Morning Takes
A few quick takes this morning. Sunday was a mess of a day for blogging: meetings, to-do lists, maps, work projects, wrap my head around UH winning a last-second game on the foot of a backup kicker, still trying to contemplate the grand meaning of a world with Big Top Cupcakes, etc ….
You can imagine how difficult it must be on the psyche.
- Plano’s downtown taxing district has an excess of funds. Now there’s an open discussion about how to spend it in a way to improve property values. The ISD wants some money to build a new elementary school. The city council wants to accumulate parcels of real estate so as to lure developers. Yeah, because a few more Public Storages and increased competition in the two pillars of downtown Plano’s economy: the skatepark and pawn shop sectors, are really going to drive property values in a positive direction. I’m not about to pass myself off as an expert in Plano’s “home-to-Elementary School” ratio, but a quick glance east of Central Expressway does suggest a likely shortage.
- In July, I noted that North Richland Hills was implementing a program to finance home improvements among residential households. Now they appear to be getting some notice for their efforts to give local businesses a facelift. It’s tough keeping up with the joneses in Metroplex suburbistan.
- If you live in fear of a red-light-camera planet, wait until the behavior detection cameras move beyond the airports.
- Among the more newsworthy stories from the weekend: Health Care Reform passed 220-215. Pro-life Dems got a bone thrown to them. The least-likely-to-be-re-elected Republican bolted his party, while 39 Dems opted to vote no. My sympathies are obviously with the no-voting Dems, though I would hope that they took David Brooks’ advice on working to make the bill somewhat more constructive.
What amazes me about the result is that so many progressives cheer on the passage, the costs being somewhat irrelevant to the fact that “more people get covered.” What I find unsettling is that the “coverage” fix did not cost one penny, for all intents and purposes. It was accomplished by legislative fiat, dictating that any American who wishes to settle on our soil must fork over money to an insurance company. So what do we get for the roughly trillion bucks over the next decade? Nothing, really. Or least a far cry less than what doctors and insurers will get. Someone tell me what’s “progressive” about that?
I mean, let’s set aside the discussion of the individual mandate for a second. And nevermind that the idea was first launched into “serious” policy discussion by Louisiana Senator, Democratic heretic, John Breaux in 2003. The first instance raised by Rhode Island Senator, John Chafee, was shot down fairly quickly in 1993. Note that the second link there is a 2003 American Prospect article slamming the idea of the mandate after Breaux raised it again in 2003. How far have we come since then?
- Now, in fairness, the 2003 Prospect take, the summary does conclude that the concept might be made more tenable if cost-cutting measures were in place, policies for the poor were subsidized, and mechanisms to pool risk were put in place. To the current bill’s credit, I think they at least try to accomplish a lot of that. Ezra Klein, in particular, addresses the argument that “govt can’t contain health care costs” as “a form of political nihilism.” I don’t doubt that the Republican Party Fox News take on “govt can’t do anything” certainly warrants the criticism. But the current bill itself does not do a concerted enough job to contain health care costs. There may not be an entire news network devoted to making that argument, but it’s still strikes me as a valid criticism. In the meantime, I’m stuck on this lousy island with Howard Dean. My kingdom for a coconut radio!
- Krugman updates with another one of those columns of his that I have to count as among the 5 or 6 per year that I have a hard time finding fault with.
- UH remains at #13 in the AP poll.
- The boss gets some ink in the Sunday Chronicle.
- Steven Tyler quitting Aerosmith to do solo work? Isn’t Joe Perry the one who’s supposed to quit the band?