Kurt T. Weber
For more than 24 years Kurt T. Weber has been an activist for liberty. During his undergraduate and graduate school years he organized student groups, ran an active campaign for the Kalamazoo City Council in Michigan, spent a summer petitioning in several states to get a third party on the ballot and was a regular columnist for college newspapers.
Mr. Weber spent a decade of service with Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Oregon. He joined the Institute in 1993 as its program director and was eventually promoted to vice president. Among his responsibilities as vice president were budget and strategic planning and staff management.
Mr. Weber has worked with a number of state, national and international classical liberal organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. In 1992 he traveled throughout Latin America, consulting with think tanks in six countries. Mr. Weber also helped organize an institute in Ecuador and worked with Junior Achievement Argentina in Buenos Aires.
Mr. Weber has over 80 published newspaper commentaries, which have appeared in The Oregonian and numerous other Oregon publications, as well as The Orange County Register (California) and The Houston Post. He also has 150 radio commentaries to his credit.
Mr. Weber was graduated from Western Michigan University with dual degrees and honors in finance and public administration. He holds a masters degree in international relations from the University of Virginia.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007FreeMarketCure.com is not sickoWebsite offers short films about health care in Canada and the US By Kurt WeberLooking for some healthy videos? FreeMarketCure.com offers short counterweights to that guy who cannot be named. (No, not Lord Voldermort.) In its own homepage words, “FreeMarketCure.com is a new film website dedicated to educating the public about single-payer health care. America's one-stop answer to the dangerous fantasy that the government can and should manage your health care, FreeMarketCure.com features short films that reveal the truth about health care in Canada and in the United States.” FreeMarketCure.com is supported by the Moving Picture Institute Short Film Program. Listed below are a few of the video offerings from the Cure (no, not the band), and short descriptions lifted straight from its website. • A Short Course in Brain Surgery “highlights the plight of an Ontario man with a cancerous brain tumor who crossed the border to the U.S. to get the medical care that is rationed in his home country.” (5:36 min.) • Uninsured in America “examines the conventional wisdom that 45 million Americans cannot get health insurance and consequently do not have access to health care.” (9 min.) • The Lemon “demonstrates how single-payer health care systems have a lot in common with the failed economic systems of Soviet-era eastern Europe.” (This video’s rallying cry could be, “Remember the Trabant!” 7:46 min.) • Two Women is “a cautionary lesson about a politicized health care system where politicians and bureaucrats determine medical priorities.” (4:32 min.) I had hoped The Lemon would quote one of my favorite lines from Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn. To an ill person who does not want treatment a State physician says: But I’m a doctor; I have a right to treat you. Cancer Ward was no comedy – and neither will a government take-over of your personal healthcare decisions.
|
Monday, July 2, 2007Wisconsin’s Power to the Politicians Plan$15 Billion Proposal Would Cut Personal Health Care Choices By Kurt T. WeberCategories: WisconsinLast week, the Wisconsin Senate passed a $15 billion universal health insurance plan. Undoubtedly, this Power- to-the-Politicians proposal will ultimately usurp individuals' control over their health care decisions. As Consumers for Health Care Choices president Greg Scanlan remarked, "The Wisconsin proposal is the biggest political power grab in American history." Further, if this passes the Wisconsin House and is signed into law, "Suddenly the Wisconsin legislature will become the new ruling class of the entire health care system in the state. They will make all decisions about who will be covered, what will be covered, how much will be spent, who will pay. Any group of providers, say chiropractors or nurse midwives, will have to lobby the legislature to get their service covered. The flood of campaign contributions will be a politician's dream!" Of course, we can expect the Wisconsin Legislature to become embroiled in quibbles over what food is served in hospitals - just like in the government-run Canadian health care system. Technorati tag: healthy Wisconsin
|
Friday, June 8, 2007The Freedom Foundation of MinnesotaAnother free market think tank takes root By Kurt WeberThe Freedom Foundation of Minnesota put the North Star State on the list of states with two — count ‘em, two — think tanks that advance the ideas of liberty. Annette Meeks is the impetus behind FFM; she formerly served at the helm of the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis. Formed in late 2006 the foundation “develops and actively advocates the principles of individual freedom, personal responsibility, economic freedom, and limited government.” Meeks reports, "We are very excited to announce the beginning of our ‘Continuing Legislators Education’ on healthcare this summer. These roundtables are an opportunity for legislators to listen to and learn from free-market healthcare experts from around the country. Let's just say that reforming healthcare in Minnesota is a target-rich environment and we hope to make an impact on proposed legislation when the legislature returns to the capitol in 2008." FFM’s website announces, “As an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota does not accept any government grants or funding. Instead, we are proud to earn the trust and support of generous individuals, foundations, and corporations.” Know people in Minnesota (or elsewhere) who would like to learn more about FFM? Click here to contact the good people there. If you (or your friends) are ready to financially support the FFM, click here to donate online. All major credit cards are accepted — and your contribution is tax deductible.
