Some pieces in the Washington Times
Here are a couple recent editorials that I wrote for the Washington Times:
Gee whiz, 367 miles per gallon!: Don't believe the baloney about electric cars
Learning from Canada's mistakes: Nationalized health care is doomed to fail
Gee whiz, 367 miles per gallon!: Don't believe the baloney about electric cars
Learning from Canada's mistakes: Nationalized health care is doomed to fail
Labels: Energy, healthcare, Washingtontimes
posted by John Lott at 2:21 AM
2 Comments:
US health care could do with some reforms. But not in any of the ways being put forth in the bills currently in play. As I have said before, Congress is determined to scrap our stretch-limo system because there is a stain on one of the armrests, and replace it with a Yugo modified to be pedal-powered.
Why always look at UK/Canada? Even if "national health care" is the aim, look at other places: France, or even Spain? The governments do pay, but mostly heavily regulate while leaving most actual care (doctors, hospitals, etc.) private and allowing insurance (the UK will allow you to buy private insurance, but not as a supplement - if you buy you lose all NHS coverage).
Or compare Texas with Massachusetts. A big difference - the Texas legislation included considerable tort reform protecting health carers: costs went down, doctors started moving in, more insurance companies moved in thus driving costs down a bit more. Oh, it has problems: an unintended consequence is the formation of actual "death panels" in which a hospital can decide to "pull the plug" regardless of patient/family/guardian wishes...
I have a Toyota Camry and it gets good mileage. One day, commuting home from work, I had the cruise control set to 65mph. I was recharging my GPS device when I noticed it said I was doing only 59mph. I just blew it off as some strange anomoly.
Another time, I drove past one of those radar-operated speed signs telling me how fast I was going. The offical speed limit was 40 and I was just slightly above that. But my GPS said 37mph.
Then it dawned on me. I believe the speedometer is false. It has been set to show your speed to be about 5mph faster that what you are actually driving.
This works fine for everyone.
- The auto company gets to say their car has a good mileage rating at a specific speed.
- The EPA doesn't care because their guidelines are being met.
- The police don't care because you're driving slower.
- The insurance companies don't care because you're less apt to get into an accident.
I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. It's just interesting what the gov't will do (or allow to be done) in the name of protecting the environment.
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