http://goodfil.ms/films/by_genre/7-documentary/most_popular
---SPSmith
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
The Riddle of the Gun : Sam Harris
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-riddle-of-the-gun
In fact, it can be easily argued that original intent of the Second
Amendment had nothing to do with the right of self-defense—which
remains the ethical case to be made for owning a firearm. The
amendment seems to have been written to allow the states to check the
power of the federal government by maintaining their militias. Given
the changes that have occurred in our military, and even in our
politics, the idea that a few pistols and an AR 15 in every home
constitutes a necessary bulwark against totalitarianism is fairly
ridiculous. If you believe that the armed forces of the United States
might one day come for you—and you think your cache of small arms will
suffice to defend you if they do—I've got a black helicopter to sell
you.
---SPSmith
In fact, it can be easily argued that original intent of the Second
Amendment had nothing to do with the right of self-defense—which
remains the ethical case to be made for owning a firearm. The
amendment seems to have been written to allow the states to check the
power of the federal government by maintaining their militias. Given
the changes that have occurred in our military, and even in our
politics, the idea that a few pistols and an AR 15 in every home
constitutes a necessary bulwark against totalitarianism is fairly
ridiculous. If you believe that the armed forces of the United States
might one day come for you—and you think your cache of small arms will
suffice to defend you if they do—I've got a black helicopter to sell
you.
---SPSmith
Monday, January 07, 2013
The Blessings of Atheism - NYTimes.com
The atheist is free to concentrate on the fate of this world — whether that means visiting a friend in a hospital or advocating for tougher gun control laws — without trying to square things with an unseen overlord in the next. Atheists do not want to deny religious believers the comfort of their faith. We do want our fellow citizens to respect our deeply held conviction that the absence of an afterlife lends a greater, not a lesser, moral importance to our actions on earth.
---SPSmithNeuroLogica Blog » Morality – Religion, Philosophy and Science
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/morality-religion-philosophy-and-science/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The best approach to morality and ethics, in my opinion, is a
thoughtful blend of philosophy and science. I do not see a legitimate
role for religion itself, however, cultural traditions (many of which
may be codified in religious belief) is a useful source of information
about the human condition and the effect of specific moral behaviors.
There may be wisdom in such traditions – but that is the beginning of
moral thinking, not the conclusion. Religious traditions also come
with a great deal of baggage derived from the beliefs and views of
fairly primitive and unenlightened societies.
---SPSmith
The best approach to morality and ethics, in my opinion, is a
thoughtful blend of philosophy and science. I do not see a legitimate
role for religion itself, however, cultural traditions (many of which
may be codified in religious belief) is a useful source of information
about the human condition and the effect of specific moral behaviors.
There may be wisdom in such traditions – but that is the beginning of
moral thinking, not the conclusion. Religious traditions also come
with a great deal of baggage derived from the beliefs and views of
fairly primitive and unenlightened societies.
---SPSmith
Saturday, January 05, 2013
NSC Study Shows You are More Likely to Killed By a Cop Than a Terrorist
--You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
So, we need to send Seal Team 6 after Sheriff Joe.
---SPSmith
Friday, January 04, 2013
Don’t demonize Sam Harris | The Hellfire Club
This is how philosophers are trained to think about issues. You don't approach people with opposing views by expressing anger with them, or attempting to destroy their credibility. You give their arguments due consideration, try to see how things look from their point of view, and you most certainly avoid such tactics as strawmanning and guilt by association. You look for the strengths in what they are saying.
---SPSmith
Richer Than Romney: Al Gore Scores On Sale Of Current TV - Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/01/04/richer-than-romney-al-gore-scores-on-sale-of-current-tv/
Even Al Gore is a better business man than Mitt the Twit Romney.
Too bad George W. illegally stole the presidential election from him.
---SPSmith
Even Al Gore is a better business man than Mitt the Twit Romney.
Too bad George W. illegally stole the presidential election from him.
