Mother Goose and Grimm, by Mike Peters, June 30.
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Attention GM Shareholders (That Means You!)
As my colleague Doug Bandow pointed out this morning, today’s Washington Post has an analysis about the uncertain prospects of GM ever making taxpayers whole again. It is a very similar analysis to the one I gave in this L.A. Times Dust-Up installment four weeks ago, although I find prospects unlikely, rather than just uncertain.
If GM emerges from bankruptcy next month in accordance with the pre-packaged Obama plan (as expected), taxpayers will be on the hook for $50 billion. That $50 billion will buy taxpayers a 60 percent stake in the company, which according to the laws of mathematics means that GM has to be worth $83.33 billion for the taxpayers to get their equity back without making a dime in capital gains or interest. In the L.A. Times, I asked:
How and when will that ever happen? At its peak in 2000, GM’s value (based on its market capitalization) stood at $60 billion. Thus, the minimum benchmark for “success” will require a 38% increase in GM’s value from where it was in the heady days of 2000, when Americans were purchasing 16 million vehicles per year. U.S. demand projections for the next few years come in at around 10 million vehicles. Taxpayer ownership of GM is something we should all get used to, and the “investment” is only going to grow larger. Think Amtrak.
Mourning the Loss of a Great American Capitalist
![mj](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/mj.jpg?itok=eZQTkL2p)
While the big news of the day wouldn’t seem to have a public policy angle, Michael Jackson’s death allows us to remember that such phenomenal career achievements can only be possible in an economic system that rewards and harnesses talent.
The King of Pop’s creativity allowed him and his family to make hundreds of millions of dollars, yes, but it also created thousands of jobs in the music and marketing industries and brought joy to fans around the world. Whatever his personal eccentricities — perhaps, in part, as a result of them — Jackson represents a capitalist success story.
No central planner could have invented him, and no government bureaucracy could have transformed pop music in the way he did.
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Cato Health Care Experts Live-Blogging Tonight’s ABC News White House Special
Tonight at 10:00 PM EST, ABC News will broadcast a “special report from the White House” on President Obama’s plan to revamp the nation’s health care system. Cato scholars Michael D. Tanner and Michael F. Cannon will offer live commentary and analysis when the program begins.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear another voice in the health care debate.
Sign up below:
For more on Cato’s research on health care, visit Healthcare.Cato.org
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Who’s Blogging about Cato
Here’s a round-up of bloggers who are writing about Cato commentary, research and analysis:
- Real Clear World blogger Greg Scoblete quotes Justin Logan on how pundits in Washington are handling the protests in Iran.
- Bloggers from The Orange County Register, My Ford Dreams, and The Truth about Cars posted the video of P.J. O’Rourke’s discussion at Cato on the future of the American car.
- In a round-up of commentary about Obama’s health care plan, Liberty Papers blogger Stephen Gordon quotes Michael Tanner’s analysis of Obama’s proposal.
- Colin Grabow writes about Brandon Arnold’s commentary on the effect of taxes on European sports.
- Pete Eyre of The Motorhome Diaries interviews David Boaz on the future of the freedom movement.
- At Liberty Maven, Mike Miller quotes Jim Harper about the movement toward a national ID card.
- Kiran Rao, who blogs about world politics from India, cites Doug Bandow’s commentary on the European Parliamentary elections.
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Supporting Free Institutions, a Free Economy, and a Free Society
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Obama’s Health Care Speech
In his speech to the American Medical Association today, President Obama repeatedly denied that he supports “socialized medicine” or “government-run” health care.
But what is important is not the terminology, but under the proposal supported by the president, government would control more and more of our health care decisions. Government would compel Americans to purchase health insurance, controlling its content, how much we pay, and the relationships between insurers, doctors, and patients. Government bureaucrats would determine whether Americans receive certain medical services.
There may be no better salesman than Barack Obama, but his product is deeply flawed. The so-called “Public Option,” or government-run plan, that President Obama supports would slowly but inexorably lead to the destruction of the private insurance market and the imposition of a government-controlled single-payer system.
But the problems with Obamacare go well beyond the Public Option, which the AMA opposes. The mandates on businesses and individuals, taxpayer subsidies, insurance regulation, and government interference in private medical decisions pose serious threats to American businesses, taxpayers, and most importantly patients.
That’s bad medicine, no matter what you call it.