Moore Lies for Moore Money

CARPE DIEM: Capitalism Allows This: 97.3% Gross Profit Margin

"According to Box Office Mojo, Michael Moore's movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" had a worldwide gross of $222,446,882, with a production budget of only $6,000,000. That's a gross profit margin of 97.3%, and a gross return on investment of 3,607%"

My Perspective:

If anyone watches Michael Moore's new film and believes its lies and distorted views of economics then I suggest you educate yourself a little more. Oh and on average, Big Oil behemoth Exxon Mobil usually generates only a 8-10% profit margin.

Oh and Michael Moore holds stock in both Exxon Mobil and Halliburton...

Update: Investors.com - Michael Moore, Closet Supply-Sider

Check it out

Did Somebody Say Monopoly?

Videos > Cracking the Education Monopoly

My Perspective:

I just saw a program on BET about the benefits of charter schools in Detroit. People are finally starting to realize that the free market, not government, has the best solution to this problem. no longer are these people going to listen to the government tell them what's best for them. they know the only way to improve things is do do it yourself, and everyone can have their freedom to choose what they want.

CARPE DIEM: Markets in Everything: Deeply-Discounted Surgery for Cash, Payable in Advance

My Perspective:

OK, so it's not super cheap, but hey, you spend as much on fixing a car part, and this is your body...car can't go anywhere without it, but you can go somewhere without your car. We should get away from insurance as much as possible, and just cover the big stuff with cheap catastrophic insurance. you can do all the stuff that isn't covered by making a tax free savings account for it. GENIUS! costs will come down across the board, and as soon as those operations are open to a mostly free market they will also decrease in price. everyone will be able to afford more healthcare on their own....and it keeps going on and on till we are barely using insurance, which means prices come down, premiums go down and everyone has coverage!

Want proof the free market works? Look at Lasik eye surgery. A decade ago it was barely available, super expensive, and dangerous. Now that it has had time to be refined it is routine procedure. And because it was not covered by most insurance companies, the price came down to real market levels. Almost anyone can afford the surgery, as long as they value their ability to see above their ability to buy that new 43" flat screen (I would think eye sight is a necessity in order to enjoy the TV)

Libertarian Test

Libertarian test:

1-90 points: You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much.

My score: 84 (i'm pretty happy with that assessment)

Here, take it yourself

http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi

What Free Market?

The Health-Insurance Market Is Not Free - Anton Batey - Mises Institute

My Perspective:

We don't need more government. We need less, especially now. Don't let them lie to you any more. There is a big difference between what they say is free market capitalism and what free market capitalism really is. We DO NOT live in a free market capitalistic society and we haven't for a while. That is why we are having so many problems today. Everybody in the government and MSM want you to believe that free markets caused this mess, but that can't be true because for at least the last century, we haven't had a free market. It is the remnants of a free market which are burdened down by socialist policies. (Cloward-Piven anyone?)

Insurance: Hedging yourself

CARPE DIEM: Thomas Sowell's "Single Payer Plan": HIMSELF!

My Perspective:

It wasn't even until the 1940's and WWII that employers started to subsidize healthcare for their employees. It was done because of government mandated salary caps so employers needed to find other incentives to pull the best and brightest to their company. Before that, most people either had their own private insurance (which would not be lost when they changed jobs) or no insurance at all. They put some money aside for medical costs they knew they would need such as yearly check ups and physicals, and the smart ones had a savings account for sever problems that were unforeseen. Others picked up very cheap catastrophic insurance to cover those unforeseen problems. That is the point of insurance, it is to cover the things that you aren't sure if they are going to happen. Medical Insurance is essentially you betting the insurer that the cancer will come sooner than not. If you are right you have cancer which sucks, but at least you suckered the insurer into paying for it after only paying them a few years (or months) worth of installments (definitely not enough to cover the costs of your care). That is why most insurers don't like to cover people with pre-existing conditions, for they are betting on health problems and have weighted dice, the insurers would be fools to cover that. It would be the same as if you were at a craps table and told the casino you were going to use your own dice which are weighted. they would kick you out in a heartbeat.

If people realized this then they would just get catastrophic insurance and save up to cover their yearly health costs. They would probably save money doing it that way too since they are not paying premiums for coverage they do not need and they know they are not going to use. It is akin to car insurance, which is used to cover only accidents and such, not oil changes, new tires or a yearly tune up.
Moral of the story...Government caused the problem by placing salary caps yet letting employers entice employees with tax free subsidized health care which led to a society that has a distorted view of the true costs of healthcare, and now government is trying to lower those costs when really they have no such power. All government can do is lower the price, which they shouldn't do for it also distorts the market and leads to situations like that of Venezuala, where the government has made the price of beef affordable for all ($2 per lbs) but since the true cost to produce it is $3 a lbs there is no beef on the shelves. Just imagine what will happen when government tries to lower the price of healthcare to "FREE" for all, when it really costs a decent sum more than that...to borrow a phrase from the trusted 8 Ball "Outlook not so good."

Standards of living

Watch this and think about how your own life (as difficult as it may be) is far better off than those 1000 years ago, 100 years ago, and even 10 years ago.

Videos > Living Large

"It's not the high cost of living, it's the cost of living high." - Economist Michael Cox (this quote defines our country and it's political, not economic, ills.)