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<\/a><\/p>\nWe daily lurch toward the fiscal cliff, and no one makes any practical suggestions.<\/p>\n
I know how we could save $12 Billion a year with a positive effect on the economy, without having to do a thing: let the subsidy to wind power generation expire. It was abolished ten years ago with 31 December 2012 as the expiration date. It costs $12 billion in direct subsidies. The amount of energy generated by wind is small, but letting the subsidy expire won\u2019t cause any shut down of existing mills. Windmill operating costs are low enough that once built they can make some profit \u2013 but not enough to amortize the capital costs of building them in the first place. But the ones we have are already built. The end of the subsidy will actually bring about a drop in the costs of energy. Lower energy costs are always a better economic stimulus than any \u201cstimulus program\u201d ever has.<\/p>\n
I have no predictions about what happens next. My guess is that Obama will allow us to go over the cliff, and thus expose every American family to a couple of thousand dollars tax hike; then he will come as the savior with the \u201cObama Tax Cut\u201d which will be essentially the restoration of the expiring Bush Tax Cuts applied to 95% of the population. Everyone will cheer Obama and curse Bush. <\/p>\n
I suspect though that we will get emergency legislation to restore the wind power subsidies as part of the Obama Tax Cut. I sure hope I\u2019m wrong, but I doubt it.<\/p>\n
I have dental appointments. Managed to knock out a tooth when I fell and bashed myself a few days ago. All\u2019s well, I am more embarrassed than hurt, and the swelling has gone away on my lip leaving me with no more than a magnificent black eye. And it\u2019s lunch time.<\/p>\n For those interested in more information on wind energy subsidies, former Senator Gramm has a Wall Street Journal article at http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424127887324481204578179373031924936.html?mod=googlenews_wsj<\/a> including some specific numbers.<\/p>\n I have been looking for federal employees whose jobs should be redundant in that we don\u2019t need done that which they are doing. Some are doubly redundant \u2013 we\u2019d be better off if they weren\u2019t doing it. One group are those who hounded Dr. Peter Gleason to his death over his peer-reviewed articles pointing out a useful off-label use for Xyrem, whose label use is for narcolepsy. The six federal agents who handcuffed him and the entire prosecutorial team involved might be better employed as bunny inspectors.<\/p>\n The government does a lot of expensive things that either don\u2019t need doing or which actually cause more harm than good. It would make a certain amount of sense to identify these and leave them out of appropriation bills. The money saved might not be very great \u2013 although the wind energy subsidies certainly involve real money, a hundred billion here and a hundred billion there really does add up to real money \u2013 but even a few million saved is worth saving. Particularly if the effect is to stem the flow of information. As it happens I knew the Glendale dentist whose speculations about the effects of aspirin on his patients led to Big Medicine reconsidering aspirin\u2019s use in heart cases; and I was witness to some of the humiliating treatment he received at medical conferences when he simply tried to get them to consider his theory. <\/p>\n In my judgment the FDA assumes that American citizens are dolts, not free citizens, and assumes powers it should not have. I can very well appreciate the usefulness of enforcing truth in labeling. I can defend the notion that the FDA can require drug dispensers to say \u201cThe use of this product for purposes other than those listed as approved is done at the risk of the patient, and we think this stuff is likely to kill you or do something awful to you. Just as I can accept that if a product advertises itself as genuine snake oil it ought to contain oil squeezed out of a snake. I have no objection to labels that say The FDA believes that if you take this stuff you are out of your ever-loving blue-eyed mind, and God have mercy on your soul. But to jail a doctor for telling a medical conference that he has evidence that the stuff is useful is a job not worth doing.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t protect free people from everything. Attempts to do so can lead to bad results. But then science fiction readers have thought about this for a long time. <\/p>\n View 755 Thursday, December 27, 2012 The media seem determined to mock the NRA for the view that \u201cthe main deterrent to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,\u201d but I see no error in the statement. As to the suggestion of having armed \u2026 Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"