|
Tuesday, May 8, 2007"Sick and Sicker" to Counter Michael MooreCHCC Foundation sponsors, seeks support for new movie By Kurt WeberHelp stop another Hollywood award from going to a film of falsehoods. Send a contribution to the Consumers for Health Care Choices Foundation in support of the forthcoming movie “Sick and Sicker,” which “will counter Michael Moore's upcoming ode to socialized medicine, ‘Sicko,’ scheduled to be released in September.” The Foundation expects “Sick and Sicker” to be released about the same time. Its April 27 email notes, “As the fiscal sponsor of the film, the CHCC Foundation will be able to accept tax deductible contributions to pay for the production of the feature-length movie and ensure that Michael Moore's propaganda is met with a factual examination of the realities of socialized medicine.” Consumers for Health Care Choices is the third SPN member to produce or underwrite a film. The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty has put forth “The Call of the Entrepreneur” and the Pacific Research Institute has helped cool down Al Gore with “An Inconvenient Truth ... Or Convenient Fiction?"
|
Sunday, April 1, 2007Competition and Choice for Medical Lab TestsDriving down healthcare costs for all By Kurt WeberWhile driving around Portland, Oregon last week, I saw a billboard advertising LabCorp, a medical laboratory testing company. As a proponent of choice and competition in making quality healthcare more affordable for all, I was happy to see this mass consumer advertisement. You can bet there will be more of its kind. A few years ago, Dr. David MacDonald, co-founder of SimpleCare, an organization dedicated to advancing the fee-for-service concept, told me countless examples of lower costs in testing brought about by consumer choice and competition. Free market advocates should highlight these companies -- certainly there are others, I just have not seen their advertisements nor done a web search -- and their price schedules to demonstrate that the market is working for healthcare consumers. (In closing, please note, I have no professional or investment relationship with Laboratory Corporation of America. I’m merely an avid billboard reader that can connect the dots.)
|
Sunday, April 1, 2007Swiss Reject Single-payer HealthcareBy Kurt WeberCategories: Single-Payer FolliesRecently, Swiss voters resoundingly said “nein” to a single-payer health care system. On Sunday, March 11, “The vote was on whether to replace Switzerland’s current system of mandatory health insurance coverage provided by 87 private health plans with a single payer system based on income-related premiums. It was rejected by 71% of the voters,” writes Greg Scanlan, president of Consumers for Health Care Choices. Scanlan points out, in a March 15 CHCC media release, Oregon voters rejected a similar idea in 2002 by an even larger margin, shooting down a single payer initiative 79 to 21 percent. Spread this news far and wide because, except for a blog here and there, it’s not really being highlighted by the US media: The Swiss overwhelmingly said no to politicians and bureaucrats completely running their health care system.
|
Tuesday, February 6, 2007Bring on Tobacco Prohibition, or Stop Taxing ItBy Kurt WeberSeveral states hope to enhance their budgets with “sin taxes.” Tobacco, of course, remains a favorite whipping boy. Beating it further, efforts abound country-wide to restrict or ban outdoor smoking because it is bad for us all. To the state and local politicians who vote for such measures, this nonsmoker says: Stop pussyfooting around and enact tobacco prohibition. Now. Put your rules, ordinances and legislation where your mouths are. Do not increase taxes to “encourage” people to stop. Do not draw smoke-free moats 25 feet around playgrounds. Get on with a hardcore, legal-with-teeth patch program and force all individuals to snuff their last butt. Small problem: Tobacco prohibition won’t work. Alcohol Prohibition was repealed because it didn’t work. We can’t even keep illicit drugs out of heavily monitored and controlled prisons. Do not despair, public servants. There is a principled, ethical stance you can take: Wash government’s hands of this tainted money. I would take a politician seriously if she said, tobacco is bad and we’ll not raise one penny more from taxing it. Clearly, though, politicians are addicted to this dirty money, their addiction to tax revenue trumps all else. How sad: Tobacco is real bad, but, hey…it provides a good revenue stream. I find this unconscionable. To all concerned public servants I say, stop dispensing hypocritical platitudes until you enact full-on tobacco prohibition — or eliminate tobacco taxes. The truth is: Tobacco is a government revenue goldmine, and that is more important than any concern for your health, or the ethics of disassociating from something deemed so bad.
|
| SPN Headquarters: 2020 North 14th Street Ste 250 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: (703) 243-1655 | West Coast Office: PO Box 5208 Richmond, CA 94805 Phone: (510) 965-9700 |
