19 Nov 2006
Daniels' plan aims beyond uninsured

Well, isn't this interesting? I have but one question for this, and all of the other proposals that depend on "sin taxes" - taxes on alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc. And that question is "What if they work?"

The way that this is being pitched is simple: smoking is a "sin" - it's bad for you. We want to reduce the number of Hoosiers that smoke. Therefore we should raise the taxes on cigarettes which would reduce the number of smokers through economic means. And look at all the wonderful things we could do with all that extra tax money!

OK, Mitch, but what if raising the taxes by $0.50 per pack cuts the number of smokers drastically? (The last increase in 2002 allegedly cut cigarette consumption by nearly 18%.) In fact, what would happen if all Hoosiers stopped smoking because of it? What happens when tobacco prohibition becomes a reality? Who'll pay for your new health plan then?

Ah, but you see, they've done an economic analysis that calculates the number of Hoosier that would reduce/quit smoking under this new tax regimen. And they know most would not - tobacco is, after all, admittedly highly addictive. And the dirty little secret behind this half-baked scheme is that they're counting on that fact! They don't want Hoosiers to quit smoking - why, look at the lost revenue if we did! In 2004 tobacco taxes accounted for nearly 8% of state revenues.

So, who's bullshitting whom here? A possible rejoinder to the above argument is that since smoking is so harmful to health, reducing smoking will reduce health care costs. Which would be grand, if only it were true. But look at the smoking rates today versus the rates in the 1960's, and then compare health care costs as percentages of GDP for the same time periods. The numbers would seem to indicate that reducing the number of smokers actually raises health care costs! Now, correlation is not causation, but these numbers nonetheless indicate that health care costs rise and fall independently of tobacco use ...

Bottom line: neither the state nor any governmental body really wants smokers to quit. They want to bleed us a bit more, making us feel guilty for funding their new projects as they go. And if we ever do really kick the habit completely, well, the taxpayers in general will be left holding the bag for all these grand illusions.

So call it what it is Mitch: it's a tax increase. And stop living in sin.

Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to insure about 120,000 low-income Hoosiers through a higher cigarette tax could have implications far beyond expanded access to health care.

(link) [Indianapolis Star]

22:09 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link

Reversing Course, Marines to Accept Jesus Doll Gifts

Well, the honorable action of the Marine Corps I mentioned here has apparently been undone. I wonder how Christians would react if some Heathen organization donated talking Odin dolls to this program? Or if a gay group sent them 1000 copies of Heather Has Two Mommies? Can you imagine the howling?

Maybe somebody oughta donate a few thousand sets of charmed pins, to be distributed with these dolls... then at least they could be used by children of the Voudoun or Santeria faiths as well!

A 12-inch talking Jesus doll may find its way to needy children this Christmas after the Marines' Toys for Tots Christmas toy drive reversed course Wednesday and decided to accept the dolls.

(link) [Washington Post]

20:10 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Rep. Rangel will seek to reinstate draft

Ah, yes - the Democrats are acting like fascist pigs already. Makes me just love the two party system - the only difference is to whom and at what cost you're to be enslaved. This just about insures my continuance of the electoral strategy I followed in the last election: vote for gridlock. Gridlock is the only friend the American people have left.

AP - Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 if the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has his way.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

19:55 /Politics | 3 comments | permanent link

Tech Czar Unimpressed With US IT Workforce

I wonder if this bozo ever took an economics class? If the tech workforce is indeed underskilled (and I think this is just a shill for industries wanting cheap labor) then the solution is insure that an incentive exists for training in the skills they need. Importing more foreign workers and offshoring more jobs has the exact opposite effect: it drives down wages, thus acting as a disincentive for existing or future software engineers to get or expand their skill sets. It's why IT engineering enrollments are declining in the first place.

Now, lest one think I'm an enemy of "free trade", rest assured I'm not. However, as long as we have nation states that set the rules on personal mobility, I'd like to propose a "Fair Trade in Personnel" policy as follows: we will allow in and issue work permits to exactly as many foreign citizens as their country of origin has reciprocated for American citizens. Because the simple reason that more American don't go overseas to work is simply because they can't - they are legally barred by the immigration policies of those countries that are our supposed "free trade partners".

In order to work, free trade has to be free. Restrictions placed on the movement of goods, services and people do not serve free trade: they serve the interests of industry groups seeking the lowest possible cost and the highest possible margin.

"The IT work force is not skilled enough and almost never can be skilled enough," said Robert Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology. So what does the Poli Sci grad and ex-General Counsel for the ITAA think is the answer? Open the gates to more foreign workers, urged Cresanti, including H-1B holders.

(link) [Slashdot]

19:50 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link