Ignagni to the Rescue

I watched this Frontline on the health care bill the other day. An excellent recap of the politicking of the last year - highly worth the view in my opinion.

I hadn't followed the behind-the-scenes politics of the debate, so, I'm embarrassed to admit, this was the first time I'd ever heard the name of Karen Ignagni. In spite of the liberal tint of the show, Ignagni, the HMOs' chief lobbyist, really emerges as the hero of the show, at least if you take a pro-insurance industry view. Her strategy: accede reform is necessary, and work hard toward two goals: (1) mandate that everyone has to buy health insurance; (2) no public option. And in spite of the fact that Obama had campaigned against both points, at the end of the day, Ignagni got her members exactly what they wanted.

Now, the part of me that is trained in Economics tells me that this is a classic example of an industry willingly accepting regulation, in the thought that regulation can benefit the industry. (Anyone remember the idea of regulatory capture?) Almost certainly this is going to result in a lot of deadweight loss. But, I tip my hat in admiration to a job very well done to Ignagni in terms of looking after her clients' interests.

On the other hand, it might be a good idea to have an economically rational plan for planning the health care system. Just an idea.

BTJ is Back: Or, How the World Has Changed Since July 2008

Wow! Hard to believe that it is almost two years since my collaborator Publius and I decided that we needed to tone down the blogging amidst the final push of studying for the bar exam. By this point, I've moved from being an innocent, doe-eyed law student to being a jaded and irritable second year associate. What a difference two years makes!

But if a lot has changed for me, what about the world? Mama mia, how the world has changed. Looking back on my summer associate experiences in 2006 and 2007, all I can say is "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive / But to be young was very heaven!" Ah yes, when starting associate salaries were raised from $115,000 to $125,000 to $135,000, to $145,000, to $160,000, all before I ever started at the firm. By comparison, check out the go that Publius's sister, a recent Brown graduate, has been having in the Greatest City in the World as we enter our second year of the Era of Obama.

Ah summer 2008, those halcyon days when the world was young. Remember the howls of outrage as the US budget deficit soared to $400 billion. It seems almost quaint, now that our budget deficits are four times that size and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Ah, June 2008, when the unemployment rate climbed 10%, from 5% to 5.5%, setting off waves of panic. A far cry from today, when Obamiacs tell us we should be elated that the unemployment rate is down to 9.5%. Who in 2008 would have predicted that the American economy would become permanently hobbled by a tax burden that makes relocating in the UK, Canada, or the Netherlands seem like a mighty attractive option? Who would have believed you if you had predicted that the eighth largest economy in the world was about to implode? Who would have questioned the received wisdom that the road to happiness and prosperity lay in imitating the cast and crew of Flip This House? Who would have guessed that even a party as obtuse as the United States Democratic Party would jam through a massive expansion of the welfare state against the loud and sustained opposition of a majority of the American populace? The run on Indymac Bank turned out to be the presagition for the collapse not only of larger financial institutions, but of entire economies. Yes, 2008 was truly the last age of innocence.

In short, we are cursed to live in interesting times. And now, when we must say collectively, "Midway through the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wood, for I had strayed from the straight pathway to this tangled ground", BTJ: The Blog is back to cast light on the troubled way before us. Stay tuned...