Post Hoc, Ergo Obamacare?

This image has become pretty popular and is making its way around Facebook.

It’s funny.

The problem, of course, is that it suffers from the fallacy of “post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” A quick google search revealed that, to no surprise, premiums have been rising for many years (at least according to Kaiser/HRET).

While it’s true the Affordable Care Act will likely lead premiums to rise, it’s by no means the only variable.

Also, she might consider calling her health insurance provider about the rate increase, since the health care provider likely won’t know the answer. I may be reading too much into her tweet, but either way, part of the problem with the debate over the ACA is conflating insurance coverage with actual service. The two are of course, very different things.

Two Signs Nullification is Going Mainstream

These are certainly anecdotal, but should be cause for encouragement nonetheless.

Over the past two weeks I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in my Google Alerts for “nullification.” Where I was getting alerts several times a week, and often from smaller websites and blogs, I’m receiving regular notices, usually from higher-profile organizations. This is no doubt the result of a near-nationwide push against the president’s new gun control proposals, and is likely to taper off, but its impact on the general public’s awareness of the “rightful remedy” shouldn’t be discounted.

The second indicator is from a local TV news station. In an advertising montage of recent news stories, a reporter says something to the effect that a recent proposal in the house would prohibit the implementation of the program. This is likely a reference to a Missouri house bill to nullify the Affordable Care Act.

It’s a Deal!

Breitbart.com is reporting that an overnight bill passed in the Senate will cut $1 for every $41 raised in taxes. The new taxes aren’t supposed to hit anyone earning less $450,000 per year, however taxes will increase for nearly everyone over the coming years, as the Affordable (sic) Care Act is phased in. In the same way the Affordable Care Act won’t make heathcare affordable in the long run, this new Senate bill, entitled the “American Tax Payer Relief Act,” won’t relieve American tax payers. I forget who said it, but someone onced noted that in dealing with Washington, one must always assume that a bill will have the opposite effect of its title.

I rarely predict anything, but I’m almost certain this will pass the House in the coming days. Afterwards, we can all relax and not have to hear any more about a “Fiscal Cliff,” or debates over taxes and who is or isn’t paying their fair share, the debt ceiling, or any other money games from the Feds. Democrats and Republicans will join hands and partisanship will be a thing of the past.

Don’t Hate Walmart

Wal-Mart doesn’t “put mom-and-pop stores out of business,” as so many often lament. Ever and always people bemoan the prospect of a new Wal-Mart opening in town, as if the retailer is going to forcefully drive out their smaller competitors. Political economy aside, this is not at all the case.

Rather than Wal-Mart, or any other large business, it is the market that puts the smaller businesses out. We see this process happen by the countless voluntary choices made by individual customers who shift their purchases to Wal-Mart, and away from the smaller and inferior (as revealed by consumer preferences) stores.

There are plenty of other reasons to dislike Wal-Mart, such as its support of increases to the minimum wage, advocating fascism in the health care industry, and use of property stolen under “eminent domain,” but the fact that so many smaller businesses can’t compete with Wal-Mart isn’t a good reason in itself to hate the retailer.

This One’s for the Dems

Lately I’ve been bashing the GOP, as they rightfully deserve, but I’m equally disgusted with the Democrats, who are just as brankrupt, morally and intellectually. So in the spirit of wishing a pox on both theirhouses, here’s something for them.

By this point one would have to willfully ignore the abysmal foreign policy of the Obama administration not to see how close it resembles that of George W. Bush. Indeed, one could make the case that Obama has exceeded even Bush in his disregard for limits on executive power, what with his unilateral decision to attack Libya, assassinate non-combatants, and expand the drone war in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, among others. I realize that plenty of Democrats do not see these issues, but again, it’s only because they refuse to acknowledge them.

In light of this, I wanted to note just what voting for Obama says about some of the archetypal liberals, progressives, and Democrats who, notwithstanding his reprehensible foreign policy still intend on voting Obama/Biden this November.

There are progressives who are excited that Obama recently spoke out in favor of gays being allowed state-sanctioned marriages. Others are glad that he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to “give equal pay for equal work.” And many, if not most Good Democrats, see the Affordable Care Act as the single greatest achievement of the Democratic party in decades. There are certainly other reasons the Left can come up with as a reason to vote “D” this year, but these seem to be the most popular.

This essentially means that even though Obama has destroyed any limit placed by the constitution on executive war-making power, thus setting the stage for an untold evil by future administrations, it’s ok because he says he wants to give gays an Official Permission Slip to get married.

Never mind that due process and any pretense of judicial oversight has been abandoned, and the next guy, even if it’s Mitt Romney, will enjoy these powers thanks to Obama, because the Feds say women should be paid as much as men. (The fact that this isn’t even a real problem, or one the market couldn’t correct if it became an issue, is of course, ignored).

And so what if he’s ordered the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, many of whom are women and in children in weddings parties and funerals; they’ll finally get free healthcare, or so they hope.