Medical Savings Accounts--Worthwhile or Worthless?
The Des Moines Register disses Medical Savings Accounts, saying they will lead people to deny themselves important medical services and fatten the coffers of the wealthy. David Hogberg takes on these criticisms in his Cornfield Corner. Here's a sample of the Register's thinking: The idea that, in general, people spend their own money more carefully than they do other people’s money must be right out of fantasyland. Contrariwise, it is hard-headed reality to think that keeping a system in which people perceive that someone else is paying the bill will hold down costs.
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Psychology of Liberalism
I've still got that Berkeley study of the psychology of conservatism, and plan to ... sometime ... get to it. Meanwhile, Ben Stein does a quick take on the psychology of what is today called liberalism. In brief, conservatives are risk-takers (entrepreneurs, willing to strike out on their own and take responsibility for their economic well-being); liberals are risk-adverse (regulators, wanting a government rule for a lot of things). Cheap, perhaps, but it could be as good as the Berkeley study.
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I Pledge Allegiance to Diversity, and to Multiculturalism, for Which it Stands
Speaking of the essay questions required by the University of Michigan's new "diversity-based" admissions program (see yesterday's posts), Roger Clegg nails it. He tells the Free Press "I'm afraid this is going to amount to a requirement that a student either write an essay that talks about how he has the right skin color, or that he write an essay that amounts to a pledge of allegiance to diversity."
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Summertime Blues
A proposed law in Michigan would force school districts to start the school year after Labor Day. Some schools have started classes already, which strikes me as just plain wrong. Admittedly, the starting date is arbitrary, and the school calendar is obsolete, based on an economy that just doesn't exist anymore. The Free Press reports that schools have added more hours and days to their calendars, which may be causing the pre-Labor Day openings. Now, if the schools spent their time on academics and not on drivers training, wrapping cucumbers with condoms, promoting "diversity and sensitivity" and so forth, they may actually have time to get everything done without bumping up against the traditional end of summer.
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Taxpayers: You're Too Stupid to Raise Tax Rates on Yourselves
John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, profiles the tax-reform-and-hike proposal of Alabama's governor, Bob Riley. Riley, a Republican, has gotten noteriety for his Nixon-to-China embrace of higher taxes, and justifying it by appealing to the Bible.

Fund discusses the political winds in the state (Democratic leaders in favor of the hike, blacks fearful of getting ripped off once again, and Republican leaders voting narrow to oppose the plan). He quotes one of Riley's aides, who said that the people opposed to the package were "too damned stupid to know better."

Among other things, the proposal would eliminate the deduction for federal income taxes, and impose (or perhaps it's merely increase, I'm not sure) the progressive income tax. It's all "for the children," you understand, but there is no guarantee that the money will go to government-controlled schooling (Riley's latest object of concern), or even then, that it will be well-spent.
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Observations from the Minnesota State Fair
This morning I went to the Minnesota State Fair to help man a literature booth as a favor to the Minnesota Taxpayers League. A few observations:

CAPITALISM LIVES. This was evident, of course, in the various and sundry peddlers who were hawking warm winter clothing, hunting blinds, jewelry, furniture, and two dozen varieties of "food on a stick." I found it in a more unusual place: the Green Party was selling buttons, for $1 each. At our booth, on the other hand, we were handing buttons -- "I am a taxpayer watchdog"--gratis.

DON'T CONFUSE ME WITH THE FACTS. One of our displays showed that the top 5 employers in Minnesota had gone from industrial stalwarts (Honeywell, 3M, etc.) to various levels of government (state government, federal government, etc.) For one passer-by, that was just too much. "State government? No way." I gave her a puzzled look, as if to say "Oh? Why do you say that? What about this chart do you dispute?" She continued: "I work for the state." Oh sure. That settles that!

DON'T TAX ME. TAX THAT GUY. One man muttered that it was wrong to have balanced the recent budget without raising rates on the top 5 percent of taxpayers. Easy for him to say, I thought. Tax someone else. Of course, if he thinks that the state does need more money, he can always donate money.

CONGRESSIONAL PLOY BACKFIRES. A staffer for Senator Mark Dayton (Democrat) was collecting signatures in support a proposal to "make the prescription drug benefits that Congress gets equal to that received by people on Medicare." Of course, it's a ploy; there is no prescription drug benefit in Medicare, and the call has a populist ring to it.

