More Farms, Smaller Farms

Now made with real fruit!I'd like to respond to Josh's last post by modeling what I see as the obverse. Economies of scale in agriculture are desireable when the alternative is crippling poverty. Nevertheless, in developed economies where starvation remains of secondary concern to self-inflicted overeating, more food of less homogeneous nutritional composition and higher quality even at higher costs is sorely necessary for the public welfare. Looming over all of this, the Mathusian insight that gave birth to both modern agriculture and modern economics remains true - the human population will always increase at a greater rate than food production efficiency. (My theory is that the Mathusian condition is an emergent consequence of the tendency for humans to be unrealistically optimistic about the future.) 

For this reason, in developing economies, it remains prudent to hedge against economies of scale in agriculture and some of the evils born of placing ourselves too far from the source of our sustenance via extreme and unnatural occupational specialization. (Indeed, it's possible that all of culture comes from food. And "you are what you eat" is wise on several levels.) The Summer 2011 issue of Lapham's Quarterly does a good job of balancing and weighing all the complex considerations at the intersection of development, agriculture, poverty, and nutrition.

The short version of my counterpoint to Josh is that what we need in America is different than what we need for countries that can't feed themselves. It might even be that there's a natural developmental arch that all civilizations must follow, and the stage that a particular civilization is in determines what course of action that country should take to maximize welfare: first (1) there's a community wrought of nature based on equality and living harmoniously, where everyone is a subsistence farmer or hunter/gatherer and everyone lives and dies at the whims of the seasons; then (2) primitive accumulation goes down and a primitive capitalist society develops - whether this is a result of contact with other capitalist societies or natural forces, it's safe to say this is where Africa is; next (3) capitalism matures until it can mature no more - intra-industry national power emerges concentrated in few hands, and these hands - instead of toiling honestly to coordinate supply and demand for the well-being of all - begin to build walls and moats around their citadels (see regulatory capture, patent over-filing, health insurance tethered to corporate employment, credentialing and licensing, etc.); (4) diminishing returns compel a premium to be placed on solving social problems or coerced egalitarianism - this is the stage where the United States and other mature social democracies find themselves; Marx went on to speculate that societies after this stage advance to (5) perfect, blissful communism as the profit motive is grdually removed from aspects of socety where it is (deemed) detrimental to the general welfare. Many others (generally social democrats) think (4) is as far as we can and should go. I think these intellectual frameworks are dangerously naïve and/or cowardly; we can combine lessons learned from (3) and (4) in a self-similar federalist/libertarian/anarchist structure that allows for unfettered individual expression and positive-sum cooperation while minimizing the effects of individual recklessness and coercive association.

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The U.S. Healthcare System is Going to Hell

It's no secret to anybody that the U.S. healthcare system is bad, but it's important to point out from time to time just how bad it is.  I am an asthmatic and have had asthma since I was five or six years old.  Around age ten, I began taking regular medicine, which I have taken daily since then and will likely have to take for the rest of my life.

Part of my motivation in deciding to become a doctor is to work on seemingly "intractable" problems like asthma, because every time I really think about it, it pisses me off.  Despite the genetic reductionism gripping our society (in stark contrast to the scientific community), asthma is a disease having near entire environmental causality.  There was recently a study conducted in China where the rate of asthma decreased in predictable fashion the farther one was from an urban center.  People who lived near factories and cars had mathmatically modelable high rates of asthma correlated with ppm of various pollutants, while people who were farmers and lived in the countryside had near zero incidence of asthma.  The patterns produced matched the patterns produced by of infectious diseases, suggesting strong environmental correlation.  

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Going There - Part II

An intractable disagreement? A friend of mine observed that the abortion debate mirrors the fundamental differences between the left and the right.  In his words: "the left is often vague for fear of being too restrictive, or to provide flexibility. the right seems more comfortable with absolutes. left = life begins at some point...not sure when to exactly define it, but the mother's health and choice in the matter is important. the right = life begins at conception...don't kill babies."  I agree with his analysis of the issue.  

What we call the "left" and the "right" have very different positions on abortion, but even more revealing is the fact that we pay attention to these positions and discuss the issue of abortion in terms of these positions, which each define themselves as victims of the evil actions of the other side.

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"Pelosi the Hammer", Hogberg, and the Savage Nation

Think the death panels will let Stephen Hawking live? Think again.Those to whom the title of this post refers sound like characters from Dungeons and Dragons, which resembles the fantasy world they are apparently living in.  Investors Business Daily, for a long time just a boring trade paper, made waves last summer when it claimed in an editorial against public healthcare that:

(Steven Hawking) wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless. 

