Mad Statists

State-Run Single-Payer Health Care: Prohibitively Expensive—and Illegal?

"State lawmakers in California and New York voted this year to pass state-run single payer health care plans, despite the fact that both states would need to double their existing tax revenue to pay for the new entitlement. But even if those political hurdles are overcome, and even if the two states figure out how they are going to come up with the necessary tax revenue—about $400 billion in California's case, and somewhere between $91 billion and $225 billion in New York's—to make those systems functional, both may run into another problem: The whole thing could be against the law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState-Run Single-Payer Health Care: Prohibitively Expensive—and Illegal?

Trump ally Duterte makes rape joke after ordering martial law

"President Rodrigo Duterte made a joke about rape as he urged soldiers to use the powers of martial law to take control of a besieged city in the southern Philippines. In the speech Friday, Duterte said he will pay the consequences if any soldiers are accused of abuses. He said: 'I will go to jail for you. If you happen to have raped three women, I will own up to it.' On Tuesday, Duterte imposed 60 days of martial law in the southern Philippines as government forces battle militants in Marawi, a city of some 200,000 people. Duterte is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers casual statements with profanities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTrump ally Duterte makes rape joke after ordering martial law

California’s Single-Payer Health Plan Costs More Than the State’s Whole Budget

"The list of states that have tried to go single-payer is still a small sample size, but a fairly wide ranging one. It includes states with large populations and small ones. States with a variety of economies and tax systems. States that are growing quickly and those that aren't. Despite that range of variables, one thing remains constant: state-level single-payer health plans would require massive increases in tax revenue, equal or larger than the amount of revenue consumed by every other state-level program in a single year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia’s Single-Payer Health Plan Costs More Than the State’s Whole Budget

Maduro: Trump’s ‘imperialist hand’ is behind Venezuelan revolution

"Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday said that his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, is deeply involved in 'terrorist' activities and the violence that is unfolding in the South American nation with an eye toward 'taking political control' there. Maduro said on his weekly radio-television show that his country is facing an 'attack by violent forces (...) intolerance and generalized destruction,' and that behind all this turmoil is 'the imperialist hand of Donald Trump.' 'Trump has his hands infected and stuck deeply into this conspiracy and this attack that has as its objective taking political control in Venezuela, recolonizing Venezuela,' Maduro claimed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaduro: Trump’s ‘imperialist hand’ is behind Venezuelan revolution

India Bank Adviser Proposes Regular, ‘Surprise’ Cash Bans

If these academics have their way, government-backed paper money will further approach its intrinsic value - zero. They hope that this will drive cash-based savings into bank deposits, which generate fee revenue and a source of leverage for the banks while at the same time supplying governments with taxes and police oversight of citizens' financial lives. However, governments attempting to eliminate cash usage risk destroying trust in the 'coin of the realm', leading to cash-based savings being moved into assets such as real estate, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies instead of bank deposits. Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Bank Adviser Proposes Regular, ‘Surprise’ Cash Bans

Bernanke Advises “Perpetual Bonds” To Japanese Government

"In April the former Federal Reserve chief warned there was a risk Japan at any time could return to deflation. He noted that helicopter money -- in which the government issues non-marketable perpetual bonds with no maturity date and the Bank of Japan directly buys them -- could work as the strongest tool to overcome deflation, according to Honda. Bernanke noted it was an option, he said. Bernanke joined central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda over lunch this Monday and on Tuesday he attended a gathering with Abe and key officials, including Koichi Hamada, another influential economic adviser. The central bank didn’t reveal what Kuroda and Bernanke discussed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBernanke Advises “Perpetual Bonds” To Japanese Government

Desperate Finland Set To Unleash Helicopter Money Drop To All Citizens

"With Citi's chief economist proclaiming 'only helicopter money can save the world now,' and the Bank of England pre-empting paradropping money concerns, it appears that Australia's largest investment bank's forecast that money-drops were 12-18 months away was too conservative. Over the last few months, in a prime example of currency failure and euro-defenders' narratives, Finland has been sliding deeper into depression. As The Telegraph reports, this is a deeper and more protracted slump than the post-Soviet crash of the early 1990s, or the Great Depression of the 1930s. And so, having tried it all, Finnish authorities are giving every citizen a tax-free payout of around $900 each month!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDesperate Finland Set To Unleash Helicopter Money Drop To All Citizens