Category Archives: economics

Brazil's Income Tax

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th May 2010

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton just gave a speech in which she said: The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues (the United States is), whether it’s individual, corporate, whatever the taxation forms are. Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere…


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Our National Fugue State

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th March 2010

If you opened an umbrella in Times Square you could say you covered New York A sizable portion of the American political class seems to be mired in a prolonged fugue state (code 300.13). Their confusion has led them to the conviction that our nation’s well being will be served by a complex piece of…


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If It's Broke Make It Worse – More Healthcare Reform Incoherence

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th November 2009

I’ll just put up a few items which speak for themselves which won’t stop me from a few comments. Paul B Ginsburg has an article in tomorrow’s NEJM – Getting to the Real issues in Health Care Reform. He describes the bills emerging from the House and Senate which would “reform” the country’s healthcare “system”….


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Ford, the UAW, and the Public Option

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd November 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDjfVtzrngs]

If you want any further proof that government run health insurance will run private health insurance into the ground look at Ford and the United Auto Workers. The union which along with the federal government owns GM and Chrysler has refused to adjust its contract with Ford to match that which it has with the…


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House Healthcare Bill

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th October 2009

Below is the complete text of the House Healthcare Bill – all 1990 pages. I haven’t read it but a quick search finds “tax” in it about 275 times. I wonder if anyone has read it. House HCR bill


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New Doctors Poll

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th September 2009

There’s been some back and forth in the comments section of Medicare’s Overhead about what doctors think of the healthcare reforms bills now before congress. It started when I said that I didn’t think many practicing physicians favored any of these proposals. A new poll commissioned by Investors Business Daily says that two thirds of…


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Investing For the Long Term

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd September 2009

Just think about this for a while. In 1969 the Dow-Jones Industrial average was a little shy of 1000. The price of an ounce of gold was about $41 an ounce. Today the Dow is a little more than 9300. Gold closed today at a little more than $990 an ounce. In 40 years the…


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Medical Care as a Right

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th August 2009

If you asked a large randomly selected group of Americans whether medical care was a right many, perhaps most, would say yes. Analyze what such a right entails. If Mr Smith has a right to medical care but can’t afford to pay for it then Mr Green must. It’s a zero sum game. Smith consumes…


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Healthcare Abroad and at Home

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th August 2009

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about healthcare in France. It details the financial difficulties that France’s national healthcare plan is experiencing. The data on this graph need a little explaining. It presents the percentage change in medical (not health as it states) cost in four countries. To accurately analyze the data you…


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Put Them Out to Die

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd August 2009

Some American Indian tribes are said to have put very old members of their tribe out in the cold to die when they had reached the point where they could no longer contribute anything productive to the group. The Democrats in the Senate apparently share this approach. Mike Enzi (R, Wyo) introduced an amendment that…


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