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Many visitors arrive to this blog asking "Where can I buy Evaporated Cane Juice?". One easy answer: Amazon. While Amazon has always been known for new books, many people are unaware of the extensive selection of other goods. From electronics to food, cosmetics to toys, one can find just about anything. Along the left margin of my blog, one can find my list of recommended products. I also recommend checking out their selection of used books for out of print volumes and a more economical way to build a library.
Buy Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals
Other Sugar posts:
Evaporated Cane Juice: Part I
Evaporated Cane Juice: Part II
Caramel Apples
Sugar and the Environment
Alternative Sugar Names
Friday, December 18, 2009
Where to Buy Evaporated Cane Juice
Monday, December 14, 2009
Joe Says No?
It is being extensively reported that Joe Lieberman and other centrist Senators are pulling support for a deal that would expand Medicare, creating a de facto "public option".
Let's hope the moderates continue to oppose these measures that would only exacerbate the health care industry's current ills.
Both Snowe and Lieberman have said they opposed the proposal to allow some Americans ages 55 to 64 to buy into the federal Medicare program.
Nelson, who tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill with tougher restrictions on federal funding for elective abortions, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that he considered the Medicare proposal to be "the forerunner of single-payer, the ultimate single-payer plan."
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Whole Foods Health Care
Here is a more in-depth look at the health reform ideas of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. It highlights the disconnect and distortions of some people who equate reform only with a very narrow set of policies, normally based on a single-payer, government run public option. There are other, free-market, options to the current system that will make things better for the majority, most of which are discarded in the current legislation under debate. Instead, anyone not blindly signing up for even more socialist-style medicine is labeled against "reform" and thus, by default; unsympathetic to the poor, evil, racist, out-of-touch with reality, stupid, bought off by big business, and/or just plain insane.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
De Facto Public Plan
There has been talk about scrapping the "public option" in the current Senate bill with the "compromise" of extending Medicare/Medicaid coverage. Let's try to suspend disbelief for a moment and forget the fact that these programs are already speeding towards bankruptcy, inefficient, and one of the main causes of increasing health care costs. One suggestion was to increase Medicaid coverage to 300% of the poverty level. What is 300% of poverty level, you ask?
From the HHS:
The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for the
48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
| Persons in family | Poverty guideline | 300% of Poverty |
| 1 | $10,830 | $32,490 |
| 2 | $14,570 | $43,710 |
| 3 | $18,310 | $54,930 |
| 4 | $22,050 | $66,150 |
| 5 | $25,790 | $77,370 |
| 6 | $29,530 | $88,590 |
| 7 | $33,270 | $99,810 |
| 8 | $37,010 | $111,030 |
A 2007 study from the Tax Foundation reveals that nearly 50% of all Americans fall within 300% of the poverty level. Add a reduction of eligibility age for Medicare, and you see that a compromise of this sort removes the "public option" in name only.
“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.” - Frederic Bastiat
Happiness in Hyperbole
From Las Vegas Sun:
The "slavery" argument is certainly an interesting one...but I find it surprising that it is being leveled by the side that claims some men have the right to others' lives..."from each according to his ability, to each according to his need".
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fired off the first flinty round when he compared opponents of health care reform to those who fought the end of slavery.“Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans can come up with is this: Slow down. Stop everything. Let's start over,” Reid said.
“If you think you have heard these same excuses before, you are right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said: Slow down. It is too early. Let's wait. Things aren't bad enough.”
Saturday, December 5, 2009
North Korean Currency Grab
To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm. - F.A. von Hayek
North Korea's shock currency revaluation has sparked anger and frustration in the isolated communist state as citizens see much of their savings wiped out, reports and observers said Wednesday.
...The sudden revaluation angered market vendors and others.
"I worked like a dog for two months for the winter, but the money became useless paper overnight," Good Friends quoted a Sinuiju resident as saying.
DailyNK said security forces mounted extra street patrols and imposed a curfew in North Hamkyung province in the northeast.
"After 10:00 pm all movement is prohibited. Offenders must be strictly regulated," it quoted the curfew notice as saying.
All shops, markets and stores remained closed due to a temporary ban on trading during the week-long exchange of bills, it added.
Any activities requiring monetary payments were being suspended until new currency is legally circulated, Good Friends reported.
"The purpose of the currency revaluation is to crush private commercial activities, considered to promote anti-socialism," said Good Friends.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fourth-Party Payer?
A look at one of the problems at the heart of rising medical costs that is often neglected - employer-provided coverage.
