Sunday, August 23, 2009

In Case You Missed It: Krauthammer on Death Counseling

Charles Krauthammer has written the definitive column on the alleged “death panels” created by a (now deprecated) version of the one of the healthcare reform bills before Congress.  His perfectly sane take: they aren’t death panels at all, and calling them such is absurd, but they are (or would be, if they had any chance of being enacted) a slight nudge from government for people to consider non-extraordinary, less expensive end-of-life care for their final days.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Your Reading for the Weekend: Government “Stimulation” Doesn’t Shorten Recessions

Economist Alan Reynolds has a nice op-ed up today addressing the question of whether governmental efforts to prevent or shorten recessions actually work.  Upon a review of the historical evidence, he concludes (prepared to be shocked) that they don’t.

Reynolds goes further, arguing that the inverse is in fact true: recessions last longer and are more severe where governments intervene more.  Reynolds evidence for this latter point (at least that which he presents in the piece) is weaker and not terribly persuasive, but the article is still a good read for exploding the myth that governmental stimulus efforts have had great success in combating economic downturns.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

If I Had a Hammer, I’d Hammer in Primetime

From the file of News Items That Common Understanding Suggests Cannot Possibly Be True But Apparently Are, former GOP House Majority Leader Tom Delay (you can call him “The Hammer”) will be a contestant on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC.