persimmon's comment history

persimmon said...

greater taxes on coal and oil would not be artificial if they were done to offset the external costs of those commodities: respiratory illnesses, polluted lands and waters, depleted reserves, threats to our security and stability, dependence on centralized producers, danger to miners. We subsidize coal and oil in many ways and at costs far greater than the incentives intended to get wind and solar past the early-adopter phase where all new commodities struggle.

October 5, 2009 at 9:56 p.m.
persimmon said...

There is a difference between the government and us, the people? I thought democracy meant we are the government. We opted long ago for non-profit mail delivery and socialized roads. TVA is in the power business to pay for its navigation and flood control missions. There are more examples of government enterprise; are they all unconstitutional?

Insurance is socialized risk whether the insurer is public or private, and there are only two ways to keep risk cheap: make the pool as big as possible or exclude the most vulnerable. Private insurers have chosen the latter, and with health that is immoral. A national risk pool is the moral choice.

Until we can choose whether to have heartburn or a heart attack, there is no such thing as a free market for health care. Your analysis fails.

October 1, 2009 at 11:14 p.m.
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