Hi, Mike,
My main reason for pointing to Bell Curve was, in the context of being warned (by Orwell and Rand) about ominous trends in the culture and the country, my belief that current policies deliberately deny the spectrum of cognitive ability. I find that just another manifestation of ignoring, denying and deliberately obfuscating reality.
I took a quick look at the posting and comments on the "bell curve URL" you indicated. I see a lot of misunderstandings. Individuals are parts of groups. Statistics are meaningful only in adequate size samples representative of a group one wishes to evaluate. The most fundamental question is do you believe that cognitive ability is objectively measurable? I do. But, as the book says, cognitive ability is only about 60% inherited. Consequently ...
Real life is different than games. In real warfare, as an old Serbian proverb says: "Two bad ones killed the hero." Team sports are a ritualized battle and despite different contributions of individual members of the team, the victory belongs to the team. A superstar soccer player cannot beet a full high school team. If one craves for recognition of the individual, let him choose singles tennis, not football.
I have seldom seen, in one sentence, brilliance and depth expressed so clearly to me as Milton Freedman's comment on the book. That is exactly what I thought after having read the book. Except that probably I would have taken half a page to say the same thing.
I have only small amount of time that I can dedicate to the Gulch. I would love to discuss more in detail the implications of that book. If we want to do it, and if you have the patience with the infrequency of my response in the conversation, should we move that conversation to the other post?

I am sorry not to understand the point you were trying to make. I do understand and agree with your comment above about wanting a society of free individuals, etc., I do not see how that ties into Chapter 22 of The Bell Curve. However, you will find the book listed here in the Gulch for discussion. http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/ce... I do understand and agree that we in America (and the world, perhaps; maybe only in the West) have this long argument about the differences between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.

Hello Robbie53024,
You too. If we all reach just a few and they reach few... Like staring with a penny and doubling your money every day... We may end up with a fortune!
Carpe diem!
Regards,
O.A.

Sometimes those pithy platitudes hit the nail on the head:

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Ignorance is bliss.

But I am a Conspiracy Theorist, a Bigot, Racist, low life Scum that believes in the tooth fairy with nothing to see here citizen. Move along, move along.

Another idea I have heard is do away with flat co pays. Make it a percentage. If you can get a prescription for $20.00 no matter where you go why shop around? If you pay 20% then you will find the lowest price. Pharmaceutical companies hate ideas like this.

Classic. I love that movie.

Unfortunately, euthanasia will be able to be self-ministered soon and there won't be any more taking from the young and productive to fund the health issues of the sick, old and unproductive.
Just watch. The next two to three years will be game changing.

Thank you, Mike, for your response and effort. No, that is not what I want. I do want a society of free individuals choosing together their future. I am not willing to abandon the basic values of our constitution. But, I see nobody thinking constructively about how to avoid the "Tocqueville prediction". In fact, I believe that many, e.g. OB, purposefully seek it. As some Gulchers have already indicated their sense of its inevitability, my fundamentally optimistic nature makes me seek a solution. Mea culpa.

Hello ricjrobinson,
They are the zombies they seem to be fascinated with on so many shows and video games they engage in. We must edify them ourselves.
Regards,
O.A.

Hello Robbie53024,
We will have to pick up the slack. I encourage people, especially my nieces and nephews, to read these materials and I will even lend them my copies, but I am a ruthless librarian. I demand they read and return them promptly. If they don't they can forget about birthday presents etc. :)
Regards,
O.A.

I do agree, the difference is only in the time to failure.

True, and that was fairly well known. People have forgotten the Cornhusker kickback and the buying off of Florida senator Bill Nelson with a Florida-specific Medicare benefit.

One of the primary reasons they can get away with it is third-party-payer. When someone else has to foot the bill for your medical costs, you devalue the services you are receiving and consequently use more than you otherwise would have. When people aren't responsible (via a decreased pocketbook) for their spending habits (and lifestyle habits), they will make disproportionate choices. I'm not advocating for outlawing insurance, but I would wholly support making health insurance just like auto, home, or life insurance - an individual matter. Decouple insurance from the employer entirely. If an employer wants to offer a tax-deductible subsidy to go towards paying insurance premiums or HSA's, that's fine.

As I recall there was not even one vote from a Repb., house or senate. The act was purely the property of the left - and they threw in every wacko idea the left has been begging for over the past 60 years.

That is when the progressive play the sympathy card. They actually have convinced people if they don't support government run health care that they are mean. To have competition when it's your health is mean.We need to combat that foolishness and show that it is the best system for caring for the most people.

The problem is that people have abandoned the principles that made our nation great and expect to be able to get rich by being lazy. It has never worked and can never work, but people keep deluding themselves into believing that they are different.

Yes. Force them to set aside a rainy-day fund for temporary things like wars, etc.

I would also support automatic twilight provisions - that every bill passed only lasted as long as the current tenure of the body passing it. If they wanted it renewed, they would have to reauthorize it.

"just how can we unwind the clock without..."

Most of those on Obamacare were just transferred over from Medicare - they weren't new signups. Repeal Obamacare and put them back on Medicare while we figure out a way to get government out of healthcare entirely.

I look at the problem from a business standpoint. One of the core business fundamentals is to keep overhead (fixed costs) low so as to shift costs to variable costs which can more easily be ascertained and passed on in product costs. That means limiting or eliminating much of the bureaucratic red tape that doesn't add any value. And there is so much red tape when visiting a doctor's office, most patients (and doctors) look like mummies. One study I saw polled doctors and found out that they spent almost 50% of their time just on paperwork for regulations, while the other 50% had to get split up between running their offices and seeing patients. It's no wonder health care is so expensive!

Ayn Rand stated: "One side argues, if you want your freedom you'll give up your life. The other side argues, if you want your life you'll give up your freedom.
Neither side is facing the fact that freedom and life are the same thing. Without one, you can't have the other."
The argument is: Freedom and life. VS Slavery and death.
That's basically why I say they are fundamentally the same. Death is death no matter how it's packaged.

Not much for accepting assignments without pay, I met you halfway here. I already read the book years ago, of course. Nonetheless, i went to the library, got the book, and read Chapter 22. Ingsoc of 1984 was a class-based society in which the stupid proles were controlled by the Party, within which the really clever guys really ruled. Everyone had a proper place. Is that what you meant?

Sorry, LS.

Jealous? :) OK, come on by and we'll go shooting anytime!