Despite the fact that it was going to be a fool's errand, I talked with the staffer. I told her that it would be great of people had the same health benefits as Congress--if the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) was used as a model. I asked what Dayton thought of that. Naturally, the staffer averred that the senator hadn't taken a position on that. Or something. The FEHBP isn't perfect, but it does use a dose of competition among insurance providers--something that would greatly benefit Medicare, something that would make the inclusion of a drug benefit sustainable, even worthwhile.
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U of Michigan Imposes Political Test on Applicants
Bring back quotas!

I'm beginning to think I prefer race-based quotas (so many black, so many white, so many hispanic) over what the Supreme Court's Bollinger decision left us with.

Why? Because as odious (and unconstitutional) as that approach was, at least it was impersonal; it did not require individuals to give fealty to the idol of "diversity."

According to the Chicago Tribune [registration required], the University of Michigan will require undergraduate applicants to answer one of the following questions:

1. At the University of Michigan, we are committed to building an academically superb and widely diverse educational community. What would you as an individual bring to our campus community?

2. Describe an experience you've had where cultural diversity--or a lack thereof--has made a difference to you.

At least a quota system does not require the applicant to pontificate about the bloviation and fraud that is "diversity." By making 'diversity' part of the application process, the U is stating that it is more important than education.

Woe so the applicant who says "I am a sheltered child with little experience beyond my own family. But I want to attend university to study great ideas, studied by all people regardless of their race." The analogy is overwrought, perhaps, but this reminds me of a country in which would-be students must speak a word of praise in favor of the Beloved Leader, or the Glorious Revolution, or what have you.

The idea of liberal arts has been corrupted. Instead of opening up minds, Michigan is trying to shape them. That's not education; it's indoctrination.
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No Surprise Here: Catholic Schools Shine
From this Chicago Sun-Times: "Students in Roman Catholic schools in the Chicago area tend to make better gains on test scores over four years than the average public and private school students, national test data released Wednesday show." As the paper points out, this system includes 83 "high poverty schools." This gives lie to the notion that poverty and poor academic performance need go hand in hand.
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Economies of Scale?
Cicero, Ill, has something else to add to it public image (no, not another politician with alleged mob ties): Illinois' largest junior high school building. The new campus has a capacity of 4,000 students. (That's roughly three times the enrollment of my college!). The Sun-Times notes all the gee-whiz features of the school (computer labs, new gyms, etc.), but says "there are downsides. At a time when large high schools are breaking into small ones and the push is for more intimate learning settings, Unity is out of place." While the benefits of small class size are oversold, what is overlooked these days are the potential benefits of small schools,, which may actually be, contrary to intuition, cost-effective.
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Courage is Just Another Word for "Raising Taxes"
Writing in The American Spectator, David Hogberg takes on the mainsteam media line--espoused most recently by David Broder--that "courageous" politicians are the ones who raise taxes. Hogberg criticizes two Republican governors in the south (Alabama and South Carolina) for plumping for tax increases.

"Courage" is a word usually applied, in political circles, to Republicans--like Riley in Alabama and Sanford, in Carolina--who turn away from the party's anti-tax line. It ought to be applied, though, to Democrats, such as Michigan's Jennifer Granholm--who hold the line on tax increases, even as their public union constituencies ask for more.

We need a few more examples of "courage," including politicians who are willing to try new approaches (tuition tax credits, competitive bidding for government services between state employees and outside vendors, etc.) rather than simply raise tax rates or make spending cuts while leaving existing structures untouched.
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Helmet Laws, No; Helmet Use as a Factor in Damages, Yes
Wisconsin does not have a mandatory helmet use law for motorcyclists. Currently, insurance companies are free to sway juries to reduce damage awards if the biker is not wearing a helmet. A proposed law would change that.

A personal injury attorney representing some bikers says "If there is no law requiring a helmet, there shouldn't be a penalty for not wearing a helmet."

Wrong. Bikers ought to be free to not wear helmets if they like. It's a matter of personal freedom. But they should also be subject to receiving reduced compensation after a crash if they weren't wearing a helmet, if by so doing they increased their injuries. It's a matter of personal responsibility.
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SAT Scores Rise. But does this mean anything?
Nationally, scores on the SAT are up; but the Center for Education Reform warns that the test has been dumbed-down (in addition to being re-normed), so the news isn't as good as it may appear to be.
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Coming to the Salvation Army: Medical Care for the Homeless
A new federal grant initiative will put medical staff in place at Salvation Army soup kitchens and other social service groups serving the homeless.

