George Kovach died last week. He was 90. For most of my boyhood, "Mister" Kovach ran the Cities Service filling station a block away from my house.
As I read his obituary, I began having those unavoidable flashbacks of life as it was lived nearly 50 years ago. Whenever we remember the days of our youth, we invariably think of that stage of our lives as the good old days. Maybe you call them the salad days. For most of us, that time of life seemed just about right because we were far too young and untraveled to have had any perspective.
The old filling stations were lessons in merchandising. Everything the station sold was a branded product. The Cities Service logo--the outline of a green clover leaf on white background--appeared on everything.
The men who worked at the station wore neat uniforms with a Cities Service emblem. The oil cans, antifreeze jugs and just about every other container carried the store brand. And as for the gasoline, Cities Service promoted their brand as the best for your car because it had Power Prover.
In Clarksburg, Cities Service had to compete with Esso, Pure, Gulf, Amoco, Mobil, Texaco, Sunoco, Sinclair, Spur, Red Head, Ashland, Quaker State and Pennzoil. Each brand claimed that its own secret ingredient made your car engine run better. However, these claims were just so much gimmickry. (Perhaps you'll recall: "Put a tiger in your tank!")
Filling stations were big on handing out promotional items. You could take your pick from a nice selection of road maps. Ice scrapers were common giveaways in the wintertime. Sometimes, the giveaways were merchandise, such as drinking glasses. All in all, these stations competed for your business and your trust by developing brand loyalty.
Filling stations usually had two service bays. One side had a lift for lube jobs and oil changes. The other side was used for car washes and tire changes.
Fifty years ago, a car needed a lot more maintenance. On average, cars had about seven grease fittings that needed a shot of grease at every oil change. Drum brake pads, unlike today's disc brakes, wore out pretty quickly. Batteries were anything but maintenance-free. And radiators all too often overheated.
In some respects, filling stations were like the blacksmith shops in the horse-and-wagon era. Cars of the 1950s were about as temperamental as horses and, like the wagons of old, needed frequent maintenance.
Tires prove this out. Fifty years ago, a set of four tires cost about $100. Radial tires were still a new concept in Europe. We bought tube-type, bias-ply tires that did well if they lasted 10,000 miles. With their uncanny ability to pick up nails off the roadway, you could expect a tire to go flat once before it wore out.
To fix a flat tire required removing the tube and patching it with a hot patch. Then you had to remount the tire and, most likely, rebalance it. Fixing a flat tire was a real chore.
A set of radial tires today will cost four times what Mister Kovach charged. But your new radials are likely warranted for 50,000 miles or more. As for flat tires, you may never have one. All-season radial tires handle much better, are much safer and are far less likely to hydroplane than the rubber ducks of the good old days.
Last week, gasoline hit $3.89.9 per gallon in Clarksburg, the highest price yet. Today's price seems so distant from the 25 cents that a gallon cost in my youth.
If I looked only at the price of gasoline, then I'd say the good old days were indeed good. But when I look at the total cost of operating a vehicle, I must conclude that modern times are the better era of the two.
Gasoline has become a generic commodity sold mostly at convenience stores. These stores offer no service because there really isn't much of a need to check under the hood anymore. As for building customer loyalty, why hand out free road maps when cars are increasingly equipped with GPS locators? Is it any wonder then why the neighborhood filling station is all but extinct?
In 10 or so years, we won't complain about the price of gasoline because we'll plug our vehicles into an electric outlet every night. And when that time comes, we'll remember the good old days. You know -- the days when every neighborhood had a convenience store.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
As Investments, Airlines Have Bumpy Rides
Until recently, I had four distinct memories of Charleston's airport.
The most vivid, of course, was my first landing. I kept wondering if the pilot was ever going to descend low enough to land when, all of a sudden, the runway was right under the plane. That first landing on a hilltop was an unforgettable thrill. And then wondering whether the pilot would ever get the plane stopped in time more or less topped the thrill of landing.
That landing brought back memories of a plane crash at the airport many years prior. I remembered the dope-filled DC-7 that came in too low and went kersplat. The plane crash, however, wasn't as newsworthy as was the response by a sheriff's deputy. At first, he was praised for getting to the crash scene so quickly. Then it was learned that he was actually there to meet the plane.
After Tom Wolfe's bestseller "The Right Stuff" was made into a movie, the Charleston airport was named in honor of Brig. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager. You just knew that Chuck Yeager had the right stuff when he quipped that having the airport named for him must be an honor because it's so hard to land a plane there.
And my other memory of the airport was reading a newspaper article from the mid-1940s in which the author pointed out the benefits of building Charleston's (proposed new) airport at Teays Valley to serve both Huntington and Charleston. That did not happen. Charlestonians wanted their own airport regardless of its location.
Allow me to pause here and mention Warren Buffett. As you know, Mr. Buffett became one of the world's richest men because he is a brilliant investor. Even so, the Sage of Omaha once made a poor stock pick -- US Airways. He later conceded his error and said, "If capitalists had been present at Kitty Hawk when the Wright brothers' plane first took off, they should have shot it down." No one, not even Warren Buffett, has made money on airline investments.
Until now, that is. Because this time, it's different.
The descendents of the tribe that flattened seven of Charleston's hills by moving enough earth and rock to rival the construction of the Panama Canal are now going to get into the airline business. Yeager Airport is going to be home to a startup, discount airline -- code name: Jet America.
