Pun Salad

… he just keeps on demonstrating it:

In case you'd like to check out his inspiration:

[Click the pic for the Wikipedia article. Don't contribute if asked.]

Also of note:

• Add this to the list. Veronique de Rugy points out: We Should Still Abolish the SBA: The $45 Million "Small Business" Edition. (Apologices, it's kind of a belated Independence Day link.)

  On the Fourth of July, because nothing says “Liberty!” like a bigger federal subsidy, the Small Business Administration doubled the ceiling on its guaranteed loans to $10 million, the most it has ever offered. The symbolism is almost too perfect. Few phrases in American politics are as sacred as “small business.” It conjures images of corner hardware stores and family farms. What it protects is something else.

  Consider – as Wharton’s Brian Feinstein did in the WSJ – what Washington means by “small.” A homebuilder pulling in $45 million a year qualifies. So does a manufacturer with 1,500 employees. In the median industry, the revenue ceiling runs around $21 million; in some it reaches $47 million. That $45 million builder is larger than 99 percent of American firms with any employee other than the owner, and at construction’s typical margins, its proprietor clears roughly $2.7 million a year. This is not the plucky underdog of campaign ads. It’s a prosperous, established company collecting benefits that most Americans believe are going to the underdog.

  Both Vero's article and the WSJ op-ed she links to are eye-opening and sensible. Abolition is unlikely, however, thanks to (as she points out) the sacredness of that particular cow.

• Try guessing the answer. John C. Goodman asks, rhetorically: Why Do Democrats Hate Medicare Advantage?

  A bill introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D., Texas) and co-sponsored by more than 40 House Democrats would sharply reduce government payments to Medicare Advantage plans—private policies for Medicare enrollees. The bill purports to end practices of questionable value, and the press announcement makes the bill out to be an effort at saving taxpayers money.

  Mr. Doggett’s floor speech introducing the bill suggested a different motive. He said it would “level the playing field” between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.

  It is no secret that many congressional Democrats dislike private health insurance even though private insurers were heavily involved in designing ObamaCare. Politicians on the left often speak about the desirability of a “public option.” But Medicare has already had a competing public option for more than two decades. It’s called traditional Medicare, and it has been losing the competition. More than half of all Medicare enrollees are in private plans.

  The bill is now up to 48 co-sponsors as I type, all Ds. Neither New Hampshire CongressCritter has signed on, but a lot of Usual Suspects have: AOC, Ilhan Omar, Chellie Pingree, Ro Khanna, … Here's hoping it goes nowhere. I'm not in a Medicare Advantage plan, but (generally speaking) I'm satisfied with my situation, and there ain't nothing wrong with it that these jokers won't make worse.

• "If we wanted to take some hobbits to see a Komodo dragon…" Ars Technica adds some science to the Bob and Ray sketch: Flores Hobbits' eating habits offer clues about their evolutionary past.

  Until about 60,000 years ago, diminutive hominin cousins, Homo floresiensis (affectionately nicknamed Hobbits for obvious reasons), shared the island of Flores with Komodo dragons, pygmy elephants, and giant rats.

  Based on the presence of hominin and pygmy elephant bones in the same layers of cave sediment, it originally looked like the Hobbits had hunted and butchered dwarf elephants—an impressive feat for such a tiny hominin. But according to University of Tübingen anthropologist Elizabeth Veatch and her colleagues, it was the Komodo dragons that were the hunters, while the Hobbits only showed up to scavenge what was left.

  If Veatch and her colleagues are right, their findings may challenge some of the assumptions we’ve made about Homo floresiensis—and about which hominin species was the first to venture into the wider world beyond Africa.

  `

  Yery interesting, because science, of course. But for me it's just an excuse to repost this:

• Sucks to be UK. Our excerpt from this week's TGIF:

  → Hell yeah, America: In great news, the International Monetary Fund has released updated growth predictions for 2026. America’s economy is forecast to grow 2.3 percent, nice and steady, just what we like to see. France: 0.6 percent. The UK: 1.0 percent (you get ’em, lads!) Basically, Europe is a lemonade stand compared to our 24/7 lemonade factory. The real economic growth comes from China, which is projected to grow 4.6 percent, and India, projected to grow 6.4 percent. Okay, whoa, take it easy there, China and India. Smell the roses for once. Me, I like the idea of us as somewhere between India (crazy!) and France (dead). America is full of stories like this one:

  [WSJ headline: He Earns $33 an Hour as a Costco Cashier. Now He’s a Millionaire.]

  This Costco cashier worked a steady job, saved money, and has a good life. The forbidden truth is that things are pretty good here, and if you work hard, even as a cashier, you can earn beyond what an entire European village does in a decade, probably. Our healthcare is pretty good too—our cashier’s wife had brain cancer, and her surgeries were covered by Costco’s insurance plan, and he even took a year off (paid). With his salary, he has taken the family on European vacations (two in the last decade!). When you’re done with that story, I recommend this phenomenal Atlantic piece as a chaser:

  [Atlantic headline: How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi]

  Paraphrasing the piece: The NHS has a backlog of 6 million patients. It spends more money settling maternity-malpractice claims than providing maternity care. One in 10 Brits have taken to doing their own dental work, including tooth extractions, because the wait is too long for a dentist. I won’t remove my own split ends, and these people are taking molars out by the root.

  In short: I love it here. For me, every day is the Fourth of July.

  Indeed. But read Nellie's entire thing, OK?.

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