Not-a-Lemming : mortage crisis

How To Pay For Healthcare - The Wrong Question

FutbolGuru — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:48:00 GMT

I suppose that in a perfect world everyone would have access to healthcare. Well, then I guess the United States is as close to perfect as anywhere because everyone here has access to healthcare. Just like anyone can buy a car, buy a home, or buy clothes and food, anyone can buy healthcare. Healthcare is a service and money is the medium we use to exchange our time for goods and services.

Linking the concept of Universal Healthcare to the word free is a lie. We have universal healthcare. What we don't have is free healthcare. Nor do we have free cars, free houses, or free clothes and food. There was a time, not that long ago, when it was understood that hard work and good choices led to more options in lifestyle. Long before I graduated from high school my parents were telling me that I'd need to get a good education so I could get a good job with good benifits. And lest you think that I was raised with a silver spoon in my mouth, think again. Economically we were lower middle class and neither of my parents went to college. My father worked very hard and understood that hard work and good choices could take you places. Hard work and good choices led to higher paying jobs with access to health insurance. It was one of the benefits of hard work and one of the things that motivated you to stay on track. My brothers didn't listen to his advice, didn't work hard, made poor choices, and have paid the price. But to their credit, they don't expect anything for free.

As a result of hard work and good choices, and years of delayed gratification and personal sacrifice, I now have a good job and work in a nice place surrounded by other hardworking people. No, I'm not rich and my family finances are tight. It doesn't look like I'll ever retire. My cars aren't new and my house needs work. And it galls me to this day that I can't take the vacations I see other people take. As a result I sometimes think my life sucks. Especially since I'm rarely around people who's lives do suck. But I had that chance recently and it opened my eyes.

We had some work done on our house this summer. No, I didn't have a windfall, I borrowed money that I now must pay back. The owner of the contracting company who did the work was a pretty sharp guy. He was reasonably punctual (for a contractor) and accurate and seemed to have his affairs in order. His hired help was another matter entirely. Their finances were in complete disarray. None of them had cars - one of them actually had a vehicle reposessed on the job. None of them had health insurance. They were walking disasters. On the surface it seemed kind of sad. But as days turned into months (no it isn't quite done even now!) their stories began to come out. To a man they had made horrible choices pissed away their public education, and taken every short cut conceivable. Some had been in jail. Others had multiple children outside of wedlock. Some had past drug problems. Others simply failed to show up for work and couldn't be reached. (Naturally of course they all had cell phones.) The owner tried to find better help but good workers seem to be quite a rarity these days.

As I took all this in it began to dawn on me that a) I really had a wonderful life and b) these people were entirely responsible for their own misery. From this I came to c) why the hell should I pay for their free healthcare?

The question Obama is asking, and the question our nation is debating, should not be, "How are we going to pay for free healthcare?" The question should be, "Why should we pay for free healthcare?" Why should my hard work, good choices, years of personal sacrifice and delayed gratification, countless long nights studying when others were out playing, saying no to sex when it sounded damn good, staying healthy by refraining from bad behavior, be used to pay for people who will screw anything with two legs, come to work drunk - or high, fail to pay their bills (because they pay their texting bill first), and called anyone with a decent GPA a geek? And the president is out there preaching that it is partly my fault, and at the very least is my problem, that they don't have healthcare? Pardon my French but, What the fuck?

The short of it is, these people don't deserve free health care. Sure, they may be nice. And these guys I worked with were very nice and even polite. But it was to their advantage to be so when they were on the job. You'd see a far different story Saturday night when they bust some dude over the head with a bottle because they're both to drunk to notice that the guy that just called their girlfriend a "Ho," had already left the bar! Why, how, and when did that kind of behavior become worthy of my time and effort?

I actually lied at the beginning of this piece. I said there were no free cars, free houses, or free clothes and food. In fact, there are. Free housing is called the projects. Free cars is called the public transportation. Free clothes and food are called welfare. And it was government mandates that made mortgage credit available to people who had no business buying a house and led directly to worst recession since the depression. I wonder how long it'll be until "cash for clunkers" morphs into the auto-loan meltdown, because $4,500 isn't a lot of money when you have a $500/month car payment for 72 months.

Yeah, free healthcare. That sounds just great. Only don't ask me to pay for it because I sure as hell ain't gonna be using it.

-Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/community/not-a-lemming

Barney the Congressional Dinosaur

FutbolGuru — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:01:00 GMT

I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a kiss and a hug and a smile -

Woops! Wrong Barney. I was thinking of that other purple dinosaur. The one who represents Massachusets' Fourth Congressional District. Barney Frank.

I'd like to say that nothing surprises me anymore, but everytime I reach that point something even more amazing or outlandish happens. As with this afternoon while listening to the radio. I heard, with my own ears, clips from a recent Barney Frank speech in which he actually said the mortgage crisis was caused by conservatives pushing people into houses they couldn't afford. Then he went on to say they were doing this while he, the purple dinosaur, was out campaigning for affordable RENTAL PROPERTY! It isn't really worth a blog post other than the utter contempt in which he must hold us, the fawning masses.

Under the Clinton Administration it was Barney Frank in particular who threatened mortgage companies with federal investigations under racial discrimination laws if they didn't start approving more mortgages to low income families. It was Barney Frank who championed Freddi Mae and Fanny Mac up to the day they collapsed. Since FDR at least the mantra of the liberals has been putting every family into a home that they own. And now he's lauding the merits of affordable rental housing? If it weren't so sick it would be hilarious. And that is the exact phrase he used: "AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING." And, "...conservatives pushing people into houses they couldn't afford..." is a direct quote as well, though in the interests of readability I edited out the snake-like slurring and hissing so prevalent in the dinosaur's voice. For completeness and journalistic accuracy I include the actual quote now: "... conshuvativesh pusshing people inchoo houshesh zhey couldn't affowrd."

Of course the only way mortgage companies could get the payments low enough for low income people to afford the expensive houses they were buying was to invoke things like sub-prime, variable interest rate loans. It trundled along for a while because the economy was red-hot and energy prices were low. Throw in a bad war and a spike in fuel prices and the whole thing blew up like a helicopter in a Hollywood action flick. It isn't a stretch to say that Barney Frank, more than any other single person, is responsible for the current financial crises which began as a ripple from the sub-prime mortgage disaster - which he is now trying to push off on the conservatives (aka Republicans.)

Is this FutbolGuru-worthy? Not really. It's just politics as usual. But what is FutbolGuru worthy is the generalization of this incident. Barney Frank will get away with his latest lie. There are literally millions who will seeth at the Republicans for precipitating this disaster. And while I'm no fan of the Republicans either, they didn't cause this particular mess. They were too busy invading Iraq to think this one up. Yes, Barney Frank will succeed. He'll get re-elected. He'll continue to craft legislation that reflects his mendacity and contempt for us. And why shouldn't he? He sure as hell knows he's lying. But he also knows we're a bunch of lemmings and 99% of us won't stop long enough to see where we're headed. And those of us who do will get run over. And all the while he just smiles and watches the furry little bodies hurtle themselves into the void. Because he just thinks it's damn funny. That's just the way the purple dinosaur rolls.

Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/community/blogs/not-a-lemming

I'm Not One of Those

FutbolGuru — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:17:00 GMT

It has become unfashionable in some circles to speak out against the rich. Of course it is a hobby on the left, and it is not at all uncommon for a wealthy congressman or actor to rail against excess, such as former South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings’, famous statement that, “There’s too much consumin’ goin’ on.” Whether he’s right or wrong, his statement smacks of pandering, and for the most part middle-class Americans have been conditioned against openly criticizing the rich. We are free in this country and part of being free is the freedom to make tons of money and live the way we want. Who’s business is it to question how much money another person makes, even if it rises into the billions betting against our own economy and helping raise oil prices? In fact, speaking out against the rich is generally considered a sign of envy or jealousy and the speaker is often cast as less ambitious/intelligent/or otherwise lucky as the one he’s attacking. Across a large segment of society it has become un-American to speak out against wealth. It is even labeled as communist or socialist.

But it is exactly what I’ve been doing on Not-a-Lemming. Especially in my previous post. And I’m no communist or socialist. Most people who know me would call me a conservative. So how can I claim to be a conservative while at the same time bashing the rich in the land of rugged individualism? Can a conservative do that? And please don’t confuse the term ‘Conservative’ with the party ‘Republican’ or the orientation, ‘Right’. They are not now, nor have they ever been congruent even if their intersection is not the empty set. I can do it because I’m not bashing the rich. I am a staunch capitalist and am strongly in favor of innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit.