My sources tell me that investors and public officials from Kanawha County sealed the deal after being flown to Nebraska, where they feasted on Omaha steaks at Warren's Buffet, a trendy eatery in Scotts Bluff.
Charleston, Kanawha County and the state have announced they will pony up $2.2 million in seed money for the Jet America start-up. All of this money comes from taxes or public grants.
Jet America is modeled after Skybus, the discount carrier that operated out of Columbus, Ohio. In less than a year of operation, Skybus lost so much money that it unceremoniously pulled the plug April 4. Travelers were stranded. Employees were left in the lurch. And everyone who held a ticket for a future flight is probably out their money.
It goes without saying that Port Columbus airport, the state of Ohio and investors have lost money -- about $160 million. Yet just last spring, Skybus was going to revitalize Port Columbus and central Ohio. Because that time, it was different.
In this current round of airline bankruptcies, the airlines are blaming high fuel prices. Before this, they blamed pilots' salaries. Before that, they blamed machinists' salaries. Before that, it was airport fees or not enough landing slots.
The reason why airlines go in and out of bankruptcy so often is actually quite simple -- there is too much capacity in the industry. Too many seats lead to poaching customers to gain market share.
There seems to be no shortage of people who think airlines are a good investment. The business does have a certain allure, not unlike that of horse racing. Perhaps, it is that allure that makes investors convince themselves that this time, it's different.
But really. What do I know? I don't own airline stock.
The most vivid, of course, was my first landing. I kept wondering if the pilot was ever going to descend low enough to land when, all of a sudden, the runway was right under the plane. That first landing on a hilltop was an unforgettable thrill. And then wondering whether the pilot would ever get the plane stopped in time more or less topped the thrill of landing.
That landing brought back memories of a plane crash at the airport many years prior. I remembered the dope-filled DC-7 that came in too low and went kersplat. The plane crash, however, wasn't as newsworthy as was the response by a sheriff's deputy. At first, he was praised for getting to the crash scene so quickly. Then it was learned that he was actually there to meet the plane.
After Tom Wolfe's bestseller "The Right Stuff" was made into a movie, the Charleston airport was named in honor of Brig. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager. You just knew that Chuck Yeager had the right stuff when he quipped that having the airport named for him must be an honor because it's so hard to land a plane there.
And my other memory of the airport was reading a newspaper article from the mid-1940s in which the author pointed out the benefits of building Charleston's (proposed new) airport at Teays Valley to serve both Huntington and Charleston. That did not happen. Charlestonians wanted their own airport regardless of its location.
Allow me to pause here and mention Warren Buffett. As you know, Mr. Buffett became one of the world's richest men because he is a brilliant investor. Even so, the Sage of Omaha once made a poor stock pick -- US Airways. He later conceded his error and said, "If capitalists had been present at Kitty Hawk when the Wright brothers' plane first took off, they should have shot it down." No one, not even Warren Buffett, has made money on airline investments.
Until now, that is. Because this time, it's different.
The descendents of the tribe that flattened seven of Charleston's hills by moving enough earth and rock to rival the construction of the Panama Canal are now going to get into the airline business. Yeager Airport is going to be home to a startup, discount airline -- code name: Jet America.
My sources tell me that investors and public officials from Kanawha County sealed the deal after being flown to Nebraska, where they feasted on Omaha steaks at Warren's Buffet, a trendy eatery in Scotts Bluff.
Charleston, Kanawha County and the state have announced they will pony up $2.2 million in seed money for the Jet America start-up. All of this money comes from taxes or public grants.
Jet America is modeled after Skybus, the discount carrier that operated out of Columbus, Ohio. In less than a year of operation, Skybus lost so much money that it unceremoniously pulled the plug April 4. Travelers were stranded. Employees were left in the lurch. And everyone who held a ticket for a future flight is probably out their money.
It goes without saying that Port Columbus airport, the state of Ohio and investors have lost money -- about $160 million. Yet just last spring, Skybus was going to revitalize Port Columbus and central Ohio. Because that time, it was different.
In this current round of airline bankruptcies, the airlines are blaming high fuel prices. Before this, they blamed pilots' salaries. Before that, they blamed machinists' salaries. Before that, it was airport fees or not enough landing slots.
The reason why airlines go in and out of bankruptcy so often is actually quite simple -- there is too much capacity in the industry. Too many seats lead to poaching customers to gain market share.
There seems to be no shortage of people who think airlines are a good investment. The business does have a certain allure, not unlike that of horse racing. Perhaps, it is that allure that makes investors convince themselves that this time, it's different.
But really. What do I know? I don't own airline stock.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Huxley’s America: A Nation on Drugs
The numbers are in: More than 2.3 million American adults are behind bars. That's one out of 99 -- or more than one percent.
The prison population has essentially tripled since 1988. And if you add in all American adults who are on parole, home confinement or still in the corrections system, the number grows to more than 3 percent of the United States population.
What does the current prison headcount say about our society?
China reports 1.5 million adults in jail, and its population is more than four times that of ours. If China, the nation we love to criticize for its human rights policies, had the same incarceration rate we do, then China's jail population would swell to more than 14 million. Boy, oh boy, would sanctimonious Americans squawk if China had 14 million jail cells.
How many Americans are in jail? If you fenced West Virginians in, you'd still have to import everyone from Wyoming to equal 2.3 million people. Kentucky with its 4.2 million Kentuckians could represent our nation's halfway house.