---SPSmith
Hammers Deadlier Than Rifles? FBI Releases Crime Stats For 2011
The FBI crime statistics show two things: (1) Firearms are used in the majority of murders in the United States, and (2) if a person is really intent on killing someone, they don't need a gun to do it.
---SPSmith
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Republicans Apologize to Top 1.5 Per Cent : The New Yorker
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal, Republicans in Congress issued a heartfelt apology to the top 1.5 per cent richest people in America, offering "messages of profound condolence" for allowing their taxes to increase slightly.
"Our hearts go out to them," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), still teary-eyed after hanging up the phone with a multimillionaire in Orange County, California. "We came to Washington to do the work of 1.5 per cent of the American people, and we didn't get it done."
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Quote of the week: Peter Atkins on woo and faith « Why Evolution Is True
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/quote-of-the-week-peter-atkins-on-woo-and-faith/
One aspect of the paranormal versus real science should not go
unremarked. As in other forms of obscurantist pursuit, such as
religion, it is so easy to make time-wasting speculations. The
paranormal is effectively unconstrained whimsicality. Original
suggestions in real science emerge only after detailed study and the
lengthy and often subtle process of testing whether current concepts
are adequate. Only if all this hard work fails is a scientist
justified in edging forward human understanding with a novel and
possibly revolutionary idea. Real science is desperately hard work;
the paranormal is almost entirely the fruit of armchair fantasizing.
Real science is a regal application of the full power of human
intellect; the paranormal is a prostitution of the brain. Worst of
all, it wastes time and distorts the public's vision of the scientific
endeavour.
---SPSmith
One aspect of the paranormal versus real science should not go
unremarked. As in other forms of obscurantist pursuit, such as
religion, it is so easy to make time-wasting speculations. The
paranormal is effectively unconstrained whimsicality. Original
suggestions in real science emerge only after detailed study and the
lengthy and often subtle process of testing whether current concepts
are adequate. Only if all this hard work fails is a scientist
justified in edging forward human understanding with a novel and
possibly revolutionary idea. Real science is desperately hard work;
the paranormal is almost entirely the fruit of armchair fantasizing.
Real science is a regal application of the full power of human
intellect; the paranormal is a prostitution of the brain. Worst of
all, it wastes time and distorts the public's vision of the scientific
endeavour.
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
What science says about gun control and violent crime - Boing Boing
http://boingboing.net/2012/12/14/what-science-says-about-gun-co.html
For one segment of American society, guns symbolize honor, human
mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency. By opposing gun
control, individuals affirm the value of these meanings and the vision
of the good society that they construct. For another segment of
American society, however, guns connote something else: the
perpetuation of illicit social hierarchies, the elevation of force
over reason, and the expression of collective indifference to the
well-being of strangers. These individuals instinctively support gun
control as a means of repudiating these significations and of
promoting an alternative vision of the good society that features
equality, social solidarity, and civilized nonagression.
---SPSmith
For one segment of American society, guns symbolize honor, human
mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency. By opposing gun
control, individuals affirm the value of these meanings and the vision
of the good society that they construct. For another segment of
American society, however, guns connote something else: the
perpetuation of illicit social hierarchies, the elevation of force
over reason, and the expression of collective indifference to the
well-being of strangers. These individuals instinctively support gun
control as a means of repudiating these significations and of
promoting an alternative vision of the good society that features
equality, social solidarity, and civilized nonagression.
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Check out: 'Dengue, aka “Breakbone Fever,” Is Back' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Dengue, aka "Breakbone Fever," Is Back
By Maryn McKenna
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/dengue_fever_in_united_states_breakbone_fever_outbreaks_florida_texas_and.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Dengue, aka "Breakbone Fever," Is Back
By Maryn McKenna
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/dengue_fever_in_united_states_breakbone_fever_outbreaks_florida_texas_and.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Article: Critics on The Hobbit’s High Frame Rate -- Vulture
Critics on The Hobbit's High Frame Rate -- Vulture
http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/critics-on-the-hobbits-high-frame-rate.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Masterclass In Why 48 FPS Fails
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Masterclass In Why 48 FPS Fails
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/12/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-masterclass-in-why-48-fps-fails/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Overcoming Bias : Hail Survivalists
On snickering: On average, survivalists tend to display undesirable characteristics. They tend to have extreme and unrealistic opinions, that disaster soon has an unrealistically high probability. They also show disloyalty and a low opinion of their wider society, by suggesting it is due for a big disaster soon. They show disloyalty to larger social units, by focusing directly on saving their own friends and family, rather than focusing on saving those larger social units. And they tend to be cynics, with all that implies.
