Some Light Reading

This is from Monday's "Some Assembly Required" -- enjoy.

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Deep Blue, See? Recent scientific studies have shown that nearly all of the world's deep-sea fisheries are being seriously overfished and are approaching collapse.

A Penny Stolen Is A Penny Saved: The threat to Medicare is very real and pressing as more and more political forces are lining up to raise the Medicare eligibility age, under the rubric of 'deficit reduction'. The American Hospital Association – fearing even more reductions in Medicare payments and thus reductions in their profits – wants Congress to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67, which is tantamount to raising the retirement age to 67. The insurance industry also wants the age raised, so they can sell more health insurance to those who are thus deprived of Medicare. It is not about the deficit, it is about profits.

Coming Attractions: The coming breakdown of the error euro zone doesn't bother me nearly as much as the political breakdown that will accompany it. Remember, it took WWII to drag the world out of the Great Depression, some parts faster than others.

False Dawn: Switching from coal to natural gas will not appreciably decrease global climate change, for while natural gas emits less carbon dioxide, coal emits significant amounts of sulfates and other particles that block some of the sun's incoming rays. Natural gas also has a propensity for 'leaking' methane into the atmosphere. Over a 50 to 100 year period, switching to natural gas would make at best a difference of a few tenths of a degree.

Competition: Capitalism is bad for health care consumers. As the capitalist winners in the competition for health care profitability gobble up their competition, the consumer is faced with fewer choices and higher prices. The goal of capitalist competition is to kill off the competition. In the health care industry, killing off the customers is an unfortunate side effect.