To Cryonically Freeze Your Body After Death or Not, and Other News Items
Would you have your body cryonically frozen after death? Poll results.
Pay-for-Performance not working in Massachusetts Medicaid program.
Do Disability Benefits Discourage Work? RAND study says yes.
Comparing US and Canadian emergency rooms: Ours are better; theirs are less expensive.
Research: Our ancestors were probably war-like, not peaceful.
Our ancestors had to be war-like. Where else did our warrior genes come from?
Do disability benefits discourage work? How could they not?
One implication of the RAND disability study is that the disability system is wasteful and unfair — because the receipt of benefits depends on the examiner reviewing the application. Disability is the fastest growing type of Social Security benefit. But demanding that examiners disallow at least the average number of applications would be a quota requirement unfair to those who cannot work.
An integrated disability/retirement system based on savings avoids such incentives (see Estelle James’s study, “Integrated Disability and Retirement Systems in Chile,” here.)
Disability: Is that really that much of a shock? When you get money from the government that covers living expenses, the incentive is not to work.
Ancestors: Weren’t a good portion of our modern innovations developed during war? Or am I confusing that with the space race?
Of course disability payments inhibit work.
Let me get this straight… You can either work for a living, where you have little leisure time and the marginal cost of buying leisure time is equal to your wage per hour. Or you can sit on your kiester while getting paid disability (maybe 65% of your income if working), but you have all manner of leisure time.
In this case, the marginal cost of selling leisure time (while on disability) for the added income if working is rather small. You would lose 50 hours of leisure each week for a merely 50% increase in income.
enlightenment. It took hundreds (if not thousands) of years to form modern-day ideals of decency.
I am continually amazed at how naive people can be with respect to civil society prior to the enlightenment. It took hundreds (if not thousands) of years to form modern-day ideals of decency.
Historically, people were raped, killed, robbed, enslaved and displaced for any advantage that could be gained from doing so. Invaders routinely killed conquered tribes to repopulate land with followers. Especially in an age when productivity was low, people were absorbed, enslaved or displaced to boost resources for the dominant tribe. Death was a constant companion, more than half of children didn’t reach their 5th birthday and life expectancy was probably 50 or less. Killing enemies was just hastening the inevitable. Stealing resources was just an early version of the corporate takeover or competition.