lines in the sand

How Much Should We Tip Darden?

Darden seeking one-of-a-kind tax break from Legislature - Orlando Sentinel

I'm a registered Republican with libertarian/tea party leanings, and a free-market fanatic.

I don't like taxes.

I don't like corporate welfare.

I don't like like fraud.

The legislature is looking at a bill that would let certain businesses keep a portion of the sales taxes they collect from their customers.  Only Darden could qualify as the bill is written and could keep as much as $7.5 million of the money it adds to our bills as sales "taxes".  If they don't have to turn it over to the state they shouldn't have to collect it from us.  That is fraud, abetted by the Legislature.

But not only do we still have to pay the full sales tax amount, we have to make up for the reduced tax collections by the state.  That's welfare of the corporate variety.

It would be better for the state to simply write Darden a check for $7,500,000 and announce what other welfare programs it was reducing by a like amount.  That would at least eliminate the fraud of hiding the gift from the taxpayers in a bill that doesn't even name the beneficiary. 

 

Hilarious Hallelujah

Probably the quietest these high school kids have ever been.

Burning Bright

Anybody else think the coverage of Tiger Woods this week is not so much news as it is voyeurism?

Prizes

The best take on the Norwegians awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama came from today's Washington Post:

In a stunning announcement, Millard Fillmore Senior High School chose Shawn Rabinowitz, an incoming junior, as next year’s valedictorian. The award was made, the valedictorian committee announced from Norway of all places, on the basis of “Mr. Rabinowitz’s intention to ace every course and graduate number one in class.”

 Maybe Obama will go on to actually earn it.  We can hope.

Many of the commenters on the story mention "sleepless nights ahead for conservatives", but I think they'll be disappointed.  Most conservatives I know will just shake their head saying, "There they go again," and turn the page as the Peace Prize ceased to mean anything some time ago.

HT: Coyote Blog

In Denial

One of the reasons often cited for more government involvement in health insurance is the nasty habit private insurers have of rejecting claims every chance they get.

Of the following big insurance outfits, which one denies the most claims:

• UHC
• Coventry
• Humana
• CIGNA
• Healthnet
• Anthem/BCBS
• Aetna
• Medicare

You're right if you said Medicare.

About that recession thingy...

From the Florida Department of Revenue Collection Report

Florida sales tax receipts for August exceeded estimates by nearly 3%.  Corporate income taxes were almost 50% better than expected and doc stamps on house sales and such were 15% over predictions.

Year to date sales tax collections were 1.5% over the same time last August, the first time they've been up at all since 2006.

Coverage for Pre-existing Dents

Dear Mr. Gecko,

I've bought a used car that has a severely dented fender that will cost $2,000 to repair. Please add this vehicle to my policy so I can afford to get it fixed.

Yours Truly,
Me

Sounds silly in that context, but it's what a lot of thoghtful people think health insurance should do. Insurance is certainly an important part of a health care plan but can't be the whole plan and still be insurance. 

Since an insurance company must charge premiums based on the person's proportionate risk, pre-existing conditions (risk = 100%) would need to have a premium equal to all of a person's bills plus a markup for administration. Anything else, such as community rating, would merely be cost shifting, a practice despised when hospitals do it but apparently okay to require of insurance companies.

The pre-existing condition problem will mostly, but not entirely, go away when we decouple health insurance from employment, which is almost inevitable. The question then becomes which way does it move - toward more individual control or more government control? In either case, the individual will be able to change jobs with worrying about losing his health insurance.

What moves you...first thing in the morning?

What sound do you wake up to?  The clang of a windup alarm clock?  The buzz of an electric one?  The radio?  A ringtone? 

This Telegraph article says the last one is becoming a good bet.

Research has shown that the timepieces are on their way to disappearing from our bedside cabinets for good, because we rely on our phones to do the job instead.

I've been doing that for the better part of a year.  It started not long after forgot to put on my watch one day and realized that evening that I didn't miss it (the article says lots of people no longer wear wristwatches, either.)  

Some other things I no longer need physical appliances for include a metronome, pitch pipe, tuner, sometimes a flashlight (even before downloading a 'flashlight app'), and a kitchen timer.

Decades ago I dropped out of Jaycees because their main purpose seemed to be teaching how to make a life revolve around a pocket calendar.  I knew that wasn't necessary because one day I would have an iPhone.

Stupid of the Day

Feds To Shut Down Google Apps? -- InformationWeek.

The Federal Trade Commission is looking into the risks of cloud computing. 

The FTC held a two-day meeting this week to discuss data security in the global economy. Regulators are trying to determine whether they should intervene with cloud computing to address security and privacy (PDF) concerns.

Critics, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, argue that consumers are at greater risk of privacy breaches with cloud computing because data management practices are inconsistent. 

EPIC asked the FTC for a legal injunction to stop cloud computing until the government approves it. In the unlikely event that the request is fulfilled, millions of individual and business users could be prevented from accessing data stored in the cloud.

Yes, Google and other holders of data have leaks.  So EPIC wants the government to protect us by only allowing us to keep our data on our own computers, which are all so much more secure.  Evidently, they want the efficacy and safety of internet products proven with the same rigor the FDA applies to pharma products while people die for their lack.  

One question: once it's approved for use, who exactly do I go to for my Gmail prescription?

None of the Government's beeswax, unless...

...it provides universal healthcare.

Universal healthcare and the waistline police | csmonitor.com.

Imagine a country where the government regularly checks the waistlines of citizens over age 40. Anyone deemed too fat would be required to undergo diet counseling. Those who fail to lose sufficient weight could face further "reeducation" and their communities subject to stiff fines.

Is this some nightmarish dystopia?

No, this is contemporary Japan.

The Japanese government argues that it must regulate citizens' lifestyles because it is paying their health costs. This highlights one of the greatly underappreciated dangers of "universal healthcare." Any government that attempts to guarantee healthcare must also control its costs. The inevitable next step will be to seek to control citizens' health and their behavior. Hence, Americans should beware that if we adopt universal healthcare, we also risk creating a "nanny state on steroids" antithetical to core American principles.

Also, Britain has banned some ads for eggs and New Zealand has turned away immigrants for being fat.

And, of course, the argument heard most often in support of mandatory motorcycle helmets is the medical cost to society caused by not wearing them.  Funny, they always add up the medical costs of no hats and too many cheeseburgers but neglect to subtract the pension savings to Social Security.

HT Mark Perry