“If you are following stocks or bonds (like in 1923 Germany or Argentina in 2001), you are likely to get rope-a-doped because you are not watching the government steal your hard-earned savings with their printing presses,” Bass wrote. “It is time to defend yourselves from this insidious crime against the financially prudent.”

You can read the full article here. Are you prepared?

Geithner refuses to answer question

In front of the House Ways and Means Committee today, new Treasury Secretary Geithner refused to answer a simple question: "Where's the money for the stimulus and other programs coming from?" When pushed to answer, he once again rolled out his tired rhetoric that what he's doing is necessary. He never answered the question on where the money's coming from.

He didn't answer because we know where it's coming from, and we know it's bad: the money will be printed. More fiat currency. Another great increase in the money supply, which is how we got into this mess.

Unfortunately, the cowardly congressman who asked the question allowed himself to be distracted, and another coward took over and asked some irrelevant questions. A dog and pony show that means nothing.

Have you been buying your gold? Is your exit strategy in place?