by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., August 3, 2009

Interesting Items 8/03 -

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy -

In this issue:

1. Monopsony
2. Massachusetts
3. Clunkers
4. Lucky
5. Stevens
6. Dinner
7. Delta Smelt

1. Monopsony. Monopsony is defined as a distorted market which has one buyer and many sellers. It is related to a monopoly which has many buyers and one seller. It is also what government funded climate research has become and what single payer, universal health care will become. Jo Nova published a summary of money spent on climate change (manmade global warming) research and found that over $79 billion had been spent on policies related to manmade global warming since 1989. In those twenty years, that money has gone into research, foreign aid and tax breaks, with every single dime supporting the conclusion that there is manmade global warming. The dirty little secret in the scientific community is that if your research results don’t support what the federal grant wants it to support, you won’t get the next research grant. As a result, the bad (manufactured) results have crowded out the good (actual science done with actual data) results. The mythical “consensus” in support of manmade global warming is little more than a consensus for more federal money by corrupted climate researchers that have shaded their data, analysis and results so they can continue to dip into the public trough for yet another long drink of free money. Long ago, Limbaugh noted that if you want to understand anything at the government level, all you have to do is to follow the money. Jo Nova has demonstrated this axiom as it relates to the manmade global warming hoax. Her summary then goes on to note that the audits of published science in support of manmade global warming has come entirely from unpaid volunteers, and that the skeptics who are taking issue with the data, the analysis and the conclusions are all unpaid volunteers. She notes that when Exxon Mobil spends $23 million on research that ends up being skeptical of manmade global warming, they are excoriated in congress, in the media, and by their scientific brethren on the public dole who have taken over 3,000 times that amount to conclude that manmade global warming does indeed exist. You can find the analysis and summaries at her web site: http://joannenova.com.au/

2. Massachusetts. Everywhere single payer, socialized, universal care medicine has been tried, and we have seen incredible, very expensive failures. We have seen it internationally in Great Britain and Canada. We have seen it here in the US in Oregon, Hawaii and most recently in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts plan was sold by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in concert with every democrat politician in the state while governor and passed into law in 2006. Last week, Sally Pipes writing in Forbes Wednesday described the scale and the expense of the failure. I will paraphrase her words from the article in the discussion that follows. The numbers over three years of the plan in place are staggering. Only one in five residents believes the plan has reduced costs. It is already costing 30% more than anticipated and is $9 billion in the red. Costs have increased 41% since it was put into place. Compare this with only an 18% increase in health care costs nationwide over that period of time. In order to cover these out of control cost increases, the state run health care bureaucracy is st arting to forcibly implement all the expected solutions: ration care; cap fees paid to doctors; impose cost controls, and impose global budgets on a per patient rather than a per procedure basis. This is the future democrats want for the rest of us when they pass ObamaCare (alternately known as Sweeney Todd Medicine). It a future of crushing governmental intrusion into every facet of our lives, all in the name of cost control of their economically impossible, failed socialized health care plan.

3. Clunkers. Obama’s Cash for Clunkers plan smashed to an ignominious halt late last week as it ran out of money after less than one week in operation. The stimulus legislation included a billion dollars to “encourage” drivers to trade in their old gas guzzling vehicles for government approved clown cars (Pelosimobiles). As with every single thing out of this fascist congress, the $3,500 - $4,500 of free money came with an credible number of rules and regulations that limited the ability of a buyer and a seller to complete a transaction. As a result of the needless complexity and intrusive rules and regulations, the federal web site that auto dealers nationwide were using to approve the sales slowed down and crashed midweek, turning auto dealers’ sales rooms into disaster areas. By weeks’ end, the House had injected another couple billion dollars into the congressionally created and presidentially approved rathole. The senate adjourned without taking any action. CATO institute came up with a suggested procedure that you can use to turn the subsidized clown car into a muscle car or the SUV / pickup truck of your dreams. You simply buy the clown car and immediately sell it, losing perhaps $1,000 of the value of the vehicle and the subsidy in the process. You then take the remaining money and use it as a down payment on the vehicle you really want. Great suggestion, that; it is also another demonstration why government intervention in the marketplace will never work as expected.

4. Lucky. Limbaugh made an observation a couple weeks ago that we are very, very lucky that Obama strategists Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod decided to go after the stimulus package as their first legislative victory. It was entirely written by the democrat congressional leadership; passed with only three Republican votes in both houses of congress; and completely oversold. It is now six months later, and none of the wild promises made during the passage of that bloated, overstuffed, corpulent pile of horse manure have come to pass. Indeed, its passage has demonstrably made the economy worse. If their wildly over the top promises didn’t work with the stimulus, how can you possibly believe their current promises with health care, Cap and Trade, Immigration Reform, or anything else? In their greed, congressional democrats and WH strategists overreached and forced passage of legislation that could quickly be judged on whether or not it would work.

5. Stevens. The Special Prosecutor appointed by the presiding judge over the Ted Stevens trial was given subpoena authority over the entire (In)Justice Dep artment prosecution team he is currently investigating. He can now compel testimony of all involved during his investigation, and every one of these corrupt clowns will get to play the same game that Scooter Libby got to play with Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald. The investigation is expected to continue into the fall. ADN, Weds.

6. Dinner. Ed Morrissey in Hot Air Friday wrote about a WH dinner with Obama and four corporate CEOs last month. The dinner was convened to discuss how to get the economy moving again and the p articipants, as yet unnamed, were four CEOs of some of the largest corporations in the US. Obama had WH staffers collected credit card numbers from his guests before the meal and billed them for the cost of the meal afterwards. Perhaps this is something that he learned as a community organizer, billing your guests for their meals. Perhaps it is something he learned at Harvard. Regardless, it is a most interesting way to treat your guests.

7. Delta Smelt. Globe and Mail Monday ran a story about the government-caused drought in California’s San Joaquin Valley. This valley, centered on Fresno, is the he art of agriculture in California. It is also the center of a court-ordered water shortage that has turned what would have been a run of the mill dry spell into the second coming of the Dustbowl. Due to the water shutoff to save the fish, unemployment in the county is 41%. There are over 40,000 newly out of work. GM had 30,000 and got a multi-billion dollar bailout. The farmers and the farm workers are wondering why they are not worth as much as GM. Answer: Because you aren’t the UAW. The farmers are fighting back in court. Whatever happens, it will not be soon enough to save this years’ growing season. There have been many attempts to fix the Endangered Species Act over the years so that this sort of economic lunacy can be stopped before it begins. All efforts have been successfully fought off by the greens and their allies on the left in congress. The ESA is very bad legislation. It is killing jobs and the economic engine of this great nation. It must be repaired or repealed.

More later –

           - AG

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.