Interview With Melody Scalley, Host of “Politics on the Edge,” 103.3 WESR FM, Over Her Support for Scott Rigell for Congress
Dustin Siggins: You’re a talk show host- your reputation is important. Why pick this guy?
Melody Scalley: I ran for the House of Delegates last year in the 100th District of Virginia, and I got to know all six of the candidates who were running for the Republican nomination for Congress in 2010. Scott Rigell is a business leader (he was just inducted in the Hampton Roades Hall of Fame for his business leadership), he’s a graduate of Regent University, he and his wife home-schooled all four of their kids and he served in the Marines (as does his son- and his father is an Iwo Jima veteran).
DS: What are the top two issues he addresses?
MS: He’s actually created jobs- his business is Freedom Automotives, and he’s hired more people than the Blue Dog/Yellow Dog/Lap Dog incumbent, Glenn Nye (VA-O2). Jobs and the killing by government of the free market and jobs, as well as the debt that is putting us, our children and grand-children in debt.
DS: Where does he stand on Iraq and Afghanistan?
MS: He believes we need a strong national defense, and if we are going to send our boys into harm’s way, we should declare war. [DS: Ms. Scalley did not wish to convey Mr. Rigell's convictions on Iraq and Afghanistan, since she does not speak for the campaign.]
DS: What does he think of Fed’s actions thus far in the recession?
MS: He has said we should audit the Fed, and signed the Tea Party Agreement for auditing the Fed.
Government Pays More Health Care Than Private Industry
The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has released information showing that government spends more on health care than the private sector. While this should come as no surprise- the vast majority of health care costs are borne in the last months to years of life, after all, and that is what Medicare is for-? Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is taking full advantage of the information to once again show how government is the problem in health care spending.
RightSideNews.com, where I found the above information at, also compares a number of government health care negatives not as well-known as they should be. Take a look at the first link’s comparative information- it’s kind of interesting when contrasting Medicare with the private sector.
P.S. Coburn is also causing problems with Democrats in Congress- many of whom are backing his amendment for all Members of Congress to join a public option if it’s legalized. Kudos to those Democrats who have so far volunteered to join the public option if it passes, and support the Coburn amendment. I disagree with their public option support, but respect their putting their money and health care where their mouths are.
No Ma’am-o-grams.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is described as:
An independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical
preventive services.
has released findings discouraging women between the ages of 40-49?years ?from getting annual, or even biennial,?mammograms.? The ‘expert panel’ (which does NOT include a single oncologist) reversed their original recommendation because they figured that the mammograms were just costing too much and saving too little.?
“With its new recommendations, the [task force] is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives; just not enough of them,” Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
Get ready folks, this is what we have to look forward to when the government becomes increasingly involved in health “care”.? Interestingly enough, one of the prime arguments about the cost of health care is the fact that there is not enough preventative care for people, or preventative steps?carried out by people, in an effort to keep more drastic and costly ailments from occurring.? This is undoubtedly a step toward government “suggested” rationing, which will become “mandatory” for people who end up signing up for the government run “public” option should we continue down this present course thanks to our legislators.?
-rj
The Monopoly Power of Government
If you dislike the service and selection provided at your local Borders book store, you can use another merchant.? You can go to Barnes and Noble, or a small independent book-seller, or buy from Amazon.? If you don?t like the cheeseburgers at McDonald?s, you can go to Five Guys for lunch instead.? If your apartment is lousy, you can search around for a new one.? If you don?t like your doctor, you can get referred to a different one.? If you don?t like your employer, you can switch jobs.? If you don?t like your friends, you can hang out with other people.? If you don?t like your girlfriend, you can break up with her.
But if you don?t like your current government, you have to find a new country and a new bookstore, burger place, apartment, doctor, job, friends, girlfriend, and more.? You may have to learn a new language, and you will have to make expensive travel arrangements and pay shipping costs for whatever possessions you want to bring along.
This is the monopoly power of government.? There are high costs to shifting the system of laws under which we live, costs that allow our government to charge us far more for the security it provides than the cost of providing it.? These costs are exacerbated by our uncertainty, risk aversion, and limited individual knowledge of our alternatives.? The ?shareholders? of government ? some members of the controlling majority ? may benefit from the profit created by this monopoly power.? Or they may not,? if multiple overlapping majorities simultaneously extract different ?profits? from different groups.? But as a whole, society always suffers.? Economists would say that there is a ?dead-weight loss?.
From this monopoly point of view, the efficient government is one that is not able to price above its cost.? This might be achieved by states so small that people could hop between them without having to change the other circumstances of their lives.? Or it might be fostered by radical decreases in transportation costs.? If a man could live in London and work in New York without suffering any travel costs (time or money), both countries would have less leverage over him.
It is hard to predict what types of laws and regulations would be adopted by the competitive state.? But one thing seems clear.? The redistributive burden thrown on the most productive citizens of a state represents no competitive pricing of the services it provides them.? It is a monopolistic extraction of profit and odious to any person who would have a state treat its citizens equally.
-wallace
Public Option Dead, Obama Administration A Failure?
The AP is reporting that the Obama Administration has decided today to scrap the Public Option in health care reform.
Government provided health care was central to his candidacy.? One has to now wonder if the administration is in someway ultimately considered a failure if the central policy of his platform has crumbled before our eyes.
If Obama fails in this key component of his platform would you consider his administration a failure?
-nick
