“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.
Danny Dreamer Goes to the Opera
January 25, 2020
Saturday Morning Gaming: Fallout, Russian Style
January 25, 2020
Bernie Sanders accepts Joe Rogan’s endorsement
January 24, 2020
The Case for Conservative Climate Action
January 24, 2020
Do You Really Want Full Access to Your Health Data?
January 24, 2020
January 24, 2020
Weekend Plans Post: On Durians and Getting Sick
January 24, 2020
January 23, 2020
January 23, 2020
Failure Propagates Upward For Democratic Party
January 21, 2020
The Case for Conservative Climate Action
January 24, 2020
The New York Times has made its endorsement
January 19, 2020
Hillary Clinton vs Bernie Sanders, Round Two
January 22, 2020
State Hate: The Fifty State Smackdown
January 19, 2020
Weekend Plans Post: On Durians and Getting Sick
January 24, 2020
January 23, 2020
Sunday Morning! “Ducks, Newburyport”
January 19, 2020
There is that connection between fascism and cynicism where the people themselves eventually accept their powerlessness and forget any dream of a just society.
on The Happiest Sadist: Phèdre and Kushiel’s DartNeat! Thanks for clarifying.
on The Case for Conservative Climate ActionOf course. Of course. I've no doubt that, on the s…
on Boris Johnson announces that the Withdrawal Agreement has received Royal AssentVotes that [don't] matter relieve all a lot of res… on Boris Johnson announces that the Withdrawal Agreement has received Royal AssentVotes that matter relieve all a lot of responsibil…
on The Case for Conservative Climate Action63 million Democrats here in America, plus about h… on Danny Dreamer Goes to the OperaThree of his bosses who fired him appear prominent… on Do You Really Want Full Access to Your Health Data?Where I'd have physical access to the servers! on Boris Johnson announces that the Withdrawal Agreement has received Royal AssentI've only seen this piece from the BBC saying "huh…
One of Three, But Should Be Many
I Want to be Kissed by a Scoundrel
The Inexplicable Origins of World War III
Parenting the Apocalypse Du Jour In Three Not-So-Easy Steps
Romance Before Bros
Spend a Few Evenings with Mrs. Fletcher
Who Really Killed Huey Long?
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