Tag: Your Government Doesn’t Love You

American Health Care and the Free-Market

People often point to the American health care system is a failure of the free-market. The problem lies in the fact that the American health care system isn’t a free-market:

To start with, the American Medical Association (AMA) has had a government-granted monopoly on the healthcare system for over 100 years. It has intentionally restricted the number of doctors allowed to practice medicine so as to raise physician incomes artificially. The primary way it does this is by using the coercive power of the state to restrict the number of approved medical schools in operation. After the AMA created its Council on Medical Education in 1904, state medical boards complied with the AMA’s recommendation to close down medical schools.

The American health care system is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. It’s a classic example of failure due to government interference in the free-market.

Operation Gunwalker is Getting Popular

The media sure loves a good scandal and it seems the United States government providing guns to Mexican drug cartels is popular enough to warrant coverage overseas. It also seems the Mexican government is curious about the United States latest shenanigans:

Mexico has asked the US for detailed information on a law enforcement operation that allegedly allowed guns to be smuggled across the border.

The request follows media reports that US federal agents allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled into Mexico in the hope of tracking the weapons to drug cartel leaders.

Some of the guns were reportedly later used in crimes including murder.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has already ordered an inquiry.

This is what government is good at, creating problems and then claiming their necessity to fix them. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) created a problem by smuggling guns into Mexico that demanded emergency powers in order to correct the issue. I wish I could create problems at work just so I could fix them and be considered awesome for doing it. Of course if I did that I’d be fired and rightfully so. You also have to enjoy the irony in this paragraph:

The ATF reportedly allowed 1,765 guns to be smuggled into Mexico over a 15 month period, including assault weapons and high-powered sniper rifles.

Of those guns, 797 were recovered on both sides of the border.

Many are thought to have been used in crimes, including two that were recovered at the scene of the killing of a US border protection agent in Arizona.

Wow the ATF is busy if they trafficked 1,765 guns into Mexico. Then again I’m sure they don’t have to explain to the border guards why they’re smuggling 100 guns into Mexico so it’s probably pretty easy. Likewise it’s ironic that the weapon used to kill the border agent was supplied by the very government that employed him. With friends like that who needs enemies.

The Difference Between The State and The Mob

What’s the difference between the state and the mob? The mob is honest about their intent while the state tries to hide behind the term “justice.” Although I’ll save you the specifics I will mention that I received a parking ticket on Sunday. First of all St. Paul needs to get their shit together because nowhere on the ticket does it state how much money they are trying to extort from me. How am I to pay them without knowing how much money they are demanding?

But this isn’t about the fine, it’s about the system. You ultimately have two options; pay the fine or fight it. If you pay the fine you are admitting guilt as stated on the ticket. If you try to fight the ticket you must use the same system that issued you the ticket to fight it. Basically you either are admitting that you’re a criminal or you have to deal with a massive conflict of interest.

In this situation I am against admitting guilt as there is no victim and thus I see no crime to admit guilt to. On the other hand if I try to fight the ticket I will have to take time off of work and possible pay a court fee (thus I will likely pay them either way which is why I use the term extortion). Either way I’m going to be out money and this is exactly how the police department wants it. The only reason all of these parking ordinances exist is to fill the coffers of the local police departments. There is no legitimate reason why my parking on a publicly owned and tax payer funded street should garner a fine of unknown amount.

Likewise there is a giant conflict of interest in having to ask an officer of the same precinct to determine a ticket as invalid. If I write you a ticket you should not have to beg me to rule it illegitimate. This is a problem right up to the Supreme Court where the legitimacy of federal laws are determined by the federal government.

Either way the system is stacked against the accused. Even if the ticket is ruled to be illegitimate I am still punished. My guilt matters not as I will receive the same punishment regardless of the outcome (an unknown monetary loss). The police have found a means of practically guaranteeing income by writing fines that are expensive to fight. I’m sure they are aware that a majority of people will pay the fine and accept the accusation made against them not because they feel themselves guilty but because it will cost them more to fight it.

Of course I have to wait at least three business days in order to fight it. I was under the belief that all these computerized systems would allow a ticket to be instantly filed with the court but alas I was incorrect. Apparently it can take up to 10 days to file a ticket with the court and you can’t fight it until it’s been filed. It’s nice to see they are held to no real schedule yet I am as if I don’t pay the fine within 21 days they assess a late fee.

More On the ATF Smuggling Guns Into Mexico

CBS has a report on the recent “gun walker” scam performed by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms Explosives Joy and Happiness (Ministry of Boring).

It must be nice heading a government agency that create false flag situations in an attempt to get more taxpayer money. Need more money? Simple create a situation where guns are going across the border between the United States and Mexico to be used by Mexican drug cartels. All you have to do is have your agents get those guns across and then whine about how said guns are being used against people of the United States. It’s brilliant.

