Recent difficulties with implementing the Affordable Care Act have increased opposition to the program. A majority of Americans now oppose it. Problems with the HealthCare.gov website are in all likelihood temporary. However, there are serious long-term problems, particularly considering long-term finance and labor supply issues. Given the mounting difficulties with and growing concerns about the […]
Laissez-Faire Today
Don’t Forget Financial Privacy
Amidst all the revelations about how the American people, many of whom are absolutely convinced they live in a free society, have their telephone calls, emails, website visits, and who knows what else under surveillance by their own government, let’s not forget the massive infringements on financial privacy that have gone on for decades. Consider, […]
Why Are Bitcoiners Going to Jail for Money Laundering While Big Banks Walk?
Image: Shutterstock BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem, along with alleged co-conspirator Robert Faiella, was arrested by federal authorities last week for allegedly laundering more than $1 million worth of Bitcoins. This is a tiny amount compared to the largest drug-and-terrorism money laundering case ever. Yet when British bank HSBC was found guilty in 2012 of laundering […]
How Obamacare Creates Ethical Conflicts for Physicians
Do you trust your doctor? Most patients assume their doctor is working in their best medical interests whenever he or she orders a diagnostic test or recommends a particular treatment. Customers might wonder whether an unscrupulous auto mechanic is being truthful when he recommends a brake job or a new transmission. But most patients trust […]
Cybersecurity: The NSA’s Big Budget Action Movie
The exercise had an awesome name, inspired by the movies: “Quantum Dawn 2.” On July 18, scads of U.S. banks, stock exchanges and government agencies took part in a digital fire drill — a practice run in the event all of Wall Street came under massive cyberattack. This isn’t the first time banks have come […]
The New American Elite
The faces of the Detroit bankruptcy are the thousands of pensioners whose promised benefits are suddenly part of the restructure negotiation. When Motown filed for Chapter 9 last July, the city had $11.5 billion in unsecured liabilities. The vast majority of this was pension and health care benefits owed to retired city employees. The images […]
Obamacare: A Welcome Mat for IRS Horrors
So you’ve maneuvered the Obamacare website, plugged in your top-secret information and found out how much you are forced to pay to avoid a fine. And for some of you, it turns out you qualify for a government subsidy — making the premium sound like a bargain. But signing on that line to accept the […]
How Many Fish?
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” As the inequality gap grows, there is an ideological battle unfolding in the West. On the one hand, there are those who think government can fix things. It must do more, […]
Debt Ceiling Déjà Vu: The Government That Cried Wolf
On Feb. 7 the United States will once again reach its statutory debt limit, meaning it cannot legally borrow any more money. Since the obvious option of cutting spending to match the amount of revenue that the government collects is off the table for some inexplicable reason, Congress will have to pass a new, higher […]
Cheap Wine and Expensive Health Care
The New York Times published an interminable article on health care recently. Plenty of facts — how scrupulous are these journalists! — but the article displayed absolutely no comprehension of the basics of cause and effect. I was left wondering about the whole point. The article details how the health care system rewards specialists to […]