Drug use is the driving force behind the boom in American incarceration. Some people shoot heroin. Some smoke pot. College students pop Ritalin at exam time. Elementary schools force-feed Ritalin to children just to spite parents who tune out to Pink Floyd. Doctors and pain clinics prescribe heavy-duty painkillers as if handing out Halloween candy. (In fairness, patients would sue doctors into the poor house if they didn't.) And teenagers just steal whatever is in the family medicine cabinet or use their allowance to buy ecstasy for special occasions.
Of those incarcerated felons who aren't in jail for using or selling drugs, a significant number were convicted of a drug-related crime, e.g.: robbing a convenience store to get money to buy drugs.
The crime numbers that astound me the most haven't even been published because there is no way to calculate them.
First, consider the billions of dollars circulating throughout the underground economy. Just how many bales of cash has America air-mailed to Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and other foreign countries to purchase illegal drugs?
Secondly, billions of dollars are spent on legal drugs. Hospice care alone is a major pipeline for narcotics. Medicare and Medicaid, as well as insurance companies, shell out big bucks for narcotics. And we have to include over-the-counter drugs in this calculation. People get high on Nyquil, and Sudafed becomes meth. Before ecstasy, teens mixed aspirin with Coca Cola. Big Pharma rules the drug scene!
And, finally, there is the cost of policing and warehousing. Whether it's the extra cost to pharmacies for hiding Sudafed from cold sufferers, the budget of the Drug Enforcement Administration, or that new federal prison that Sen. Robert C. Byrd calls an economic development project, the cost of policing our drug culture is enormous.
If we could cut our drug-induced social costs by half, then we could use that money to turn America into a Utopian paradise.
Couldn't we?
I am not so naive as to believe that we'll eliminate the drug scene. However, until the late 1960s, Americans certainly did a better job of managing it.
What happened in the 1960s was dreadful. A generation of Americans (my generation) actually believed they could do what had always been dreamed about but never achieved -- create Utopia. Free love, mellowing marijuana and LSD made it so.
In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave New World" as a parody of Utopian society. He wrote about the world becoming a dystopia, wherein families and family values were crushed, promiscuity was the norm and soma (a hallucinogen) became the drug of choice.
Huxley also predicted test-tube babies. While that has not happened yet, we're surely closing the gap. In the interim, we have segregated Alphas from Gammas the old-fashioned, Wizard-of-Oz way with certificates of accomplishment.
The problems associated with our love of drugs have gone beyond building more prisons or reducing sentences. Steadily rising incarceration statistics tell us the problem is more complex than that.
The real question before us is: Has America become Huxley's soma-driven dystopia? Our paper money routinely tests positive for cocaine. Though not every bill has been used to snort the white stuff, enough have to contaminate ATM's. And metropolitan drinking water now tests positive for a variety of pharmaceuticals.
Bulging prisons would alarm sober people and force them to take action. But as our dirty money and tainted water indicate, Americans are everything but sober.
The prison population has essentially tripled since 1988. And if you add in all American adults who are on parole, home confinement or still in the corrections system, the number grows to more than 3 percent of the United States population.
What does the current prison headcount say about our society?
China reports 1.5 million adults in jail, and its population is more than four times that of ours. If China, the nation we love to criticize for its human rights policies, had the same incarceration rate we do, then China's jail population would swell to more than 14 million. Boy, oh boy, would sanctimonious Americans squawk if China had 14 million jail cells.
How many Americans are in jail? If you fenced West Virginians in, you'd still have to import everyone from Wyoming to equal 2.3 million people. Kentucky with its 4.2 million Kentuckians could represent our nation's halfway house.
Drug use is the driving force behind the boom in American incarceration. Some people shoot heroin. Some smoke pot. College students pop Ritalin at exam time. Elementary schools force-feed Ritalin to children just to spite parents who tune out to Pink Floyd. Doctors and pain clinics prescribe heavy-duty painkillers as if handing out Halloween candy. (In fairness, patients would sue doctors into the poor house if they didn't.) And teenagers just steal whatever is in the family medicine cabinet or use their allowance to buy ecstasy for special occasions.
Of those incarcerated felons who aren't in jail for using or selling drugs, a significant number were convicted of a drug-related crime, e.g.: robbing a convenience store to get money to buy drugs.
The crime numbers that astound me the most haven't even been published because there is no way to calculate them.
First, consider the billions of dollars circulating throughout the underground economy. Just how many bales of cash has America air-mailed to Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and other foreign countries to purchase illegal drugs?
Secondly, billions of dollars are spent on legal drugs. Hospice care alone is a major pipeline for narcotics. Medicare and Medicaid, as well as insurance companies, shell out big bucks for narcotics. And we have to include over-the-counter drugs in this calculation. People get high on Nyquil, and Sudafed becomes meth. Before ecstasy, teens mixed aspirin with Coca Cola. Big Pharma rules the drug scene!
And, finally, there is the cost of policing and warehousing. Whether it's the extra cost to pharmacies for hiding Sudafed from cold sufferers, the budget of the Drug Enforcement Administration, or that new federal prison that Sen. Robert C. Byrd calls an economic development project, the cost of policing our drug culture is enormous.
If we could cut our drug-induced social costs by half, then we could use that money to turn America into a Utopian paradise.
Couldn't we?
I am not so naive as to believe that we'll eliminate the drug scene. However, until the late 1960s, Americans certainly did a better job of managing it.