Stuff Government Says

It’s time for an episode of “Shit my Government Says.” The premises here is simple, I take a common line used by those in government and translate it into layman terms. Today’s episode is going to be on “reducing spending.”

When a government official says they’ve proposed a plan to reduce spending they want you to believe they’ve saved you money by spending less. For example if they put forth a budget and claim it reduces spending by $100 billion it implies they’re doing to spend $100 billion less than they currently are spending.

What they actually means is they’ve cut something from the proposed budget but haven’t actually saved you any money yet. When a government official says they’ve cut $100 from the budget they mean the proposed budget for a span of time. Therefore if the proposed budget is $1,000 over money actually available and they “cut spending” by $100 the budget as passed will still spend $900 more than they have.

This seems altogether obvious until you apply the fact out government increases the budget from year to year. Let’s say the budget in 2010 was $100 the and likely proposed budget for 2011 will be $110. Let’s say the income of our government for 2010 and 2011 was $50. This means in 2010 our government spent $50 they didn’t have which we call a deficit. Now our government is claiming they’re going to get spending under control and thus will not pass the proposed $110 plan but instead have cut the proposed budget by $10. That means out government is still going to spend $100 or $50 over the amount brought in making the deficit the same as in 2010.

Of course the government officials will pat themselves on the back for cutting spending by roughly 10% (since government always likes to round up even when that rounding makes little sense mathematically). This is meant to imply they’re only going to spend $90 for the year instead of the $100 they spent last year.

It’s a deceptive practice that many people seem to be completely oblivious to.

Bath Salts are Now Illegal in Alabama

I’m not sure what bath salts are but apparently they can be used to make illegal narcotics and thus the state of Alabama has banned them [PDF]. You know, because banning anything that can be used to manufacture illegal drugs makes total sense.

That was sarcasm in case you didn’t catch it.

Minnesota Senators, Stomping on Your Rights Since the Election

I went through the roll call for the bill to extend the expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act. Guess what I found? Both of our senators, Franken and Klobuchar, voted in favor of extending the provisions.

Anybody want to join me is starting up a recall election? Neither of these pricks should be in office if they’re willing to shit all over our rights like this.

You know who didn’t vote for it? Rand Paul. Just sayin’ (he’s looking good and hopefully continues on this path).

Taking Their Ball and Going Home

Quite the shit storm has hit Wisconsin. Their governor has introduced legislation that is disagreeable to the teacher union in an attempt to stop the state from hemorrhaging money. As you can guess many teachers are pissed because they may have to pay more into their pension account and may lose their collective bargaining rights. Either way some schools were shut down Thursday as teachers walked out. But that’s not the most interesting battle, not by a long shot.

To delay voting the Democrats at the Wisconsin capital walked out, refusing to vote in the hopes of delaying passage of the bill under scrutiny:

Walker, who took office last month, called on the Democrats to return to the Capitol and finish their work. Police were ordered to search for the lawmakers and bring them back to Madison.

“Their actions, by leaving the state and hiding from voting, are disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who showed up to work today and the millions of taxpayers they represent,” Walker said.

Yes they stormed out and the governor sent the police after them. I wonder how government officials like having the right hand of their authority sent after them? Either way the Democrats, being politicians, knew what to do:

The 14 Democrats turned out to be holed up at a Best Western in Rockford, Ill., where, they said, Wisconsin law enforcement had no jurisdiction. They said they later dispersed, but remained outside the state.

Good move, get out of the state you represent. Obviously the democrats are cheering this action as heroic while the republicans are decrying this as cowardice. Personally I think it’s a failure to perform the jobs they were hired to do and should be fired immediately.

“Representatives” are elected to represent our interests in law making (they rarely do it but that’s their job). They are hired to debate issues and vote on legislation. By walking out the democrats in Wisconsin’s legislature are refusing to perform the job they were hired to do. In the private sector you would be fired for that kind of action and somebody willing to do the job would be hired. If I were the citizens of Wisconsin I’d demand a recall election for each legislator who fled the state, they aren’t doing the job you’re paying them to do. They should be at the capital right now explaining why the proposed legislation is bad not hiding in a hotel in Illinois probably paid for with tax payer money.

Simply taking your ball and going home is childish at best. Do the democrats in Wisconsin feel powerless to stop this proposed budget? Is that why they ran? Welcome to our world. Those of us outside of the legislature get fucked over by you pricks all the time when you pass legislation we disagree with but have no power to stop (see the Health Insurance Company Enrichment Act). The “representatives” who fled to Illinois are finally getting a taste of what the regular citizen gets every time a bad piece of legislation (in other words most legislation) gets crammed through against their wishes. Feeling powerless isn’t so great is it?