Healthy, Thin, Non-smokers Consume More Health Care
Way back when Congress was debating the tobacco settlement, opponents of the settlement, which amounted to government control over the tobacco industry, opponents argued that smokers saved governments money compared to what they would spend on end of life services for those who lived long, healthy lives.
That assertion has been borne out again in a recent study done in the UK which found that health care for those who are healthy and live the longest costs $417,000 from the age of 20 on while care for the obese was $371,000, and for smokers the cost was about $326,000. In other words, people with unhealthy habits actually consume less health care over their life-spans than those who are healthy. While this would be entirely irrelevant in a free country, government’s massive role in health care makes it highly relevant.
The good news is that governments can no longer use taxpayers as an excuse for attempting to control our lives; it looks like some other excuses for the nanny-statists are in order.
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New Mexico Left-Wing Coalition Pushes “Video Game Tax”
For some, taxes and government regulations are the first and favored tool for moral betterment. This reflex is made abundantly clear by the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club here in New Mexico and a coalition called “Leave No Child Inside” which is pushing a 1 percent tax on TVs, video games and video game equipment. Legislation has been sponsored by Representative Gail Chasey (D-Bernalillo).
Proponents of the tax would like the money to be dedicated to The fund would help pay for outdoor education throughout the state. Of course, taxing video games to fund outdoor education sounds great to the average do-gooder. Video games and television are politically correct and they make us fat. Who could be against taxing such harmful products?
Well, I’m no lover of video games and I do like the outdoors, but I don’t like getting government involved. Besides, in case you haven’t noticed, senior citizens around the country are now using video games to stay physically fit. Are we really going to make it harder for senior citizens, most of whom can’t hike around in the mountains, to get in shape at their own pace?
The fact is that governments should not be in the business of molding us into better people. Governments should leave smokers, fat people, couch potatoes, and others alone.
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Economic Development: The Wrong Way
A story in this morning’s Albuquerque Journal (subscription required) provides a case study that perfectly illustrates some of the biggest pitfalls of state-managed “economic development.”
First and foremost, having lured the Malaysia-based Green Rubber Global to the state with $2.9 million in subsidies, the plant’s opening had been delayed for technological issues. This is the first major problem with state-managed development — government bureaucrats and politicians don’t know what the next “big thing” will be and, since they are not risking their own money, have fewer incentives to find out. So, we have a state poised to spend millions of dollars to fund a company with technology that may not be commercially viable. Sound a bit like another New Mexico investment in Tesla?
Today’s article is really about the fact that the city of Gallup — where the Green Rubber plant was supposed to be built — and Governor Richardson, who decided singlehandedly to de-fund the project after a disagreement developed over which governing body was supposed to manage Red Rock Park. Sound a bit immature to you? The state is supposedly going to have a new company creating hundreds of jobs for people in a relatively impoverished area and the Governor pulls the funding over management of a state park?
Of course, that is another major problem with state-managed development — they are inherently political and nature and policies can be changed on a whim. Businesses are more likely to demand higher subsidies in order to come to New Mexico because policies may change anytime.
Regardless of the ultimate success or failure of Green Rubber and Tesla, New Mexico must abandon state socialism and instead develop the state economy by means of lowering taxes and adopting fair and equitable regulatory policies. Only then will New Mexico achieve its potential.
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Film Subsidies Paying Off in Good Publicity
Last week I blogged an article I wrote for the Tribune about the generous subsidies being given to the film industry for them to set up shop in New Mexico. Now, I’m sure that part of the reason our political leaders have targeted the film industry is to burnish New Mexico’s credentials as a tourist destination and remind people that we really are part of the good ole’ US of A.
Needless to say, it was quite a shock to the system when I picked up today’s Albuquerque Journal and read that not one, but two Hollywood stars ripped into Albuquerque after having filmed here. Jessica Alba, the star of a new film called The Eye said in a recent interview: “In Albuquerque there’s really only one restaurant that’s pretty good. You can only take Applebee’s and Chili’s so much. Our big day was hanging out at Walmart for five hours. It was like, “Yeah, Walmart!”
Adding insult to injury, Tommy Lee Jones, the star of not one but two films that were shot in Albuquerque, dissed the town, saying “Albuquerque is a really hard place to work. It’s very noisy. There are crows there, planes, trucks, people working on their cars. It’s just a noisy place to shoot.”
As if scary aliens weren’t a big enough reason to stay away from the Land of Enchantment, now Alba and Jones make Albuquerque out to be a noisy little hick town with nothing but Wal Mart’s and Chilis. Publicity like that is priceless. Me, I’d rather save our tax money and let entrepreneurs decide what our city and state should be known for.
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Rio Grande Foundation Joins National, State Groups in Expressing Concerns Over Stimulus
A week or so ago on this blog I discussed the stimulus package moving through Congress and argued that it was unnecessary and based on bad economics. Unfortunately, the President and Congress don’t always listen to us, so we teamed up with the National Taxpayers Union — a Washington, DC-based grassroots taxpayer organization — to express our concerns. Read the coalition letter on the stimulus here.