What happened in the 1960s was dreadful. A generation of Americans (my generation) actually believed they could do what had always been dreamed about but never achieved -- create Utopia. Free love, mellowing marijuana and LSD made it so.
In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave New World" as a parody of Utopian society. He wrote about the world becoming a dystopia, wherein families and family values were crushed, promiscuity was the norm and soma (a hallucinogen) became the drug of choice.
Huxley also predicted test-tube babies. While that has not happened yet, we're surely closing the gap. In the interim, we have segregated Alphas from Gammas the old-fashioned, Wizard-of-Oz way with certificates of accomplishment.
The problems associated with our love of drugs have gone beyond building more prisons or reducing sentences. Steadily rising incarceration statistics tell us the problem is more complex than that.
The real question before us is: Has America become Huxley's soma-driven dystopia? Our paper money routinely tests positive for cocaine. Though not every bill has been used to snort the white stuff, enough have to contaminate ATM's. And metropolitan drinking water now tests positive for a variety of pharmaceuticals.
Bulging prisons would alarm sober people and force them to take action. But as our dirty money and tainted water indicate, Americans are everything but sober.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Delaying Tax Reform Delays Prosperity
How many southerners does it take to change a light bulb?
Actually, just one. However, it has long been a custom for gentlemen of the Confederacy to attend the changing ceremony and offer their recollections of the years of faithful service that the old bulb gave.
My favorite light bulb joke reminds me so much of West Virginia's attitude toward business tax reform -- 40 watts was good enough in Grandpa's day; 40 watts will do for ours.
"Unleashing Capitalism," Russell Sobel's collection of thought-provoking articles, makes it very clear that prosperity stops at the West Virginia state line. He has the pictures to prove it.
Some of the many reasons advanced in the book for our losing the battle of border warfare point to the state's taxation of businesses. And in this category, the business franchise tax and property tax are not really taxes at all -- they are instruments of punishment aimed at foolhardy capitalists.
Now that Sobel and his colleagues have exposed flaws in the business tax structure, the power brokers in state government have begun their defense of the status quo. This was not unexpected. But the defense they offer is pretty weak.
The party line defense is: If we cut business taxes now, the state just might need that revenue during an economic downturn in the future.
This defense for not cutting taxes works only when one condition has been met -- government spending has been trimmed to the bone, and there is nowhere else to cut. But such is not the case. Let's look at Clarksburg and Weston.
The state-owned, state-operated Veteran's Nursing Home and the public-private Stonewall Resort are two examples of the creative ways that our state wastes money. The state has no business running a nursing home, a mission that it proved it couldn't handle before the facility even opened. As a hotelier, the state had already lost tens of millions of dollars operating park lodges before dreaming up the Stonewall project.
If West Virginia politicians were farmers, they'd fertilize their fields with rock salt and then sit back and wait for a bumper crop of vine-ripened pickles and boughs of flossy sauerkraut. And when the crops predictably failed, they'd sow more salt.
We know that the business tax code is punitive. Toyota's incredibly successful engine factory in Putnam County owes its success to, in large part, special arrangements that allow for tax avoidance. The state tax code was the deal breaker -- no tax relief, no factory.
Before Toyota, we had the super tax credit model for picking winners. As I recall, this credit was the workaround for the notorious gross sales tax on business.
Whether you tax capital and inventory or a company's gross receipts makes little difference to the balance sheet. These types of taxes have the same effect in that they work against building the capital account.
Time and time again, we have seen substantial capital investment in plant and equipment as a result of the elimination (or very substantial reduction) of business taxes. Yet our state's leaders fail to comprehend the simple but obvious message -- reform the tax code for all businesses, and prosperity will follow.
My biggest concern regarding tax reform in West Virginia is the current notion that we must cautiously phase out a specific tax. This indicates to me that nobody in state government has a comprehensive tax plan. Such tentative phase-outs also can be translated as meaning that nobody understands the tax base well enough to even craft tax models for the future.
Business tax reform is the best way to create jobs. And it needs to happen sooner rather than later if we expect to keep the lights on.
Actually, just one. However, it has long been a custom for gentlemen of the Confederacy to attend the changing ceremony and offer their recollections of the years of faithful service that the old bulb gave.
My favorite light bulb joke reminds me so much of West Virginia's attitude toward business tax reform -- 40 watts was good enough in Grandpa's day; 40 watts will do for ours.
"Unleashing Capitalism," Russell Sobel's collection of thought-provoking articles, makes it very clear that prosperity stops at the West Virginia state line. He has the pictures to prove it.
Some of the many reasons advanced in the book for our losing the battle of border warfare point to the state's taxation of businesses. And in this category, the business franchise tax and property tax are not really taxes at all -- they are instruments of punishment aimed at foolhardy capitalists.
Now that Sobel and his colleagues have exposed flaws in the business tax structure, the power brokers in state government have begun their defense of the status quo. This was not unexpected. But the defense they offer is pretty weak.
The party line defense is: If we cut business taxes now, the state just might need that revenue during an economic downturn in the future.
This defense for not cutting taxes works only when one condition has been met -- government spending has been trimmed to the bone, and there is nowhere else to cut. But such is not the case. Let's look at Clarksburg and Weston.
The state-owned, state-operated Veteran's Nursing Home and the public-private Stonewall Resort are two examples of the creative ways that our state wastes money. The state has no business running a nursing home, a mission that it proved it couldn't handle before the facility even opened. As a hotelier, the state had already lost tens of millions of dollars operating park lodges before dreaming up the Stonewall project.