---SPSmith
Friday, December 21, 2012
Statement of Mayor Bloomberg in Response to NRA Press Conference 12/21/12
http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=BEA2E63E-C29C-7CA2-F74E6DA8F1151161
Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our
country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped
create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous
and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.
---SPSmith
Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our
country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped
create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous
and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.
---SPSmith
NRA press conference: The lesson of Newtown—when gun nuts write gun laws, nuts have guns. - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/12/nra_press_conference_the_lesson_of_newtown_when_gun_nuts_write_gun_laws.html
He lives in a sick, paranoid universe where guns substitute for law,
custom, and morality.
---SPSmith
He lives in a sick, paranoid universe where guns substitute for law,
custom, and morality.
---SPSmith
Why Video Games Don't Correlate to Gun Violence - National - The Atlantic Wire
Video games have repeatedly been a scapegoat following tragedies like the one that occurred in Newtown. ABC News has already run a piece asking "Do Video Games Make Kids Violent?" CNN reported that they were cited among Adam Lanza's likes. But with a series of graphs in the Washington Post Max Fisher makes a compelling case that countries with more video games don't have more gun violence. With gun-related murders and video game consumption plotted on a graph, you can see that the United States has a high rate of murders but, compared to somewhere like the Netherlands, a relatively low rate of video game spending per capita. Fisher shows that the trend line for the graph actually has a downward slope, meaning more video games do not mean more gun violence. The graph also goes on to show how much of an outlier the United States is when it comes to gun-related murders. Click through to read more of his analysis.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Little Green Footballs
Coming soon: John Boehner introduces Plan 9 From Outer Space.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) December 21, 2012
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Article: A conservative case for an assault weapons ban
A conservative case for an assault weapons ban
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burns-assault-weapons-ban-20121220,0,6774314.story
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Article: On Guns, America Stands Out - NYTimes.com
On Guns, America Stands Out - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/blow-on-guns-america-stands-out.html?_r=0
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Little Green Footballs - 19 Right Wing "Anything but the Gun" Excuses (Updated - Now With More Satan)
Here's a list of the scapegoats and excuses we've heard so far in the ongoing pro-gun noise machine's efforts to blame gun violence and the Newtown school massacre on absolutely everything but the ready availability of millions of weapons like the Bushmaster AR-15 style assault rifle used by Adam Lanza.
(All excuses taken from actual right wing blog posts, web articles, and radio interviews.)
- Not enough God in schools.
- Not enough guns in schools.
- Not enough manly men in schools.
- Too many womenfolk in schools.
- Not enough children with guns.
- Not enough children trained to carry out human wave attacks.
- Satan.
- Autism.
- Asperger's Syndrome.
- Mental illness.
- Video games.
- Quentin Tarantino.
- Jon Stewart.
- Abortion pills.
- Gay marriage.
Article: Historical Badass: Climber and Author Maurice Herzog
Historical Badass: Climber and Author Maurice Herzog
http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/12/historical-badass-climber-and-author-maurice-herzog/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Robert Bork Was a Terrible Human Being and No One Should Grieve His Passing
Robert Bork should be remembered as coward and sycophant. The fact that he persisted in public life, and continued to garner praise from conservative circles for his ideas, is an indictment of a corrupt and blind political culture.
The rest—the hatred of gay people, the rancid paranoia, the tribal resentments masquerading as principled stands—is garden-variety, Ann Coulter bullshit.
