RANT: A Thought Experiment: The Federal Data Administration

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker29.html

Why Computers Work and Health Care Doesn’t
by Bill Walker

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Computers work. We complain about them, but that’s because most of the time they work so fast that we don’t even notice them in the background. And they get cheaper by the second. They get cheaper so fast that we can see the prices of memory and processor speed falling even without adjusting for inflation.

Health care, on the other hand, gets more expensive all the time, even for techniques that were invented decades ago. Computers get twice as fast every two years, but technology for carbon-based organisms improves at a snail’s pace. Why? Biology isn’t all that complex. After all, our cells only have the equivalent of about 2.8 gigabytes of (very slow) DNA memory storage. The viruses that kill us often get by with 12 kilobytes. Your cellphone has more memory than most pathogens, and cellphone design mutates more over the course of a year than the flu.

A Thought Experiment: The Federal Data Administration

{And it gets funnier after that!}

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Priceless and self-evident.

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MONEY: There’s a tax on dollars. You do realize that. Don’t you?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

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“Inflation has now been institutionalized at a fairly constant 5% per year. This has been determined to be the optimum level for generating the most revenue without causing public alarm. A 5% devaluation applies, not only to the money earned this year, but to all that is left over from previous years. At the end of the first year, a dollar is worth 95 cents. At the end of the second year, the 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, leaving its worth at 90 cents, and so on. By the time a person has worked 20 years, the government will have confiscated 64% of every dollar he saved over those years. By the time he has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%. The government will take virtually everything a person saves over a lifetime.”

— G. Edward Griffin

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And, we’re lucky if it’s ONLY 5%!

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WRITING: Caught short

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

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The kids came for a visit. Great fun. The TV blares “take shelter”. Where? I run to the end of the drive way, grab a tire iron from the truck, and lever up the manhole cover. The womenfolk chase the kids down the hole. I shuttle blankets, water bottle, and some food down to them. What’s next? The family treasure chest and some protection. I pull the truck tail over the open hole and wiggle down my self. Everyone’s scared; me included. Who knows what’s next. At least we weren’t out in the open. Not too bad for being totally unprepared?

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