Reason Morning Links: Sanford Won't Resign, August Deadly Month in Afghanistan, City Streets Go Dark

- South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andrew Bauer calls for Gov. Mark Sanford's resignation. Sanford declines.

- IRS may cut 401(k) contribution limits in 2010.

- August tied for deadliest month in the war Afghanistan.

- Cities turning off street lights to save money.

- Fed official puts real unemployment rate at 16 percent.

Comments

[AS]

"He said that we had to extinguish the lights of the world, and when we would see the lights of New York go out, we would know that our job was done."
Galt

[Xeones]

? Cracked's 5 Ballsiest Lies Ever Passed Off As Journalism. Ben Franklin remains my hero.

[Nick]

X, I can't get cracked at work. Are they short enough to post here?

[Rich]

I suppose Dennis Lockhart will soon be unemployed.

[FrBunny]

Nick, try the Google archive version.

[Xeones]

They're too long for cut'n'paste, Nick.

[Joe M]

It was a matter of weeks before GM initiated a lawsuit, pulled their ads and put out a two hour press release skullfucking Dateline into oblivion, all while cackling, "Who's exploding now, motherfucker?!"

[J sub D]

? Cities turning off street lights to save money.

Show me some credible studies that show street lights reduce street crime and I might bitch a little. Hmmm, maybe I should go googling.

RESULTS FROM THE USA

The National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice of the US Department of Justice presented a thorough study of sixty street lighting projects to the US Congress in February 1977.
...
The abstract states, in part:

In particular, while there is no statistically significant evidence that street lighting impacts the level of crime, especially if crime displacement is taken into account, there is a strong indication that increased lighting - perhaps lighting uniformity - decreases the fear of crime.''

Shut 'em off.

[J sub D]

My Detroit governance morning link =

Detroit's bond rating gets downgraded

A ratings agency has downgraded Detroit's already-dismal bond rating, citing the city's growing deficit and the region's continued economic troubles as reasons for the reduction.

Moody's Investors Services downgraded Detroit one notch to Ba3 -- a lower junk bond status.

People are already bitching about the cuts Mayor Bing is proposing. I heard very few musing on the city bouncing checks before Halloween if drastic spending cuts aren't made.

[sage]

? IRS may cut 401(k) contribution limits in 2010.

Christ, I can't see myself ever being in a position where I could even approach the limits after they're cut, much less where they are now. I'm lucky if I can sock away 5k/yr.

[Rich]

"The elderly, children and the disabled need the light ..."

OK, OK, free NVGs for those in need. Sheesh.

[sage]

Show me some credible studies that show street lights reduce street crime and I might bitch a little.

Lights over the road are pretty nice. I like to see the critters crossing the road before I hit them.

[Xeones]

Fun local government incompetence link, East Virginia edition: bagel shop stopped paying rent in a city-owned building two years ago, and the city is just now noticing.

Also, my congressman is doing a town hall meeting on Tuesday. What should i wear?

[Art-P.O.G.]

I like to see the critters crossing the road before I hit them.

Dang animals should be chemiluminescent.

[R C Dean]

IRS may cut 401(k) contribution limits in 2010.

Yo, fuck the IRS.

An obvious thing to do if your goal is grind away any form of self-reliance, and force everyone to be dependent on the government.

[Rich]

What should i wear?

Body armor (if legal), and your heart on your sleeve.

[Nick]

Also, my congressman is doing a town hall meeting on Tuesday. What should i wear?

A t-shirt that says, "Yo, Fuck Congressman Name Here."

[Gunboat Diplomacy]

'Cruel and neglectful' care of one million NHS patients exposed

One million NHS patients have been the victims of appalling care in hospitals across Britain, according to a major report released today.

In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with 'neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel' treatment.

The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6092658/Cruel-and-neglectful-care-of-one-million-NHS-patients-exposed.html

[J sub D]

Also, my congressman is doing a town hall meeting on Tuesday. What should i wear?

Duh! A sidearm.

[Gunboat Diplomacy]

Vive Le French Care?
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Health Systems: Health care in France is often held up as a model the U.S. might follow. Yet the French have their own problems that show there's no such thing as a free lunch - or a free doctor's visit.

Call it the grass-is-greener syndrome. Advocates of national health care, acknowledging the flaws in ObamaCare yet despising the current U.S. system that has the best medicines, the best medical equipment and the shortest waiting lists, have turned their eyes lovingly to places like France.

