Americans pretend there are free markets in many industries

I figured it out myself when I traveled. The airfares in Europe and the Middle East are surprisingly affordable. I bought asthma inhalers in Lebanon, Turkey and Spain for about $3 each. Equivalent medicine in the US costs $85 per inhaler, $120 if you don't have insurance.

I was primed to notice an excellent Article in The Atlantic, "The U.S. Only Pretends to Have Free Markets." Here's an excerpt:

Internet service, cellphone plans, and plane tickets are now much cheaper in Europe and Asia than in the United States, and the price differences are staggering. In 2018, according to data gathered by the comparison site Cable, the average monthly cost of a broadband internet connection was $29 in Italy, $31 in France, $32 in South Korea, and $37 in Germany and Japan. The same connection cost $68 in the United States, putting the country on par with Madagascar, Honduras, and Swaziland. American households spend about $100 a month on cellphone services, the Consumer Expenditure Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates. Households in France and Germany pay less than half of that, according to the economists Mara Faccio and Luigi Zingales.

Continue ReadingAmericans pretend there are free markets in many industries

No information, no problem. See no evil.

If you're worried about the effects of pesticides on honey bees, simply stop collecting information to solve the problem. That's the position of the Trump administration.

On the heels of the EPA's June approval of a bee-killing pesticide, the White House said it would stop collecting data on declining honey bee populations—potentially making it impossible to analyze the effects of the chemical and the administration's other anti-science policies on the pollinators.

The next step might be to stop collecting criminal justice statistics, statistics related to failing schools to "solve" those problems too. That strategy would be in line with our tendency to start wars based on faulty intel and lies. And we've already cut the budget for gathering climate data and analysis. No information, no problem.  See no evil.

Continue ReadingNo information, no problem. See no evil.

Matt Taibbi discusses the “Rot of American Journalism” with Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges and Matt Taibbi discuss many of the ways in which "the news" has changed for the worse over the past few decades.   This is the type of discussion you don't see on most news outlets--news media fail to cover problems with news media.

Continue ReadingMatt Taibbi discusses the “Rot of American Journalism” with Chris Hedges

It’s Time to Clean Up Missouri Politics: About the CLEAN MISSOURI Ballot Initiative

Today I had the privilege of attending an informational meeting regarding the CLEAN MISSOURI ballot initiative. The organization will be finished collecting signatures in a few weeks, and is on target to having the initiative on the Missouri statewide ballot this coming November. Who could possibly be against a Ballot Proposition that will read exactly like this:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to: ● change process and criteria for redrawing state legislative districts during reapportionment; ● change limits on campaign contributions that candidates for state legislature can accept from individuals or entities; ● establish a limit on gifts that state legislators, and their employees, can accept from paid lobbyists; ● prohibit state legislators, and their employees, from serving as paid lobbyists for a period of time; ● prohibit political fundraising by candidates for or members of the state legislature on State property; and ● require legislative records and proceedings to be open to the public? State governmental entities estimate annual operating costs may increase by $189,000. Local governmental entities report no fiscal impact.
Here is the Policy Summary. Here is the actual text being proposed for the Missouri Constitution. Here is the website for Clean Missouri. If you would like to get involved in this effort, contact Campaign Director Sean Soendker Nicholson at sean@cleanmissouri.org.

Continue ReadingIt’s Time to Clean Up Missouri Politics: About the CLEAN MISSOURI Ballot Initiative