France and Eco 101

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The election of the conservative Sarkozy in France has inspired George Will to discuss the quandaries of French political economics in terms of the basic mechanics of capitalism. Since it's been a while since I've done an Economics 101 number, I will keep a large excerpt of this column, which is titled "Is France Willing to Work?" And I'll just briefly note that a little state welfarism is arguably needed to better distribute the fruits of wealth creation, and thus liberal societies are left to deal with this issue of balancing market forces and democratic forces to try to secure that greatest happiness for the greatest number, in priniciple.

( George F. Will excerpt )

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France and Eco 101

♠
The election of the conservative Sarkozy in France has inspired George Will to discuss the quandaries of French political economics in terms of the basic mechanics of capitalism. Since it's been a while since I've done an Economics 101 number, I will keep a large excerpt of this column, which is titled "Is France Willing to Work?" And I'll just briefly note that a little state welfarism is arguably needed to better distribute the fruits of wealth creation, and thus liberal societies are left to deal with this issue of balancing market forces and democratic forces to try to secure that greatest happiness for the greatest number, in priniciple.

( George F. Will excerpt )

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Smoke in Your Face

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Apparently I missed some entertaining political drama involving filmmaker Michael Moore and Republican dark horse candidate and actor Fred Thompson. Mr. Moore has a new documentary coming out that puts the burning spotlight on America's rather ill healthcare system, which is titled "SICKO". Moore went to Cuba to do some comparative analysis, under which Americans are supposed to fare shamefully poorly.

Mr. Thompson criticized Moore's trip to Cuba. In return, Moore took a shot at the fact that Thompson has boxes of contraband Cuban cigars in his office, and for good measure, Moore challenged him to debate healthcare. Thompson declined, but issued a brief video on the Internet to answer him:

"You know, I've been looking at my schedule, Michael, and I don't think I have time for you," said Thompson, sitting in a leather chair, chomping on a big cigar. "But I may be the least of your problems. You know, the next time you're down in Cuba visiting your buddy Castro, you might ask him about another documentary filmmaker. His name is Nicolas Guillen. He did something Castro didn't like and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatment. A mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about.

Apparently this got big play on TV. I pay fair attention to the cable news outlets, but I missed it. Maybe I need to watch less porn.


(Source: Stephen F. Hayes for The Weekly Standard)

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Smoke in Your Face

♠
Apparently I missed some entertaining political drama involving filmmaker Michael Moore and Republican dark horse candidate and actor Fred Thompson. Mr. Moore has a new documentary coming out that puts the burning spotlight on America's rather ill healthcare system, which is titled "SICKO". Moore went to Cuba to do some comparative analysis, under which Americans are supposed to fare shamefully poorly.

Mr. Thompson criticized Moore's trip to Cuba. In return, Moore took a shot at the fact that Thompson has boxes of contraband Cuban cigars in his office, and for good measure, Moore challenged him to debate healthcare. Thompson declined, but issued a brief video on the Internet to answer him:

"You know, I've been looking at my schedule, Michael, and I don't think I have time for you," said Thompson, sitting in a leather chair, chomping on a big cigar. "But I may be the least of your problems. You know, the next time you're down in Cuba visiting your buddy Castro, you might ask him about another documentary filmmaker. His name is Nicolas Guillen. He did something Castro didn't like and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatment. A mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about.

Apparently this got big play on TV. I pay fair attention to the cable news outlets, but I missed it. Maybe I need to watch less porn.


(Source: Stephen F. Hayes for The Weekly Standard)

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Sicko

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"Sicko" does not display Moore at his most cinematically inventive or imaginative. It presents a TV-documentary-style parade of episodes, characters and settings, bouncing from various American cities to Canada, Britain, France and Cuba (and yes, don't worry, we'll get to that). Moore plays a far smaller personal role in this film, appearing only occasionally in his comic-relief role as the clueless buffoon who can't seem to grasp that healthcare in all those other countries is free, or virtually so. When he's eating dinner with a group of Americans living in Paris who begin to list all the things they can have as free or nearly free entitlements -- not just healthcare but an emergency doctor who makes house calls; not just childcare but a part-time in-home nanny -- Moore puts his hands over his ears and begins singing "La la la la la." (If you have kids or any kind of chronic family health problems, your reactions might include weeping in despair, slitting your wrists or booking a one-way ticket.)

-- Andrew O'Hehir for Salon.com

Speaking of Michael Moore, here is a more positive account of his latest film efforts, and I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed just reading about it. His message sounds like good one, but one has to hope that he has not become such a questionable messenger to all but the hard left that the message is not heard. However, healthcare has been simmering as a serious national issue for some time, and this film could help to bring matters to a boil by the 2008 elections.

( article )

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Sicko

♠
"Sicko" does not display Moore at his most cinematically inventive or imaginative. It presents a TV-documentary-style parade of episodes, characters and settings, bouncing from various American cities to Canada, Britain, France and Cuba (and yes, don't worry, we'll get to that). Moore plays a far smaller personal role in this film, appearing only occasionally in his comic-relief role as the clueless buffoon who can't seem to grasp that healthcare in all those other countries is free, or virtually so. When he's eating dinner with a group of Americans living in Paris who begin to list all the things they can have as free or nearly free entitlements -- not just healthcare but an emergency doctor who makes house calls; not just childcare but a part-time in-home nanny -- Moore puts his hands over his ears and begins singing "La la la la la." (If you have kids or any kind of chronic family health problems, your reactions might include weeping in despair, slitting your wrists or booking a one-way ticket.)

-- Andrew O'Hehir for Salon.com

Speaking of Michael Moore, here is a more positive account of his latest film efforts, and I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed just reading about it. His message sounds like good one, but one has to hope that he has not become such a questionable messenger to all but the hard left that the message is not heard. However, healthcare has been simmering as a serious national issue for some time, and this film could help to bring matters to a boil by the 2008 elections.

( article )

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