The New Ideas Blog

Forbes magazine recently did a profile of Victor Li from the the University of Michigan, and his newest innovation; flexible self-healing concrete. Great idea (and you should see the photo of the concrete bending without breaking). But that is not exactly what this post is about. Instead I want to look at another idea that occurred to me as I read the article. It is that we often create things without regard to the future costs they will impose on us or others.

In fact, after neglecting the massive highway system we have built in this country for decades, it would now cost well over two trillion dollars to catch up on maintenance and (more…)

Big brother? Yes, and big mother and father too. There is an obvious and increasing tendency to assume that we mere humans are not able to take care of ourselves or make decisions about our own lives, and that government should therefore be there to “guide” us. This argument very obviously forgets or purposely ignores the fact that government is made of fallible humans as well.

The example that reminded me of this is a recent government-ordered recall of over five million window blinds or shades. They happen to have (more…)

A politics of personal responsibility demands that we understand the consequences of laws or government actions that we support. We should also consider political candidates we support as our “agents” meaning we’re somewhat responsible for the choices they make since we hire or elect them. With that in mind, I have decided on a new rule for what or who I can support. I’ll get back to that in a moment, but first I have to relate the true story that inspired me to write this.

The Associated Press on September 29, 2009, reported on the case of a woman in Michigan who (more…)

Why is Boeing making planes from carbon fiber now? Because it is lighter than aluminum and so the planes use less fuel. Between this and other technological advances, the new Boeing 787 will be 20% more efficient than conventional planes. Airlines will like that.

Now, it is no surprise that companies will make environmentally-friendly changes when it means more profit. We don’t have to believe that they are interested in making such changes for the sake of the environment itself, although they will likely hint at that in their marketing. Nor do we need them to have any concern for a clean environment.

If we want a livable planet, we need only (more…)

It is easy to imagine that we can do the right thing, and that we can know what the right thing to do is, but is it so? We are so influenced by desires for things and what we want to be true that it colors everything we see if we allow our minds their usual ways. Let’s look at an example.

Suppose a politician long ago said “vote for me and I’ll force future generations to pay for you to quit working and relax.” People vote for him, and the “social security program” is created. To make it look fair people pay into the plan as though it is a retirement fund. But that’s for appearances only, since (more…)

I recently wrote a page about one of the ways to make a government health care plan work better. That doesn’t mean that I am in favor of such a system, but if we are going to have one I hope that we can at least do it in a way that doesn’t result in either bankrupting the country or rationing medical care. My idea was that you have to make people pay for the first thousand dollars of their care annually and pay an ongoing portion thereafter in order to discourage unlimited demand and to keep the medical industry competitive, as well as to make the whole thing affordable for taxpayers. That page is here:

Health Insurance Reform - New Solutions

But in this post I want to suggest some more radical ideas for making the system more affordable for everyone. Specifically, I want to start with this: Stop licensing doctors and other health care professionals. Stop (more…)

I used to argue against government welfare programs on moral grounds. My reasoning? Here’s the short version: If you don’t have the right to take my money to pay your bills, you don’t gain that right by having a government do it for you. Now I tend to favor limited welfare because survival is a higher value than my right to keep all of my money. But there’s another reason to be critical of welfare programs: They don’t work very well. Welfare that works should not just feed people, but help them to feed themselves.

I come from a background that not only included a very low income for years, but also included (more…)

Note: The following is a quick rewrite from my site www.TheSecretInformationSite.com.

You may think you’re getting the true election results when you watch the evening news. You might think that outright lies from reporters are uncommon. They probably are rare. But there are many ways to hide the truth without lying.

News networks report their “projections” long before the votes are counted, so there is room for error. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. The fact is that (more…)

Note: This post on political manipulation is a quick rewrite of a page from my website www.RadicalNewThoughts.com

There is an old joke that starts by asking you, “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” Whether you answer yes or no it sounds like you are admitting to being a wife beater. It’s a practical joke based on the use of an implicit premise - that you beat your wife. The technique is used for more than a laugh though. It’s also a favorite of politicians, who use it to manipulate public opinion.

You see, political manipulation is accomplished by (more…)

You may recall my recent post titled, “Public Lies,” which took a look at the fallacy of licensing as a necessary function of government. The advantages of licensing clearly are on the side of the industry licensed, not the public. This is why businesses band together to call for such regulation. While looking into this further I found some more statistics and stories that are very interesting.

As union membership has fallen over the years, licensing has become the method of choice for those seeking government force to protect them from competition. 43 million U.S. workers are now in licensed professions. In 1981 there were less than 100 occupations in the United States that were licensed (a recent article in Forbes Magazine estimated the number at 80). Now there are 1,100 occupations for which a license is needed. Contrary to what some might think, there has been no (more…)