linx

It's been quite a swimmingly good week of work, if you get my drift, which explains the radio silence, the lack of progress on the film list, and minimal reading.  It is also going to continue for a little bit more, which, as you can imagine, is good for morale..

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/
I thought this was quite interesting...I would argue government subsidies of such things as healthcare drive up costs in that segment, and elsewhere, it plays a role.  I also suspect the rise of the administrative state has the same effect...

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/obamacare-trump-congress-repeal-replace-235074

I think I should have a running series on Donald Trump, idiot, getting other people to do what he wants.  :P  Ok, maybe this isn't his fault -- passing a highly complex law without figuring out what could wrong and correcting it or better yet not doing it in the first place will do that to you -- but if the ACA implodes on its own...To me, one way around this (and to avoid further shitshows) would be to get the infrastructure plan out there... not that it would be a huge help, but the optics of people running around building things and hiring people would be nice.  Also, people with real jobs don't need Medicaid, and downsizing that program seems to be a GOP/Trumper goal, so...