Hawking himself took time out of his busy schedule figuring out which parallel universe the IBD editorial staff lives in to establish the fact that he is indeed British: Hawking was born in the U.K., works in the U.K., and receives healthcare from the NHS.

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And You, Sir, Are Worse Than Hitler

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo EmersonHitler is not the most popular historical figure. Despite his best efforts and a clear love for children, nothing could prevent the ultimate Carrie-style humiliation that led to der Fuhrer's death and subsequent vilification.  

Nowadays, Hitler serves as a sort of secular Devil; in a world in which very few people actually believe in the Devil, there must be something to quelch dangerous ideas like healthcare reform and to warn people about the dastardly plans of a sitting President and his evil disciples.  

Enter Godwin's Law, the idea that, as a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison to Hitler approaches one.  Given the longevity of the healthcare debate, and assuming Godwin's Law is correct, it is not surprising that the nuts eventually came out of the woodwork to compare a democratically elected President advocating his agenda via established legislative processes to a murderous dictator.

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"Mandate": Loud Bark and Nibble

No part of health care reform feels more uncomfortable than the individual mandate, the government requirement that all adults purchase health insurance.  Adding a new responsibility of citizenship chafes the lover of individual freedom.  Why should I have to buy insurance?  The subject's complexity becomes a good deal more complicated by the fact that most of the hand-wringing from policy minded analysts actually goes the other direction: will too many Americans ignore the mandate and just pay the annual fine, bankrupting our health care system in the process?

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Be Human: Don't Let the Politicians Win

Democrat Congressmen who voted for heath care reform have been getting death threats and the natural reaction has been to blame the heated rhetoric of the right in stoking up tea party outrage.  Let's start with the obvious: Congressmen who supported health care reform did it out of a genuine interest in bettering the country, even if you disagree with them threatening violence, or worse doing violence, is deplorable.  The debate got ugly, but all sides should immediately condemn the violence in the strongest terms possible.  That out of the way, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with The Corner.  Victor Davis Hanson:

This week’s talking point is the sudden danger of new right-wing violence, and the inflammatory push-back against health care.  I’m sorry, but all this concern is a day late and a dollar short. The subtext is really one of class — right-wing radio talk-show hosts, Glenn Beck idiots, and crass tea-party yokels are foaming at the mouth and dangerous to progressives. In contrast, write a book in which you muse about killing George Bush, and its Knopf imprint proves it is merely sophisticated literary speculation; do a docudrama about killing George Bush, and it will win a Toronto film prize for its artistic value rather than shock from the liberal community about over-the-top discourse.

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The View from My Window: Active Commuting

On February first, I decided that instead of purchasing a ninety-dollar rail pass every month and taking the train to work, I would ride my bike the thirty-minute straight shot into Fukushima City.  The reasons for the switch were manifold: one private lesson meant approximately one hour of light to moderate exercise, several lessons meant several hours.  There was also the additional savings of ninety dollars a month, a chance to fully listen to the many classic hip hop, rock, and jazz albums I had stored on my iPod and theretofore not had the opportunity to appreciate, and I didn't have to wait for trains or arrive excessively early for work, which I hate.  Another bonus: I calculated that riding my bike actually took less time on average than waiting for and taking the train.  

Throughout the weeks that ensued, after exhaustively consuming all the albums in my current library, I began downloading a variety of podcasts and free science and Spanish courses from Yale, MIT, and other top schools, which I now listen to as I bike.  As a result of this simple switch from public transportation to biking, I am a healthier, more energetic, more cultured, more educated, more free-time having individual.  If the switch had been from driving my own car to biking, I would have doubtlessly affected the environment for the better.  I now regret the unthinking months spent relying on motorized transport, and intend to continue biking to work until my family and I return to Boston in November.

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Why Youth Leads the Recovery

source: Justice DepartmentThis week's Featured Find, an excellent Atlantic article by Dan Peck examining the long-run social costs of persistent unemployment, contains an embedded series of glourified vlogs blasting the youth of the nation for being "Followers, Not Leaders" and entitled basterds.  Au contraire, stuffy old people, WE, the youth, will lead the economic recovery, for several reasons:

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Obesity "Epidemic" Reaches a Plateau

According to the L.A. Times, two new studies from the CDC suggest the obesity "epidemic" is leveling off; that is, the current 68% of American adults who are overweight and the 34% percent who are obese are not "infecting" any more people.  Meanwhile, America is still the world's fattest country, and boys from ages 6 to 19 have gotten considerably fatter over the last decade.  While the study directors admit that the perceived peak is not so much cause for celebration as cause for cautious optimism, the proposed solutions and policy measures miss the mark entirely.  According to Jeannine Stein at the L.A. Times: 

...it's not time to reach for the cookie jar yet. Though abundant messages about eating smaller portions and getting regular exercise may finally be registering, health experts say there's more to be done before the fattening trend is not merely halted but reversed -- more policy changes, community programs and support groups.

