If everybody owns it...

2 years ago, I watched the Michael Moore documentary, 'SICKO' - A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and shared some HMO horror stories [read the synopsys at imdb]. The film pushed the praises of Universal Healthcare systems in Canada, France, and Cuba.

After watching the film twice, My wife and I were sold on the virtues of Universal Healthcare. That is until I took my economics class as part of my MBA program taught by Dr. Bill Boyes who figuratively slapped some economic sense back into me. The key takeaway was this:

If nobody owns it. Nobody takes care if it.

If somebody owns it. somebody takes care of it.

If everybody owns it. Nobody takes care of it.

In case you're wondering who everybody is - everybody is the Government.

So think about... Why is the global environment is in shambles, but your neighborhood's yards are beautifully landscaped? And have you seen the yard of the house in foreclosure down the street?

So back to healthcare. Lets keep it out of everybody's hands. Let the healthcare practitioners run their practices and give them the freedom to give you the care that you're willing to pay for. Let the drug companies invest in R&D and sell their drugs, so that you can feel better, or at least not get worse. Let the medical device companies innovate and sell to the hospitals so that they can save your life. Take your personal health into your own hands, not everybody's hands.

Socialism For Dummies

I received this email the other day, puts the whole socialsim thing in a very simple concept.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

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That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "Okay, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade, so no one would fail, and no one would receive an A.”

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the third test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them, “Socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.”

It cannot be any simpler than that.

(Please pass this on.)

Changing Views III - Socialists vs. Capitalists

I've always believed in the free market - even before I knew what it meant. It just makes sense though. I didn't grow up receiving an allowance, but as the son of two business owners, I quickly learned the value of a dollar and how incentives worked. My dad paid me to wash the car, and rewarded me for doing chores or helping out during the week by taking me out on Saturday mornings for hot chocolate and donuts.

College was paid for by student loans mostly. My parents did help out a bit my freshman year with dorm expenses. In fact, I just paid my undergrad loans off 2 years ago, just in time to take out more loans on my MBA. I recall a conversation I had with my friend Bryan towards the end of my undergrad years when he asked me why I wanted to get into real estate sales. I told him something along the lines of, "First, because I genuinely like helping people, especially on potentially their biggest purchase to date. Second, because real estate is a nearly perfect market of buyers and sellers. Supply and Demand. It just makes sense. Third, I get paid on a commission - I sell a bunch of houses, I make a bunch of money. What a great incentive to excel."

Changing Views II - On Friends

In the last few years, I've found that my tastes and my views have been changing radically. Perhaps a part of my growing life experiences, my education, and my maturity. I find myself stepping back to take a look at the world around me, and wondering where do I see myself fitting in that world. This is part of a series of blogs about CHANGE.

When I first moved from the Bay Area to Phoenix, Tracy and I sat down and talked about what we would do after we both graduated from our respective Grad Schools. I asked her, "If you could clean the slate, and live anywhere in the United States, without respect to where we've lived before, family ties, friends, or history ... where would that be?" Well we both answered that San Diego would be the ideal place. Gorgeous weather, beautiful beaches, just urban enough. So we agreed, we'd move to San Diego.

Well as the months and years dragged on in the sweltering 107 degree heat of Arizona, I started to realize the importance of the friends and network that I had developed over the last decade. Truly good friends are not easy to come by. So I started spending my few weeks off back in the Bay Area to hang out with old friends, and it made me realize what I had left behind. I can't quit you.

Tracy and I have since reevaluated our plans, and are looking to move back to the Bay Area - provided we are able to find suitable new careers there.

Here is a little tribute to my core circle of friends. We call them the Casa View friends, because that's the street of the house that most of the guys were roommates at. And of course the honorary roomates and significant others that could be found there at anytime of day. Here's to you Casa View.

How I Met Casa View from Ray Huang on Vimeo.

A video slide show for my Casa View friends.

Changing Views I - On Marriage

In the last few years, I've found that my tastes and my views have been changing radically. Perhaps a part of my growing life experiences, my education, and my maturity. I find myself stepping back to take a look at the world around me, and wondering where do I see myself fitting in that world. This is a jumping off point to a series of blogs about CHANGE. Yes We Can.

I recall being 25, stopped at a red light on my motorcycle waiting to turn left from Saratoga Avenue to the 280 on-ramp. I was in deep thought as I often was when riding (I recommend driving with the radio off for a few days to really get in touch with your thoughts), thinking how there is absolutely no reason for any sane person to get married... aside from perhaps religious reasons. No financial upside; Doesn't make a relationship stronger; Wedding costs are ridiculous; Diamonds are even more ridiculous and a total racket by DeBeers; Sure its nice if you had kids to be married, but being not-married doesn't make raising a child any different, except maybe on who gets the tax write-off (not sure how that works). Strip away all the emotion and tradition out of marriage, and all you have is a loosely legally binding contract to validate a relationship.

So here I was, at the peak of my bachelorhood, swearing off marriage. Fast forward two years, and you'll have found me head over heels in love, engaged (under no coercion), helping my fiance plan a marriage. Ready and willing to move to a land far away (Arizona) from everything I've known.

I can't tell you exactly what it was that changed my view on marriage. But now, 5 years removed from that painfully long red light, i get excited that several of my friends are getting married.

Want more on marriage, check out my cousin Bonnie's blog on The Dichotomy of Marriage.