Although I didn’t mention it in my previous posting on the topic, one of the additional problems with such politically-motivated legislation is that individual members understand that and will tack on whatever spending or interest group goodies they can. We are now seeing that process at work.
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Albuquerque Journal Misguidedly Endorses Richardson Health Plan
Somewhat surprisingly given its usually reasonable editorial opinions, the Albuquerque Journal endorsed Governor Richardson’s health care plan. After all, as the paper concluded, “New Mexico’s condition can only get worse.”
We’ve heard this before. Richardson, in his state of the state address, repeatedly implied that health care in New Mexico cannot get worse than it is now. For starters, he said, “the status quo is unacceptable” and he went on to state “The most expensive choice is to do nothing.” While advocates of radical change in our health care system seem genuine in their conviction that things can get no worse, what are the facts?
Yes, New Mexico has a disproportionately high rate of uninsured with 400,000 out of 2 million (third highest in the nation). While it may seem plausible to state that health care could get no worse, how about for the rest of us? Richardson’s plan would force doctors — as a requirement for licensure — to accept whatever the state or insurance companies provide them in the way of payment. Clearly, both the state and insurance companies will have tremendous incentives to cut costs at doctors’ expense, thereby forcing doctors out of the state.
Obviously, if ever-greater numbers of doctors are forced out of New Mexico, we could end up with even less access to actual health care (as opposed to insurance) for the 1.6 million insured and the 400,000 uninsured alike. Before embarking on a massive government program that even supporters view as “imperfect,” we need to take a clear-eyed look at whether this supposed “solution” might actually make the current situation even worse.
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All-Day Kindergarten, Pre-k Fail to Produce Long-Term Results
We have previously noted on this blog that pre-k programs in other states have failed in their supposed goal of improving lasting educational attainment for children. Yesterday, Richard P. Boyle, Ph.D. of UNM’s Institute for Social Research, confirmed this in an opinion piece which appeared in the Albuquerque Journal.
The conclusion reached by Dr. Boyle (study available here), an independent researcher who is not affiliated with the Rio Grande Foundation in any way, is that “While both preschool and full-day kindergarten programs were successful during the time they operated, most advances in achievement appear to have washed away by grade four.” This closely mirrors the findings in Arizona which is even further along with its “early education” initiatives than New Mexico.
Ultimately, pre-k and all day kindergarten are simply tools to give the public education system even greater control over our children while employing more teachers and draining taxpayers’ pockets. If New Mexicans are serious about education, they need to consider choice options that restore parental control and force schools to compete to best serve parents and students. Monopolies don’t work!
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ABQ Journal’s Insightful Editorial
Today’s Albuquerque Journal contains a very insightful editorial (subscription needed) about the way government operates.
The article discusses the US Conference of Mayors’ request for more federal spending on local police which the Journal points out is a core function of government. The editorial contrasted police, something cities should fund, with projects like Mayor Marty’s proposed streetcar, Tricentennial Towers, the car wash Bernalillo County wanted to buy for $500,000, or the Hiland Theater commissioners voted to purchase and spend $1.3 million on renovating.
Justifiably, the piece argued that this was a case of “municipal leaders ordering dessert first while expecting someone else to pay for the meat and potatoes later.”
The problems is not only a local one. Rather, it is exactly how governments at all levels tend to function. Politicians and bureaucrats like power, not necessarily because they are malicious although that is sometimes the case, but because they think they are the most competent stewards of resources (see the El Vado case). Unfortunately, this is not the case and instead, governments accrue power while the “boring” core areas of government like policing and road and bridge construction are left to rot while trolleys and Rail Runners flourish.
The only solution is a vigilant, well-informed population that constantly pushes back against empire-building government officials.
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Water Authority Engages in Outrageous Power Grab
Regular readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware that we have no love for the unelected bureaucrats over at the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Water Authority. We tangled with them over their outrageous attempt to use eminent domain to take over a privately-owned water utility, New Mexico Utilities Inc. That case is still tied up in court.
Now, Councilor Michael Cadigan has succeeded in allocating even more power to the un-elected bureaucrats at the Authority by giving them tremendous power over building and planning activities. Just over a month ago, Cadigan had been quoted as saying the Authority should have these powers and recently the Authority granted themselves the power — notice how that’s done!
The Albuquerque Journal had the right take on things in this morning’s paper, saying “the authority’s board should rescind its vote and forward its ideas to the City Council and County Commission, where public policy can be hammered out in a more democratic process.”
It is unfortunate that we have allowed water, the lifeblood of our city (not to mention development and individual property rights), to be controlled by an unelected group of bullies. Instead of putting a government agency in control, we should privatize the authority and make it accountable to its customers.
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RGF on Health Care in the Alibi
While the Rio Grande Foundation is often called a “conservative” think tank and Albuquerque’s alternative news weekly would typically be called anything but, part of our charge is to reach out to those who may not necessarily share ideas — at least normally. Nonetheless, when I read this article in the Alibi I felt that it was a perfect opportunity to weigh in on why all of us, no matter our political persuasion, should be concerned about government health care schemes. After all, if the state places the kind of controls on doctors that the Governor has proposed, New Mexico could see doctors leave the state in droves. This is not the favored outcome of liberals and conservatives alike.
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