Policy changes?  Community programs?  Support groups?  Epidemic?  CDC?  It almost sounds like they're talking about a disease, like cancer, or AIDS.

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Joe Lieberman or Arrow's Impossibility Theorum in Action

Joe Lieberman's recent promises to kill Health Care reform if it includes either a public option and opt-in Medicare haven't made him very popular on the internet or my email in-box.  It doesn't help that pretty much everyone left of center hates him already; he is Benjamin Linus as far as I'm concerned: not trusting him isn't enough, just having him around means he's probably going to ruin it for everyone.  The health care bill was already such a mess that I've avoided writing about it because it just depresses me and now Tricky Joe steps in and kills two of the more interesting parts of the bill.  However, rather than simply bemoan Lieberman's existence, I thought I'd point out that this is a tailor made example of Dr. Kenneth Arrow's Impossibility Theorum.

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Lieberman's Rock Bottom?

On Sunday night, over 500 protestors gathered in front of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's Stamford home and held a candlelight vigil to convince the Senator to rescind his promise to join the Republican filibuster of any healthcare proposals including the "public option."  Among the protestors were leaders of Stamford's Unitarian, Baptist, Muslim, and Jewish faiths, as well as the enterprising Mayor of Stamford, Dan Malloy, who recently announced he is running for Governor.

According to David Gibson at Politics Daily:

Rabbi Ron Fish of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk said he normally avoids political discussions but said Lieberman's stand against health care reform left him no choice.

"I feel passionately about the subject of health care," he explained. "I've avoided entering too closely into the conversation because I fear that when we clergy speak in political terms, we quite often do a disservice to politics and religion. But when Senator Lieberman spoke about his conscience impelling him to stop even a vote on this . . . crucial instance of hope, my conscience could not allow me to be silent."

"The moral imperative for our time is clear. Anyone whose guide in public policy is conscience, anyone who argues that faith and religious traditions should direct our actions, such a person must stand for universal health care in America," Fish said, reading from a letter signed by more than 70 other clergy. "It happens we are all also citizens of Connecticut. That fact leads us to ask you, Senator Lieberman, what is it that you stand for?"

Indeed, what does Senator Lieberman stand for?

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Pay Attention to the Number of Zeros

We've all heard the stories of primitive humans only possessing words to express "one", "two", and "many".  Yet most modern people still think of numbers in terms of these basic units.  When we visualize three of something, we think of one group of one and one group of two.  Four is two groups of two.  Five is two groups of two and one group of one, etc.  Certainly, for things like money, we have relative anchors to which we assign values.  For example, one dollar is roughly the amount of money that buys me one pack of M&Ms.  Ten dollars buys me a used Bloodsport DVD.  300 dollars buys me a Playstation 3 or pays for one-month's rent in a mediocre apartment.  7,000 dollars buys me a ten-year-old economy car in decent condition.  A 100,000 dollar loan puts me through business school.  If I'm lucky and work hard, in ten years, 200,000 dollars could be my annual salary.  If I make the right choices, use my money effectively, and save, I might even be able to buy my one million dollar dream house in twenty-five years.  This is the absolute limit for 95% of Americans.  Numbers above this limit often are simply assigned the value of "many".

So it's no surprise that people all over the country are getting all up-in-arms about stimulus scandals and banker bonuses.  But, to put it in perspective, here is a list of "many"s expressed in terms of dream houses:

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A Modest Proposal for Medical Malpractice

Tort reform for medical malpractice is an unfortunately under emphasized part of the current debate over health care reform.  The theory goes, doctors have to practice “defensive medicine” to shield themselves from liability.  While the idea that doctors order tests they know to be unnecessary and extraneous in order to shield themselves from liability seems to paint doctors in a bad light, but a more nuanced position would be that many tests are only of marginal importance but doctors have an extra incentive to make sure they don't make any mistakes.  The cost to the healthcare system is difficult to quantify, because there is no way to determine the motivations behind the tests a doctor orders and for that reason, it is often written off as a myth.  However, the CBO released its estimates of the costs and they are definitely non-trivial:

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Diet Healthcare Reform

The big news of the day, at least according to Drudge, is that Team Obama is laying the groundwork for removing the public option from their health care plan. This would be part of a larger strategy shift, which has seen Obama rephrase “health care reform” as “health insurance reform” after his personal popularity and public support for health reform diminished as the debate soured.

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