Feeling Much Better

I've been in the USA for medical treatment and getting better each day. It's been an interesting experience. When I return to Hong Kong I'll be able to follow-up if some of the differences I wrote about earlier continue to be true. In the meantime, I found this very detailed Wikipedia link on US healthcare, with  references to all the relevant data points. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States


As for economic matters, Mark Steyn has this exactly right (how the US could become Greece)

http://article.nationalreview.com/426405/when-responsibility-doesnt-pay/mark-steyn

But stories like this are still depressing. How hard is it to weatherize? This problem isn't unique to the US. Japan could do a lot more too. 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4347294.html 

But this is really depressing. Is it really the case that Obama doesn't understand car insurance? Aside from the pointlessness of comparing it to health care, Obama can't be that ignorant, or stupid, or both, on national television for all to see, can he? In Wisconsin we all learned the difference between collision and liability insurance in driver education before getting a driver's license. Was that not the case in Illinois? 

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-obama-doesnt-know-what-car.html

But maybe this is the real issue. Remember Joe the Plumber? 
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/02/mankiw-spreading.html
Here's the key quote from the above link:

Joe was an aspiring small business owner, and he asked then-Senator Obama about his proposal to raise taxes on high-income households. The candidate responded, in part, “It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too…. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

"spread the wealth around, it's good for everbody"

Not feeling as good now.