If West Virginia politicians were farmers, they'd fertilize their fields with rock salt and then sit back and wait for a bumper crop of vine-ripened pickles and boughs of flossy sauerkraut. And when the crops predictably failed, they'd sow more salt.
We know that the business tax code is punitive. Toyota's incredibly successful engine factory in Putnam County owes its success to, in large part, special arrangements that allow for tax avoidance. The state tax code was the deal breaker -- no tax relief, no factory.
Before Toyota, we had the super tax credit model for picking winners. As I recall, this credit was the workaround for the notorious gross sales tax on business.
Whether you tax capital and inventory or a company's gross receipts makes little difference to the balance sheet. These types of taxes have the same effect in that they work against building the capital account.
Time and time again, we have seen substantial capital investment in plant and equipment as a result of the elimination (or very substantial reduction) of business taxes. Yet our state's leaders fail to comprehend the simple but obvious message -- reform the tax code for all businesses, and prosperity will follow.
My biggest concern regarding tax reform in West Virginia is the current notion that we must cautiously phase out a specific tax. This indicates to me that nobody in state government has a comprehensive tax plan. Such tentative phase-outs also can be translated as meaning that nobody understands the tax base well enough to even craft tax models for the future.
Business tax reform is the best way to create jobs. And it needs to happen sooner rather than later if we expect to keep the lights on.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Shapiro Brings Clarity to the Welfare State, Health Care
Book Review:
Is the welfare state justified?
Finally, there is a lucid answer to that question. I say lucid, because, in the past, the answer always has been given from the perspective of the bleeding-heart liberal or the "eat-cake" conservative.
The lucid answer that I refer to comes from the pen of Dr. Daniel Shapiro, professor of philosophy at West Virginia University. He has done a remarkable service for society with the publication of his new book "Is the Welfare State Justified?" (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
On seeing the book's cover, the first question I wanted Dr. Shapiro to answer was: Is the welfare state justifiable?
He dutifully answered me by defining the two most important social welfare programs that we have -- health care and retirement income. This is the first time that I have read anything regarding health and old age benefits wherein the author bothered with definitions. How novel!
Each of us will succumb to illness or injury in our lifetime, and we have come to expect medical care when we need it. The option of not helping the ill or the injured was settled long ago. We cannot stand idly by and watch others suffer.
Hippocrates offered pain relief to his patients by having them chew on willow bark. Today, the same drug (aspirin) is available over the counter. You may think my example as trivial. However, I chose aspirin for a reason. Going from doctor-prescribed herbs to self-medicating patients represents, at least in my mind, the quantum leap that has landed us in our current health care dilemma.
Once upon a time, there was one Hippocrates. Hence, health care was rationed as he could see only a limited number of patients. Today, we have Docs-in-a-Box available 24/7. Yet we believe health care is rationed too stringently. Is it?
Dr. Shapiro discusses the aspect of rationing health care in a thorough manner. But before diving in, he takes special care to educate the reader about what we refer to as private health insurance and government health care. We have neither private (market health insurance) nor government insurance (national health insurance). We have a hodgepodge system of health care options cobbled together as a result of federal and state legislation and state insurance regulations.
Make no mistake -- health care is rationed now and will continue to be rationed. Dr. Shapiro describes how both systems (market and national insurance) ration care and then makes his recommendation for the best plan.
"Is the Welfare State Justified?" also delves into the sources of retirement income. If we live long enough, we'll need some form of income subsidy. Should government (the taxpayer) bear the expense of old age benefits? Or should individuals (and their families) bear this responsibility?
Once again, the author points to a system that is neither a national plan nor a market plan. Our retirement plans have resulted from years of meddling with the tax code. And like my aspirin example, "if it feels good at the time, then chew on it" seems to be the way our government has dealt with the regulation and taxation of old-age income.
In the past 50 years, health care and retirement income have come to be viewed as entitlements. We know that Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting this nation. The situation is only going to get worse.
Medicare and Medicaid have survived this long on the kindness of cost-shifting their respective burdens to group health insurance policyholders. Social Security is failing based solely on demographics. We cannot tax today's youth enough to keep the Baby Boomers on the golf course.
Policymakers could right the ship in time before it sinks if they would consider Dr. Shapiro's analysis and recommendations. Because his arguments are based on the philosophy of social welfare, and not on the partisan politics of entitlements, Dr. Shapiro succeeds in understanding how to overhaul the welfare state.
By coincidence, I began reading "Is the Welfare State Justified?" just after re-reading "Theory of the Leisure Class" by Thorstein Veblen. Though written a century ago, Veblen understood exactly where society was headed. He coined the term "conspicuous consumption." High-priced goods and services sometimes are referred to as Veblen goods, meaning that people desire them more as their price increases. Thus, do you wonder why increases in health care costs outpace the general inflation rate?
I can only hope that our policymakers will read Dr. Shapiro's book. His insight on the philosophy of the welfare state outclasses anything that I have read prior.
Is the welfare state justified?
Finally, there is a lucid answer to that question. I say lucid, because, in the past, the answer always has been given from the perspective of the bleeding-heart liberal or the "eat-cake" conservative.
The lucid answer that I refer to comes from the pen of Dr. Daniel Shapiro, professor of philosophy at West Virginia University. He has done a remarkable service for society with the publication of his new book "Is the Welfare State Justified?" (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
On seeing the book's cover, the first question I wanted Dr. Shapiro to answer was: Is the welfare state justifiable?