Beats having them wait until problems are so severe that they use high-cost emergency room services, I suppose.
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Suburban Tax Bills Soar
Property taxes in many suburban Chicago communities are going to soar this fall--12 percent in La Grange, 19 percent in Flossmor, and 33 percent in Oak Park township, for example.

The raise follows increases in property values, so property owners ought to have some consolation--they're wealthier on paper. But the increase in property values has little, if any, bearing on the actual needs of the communities for government services. So why are governments getting an automatic tax increase, without demonstrating the need for increased revenue? Sounds like the 'burbs could use a spending cap.
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Federal Rules, State Budget Snafus Could Derail Real Estate Sales in Illinois
The Daily Herald reports that real estate transactions in Illinois could come to a screeching halt at the end of September?

Why?

Real estate transactions usually involve appraisers, and appraisers must get a license from the state. Their licenses all expire at the end of September. State officials want to raise the fee that appraisers pay (currently $450 for two years) but haven't figured out what to charge.

Two questions: Why are all licenses due at the same time? Wouldn't it make more sense to space them out, as with drivers licenses? And what's the federal involvement? As the Daily Herald puts it, " federal regulations require all real estate lending to involve licensed appraisers."

Most real estate transactions, especially home sales, involve two parties in the same state. The involvement of the feds is stretching the interstate commerce clause. I suspect the real "hook" for federal involvement is not the fact that the parties may sometimes come from two different states, but because most home mortages will involve, at some time or another, the quasi-official Fannie Mae, a federally-chartered organization.

Yes, there are other areas of federal involvement in real estate transactions-fair housing laws and REPSA come to mind--but it's still a stunning example of federal overreach to have Uncle Sam involved in a sale of that three-bedroom ranch on Elm Street in Anytown, USA.
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Tax Reform on the Ballot in Maine
Maine, the highest-taxed state in the country (when you look only at state and local taxes) will have several tax reform proposals on the ballot this fall. The Portland Press has a series of articles on the subject.
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A Cut is Not a Cut
Illinois' Gov. Rod Blagojevich had me fooled last week. I thought that he cut $6.8 million from the budget of the Abraham Lincoln library.

As it turns out, the money has already been spent. According to The State-Journal register, a spokesman for the governor "is trying to find a way to report budget figures that more accurately represent the condition of the state’s finances. The result in the case of the library is the appearance of a cut. The change has absolutely no effect on actual spending on the presidential library or the associated museum."

So next time you hear whining about budget cuts, look more closely. They may not be there after all.
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Want to Volunteer? Tough Luck, says Union
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, has a budget deficit of $7.8 million. County Executive Scott Walker has ordered up a plan that eliminates 280 jobs, many of them (114) in the parks department.

So would you think that this might be a good time for some old-fashioned community spirit, some come-together volunteer work to pick up trash, paint the picnic tables, and so forth?

No way, says the union that represents the park employees. "I better not see a volunteer in those parks," Christopher Pegelow, president of AFSCME Local 882.
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Michigan Governor Vetoes Mackinac Bridge Proposal
Michigan's governor, Jennifer Granholm, vetoed a series of bills that would have folded the bridge's costs--currently paid for by user fees (tolls)--into the general transportation budget for the state. Thorugh the Detroit Free Press headline said that New Funds for Mackinac Bridge fixes rejected, Granholm did the right thing. Transportation planners ought to make greater use of tolls and new tolling technology; as the only road over a four mile span of Great Lakes waters, the "Mighty Mac" bridge is an obvious case for tolls.
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Maine Goes to "Universal Health Care"
Maine may have a lot of people of French ancestry, but it's decided on a British approach--socialized medicine. (I suppose that's the French approach, too, but that's another day.) In a massive cross-subsidization scheme--I am taxed to give money to you, you are taxed to give money to me--families of four with a household income of up to $55,000 (a decent sum in Maine) can get subsidies--courtesy of other taxpayers--for the purchase of health insurance. At least they can use it to buy private insurance--though the state is slowly in the process of squeezing insurance companies out of the market through regulations. (See commentaries over at the Maine Institute for Public Policy)

