I, Rose

From MR University...

A stealthy welfare system, where those with minor conditions feather their nests at expense of taxpayers and truly disabled veterans

"For a sense of how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is coping with an unprecedented number of disability claims, consider that nationwide nearly 900,000 disability claims are backlogged or sitting in the processing queue...[T]he biggest issue by far is how the current system defines 'disability.'...The reality is that the majority of veterans' disability claims are for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or minor physical conditions, including common age-related ailments such as hearing loss, lower-back pain and arthritis...By categorizing minor conditions as disabilities, the process threatens to become a kind of stealthy welfare system, where those with minor conditions might feather their nests at the expense of both taxpayers and truly disabled veterans trapped behind them in a line that stretches over the horizon." Daniel Gade, WSJ

As someone said, it's really hard to give away money.  Why would this cluster-firetruck surprise anyone?

Nod to Kevin Lewis

What happens when you try to give away money?

I did a short video on the costs of trying to give away money.  Some people were critical of the flippancy of the example.  But remember, I had only four minutes, and I was trying to address college students, so I was looking for something they had experience with.



But, okay, if you want examples, for class or conversation, of the grave damage that can be done if we try to give away money, here you go.  I am willing to admit, for the sake of argument, that these programs might be well intentioned, rather than just cheesy vote-buying schemes.  That makes them WORSE, if anything.  The government simply cannot give away money.

1.  Food stamps kill.  Rhode Island town shows futility of trying to "help" people by giving away money. Here is the WaPo story

2.  Amazingly honest NPR story about supplemental disability Social Security.  From now on, if anyone asks about the costs of rent-seeking, THIS is your go-to example.

But, even if one concedes that the intentions are good, the bad effects should be enough to make people realize, as Bill Clinton did, that the program is a bad one.  The problem is that Nancy Pelosi and Co. sincerely believe that the effects are POSITIVE.

Nod to WH.

Christmas Surprise

My wife and I have been married for more than 26 years.  To each other.

Over that time the LMM and I have solved the problem of Christmas present anxiety, the problem you have when you aren't sure what to get the other person, even though you know that person very well, because you have already gotten that person pretty much everything that person has ever expressed an interest in.

Our solution has some humor to it.  Each of us, for years, would choose things each liked, for ourselves, and then provide said thing to other person, not wrapped.  Other person would wrap it and hide it away until the time was right.  And both would feign pleasure and surprise at tree-and-present time, Christmas morning.

But that got old.  So now the LMM takes it one more step.  She buys stuff for herself, and wraps it herself, and then puts it under the tree and opens it herself.  I never see it, until Christmas morning.

This year I asked if I could see the jewelry I got her.  She said, "No, that will spoil the surprise."  To be clear:  That's MY surprise.  At seeing what I got HER.

And the fact is that I take great pleasure, and am genuinely surprised, on Christmas morning.  So, as usual, even though things may sound a little cockeyed at our house, the LMM is right, and all is well.

(I'm pretty sure Shirley will back the LMM up on this, in terms of logic.  Right, Shirl?)

Last Minute Christmas Gifts! Christmas 2012 Last Minute Edition

Need some last minute Christmas gifts, for that discerning sort of person who hangs out with KPC readers?  Not just ANY gift, but a cool gift that you can actually get shipped in time for the day, arriving (ojala!) on Monday?

Books on war and strategy

Beauty product samples of the month, each month, $10.

If you know something the person likes, buy an on-line subscription.  They might never pay for the ad-free version of Pandora, for example, but it's cheap and they will actually use it!  And your friend/SO can listen on phone, laptop, or any computer at home.  It's quite handy.

Noodle Of The Month club!  Or some other food subscription.  But good Italian pasta in particular is a nice, easy to use, product that everybody likes!  (Okay, not for Angus, but for people without allergies to gluten)

Membership in an art museum, theater company, etc.  If you live near SOME kind of city, there must be a season subscription or membership you can buy.  And though they may not have bought it for themselves, a good theater subscription will get them out of the house to go see some plays. 

Buy an "experience," from a site like this, or perhaps like this, even more generally.  Unusual, interesting, and you can still get 'er done in time for the day!





 

Big Bang and Gifts

So, Ruth Kappes added this video to the thread on the question of gifts and voluntary exchange over at EE.  Thanks, Ruth, nicely connected!




And the points about money being better than gifts, and just going back and forth until someone dies.... what a happy thought!