He dutifully answered me by defining the two most important social welfare programs that we have -- health care and retirement income. This is the first time that I have read anything regarding health and old age benefits wherein the author bothered with definitions. How novel!
Each of us will succumb to illness or injury in our lifetime, and we have come to expect medical care when we need it. The option of not helping the ill or the injured was settled long ago. We cannot stand idly by and watch others suffer.
Hippocrates offered pain relief to his patients by having them chew on willow bark. Today, the same drug (aspirin) is available over the counter. You may think my example as trivial. However, I chose aspirin for a reason. Going from doctor-prescribed herbs to self-medicating patients represents, at least in my mind, the quantum leap that has landed us in our current health care dilemma.
Once upon a time, there was one Hippocrates. Hence, health care was rationed as he could see only a limited number of patients. Today, we have Docs-in-a-Box available 24/7. Yet we believe health care is rationed too stringently. Is it?
Dr. Shapiro discusses the aspect of rationing health care in a thorough manner. But before diving in, he takes special care to educate the reader about what we refer to as private health insurance and government health care. We have neither private (market health insurance) nor government insurance (national health insurance). We have a hodgepodge system of health care options cobbled together as a result of federal and state legislation and state insurance regulations.
Make no mistake -- health care is rationed now and will continue to be rationed. Dr. Shapiro describes how both systems (market and national insurance) ration care and then makes his recommendation for the best plan.
"Is the Welfare State Justified?" also delves into the sources of retirement income. If we live long enough, we'll need some form of income subsidy. Should government (the taxpayer) bear the expense of old age benefits? Or should individuals (and their families) bear this responsibility?
Once again, the author points to a system that is neither a national plan nor a market plan. Our retirement plans have resulted from years of meddling with the tax code. And like my aspirin example, "if it feels good at the time, then chew on it" seems to be the way our government has dealt with the regulation and taxation of old-age income.
In the past 50 years, health care and retirement income have come to be viewed as entitlements. We know that Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting this nation. The situation is only going to get worse.
Medicare and Medicaid have survived this long on the kindness of cost-shifting their respective burdens to group health insurance policyholders. Social Security is failing based solely on demographics. We cannot tax today's youth enough to keep the Baby Boomers on the golf course.
Policymakers could right the ship in time before it sinks if they would consider Dr. Shapiro's analysis and recommendations. Because his arguments are based on the philosophy of social welfare, and not on the partisan politics of entitlements, Dr. Shapiro succeeds in understanding how to overhaul the welfare state.
By coincidence, I began reading "Is the Welfare State Justified?" just after re-reading "Theory of the Leisure Class" by Thorstein Veblen. Though written a century ago, Veblen understood exactly where society was headed. He coined the term "conspicuous consumption." High-priced goods and services sometimes are referred to as Veblen goods, meaning that people desire them more as their price increases. Thus, do you wonder why increases in health care costs outpace the general inflation rate?
I can only hope that our policymakers will read Dr. Shapiro's book. His insight on the philosophy of the welfare state outclasses anything that I have read prior.
Friday, January 18, 2008
O Death, Where Is Thy Certificate Of Need?
Just before the holidays, I went to the doctor's office thinking I had a routine ailment. But while in the waiting room, I had one of those unexpected health scares -- a mortality check so to speak.
As a new patient, I had to fill out several forms. The first, of course, requests that all important personal identification information that consists of an identity thief's bonanza. The next three pages asked me "Have you ever had ... ?" With pen in hand, I checked boxes in the "Yes" and "No" columns.
The next page asked me the reason for my visit. So I wrote: ingrown toenail.
It was page six that explained the doctor's privacy policy in fine print. Though difficult to read -- the copier must have been low on toner that day -- I still had to acknowledge receiving an explanation of the policy with my signature.
At this point, I thought this podiatrist's privacy policy ought to include advice on keeping one's feet covered while in public. I have seen so many sandal-clad, ugly feet that I wish people would learn, once and for all, that Birkenstocks only make their naked feet look mangier. And then there are painted toenails, especially the ones that are half grown out, that really make me cringe.
Then came the killer. Page seven wanted to know if I had a living will and a medical power of attorney. When a podiatrist wants to know this information, then one has to confront the seriousness of any medical condition.
I had been derelict in executing a medical power of attorney because I never felt comfortable with asking someone to end my life. That is such an awesome responsibility to dump on someone else.
But who wants to live Terri Schiavo's life? Nobody wants family and friends to end up in court trying to decipher his or her last wishes.
While sitting in a foot doctor's office, I confronted my dereliction of duty and boldly selected my medical power of attorney-- the West Virginia Health Care Authority.
I didn't even know that the HCA existed until Clarksburg's United Hospital Center decided to move to a new location about five years ago. I live very close to UHC, and I was hoping that the hospital would stay put.
To move, however, UHC had to seek the HCA's approval of a new certificate of need. The process was time consuming and finally had to be decided by the state Supreme Court of Appeals. The court invalidated UHC's certificate of need because the HCA broke its own rules in granting it.
The HCA rules specifically stated that a replacement hospital had to be built within a five-mile radius of the existing facility. UHC's new location was eight miles distant. The HCA has since amended the five-mile rule to accommodate UHC.
Initially, I was mad at the HCA for approving the move. But then a paramedic set me straight. He told me that I lived too close to the hospital to be Life-Flighted. He also said that even five miles was too close to call in the Life-Flight helicopter. But eight miles meant that the chopper could pick me up.
