The Bob Zadek Show

Obamacare has dominated the news for past few years and is likely to continue to on the front pages for some time to come. Despite the coverage of the broken promises, the easily hack-able healthcare.gov website, and the uncertainty of whether we have insurance or not, several issues have been ignored or insufficiently covered. Namely (i) the profound effect of O-Care on the healthcare which everyday Americans will receive, (ii) and what will happen to the very profession of medicine? The outlook is not good. It is undisputed that our medical treatment will be controlled (in the worst sense of the word) by Washington, with our doctor not exercising her best judgment, but rather merely obediently following the protocols imposed on her and on you by faceless, (and seemingly soul-less) bureaucrats. Washington’s goal is simply to keep the costs down, even it means more death and a lower quality of life. No one knows more about this than Dr. Jeff Singer, a practicing general surgeon and Cato Scholar, who has written extensively on this and has appeared in the national media. Dr. Singer joined Bob last Sunday to discuss this. Given the constraints of radio, he was not able to perform any surgical procedures for callers.

Obama’s next assault on our wallets will be “income inequality,” which will be on the evening news from now to the 2014 midterm elections. Both sides of this issue from in the last half hour by Bob and Brian Edwards-Tiekert in studio. Brian is the host of “Upfront” heard weekday mornings on the Bay Area’s leading Progressive voice, KPFA (941. FM).

Don’t miss this show.

Environmentalism is the natural enemy of free market capitalism. The former seems to be the socially acceptable cover used by those who seek to capture and control the world’s economic engine, in order to “save the planet.” (I wonder how much time we have until the surface of the earth looks like the set of Mad Max?) Free market capitalists (note that not every capitalist favors free markets, thus the “free market” modifier is needed) know that voluntary, un-coerced cooperation among market participants is the only system to preserve individual freedom and the environment. How does this work? Bob’s guest, Austrian economist, Libertarian, prolific writer and speaker Walter Block explains all of it in his unique and accessible style. His book “Defending the Undefendable” is a must read. Block, Hayek, Mises and more…

Marc Levinson’s book “The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America” has it all. Rugged capitalism and crony capitalism. Big time rent seekers using political power to kill competition, the defense of the “little guy” against the feared chain stores, the destruction of the free market by the New Deal, the precursor to Walmart (Sam Walton did not invent the business model), and very nasty politics. A history of this iconic brand is a history of American business from the middle of the nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century. In this episode, Marc joined Bob this Sunday at noon (Pacific) to put the attack on free enterprise in a fascinating historical perspective. The mistakes of history keep on repeating themselves and resilient businesses overcome these obstacles. This topic, this book, is simply great stuff. You’ll love it.

From 1:00 – 1:30, Bob was joined by syndicated major market talk show host Karel. You’ll enjoy their interaction as they discuss the effects of a minimum wage increase on that precise segment of the workforce the increase is supposed to help. Expect nothing less than equally compelling economic arguments from each, with generous amounts of humor, good will and respect.

In February of 2006, the last telegram was delivered in America. Why did telegrams stop? Simple. They ceased to be profitable and were no longer needed. Hmmm. Shouldn’t those economic principles apply to the entire U.S. Postal Service? After all, it is required to operate like a business, and any business that loses billions every single year ($5.1 billion in 2011) would close up or be closed up by its creditors. However, the Postal Service has 435 members on its Board of Governors (aka House of Representatives) who insist that the office be funded for their own personal gain, yet if a private Board did that, its members would be in jail. The Service shows the merits of privatization, the malpractice of Congress and the inability of government to do anything as efficiently as private business. In this Sunday’s encore episode, Bob spoke to Ed Hudgins, the Director of Advocacy at the Atlas Society. Let’s put the Post Office in the dead letter bin.

In America we seem unable to resolve the proper Constitutional relationship between religion and our political life. We think we know what the founders intended: “separation of church and state,” “a wall of separation,” the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. But this issue is far from resolved. Reagan did not attend church enough for some Americans, Romney’s Mormonism was an issue, and some take issue with Obama and Reverend Wright. Raymond Lorber’s first book, “George Washington’s Providence,” explores the unique relationship between Washington’s belief that his God would protect him and his military and political triumphs in a style that is both scholarly and accessible. Ray’s book gives us access to Washington’s many letters and other writings that offer us an understanding of Washington where most other writings fail. Most of us have wondered what qualities separated our founders from those who followed them. This book provides the answer, at least insofar as Washington is concerned.

Many philosophers have opined that “taxation is theft,” and arguably it is. However, it’s far worse when government legally extorts massive sums from us through abusive statutes and no oversight. “Extortion” is the precise word to describe how the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives operative with the ruthless efficiency of organized crime without fear. “Extortion” is the title of Peter Schweizer’s best seller, subtitled (and this tells it all) “How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes and Line Their Own Pockets.” Peter has exhaustively researched this subject he shares his findings with Bob in this episode. What you hear will not make you very happy, but it will inform you, and that is the first step towards reform. If it seems that extortion is too strong a word, just listen to Peter in this non-partisan indictment of Washington and decide for yourself.

From 1:00 – 1:30, Bob spoke to John Rothmann (https://www.facebook.com/johnrothmann2?fref=ts), a nationally known author, radio host and political analyst. Bob and John present conflicting views on Obamacare and the broader issue of healthcare in America including the difficult questions such as (i) is healthcare a right? (ii) should there be any role for the government in the payment for medical services? (iii) is Obamacare the first giant step towards socialized medicine? (iv) does Medicare and Medicaid “work?” Thirty minutes of reasoned opinions, free of talking points and political blather. Thirty minutes of thoughtful and entertaining commentary and respectful disagreement. Don’t miss it.