---SPSmith
Postscript: Robert Bork, 1927-2012 : The New Yorker
Robert Bork, who died Wednesday, was an unrepentant reactionary who was on the wrong side of every major legal controversy of the twentieth century. The fifty-eight senators who voted against Bork for confirmation to the Supreme Court in 1987 honored themselves, and the Constitution. In the subsequent quarter-century, Bork devoted himself to proving that his critics were right about him all along.
---SPSmith
Tweet from Jeff Moriarty (@jmoriarty)
 | Jeff Moriarty (@jmoriarty) |
Get your own apocalypse! The one this Friday is all Mayan! | |
Download the official Twitter app here
---SPSmith
Check out: 'We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns
By Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/12/smart_guns_we_have_the_technology_to_make_safer_guns_too_bad_gunmakers_don.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns
By Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/12/smart_guns_we_have_the_technology_to_make_safer_guns_too_bad_gunmakers_don.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?
By Forrest Wickman
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/can_armed_citizens_stop_mass_shootings_examples_of_armed_interventions.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?
By Forrest Wickman
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/can_armed_citizens_stop_mass_shootings_examples_of_armed_interventions.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
OpEdNews - Article: The Unspeakable Original Intent of the Second Amendment
It's also time for Americans to recognize that the worship of guns is a form of idolatry. Specifically, it is a form of fetishism, which is the belief that an inanimate object (the fetish) has religious or mystical properties. But a gun is just a machine. Hunting rifles and shotguns are machines designed for turning animals into carcasses. Handguns and military weapons are machines designed for turning human beings into corpses. Guns do not generate a magic force field that deflects bullets, which is why it's foolish to imagine that a gun is useful for self-defense. In fact, gun owners have an alarming tendency to end up being shot by one of their own guns, which is evidently what happened to the mother of the shooter in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre.
The problem of gun violence in the United States is complex, and as H.L. Mencken observed, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." Advocating that we arm elementary school principals and kindergarten teachers is not only wrong but insane. We must stop allowing this kind of insanity to prevent us from having reasonable gun control legislation.
Pew Study Finds One in 6 Follows No Religion - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/world/pew-study-finds-one-in-6-follows-no-religion.html?src=twr&_r=0
Thank "insert your mythical dirty here", people are getting smarter
about religion.
---SPSmith
Thank "insert your mythical dirty here", people are getting smarter
about religion.
---SPSmith
Article: What makes America’s gun culture totally unique in the world, in four charts
What makes America's gun culture totally unique in the world, in four charts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/15/what-makes-americas-gun-culture-totally-unique-in-the-world-as-demonstrated-in-four-charts/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Chart: The U.S. has far more gun-related killings than any other developed country
Chart: The U.S. has far more gun-related killings than any other developed country
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/14/chart-the-u-s-has-far-more-gun-related-killings-than-any-other-developed-country/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Will the US ever change its gun laws?
Will the US ever change its gun laws?
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/12/2012121895811272151.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Freedom of an Armed Society - NYTimes.com
Arendt offers two points that are salient to our thinking about guns: for one, they insert a hierarchy of some kind, but fundamental nonetheless, and thereby undermine equality. But furthermore, guns pose a monumental challenge to freedom, and particular, the liberty that is the hallmark of any democracy worthy of the name — that is, freedom of speech. Guns do communicate, after all, but in a way that is contrary to free speech aspirations: for, guns chasten speech.
This becomes clear if only you pry a little more deeply into the N.R.A.'s logic behind an armed society. An armed society is polite, by their thinking, precisely because guns would compel everyone to tamp down eccentric behavior, and refrain from actions that might seem threatening. The suggestion is that guns liberally interspersed throughout society would cause us all to walk gingerly — not make any sudden, unexpected moves — and watch what we say, how we act, whom we might offend.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Things Can Change' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Things Can Change
By Beverly Gage
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/12/newtown_shooting_gun_violence_may_seem_ineradicable_but_history_suggests.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Things Can Change
By Beverly Gage
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/12/newtown_shooting_gun_violence_may_seem_ineradicable_but_history_suggests.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Do We Have the Courage to Stop This? - NYTimes.com
The fundamental reason kids are dying in massacres like this one is not that we have lunatics or criminals — all countries have them — but that we suffer from a political failure to regulate guns.