In essence, the paramedic told me the HCA was doing me and everyone else who lived in Clarksburg a favor. I agreed with him and began thinking about the HCA in a positive way.
More recently, the HCA has been involved with deciding who can own and operate CT scanners. It seems that a bunch of greedy doctors want to take that business away from hospitals. Charleston Area Medical Center has said that it makes an annual profit of $45 million from its CT scanning business, which it uses to subsidize money-losing procedures. Doctors, if allowed to own scanners, would just subsidize their already extravagant lifestyles.
I don't know how the CT scanner issue will play out. But I do know this: Only the HCA has the ability and the wisdom to know exactly how many CT scanners we need and, more importantly, where those machines need to be located.
In short, the HCA -- and only the HCA -- knows exactly how much health care each West Virginian needs. This is why I chose the authority to implement my end-of-life directives. The HCA won't keep me alive any longer than I need to be nor will it pull my plug prematurely.
As a new patient, I had to fill out several forms. The first, of course, requests that all important personal identification information that consists of an identity thief's bonanza. The next three pages asked me "Have you ever had ... ?" With pen in hand, I checked boxes in the "Yes" and "No" columns.
The next page asked me the reason for my visit. So I wrote: ingrown toenail.
It was page six that explained the doctor's privacy policy in fine print. Though difficult to read -- the copier must have been low on toner that day -- I still had to acknowledge receiving an explanation of the policy with my signature.
At this point, I thought this podiatrist's privacy policy ought to include advice on keeping one's feet covered while in public. I have seen so many sandal-clad, ugly feet that I wish people would learn, once and for all, that Birkenstocks only make their naked feet look mangier. And then there are painted toenails, especially the ones that are half grown out, that really make me cringe.
Then came the killer. Page seven wanted to know if I had a living will and a medical power of attorney. When a podiatrist wants to know this information, then one has to confront the seriousness of any medical condition.
I had been derelict in executing a medical power of attorney because I never felt comfortable with asking someone to end my life. That is such an awesome responsibility to dump on someone else.
But who wants to live Terri Schiavo's life? Nobody wants family and friends to end up in court trying to decipher his or her last wishes.
While sitting in a foot doctor's office, I confronted my dereliction of duty and boldly selected my medical power of attorney-- the West Virginia Health Care Authority.
I didn't even know that the HCA existed until Clarksburg's United Hospital Center decided to move to a new location about five years ago. I live very close to UHC, and I was hoping that the hospital would stay put.
To move, however, UHC had to seek the HCA's approval of a new certificate of need. The process was time consuming and finally had to be decided by the state Supreme Court of Appeals. The court invalidated UHC's certificate of need because the HCA broke its own rules in granting it.
The HCA rules specifically stated that a replacement hospital had to be built within a five-mile radius of the existing facility. UHC's new location was eight miles distant. The HCA has since amended the five-mile rule to accommodate UHC.
Initially, I was mad at the HCA for approving the move. But then a paramedic set me straight. He told me that I lived too close to the hospital to be Life-Flighted. He also said that even five miles was too close to call in the Life-Flight helicopter. But eight miles meant that the chopper could pick me up.
In essence, the paramedic told me the HCA was doing me and everyone else who lived in Clarksburg a favor. I agreed with him and began thinking about the HCA in a positive way.
More recently, the HCA has been involved with deciding who can own and operate CT scanners. It seems that a bunch of greedy doctors want to take that business away from hospitals. Charleston Area Medical Center has said that it makes an annual profit of $45 million from its CT scanning business, which it uses to subsidize money-losing procedures. Doctors, if allowed to own scanners, would just subsidize their already extravagant lifestyles.
I don't know how the CT scanner issue will play out. But I do know this: Only the HCA has the ability and the wisdom to know exactly how many CT scanners we need and, more importantly, where those machines need to be located.
In short, the HCA -- and only the HCA -- knows exactly how much health care each West Virginian needs. This is why I chose the authority to implement my end-of-life directives. The HCA won't keep me alive any longer than I need to be nor will it pull my plug prematurely.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
"Why I Joined": A Soldier’s Story In His Own Words
"And so we watch with detached curiosity, from dry land, to see whether the Iraqis will sink or swim. For shame." -- Christopher Hitchens
Posted by Lt. Mark Daily at MySpace.com.
Christopher Hitchens, writing in the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, tells us a heart-rending story about the death of Lt. Mark Daily in Iraq. Hitchens, the liberal who pressed for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein more loudly than any conservative dared to do, was confronted with the consequences of his unequivocal call for regime change when he learned that Lt. Daily took his words to heart and considered them as reason enough to oust Saddam and his Baathist thugs.
Christopher Hitchens is my favorite writer of this age. His wordsmithing alone qualifies him for that praise. But what sets him apart from other commentators is his bravery (not bravado) in advancing his views and positions. Lt. Daily evidently admired Mr. Hitchens as well -- well enough to quote him, and more importantly, to believe in his message.
And so it happened then that when Mr. Hitchens learned of Mark Daily's fate, he felt the pain and anguish of perhaps being partly responsible for this young soldier's death. It is one thing to advocate war from within the safe confines of a typewriter carriage. But to know that a soldier took the typed page and made it part of his battle creed has to be haunting.
Lt. Daily was killed by a cowardly weapon -- the land mine. In the Iraq war, however, we do not hear the term "land mine" mentioned. In the newspeak of terror war, we refer to these bombs as IEDs -- improvised explosive devices.
