Happy 5th Birthday

It has been five years since I began this Blog. After some 1.25 million words on various topics I look back and see what I intended and what I did.

The main reason why in late 2008 I decided to write this Blog was that it was clear that with the incoming Administration that there would be upheavals of the type we had not seen in this Country for quite a while. I also was reading what others were saying, especially economists, and saw that they were clueless. Thus an intent to examine issues and present an alternative view.

I have had over 100,000 visitors from almost 150 countries and 45% are from outside the US. My focus was a bit idiosyncratic, covering topics from one area to another but with a nexus on how they would reflect on our lives here in the US. Let me proceed through how we got to where we are now:

1. Macroeconomics: For any somewhat familiar with this Blog you can sense that I have a low opinion of macroeconomists. They are a snarky crowd who believe individually they are correct but when one compares any random selection there is never any agreement. I know no other collection of humans who have such a high self esteem but hold their peers in such opprobrium. My first cut was the analysis of the Romer curves. Here is a case of a Head of the CEA  who said what unemployment would be with the dispersal of $1Trillion and then as her predictions never even came close would only appear to dig her heels in ever so deeper.

2. Health Care: I was opposed to Government Health Care as started by Hillary and even more so by the current crowd, even more so. I went line by line over the Bills as they progressed and indicated what we are now seeing. No surprise, it is a true disaster and will get even worse. Ironically we had the same cast of characters. Macroeconomists. My result was a Draft Book on Health Care economics and Policy. I focused on one area initially, Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes and wrote a Draft Book there also. There has been over 100,000 downloads of that Book! Amazing. I developed an alternative Health Care Plan with numbers. I believe in universal Health Care but provided in the free market, and requiring only catastrophic coverage. I do not want some woman telling me what to do with my prostate. Especially some Government employee, one who know nothing.

3. Genomics: As an offshoot of the Health Care debate it became clear that reducing costs through the obesity path was important and also that genomics in cancer was to have a major impact. I then returned to Medicine in detail and examined and tracked genomics and cancer. From this cam my Draft Books on Melanoma and Prostate Cancer. I find the development here amazing and attempt to analyze them as they are produced. I have also tried to develop a broader system theory of cancer focusing on specific malignancies.

4. Political Philosophy: What was also clear as I followed the political debate was that an understanding of a Political Philosophy for our age was missing. Progressives had reared their ugly heads again saying that the Government, whoever that may be, would always know better and could take care of us since we cannot. Nonsense. Thus I examined Individualism and write a Draft Book on Progressivism and Individualism. My understanding of Individualism is not that of ignoring others but of respecting the person. I continue this effort.

These have been the major threads I have examined over the past five years. I anticipate continuing the process and look forward to where this may take us. The next three years will be a continuing challenge.  My initial concerns have proven correct. My concerns for the next three years are just more of the same, but I suspect an ever so more a stumbling effort.

To those who have read this, I hope I have provided a modicum of insight. I have tried not to be too critical but when needed I am. Many thanks and let us see what happens next.