The Loss of the Lion


When I was an undergraduate Philosophy major at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, I became very enamoured with Economics. At that time the professors were very conservative and they tended to lecture exclusively free market principals. For some reason, perhaps it was my rebellious nature, I really like to listen to the words of Senator Edward Kennedy. He made sense to me and that created a world of paradoxical thought.

I had lectures and textbooks that explained the functional problems of the minimum wage, all of which are true. But Senator Kennedy made the point that if you work 52 weeks a year in the United States, you shouldn't live in poverty. Maybe it was my blue collar background, but that simple statement summed up how I felt. He inspired me and in order to read what he was saying in politics (and usually on the Senate floor) was not easy task. Back in 1984 we didn't have the Internet. So I had to scurry to the newspaper section of the Maybe Library and hunt down the New York Times or Washington Post.

Even more paradoxical for me was Senator Kennedy's passion for healthcare. He held the belief that every American ought to have access to healthcare. The Economist in me told me that such a proposition was very expensive and involved much government intervention which is something free marketers despise. After all, I had sworn my loyalty to Milton Friedman philosophically. But my heart told me, he was right. I don't know why I felt that way. Maybe I was an impressionable college kid, but I did. It's a feeling in the pit of your gut that tells you right and wrong. And to this day I still believe Senator Kennedy was right in his belief. Although, my reasons are founded in geeky macroeconomic justifications because I believe a healthy workforce leads to a higher standard of living for everyone.

Healthcare is a moral issue, not an economic one. Once we make a moral decision, we can always figure out the incentives and market mechanisms to make our decision work. That is the lesson and inspiration that came to me from the Liberal Lion.

Tomorrow we will bury Senator Edward M Kennedy and I just feel sick about it. When you lose an inspiration, even one you didn't agree a lot of the time, it's personal. God rest his soul. We lost a great American.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paying College Players? The Proposal - Volume 2

A brief recap of the rules and decisions faced by the young men who leave high school and become college athletes is in order. Current Rules One and Done rule in basketball.   The NBA controls this, not the NCAA.   The NBA has a rule that a prospective player is required to be one year out of high school and at least 19 years of age to enter the NBA draft.    The National Hockey League and Major League Baseball allow a player to enter their league once they turn 18 years old.   However, MLB has a rule that once a player enrolls in a four year college they become ineligible to enter the MLB draft until their junior year or are at least 21 years old.   Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school remain eligible to enter the draft.    The National Football League (NFL) requires that a player be three years removed from high school before being eligible for the Rookie Draft.   This necessitates that a player show off their skills at the collegiate level.   This h
Read more

Paying College Players? The Proposal - Volume 1

Image
When a collegiate sporting event takes place different people ask different questions.  The mother of the star play might ask, "is my Baby going to get hurt?" The teacher of the star player might ask, I wonder, "did he get that homework done?" The coach might ask, "is he going to come through?" The local beer company that sponsors the telecast is asking, "did we get good media exposure from this game?" The University Chancellor might ask, "How many prospective students are we going to get out of this telecast?" The lowly Economist (yeah, that’s me) asks, "How much extra value did this star player earn for everyone involved?” The truth is that when   NCAA college contracts were originally created, video games did not exist, videotaping was evolving from film and the internet was an imaginary concept.     Technology has allowed players to provide entertainment to a world wide audience so that athletic feats get pl
Read more

What Omaha means at the line of scrimmage for the Broncos?

When you hear quarterback, Peyton Manning bark out "Omaha" at the line of scrimmage, what does it mean? Simple.   It means, “original play called.”   In other words, whatever the original play that was called in the huddle or scripted from the sidelines will be run. Is this an educated guess?   Well, yes, but it is what Economists do a lot of times when we look at data.  Here is why I made my educated guess. Because Peyton Manning is an avid play caller at the line of scrimmage and because he regularly calls audibles and then changes his call depending on how the defense changes their alignment, the offense players listening to Manning need a quick mechanism that redirects them to the original play called. My evidence of this finding is derived from my observation of several Denver Broncos games.    First, when “Omaha” is called it sometimes the play that follows is a running play, sometimes a passing play.   The running play that follows might be a run into the middl
Read more