Thankfully, IUD was already in use or our soldiers would have to be on the lookout for improvised underground devices.
At his MySpace.com page, Lt. Daily wrote a passionate essay titled "Why I Joined." He also was kind enough to summarize his reasons for joining the army and going to Iraq by telling his readers to watch the movie "Schindler's List" followed by "Saving Private Ryan."
The young lieutenant was not a hero in the traditional sense of the word, but I would describe him as heroic -- a more fitting word, perhaps.
Oskar Schindler was not a hero, but he was heroic. Capt. John H. Miller was not a hero, but he was heroic. And so on.
Lt. Daily went off to fight a war for a noble reason -- that of ridding an oppressed people of their dictator. He did not go off to war to loot and plunder. And that is a major difference in the pursuit of warfare that differentiates the American soldier from the hordes of masquerading butchers and thieves who permeate the history books.
Mr. Hitchens article, "A Death in the Family," recounts his meeting Lt. Daily's family. He wasn't sure at the outset whether he should even make the attempt to contact them. And if he did so, he had no idea of how to phrase his greeting.
There was no established protocol to guide his introducing himself to this family in mourning. Nor did Emily Post's provisos lend any advice specific to the situation. But he felt strongly that, given the circumstance, he needed to make the effort even if the Dailys rejected his condolences out of hand.
We are fortunate that Mr. Hitchens persevered. The story that he wrote is the final chapter that every soldier's family lives through when bidding adieu to a beloved son or daughter who was killed in combat.
"A Death in the Family" comes to a close on a windswept Oregon beach, the locale where Mark Daily wished his ashes be strewn. Mr. Hitchens joined the Daily family there for the ceremony, and he read a fitting passage about the death of a soldier from Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
This is all I want to tell you about Mark Daily in this column. His words are the words you should be reading. For regardless of your opinion of war, you should avail yourself to hear the soldier's opinion. You will find it interesting.
Lt. Mark Daily at MySpace.com http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=46348938
"A Death in the Family" can be found at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/hitchens200711?currentPage=1 or www.hitchensweb.com
Posted by Lt. Mark Daily at MySpace.com.
Christopher Hitchens, writing in the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, tells us a heart-rending story about the death of Lt. Mark Daily in Iraq. Hitchens, the liberal who pressed for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein more loudly than any conservative dared to do, was confronted with the consequences of his unequivocal call for regime change when he learned that Lt. Daily took his words to heart and considered them as reason enough to oust Saddam and his Baathist thugs.
Christopher Hitchens is my favorite writer of this age. His wordsmithing alone qualifies him for that praise. But what sets him apart from other commentators is his bravery (not bravado) in advancing his views and positions. Lt. Daily evidently admired Mr. Hitchens as well -- well enough to quote him, and more importantly, to believe in his message.
And so it happened then that when Mr. Hitchens learned of Mark Daily's fate, he felt the pain and anguish of perhaps being partly responsible for this young soldier's death. It is one thing to advocate war from within the safe confines of a typewriter carriage. But to know that a soldier took the typed page and made it part of his battle creed has to be haunting.
Lt. Daily was killed by a cowardly weapon -- the land mine. In the Iraq war, however, we do not hear the term "land mine" mentioned. In the newspeak of terror war, we refer to these bombs as IEDs -- improvised explosive devices.
Thankfully, IUD was already in use or our soldiers would have to be on the lookout for improvised underground devices.
At his MySpace.com page, Lt. Daily wrote a passionate essay titled "Why I Joined." He also was kind enough to summarize his reasons for joining the army and going to Iraq by telling his readers to watch the movie "Schindler's List" followed by "Saving Private Ryan."
The young lieutenant was not a hero in the traditional sense of the word, but I would describe him as heroic -- a more fitting word, perhaps.
Oskar Schindler was not a hero, but he was heroic. Capt. John H. Miller was not a hero, but he was heroic. And so on.
Lt. Daily went off to fight a war for a noble reason -- that of ridding an oppressed people of their dictator. He did not go off to war to loot and plunder. And that is a major difference in the pursuit of warfare that differentiates the American soldier from the hordes of masquerading butchers and thieves who permeate the history books.
Mr. Hitchens article, "A Death in the Family," recounts his meeting Lt. Daily's family. He wasn't sure at the outset whether he should even make the attempt to contact them. And if he did so, he had no idea of how to phrase his greeting.
There was no established protocol to guide his introducing himself to this family in mourning. Nor did Emily Post's provisos lend any advice specific to the situation. But he felt strongly that, given the circumstance, he needed to make the effort even if the Dailys rejected his condolences out of hand.
We are fortunate that Mr. Hitchens persevered. The story that he wrote is the final chapter that every soldier's family lives through when bidding adieu to a beloved son or daughter who was killed in combat.
"A Death in the Family" comes to a close on a windswept Oregon beach, the locale where Mark Daily wished his ashes be strewn. Mr. Hitchens joined the Daily family there for the ceremony, and he read a fitting passage about the death of a soldier from Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
This is all I want to tell you about Mark Daily in this column. His words are the words you should be reading. For regardless of your opinion of war, you should avail yourself to hear the soldier's opinion. You will find it interesting.
Lt. Mark Daily at MySpace.com http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=46348938
"A Death in the Family" can be found at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/hitchens200711?currentPage=1 or www.hitchensweb.com
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