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Article: And Now a Thought From Justice Scalia
And Now a Thought From Justice Scalia
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/12/15/and-now-a-thought-from-justice-scalia/
---SPSmith
Article: Harvard School of Public Health: More Guns = More Homicide
Harvard School of Public Health: More Guns = More Homicide
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41341_Harvard_School_of_Public_Health-_More_Guns_=_More_Homicide#rss
---SPSmith
Friday, December 14, 2012
‘Martin Amis - The Biography,’ by Richard Bradford - NYTimes.com
you begin confronting sentences like this one, in which words come together as if to commit ritual mass suicide:
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Article: In Defense of Sandler’s “Hallelujah”: The Comic Wasn’t Butchering Leonard Cohen’s Classic. He Was Rescuing It. – Tablet Magazine
In Defense of Sandler's "Hallelujah": The Comic Wasn't Butchering Leonard Cohen's Classic. He Was Rescuing It. – Tablet Magazine
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/119166/in-defense-of-sandler%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9challelujah%e2%80%9d
More than the mummified Stones, the bloated Billy Joel, or the slithering Roger Waters, Sandler was one of very few real, live rock stars on display last night, doing that thing that rock stars do: he kicked and mocked and questioned and took great, sophomoric, hormonal joy at picking up our cherished object and tossing it on the floor to see it shatter.
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Check out: 'Napoleon Wasn’t Defeated by the Russians' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Napoleon Wasn't Defeated by the Russians
By Joe Knight
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/napoleon_march_to_russia_in_1812_typhus_spread_by_lice_was_more_powerful.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Napoleon Wasn't Defeated by the Russians
By Joe Knight
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/napoleon_march_to_russia_in_1812_typhus_spread_by_lice_was_more_powerful.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Judea Pearl asks, ‘Is anti-Zionism hate?’ | Mondoweiss
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/answer-to-judea-pearls-question-is-antizionism-hate.html
the irony is that Israel is providing the world all the evidence it
needs to question Israel's place in the "family of nations."
Anti-Zionists are simply connecting the dots.
---SPSmith
the irony is that Israel is providing the world all the evidence it
needs to question Israel's place in the "family of nations."
Anti-Zionists are simply connecting the dots.
---SPSmith
The Magnificent Seven - Wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven
If God did not want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep.
---SPSmith
If God did not want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep.
---SPSmith
Bill O'Reilly Does Not Understand The U.S. Tax Code | Blog | Media Matters for America
Oh no! A conservative's worst enemy...MATH!!! Of course, math has a dark, Islamic past...there are many algorithms used in the US tax code. The word "algorithm" is English for Al-Khwarizmi, an Arabic scientist who developed algebra in the 9th century.
That is around the time Europe was in the Early Middle Ages, devoid of scientific thought, and whose peasants were illiterate and believed anything that came from the mouths of the Ruling class (which despised the poor and denied them any entitlements) or the Church (which despised the poor and extorted tithes from them with fears of damnation)...hmm...that sounds familiar...
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson – review | Books | The Guardian
Before I Go to Sleep drinks purer water from a deeper well. A first novel by an NHS audiologist who wrote it in between shifts at London's St Thomas's Hospital, it's exceptionally accomplished – like David Nicholls'sOne Day, a brilliant example of how an unpromisingly high-concept idea can be transformed by skilful execution. In some ways it's an inversion of Borges's story "Funes, the Memorious", about a Uruguayan man who, after an accident, is unable either to forget anything or classify his memories in a way that might stop them overwhelming him.
