“If we are going to have social services–and clearly, we are–I think they should probably be classed, along with defense, as a true public good.” ~ Megan McArdle
Erik Kain
Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.
Shooting at Boulder Grocery Store Leaves 10 Dead
March 23, 2021
Catholic Church Tries To Have Its Cake And Eat It Too
March 15, 2021
A Good, Old Fashioned, All-American Satanic Panic
March 30, 2021
8 Killed in Atlanta Massage Parlor Shootings
March 17, 2021
April 6, 2021
Pepe Le Pew Is Not A Role Model
April 4, 2021
The Caron Nazario Video: Watch It For Yourself
April 10, 2021
All should be well. Please report any problems you might see.
on From CNN: The latest on the police shooting in Brooklyn Center, MinnesotaWelp. The Oakland City Council voted unanimously to re-fund the police department on Monday following cuts las…
on Officer That Shot Daunte Wright, Police Chief Both ResignTranslation: Policy says it's ok and expected to kill the suspect in this situation. on From CNN: The latest on the police shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesotaif your pharmacist couldn't tell an aspirin from fentanyl, it's not just something you accept as a occupationa…
on Officer That Shot Daunte Wright, Police Chief Both ResignGot it. That makes more sense than my thought. on CDC and FDA Against Johnson & Johnson VaccineI'm no public health expert, but from what I've seen the clotting issue needs study. But since it only…
on CDC and FDA Against Johnson & Johnson VaccineRandom factoid... Of 3.29M doses administered in Colorado so far (2020 population estimated at 5.84M), only 12…
on Stacey Abrams’s Big Lie Has Real ConsequencesCards on the table, I'm in favor of redistricting changes... preferably starting with the Permanent Apportionm… on Officer That Shot Daunte Wright, Police Chief Both ResignI'm just doing math in my head. 26 year veteran. When did you enter the workforce? 23? I graduated at 23, got…
If we say that people who don’t post pictures of their wedding dresses are evil, maybe we can get her to post a picture of herself in a wedding dress!Report
She sure is a poor water-carrier for “libertarianism”. In one week, she can be both heartless and self-contradictory.Report
I’m glad to see the Atlantic branching out from the usual New York-DC axis groupthink. Where else could a libertarian like McArdle, or a conservative like Andrew Sullivan, be published these days?Report
Errr, she’s referring to social work and not health care, right? She expressly says that one of the reasons for government-run social services is that it targets only one marginalized segment of the population and therefore private enterprise does not have much incentive to please the consumer. That’s not the case with private health care providers who (usually) provide care to a much wider swath of the population and so cost is not quite as primary a consideration.
I assume you’re being too clever for me.Report
I’m just messing around.Report
Ahhh, I’ve always had blind spots when it comes to facetiousness, sarcasm, and messing around. My apologies.Report
I think all of the nursing homes in my home town other than Monroe Community Hospital are run by philanthropies or commercial companies. I think I would be very skeptical that private facilities operating on a combination of private pay and re-imbursements via Medicaid and the purveyors of long-term care insurance provide worse care for the money than the Community Hospital. She also neglects that in these circumstances, the relatives of the inmate are commonly quite involved parties. You may retain a residual option in these circumstances (difficult to exercise, I think), to transfer grandma from one facility to another. What if all of the facilities are operated by the county government?Report