Three-fifths of Americans, the share with employer-provided health insurance, are in the same situation. Since someone else buys insurance for them, using money they would otherwise receive as wages, they are in no position to shop around and typically do not know the true cost of their coverage. This disconnect between payment and consumption is one of the central problems with the health care system, contributing to insecurity, rapidly escalating costs, and the general lack of choice and competition. Yet both Democrats and Republicans insist on preserving it.So we have the first party (individual), second-party (doctor), third-party (insurer) and a fourth-party (employer) all paying portions of the bill. No wonder it is so difficult to determine the costs, let alone rein them in.
...
Yet it’s the tax-free status of those benefits that favors them over cash compensation, maintaining a bizarre system in which most Americans get their health insurance—unlike their car, life, or homeowner’s insurance—through their employers. As a result, they are insulated from the actual price of their insurance and are more likely to have plans with low deductibles that cover routine medical expenses as well as large, unpredictable costs. In choosing among providers, drugs, and treatments, they have little incentive to economize and usually do not even know the relative costs of their options.
Don't forget, the plan currently being debated by the Senate will increase the linkage of employers and health insurance by requiring them to provide it or pay a fine.
Laissez faire, morbleu! Laissez faire!!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Letter to My Senators
Dear Senator,
I am concerned about The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R.3962). I do not support the following key components, among others:
1. Public Option
2. Employers are required to provide coverage or an 8% payroll fee
3. Mandatory coverage or 2.5% income penalty fee
I strongly believe in the free market, and the large increases in health care costs can be primarily attributed to government interference. To reduce costs, the following measures should be taken:
1. Medicare/medicaid reform/reduction
2. Individual health insurance premiums for all Americans should be tax deductible just like employer-provided plans
3. Open up competition between insurance companies by enabling “regulatory federalism” that would allow individuals and employers to purchase health insurance from other states
4. Decrease barriers of entry to health care providers (facilities and professionals)
5. Tort reform
6. Availability of tax advantaged Health Care Savings Accounts for all Americans
Please consider increasing real market competition to lower health care costs and improve quality, not more government controls and mandates.
Thank you.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Quotes for the Day
- Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking backward upon the years of his own life, he realizes that many implements that were totally unknown in the days of his youth and many others which at that time could be enjoyed only by a small minority are now standard equipment of almost every household. He is fully confident that this trend will prevail also in the future. He simply calls it the American way of life and does not give serious thought to the question of what made this continuous improvement in the supply of material goods possible.
- The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.
- Full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties.
Ludwig von Mises - Economic Freedom and Interventionism
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Trees
There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.
The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.
There was trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
Rush - Hemispheres
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Big Baby
Link, via my wife.
He’s a bouncing baby boy who could break a knee — a mother in Jakarta, Indonesia, delivered a 19.2-pound, 2-foot-long child on Monday via Caesarean section.
The big baby, a weight record for a newborn in Indonesia, although a bit short of the world record of 23 pounds set in 1879, was likely caused by his mother having gestational diabetes. And even though mom Ani was saved the grueling task of pushing the child out herself, the surgery to bring him into the world was still touch and go.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
New CBO Budget Projections
The Congressional Budget Office released its projections over the next decade for the federal budget deficit and the overall outlook of the economy in general. The data and summary can all be found at cbo.gov. Remember that sustained budget deficits lead to larger and larger national debt.
Budget outlook for 2009-19:
The dramatic expansion of the deficit in 2009 (up from 3.2 percent of GDP in 2008) results from a projected rise in outlays of 24 percent (the largest percentage increase since 1952) and a drop in revenues of 17 percent from last year’s levels (the largest percentage drop since 1932). Those changes have largely been the result of the severe economic downturn and the fiscal impact of federal policies enacted in response.On the long term outlook:
Over the long term (beyond the 10-year baseline projection period), the budget remains on an unsustainable path. Unless changes are made to current policies, the nation will face a growing demand for budgetary resources caused by rising health care costs and the aging of the population. Continued large deficits and the resulting increases in federal debt over time would reduce long-term economic growth by lowering national saving and investment relative to what would otherwise occur, causing productivity and wage growth to gradually slow.I recommend again for everyone to watch I.O.U.S.A. which can be found here in Part I and Part II. Also check out this "Fiscal Wake-up Tour" slide presentation.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Health Care Reform Ideas
Here are some common sense ideas for the health care reform debate, from the CEO of Whole Foods. Let's hope some of them make it in any bill that's finally cobbled together and attempted to be rammed through Congress.
Some highlights:
- Medicare/Medicaid reform
- Make individual health insurance tax deductible just like employer-provided insurance
- Tort reform
- Cost transparency so consumers can make informed decision about their own health
Health care reform is important - the costs really are skyrocketing. However, the government should take a real long hard look in the mirror and actually address the sources of the increases. Shifting the costs around only makes the problem worse.
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