In an interview with stateline, new Governor Baldacci gets it all wrong when he argues that a lack of "universal health care" is a competitive disadvantage on a global scale. Rather, it's an advantage to not have government mucking up the works. Of course, government is plenty involved as it is here, but not as much as it could be.
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WSJ Weighs in on the "Jesus Told me to Raise Your Taxes" Campaign
Today's WSJ features an editorial, "What Would Jesus Tax?", on the effort of Alaba>ma Governor Bob Riley to raise taxes by $1.2 billion. Among the points made by the Journal (article by subscription only):

• The current budget deficit is $675 million, meaning that the tax increase is nearly double what is required to fill the gap.


• The $1.2 billion increase would be eight times larger than any previous increase in the tax.


• In March, Riley said "I will not entertain the idea of additional taxes until we reform the policies and practices that have created the problems we face today." A mere one month later, he issued his proposal.


• Riley appeals to the golden rule--love thy neighbor as they self--which is as good as it goes. But he goes beyond that to say that it requires a tax increase. (At its best, government can show justice. It cannot show love.)


• Households with the lowest incomes (under $30,000) are most likely to oppose the plan.


• While Moore wants to make the tax code more "progressive" (the test of justice for the liberal), t6he top 50 percent of taxpayers already pay 96 percent of the taxes


• The trouble with the state has not been a dearth of taxes; they rose by 6.5 percent a year since 1994, even as the economy grew by only 4.9 percent a year.

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Pink Pistols
The Detroit Free Press says that a Michigan chapter of the Pink Pistols is being formed. The group of homosexuals who embrace gun rights has gotten other gay groups bothered--one leader, for example, says "I would hope that would lead the discussion and debate in favor of gun control." (I find it amusing to watch internal dissension work its way through pressure groups.) The Freep found one gun-rights advocate who thinks it's all a publicity stunt. But to paraphrase another, "the more the merrier."
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Rank Has Its Privileges
According to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, the recently retired superintendent of a school district in Palatine, Ill, got $353,351. This includes over $70,000 in unpaid sick days, a benefit not even, to my recollection, available to federal government employees hired since 1980 or so. John Conyers, now 57, will now get $130,000 a year in a state-paid pension.

And opponents of school vouchers say that people shoudn't profit off of education.
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Nursing Homes: A $63 Billion Taxpayer Program
Between Medicare (a federal program for people over 65) and Medicaid (a federal/state program for low-income and specified other people), taxpayer funds paid $63 billion for nursing home care in 2002. (To put that into perspective, that's roughly 20 percent of the Defense Department budget).

The feds has launched a "Nursing Home Quality Initiative" aimed at promoting pain management for nursing home resident. A report issued by the General Accounting Office in July says "the proportion of nursing homes with serious quality problems remains unacceptably high."

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Pity the Prosperous Cities
Of the several states in which I have lived, Illinois seems to be the one most given to politics as a game of patronage. No surprise there, I suppose.

But still, I took note of an article in Sunday's Daily Herald. Republicans in DuPage County, Illinois are down in the dumps since a Chicago Democrat took over the governor's mansion, and the county lost three of its officials in the state's highest elected offices (Republican leaders in the House and Senate, plus attorney general).

In surveying the benefits that came to the county during its years of being plugged into the highest offices, the Daily Herald says that "Millions of dollars were earmarked for local projects, too. State money was available for everything from roads to forest preserve land to a stained-glass window for a Naperville parking garage."

A stained glass window in a parking garage in Naperville. That encapsulates a lot of what's wrong with politics and policy in Illinois. You see, Naperville is one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest counties (DuPage) in the country. And the county is ruled by Republicans, whose only difference from Chicago Democrats, it appears, is the identity of those people who were on the receiving end of the shell game which takes from Peter, gives to Paul, and enriches Matthew (the government employee, or politician) along the way. If so, both parties deserve only contempt.

This same phenomenon occurs on the national level, too. Once I noticed a sign telling me that a bike trail in DuPage County was maintained, in part, with money from a Community Development Block Grant (from the federal HUD). Waitresses in Tennessee are standing for 8 or 9 hours at a time so that the lawyers, doctors, and corporate executives in DuPage county can have a pleasant place to exercise during the weekend. Amazing.
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