As City Journal contributing editor Guy Sorman notes, the French would also love to have the low-cost, high-service system some Americans gush about. Unfortunately, they don't. France's system isn't that cheap and is financed by high taxes on labor that have heavy economic consequences.

Sorman notes that a Frenchman making a monthly salary of 3,000 euros has 350 of them deducted for health insurance. Then the employer throws in an additional 1,200 euros. This raises the cost of labor to prohibitive levels and puts a brake on economic growth. This helps explain why French unemployment hovers around 10%.

France imposes an additional tax levy to cover the constant deficits that national health insurance runs.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336178343967257

[R C Dean]

Sorman notes that a Frenchman making a monthly salary of 3,000 euros has 350 of them deducted for health insurance. Then the employer throws in an additional 1,200 euros.

So the payroll tax for healthcare in France exceeds 50% for someone making E36,000 a year?

Holy crap.

[P Brooks]

What should i wear?

Something with "Colt" on it.

[*]

Andrew Bauer calls for Gov. Mark Sanford's resignation. Sanford declines.

Could one of Sanford's (ex?) supporters remind me again why he ever dreamed this weepy Christian head-case might be the Great White Libertarian Hope?

[hmm]

? IRS may cut 401(k) contribution limits in 2010.

This is a great idea. We can limit the amount people can put in a 401(k), which is generally thought of as as safe place to store money, and force the excess they can't invest in a 401(k) into the market with things like MBS that can fund the revival of the housing market. This doesn't look anything like keeping the return on treasuries so low everyone storing cash moved out to MBS to store their money. Nothing at all like that. Does anyone in the upper level of government actually run scenarios of their actions looking for unintended consequences? Or do they just crap in one hand throw it at a wall and try to interpret the omen?

Off topic:
Looks like making fun of this Frenchman for surrendering would be a mistake. Of course, his government still insists he surrendered and no one was hurt.

[P Brooks]

I like to see the critters crossing the road before I hit them.

If it's too dark, you might miss.

[robc]

So the payroll tax for healthcare in France exceeds 50% for someone making E36,000 a year?

1550/4200 = 36.9%

but yeah, it is still crazy ridiculous.

France imposes an additional tax levy to cover the constant deficits that national health insurance runs.

Maybe it does reach 50%.

[Pro Libertate]

Free is sometimes not so free.

[R C Dean]

1550/4200 = 36.9%

Where'd that 4200 come from? The article seems to say that the monthly tax on a monthly income of E3,000 is E1550. Unless the author is misleading us, and the E1200 employer contribution is annual, not monthly (its not terribly clear, on rereading).

[creech]

Xeones, ask him if he will resign if you can prove, to the satisfaction of the assembled media, that he is lying about some aspect of the health "reform" bill.

[Dorn]

"1550/4200 = 36.9%"

Where'd these numbers come from?

[Gunboat Diplomacy]

Video: Nurses 'left elderly patients lying in urine'

A report published by the Patients Association, a health watchdog, records 16 incidents of people left lying in their own faeces and urine, having call bells taken away from them and being left without food or drink.

One former nurse told of the substandard care she received as a patient, describing her experience as "scary".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6811739.ece

[robc]

Payment for insurance: 350+1200=1550
Employment compensation: 3000+1200=4200

Math isnt that fucking hard.

[anon]

if the employer pays an additional 1200 monthly then the total monthly income = 3000+1200 = 4200.

Tax paid = 350+1200 = 1550.

[hmm]

Math isnt that fucking hard.

All you smart people say that.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Xeones, ask him if he will resign if you can prove, to the satisfaction of the assembled media, that he is lying about some aspect of the health "reform" bill.

And you know, upload, Youtube, the whole 9.

[R C Dean]

if the employer pays an additional 1200 monthly then the total monthly income = 3000+1200 = 4200.

Thanks, but I don't count taxes my employer pays directly to the government as part of my income. Its part of the employer's cost, granted, but not part of my income.

[robc]

RC,

You must be an employee, not an employer. 🙂

Also, the 1200 isnt "tax" it is buying insurance. And that is part of a compensation package. If McCain had got his way, it would be taxable income too.

Why is withheld tax a part of your income, but tax paid by the employer not? You never receive the withheld tax either. Reminds me of the tax day interviews, "I didnt pay any taxes, I got a refund!"