---SPSmith
Friday, December 07, 2012
Bad Reviews Of Great Authors: 9 Scathing Insults
dull in a pretentious, florid and archly fatuous fashion
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Article: ‘Sons of Anarchy’: To Sir With Love
'Sons of Anarchy': To Sir With Love
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/12/05/1275111/sons-of-anarchy-to-sir-with-love/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The Huge (And Rarely Discussed) Health Insurance Tax Break
I found the following story on the NPR iPad App:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/04/166434247/the-huge-and-rarely-discussed-health-insurance-tax-break?sc=ipad&f=1001
by Julie Rovner
NPR - December 4, 2012
What's the largest tax break in the federal tax code?
If you said the mortgage interest deduction, you'd be wrong. The break for charitable giving? Nope. How about capital gains, or state and local taxes? No, and no.
Believe it or not, dollar for dollar, the most tax revenue the federal government forgoes every year is from not taxing the value of health insurance that employers provide their workers.
Yet most people don't even realize that they don't pay taxes on the value of those health benefits. That's too bad, says MIT health economist Jonathan Gruber, because it represents a whole lot of money.
"If we treated health insurance the same way we treat wages," says Gruber, "we would raise about $250 billion per year more." That not only makes the health insurance exclusion the federal government's largest tax break, but it's also "the third largest health care program in the U.S., after Medicare and Medicaid."
And just how much does $250 billion represent in health care terms? "If we ended the tax exclusion, we could cover every uninsured American with health insurance twice over," Gruber estimates.
But there's another thing about the health care deduction that's kind of surprising: It came about largely by accident.
"It was just a way to allow employers to evade the wage and price controls of World War II," says Gruber. "And it's sort of grown exponentially since, and there really isn't a single health care expert who would design a system from scratch which would include this feature."
One big reason economists from across the ideological spectrum don't much like the insurance tax exclusion is that it's regressive. That means those it helps the most are the richest people with the most generous health plans.
"So if you're uninsured, you get nothing," says Ron Pollack of the consumer group Families USA. "If you're a low-wage worker, you get a very little tax break. If you get a lousy health care plan you get a very little break out of this."
And giving people a tax break encourages them to consume their compensation in the form of health benefits rather than wages, says Gruber. In other words, it's a discount on health insurance. Which leads to other bad things, like health care inflation.
"People are buying health insurance with 60-cent dollars," he says. "And as a result, they're buying too much of it. They're buying too much health insurance, and that leads to too much health care consumption."
So why hasn't the exclusion been taken away? One large and obvious reason is that it would be seen by those who benefit from it as a tax increase. And not all of those people are rich.
"A large amount of this tax money would come right out of the pockets of working families," says Tom Leibfried of the AFL-CIO. "The [U.S. House] Ways and Means Committee staff looked at where the tax benefit goes for this tax break. Eighty-one percent of it goes to families making less than $200,000 a year."
But the biggest concern, particularly in light of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, is that taking away the tax break would prompt employers to stop offering coverage. And that would push more people to new health care exchanges that will just be starting to find their footing.
"This is a very delicate moment in the history of our health care system," says Jim Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, which represents large employers. "And to now, in addition to all the other change, make changes to the tax treatment of employer-provided health care, would seem to be very risky."
The federal health law actually does begin to make some changes to the tax treatment of health insurance. It imposes a so-called Cadillac tax on very generous health plans, starting in 2018. Many people think that given the money involved, however, that tax could be expanded and sped up as part of the current negotiations. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
To learn more about the NPR iPad app, go to http://ipad.npr.org/recommendnprforipad
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 01, 2012
No More Mister Nice Blog
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2012/11/mitt-romney-would-have-been-terrible.html
Romney was supposed to be the data-driven business genius -- but maybe
the business in which he made his fortune is so rigged in favor of the
dealmakers that you don't have to be particularly good at it to get
stinking rich. Maybe he's just not that bright, even in the area
that's supposedly his strength.
---SPSmith
Romney was supposed to be the data-driven business genius -- but maybe
the business in which he made his fortune is so rigged in favor of the
dealmakers that you don't have to be particularly good at it to get
stinking rich. Maybe he's just not that bright, even in the area
that's supposedly his strength.
---SPSmith
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