I got an iPod shuffle for Christmas. Actually I bought it for myself when I was shopping for my kids. It is one of the most amazing little devices I’ve ever seen. I’m no technophobe and have been aware of, and owned, iPods since their inception. But I remember a world before iPods. A world of transistor radios that rarely worked and clunky cassette and CD Walkmans that chewed through batteries like a teenage druggy burning through an inheritance. I now have a tiny device just a little larger than a postage stamp that can deliver hours of crystal clear music. That is innovation! That is legitimate wealth. Kudos to you Mr. Jobs. Live however you like. You’ve earned it, sir. And you’ve given back.

On the other hand, I live in a town supported primarily by government money. If our spigot ever dries up, this place with shrivel like lettuce in Palm Springs. A lot of people in this town start businesses, grow them, sell them, and get rich. Then they walk around with their heads in the air, literally, and puff about their innovation, sacrifice, and entrepreneurial skill. Except they built their businesses entirely on government money. Sure there were some long days writing proposals for government contracts, but for the most part their was no real personal investment, and the seed product of the business was almost always taken (some say stolen) from a competing company when the new business owner quit and took it with him. And these business owners invariably feel they earned it entirely through their own hard work and rarely give any of it back. Choosing rather to spend their windfall of fancy cars, second homes, and glitzy vacations.

Now Mr. Jobs has a pretty nice home, and I’ll wager that he’s got some nice cars too. And maybe even vacations from time to time, but there is a fundamental difference between what he does, and what these tax-suckers do. And now we’ve taken it to an entirely different level. A level which makes government contractors look like Mother Teresa. I’ll say it again as I’ve said it before, $750,000,000,000. And who acted like we were obligated to give it to them? Banks! Banks that took trillions (that’s $1e12 for you geeks out there) of investor money and evaporated it on bad loans in get-rich-quick schemes. They literally held the international monetary system hostage when they adopted an attitude that said, “Okay, don’t give it to us and see what happens.” How dare those bastards! And after losing our money!

This isn’t capitalism. It’s bad socialism. Perhaps even closer to Hitler’s fascism where the government propped up major industries to keep the war going. Yes, it is banks getting the money, but what about the executives that got them into that position? The failed executives. Did they give back their six-figure+ bonuses? Did they lose their mansions and second homes and personal bank accounts? Did their children have to drop out of the Ivy League schools they are attending? Will they be going on vacation this summer? Are their garages still filled with Mercedes and BMWs? Are their pension plans empty?

These people remained rich, and that is wrong. It is wrong because I’m NOT a communist. It is wrong because I’m NOT a socialist. In Soviet Russia party members became fabulously wealthy by diverting public rubles to their own accounts. All it required was a law. In socialist nations, the upper-class administrates public concerns which pay their salary out of the till. The same people who happen to run the government. And now that is America, too. I'm not saying they aren't entitled to it if they have worked for it. I'm just saying they aren't entitled to 14% of the GNP if they haven't worked for it. Especially after it was their poor management and lack of fiscal responsibility that got us into this mess in the first place.

Furthermore, I can think of no greater depressing effect on innovation and entrepreneurship than the bank bailout and the likely auto bailout. It has gazed straight into the eyes of the middle class and said, “fuck you.” I don’t apologize for the expletive. Expletives have their place, and this is it. This isn’t railing against the rich. This is railing against thievery. This is railing against communism and socialism at its worst. What incentive do I have to continue working night after night on actual products I hope to one day sell to actual people, when those who have figured out how to put their hand in the public till and pull out a dollar seem to have such a higher success rate? America was the land of innovation because innovation was rewarded. But how much longer will that be true in this climate? Especially when it is noted that those who actually earned money are far more willing to capitalize others than those who stole it. As the ratio of earners to thieves tips ever more in favor of the thieves, who for some reason feel they deserve their privileged lifestyle, actual seed money will become less, and less available. Innovators will leave for other places with fewer regulation and more favorable populations, and America’s monopoly on innovation will wither.

It is already happening. Europe, as it emerges from the effects of two world wars is gaining momentum. China, momentarily set back by the economic downturn, will regain her feet. And America, with capitol tied up in the hands of thieves, will seem increasingly less attractive to the talented and ambitious. It’s happened before.

So I reject any and all assertions that I am un-American, or communist, or socialist, or even jealous. I am a capitalist American who believes in fair play, equality of opportunity, and reward for innovation. You want to find a communist, go to an investment bank. He’ll be hiding in the closet under a pile of taxpayer money.

Next: Partners in Crime

-Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/Community/blogs/not-a-lemming