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Jon Erik Kingstad

Afton, MN
Commenter for
2 years 45 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 10/25/11 at 12:13 pm in response to Climate skeptic admits he was wrong

Mr. Naas @ #6: I think you missed the point of the comment. If Marc Seeley did agree with the overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming was man-made, he would not be allowed to say-so on NPR. #1 was deploring the fact that scientific issues have become distorted by ideology. So now, to accept a consensus of scientific opinion is to be a leftist lover of "impressionistic art".

I can accept that it may not be a matter of "factual" or at least "scientific truth" that climate...

Posted on 10/18/11 at 08:04 pm in response to Reflections on Herman Cain

Thanks for spotlighting Herman Cain and his politics, Eric.

I'd only like to add a small quibble about your description of Social Security. It is true that "even if current and future workers continue to pay every penny of their FICA to take care of those already receiving benefits, the system is projected to hit a shortfall". But it's not "in a few years". It's like 25 years which is more than a few. I think it's becoming more important these days to stress the fact that Social...

Posted on 10/19/11 at 08:56 am in response to Reflections on Herman Cain

#10. Mr. Tester. I have a self funded pension plan which is an equivalent. The only reason it has value today is because of the 2008 TARP bailout, which happened because of said charlatans and which also happened to enrich said charlatans thousands of times more than it did my measly pension plan. You just don't get it do you?

Posted on 10/17/11 at 02:32 pm in response to Stadium proposal: Two wrongs don't make a right

The article makes a lot of good points. I especially like the point about any stadium in downtown Minneapolis. But if we must have a new stadium (which I don't believe we do), rather than the Farmers' Market sites, why not tear down the Metrodome and rebuild on the site already there?

Posted on 10/18/11 at 10:51 am in response to Gary Hart on the 'I' vs. the 'We'

The reality is that health care under the present failed market is driving health care beyond the ability of more people to afford. The health care insurance that is available has large deductibles and can be denied to people with "pre-existing conditions." "Obamacare" promises to lower health care costs and make health care more affordable for people as long as the mandate is sustained. Otherwise, single payer becomes the most affordable from everyone's perspective, including the government...

Posted on 10/18/11 at 07:41 pm in response to Gary Hart on the 'I' vs. the 'We'

I have troubled following your facts or your logic here, Peder. If I understand what you're saying correctly, the government, and specifically, Medicare, is responsible for driving all of health care costs. That's quite a claim and one I've never heard before. I think experts are in agreement that out of control and duplicative administrative costs of private insurers are responsible for the cost and price issues. But how do you figure that one? Are you saying that the government acts as a "...

Posted on 10/14/11 at 02:26 pm in response to As OccupyMN settles in, Tea Party comparisons surface

For one thing, the tea party has been pretty conclusively shown to be an astro-turf movement, organized and subsidized by the Koch brothers, among others. For another, there is a strain of racism in a lot of the talk that comes from the tea party, of the same type of racist talk that we saw from McCain rallies during the last Presidential campaign. Third, the tea party is comprised of a lot of "culture warriors" whose gripes against corporations or banks fall far behind their gripes against...

Posted on 10/16/11 at 08:23 pm in response to Occupy healthcare?

I agree with the post and I couldn't have put it better myself. The "insurance industry" today, including "health insurance", is controlled by the banks and the financial services industry. As far as I can tell, they are all one at the top. This is the problem today with the financial sector and the insurance sector, the media, and the government being controlled by a relatively few individuals for their interests.

Posted on 10/12/11 at 11:17 am in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders: Break up the Wall Street giants

Bernie's rhetoric has a certain populist appeal but breaking up these banks wouldn't address the fundamental problems which have more to do with deregulation than the size of these banks. Better to repeal the part of the National Banking Act that allows national banks to charge interest rates of the states they're located in and adopt a national usury law fixing the maximum rate of interest at 6 percent. Then repeal the awful Garn-S. Germain Financial Deregulation Law of 1982 as well as the...

Posted on 10/13/11 at 08:55 am in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders: Break up the Wall Street giants

Paul, usury laws, which are still on the books in Minnesota and many other states apply to all loans except the financial institutions which were segregated and got special exemptions because of the other federal laws. Usury laws apply to all money loans.

The reason we have to pay usurious credit card rates is because of the National Bank Act passed by Congress in the 1860's which gave a bank the right to charge the interest rate allowed by the state in which it was located. In the...