Archive for January, 2010

“For a lot of us it is our second round, and the most important thing is we know we will never get this economy under any kind of control until we get health care costs under control,” Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said. “We’re not doing this to aggravate people.”

There you have it.  This clearly states the main issue with our elected officials.  They actually believe that their mission is to “take control” of the economy.  They appear to have learned nothing from the failings of past fascist experiments.  They either have no basic knowledge of economics or just refuse to accept them.  The laws of economics are a subset of the laws of nature, they are to be respected and obeyed and are not up for review.  Actually, one of my favorite quotes by Francis Bacon comes to mind, “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

With the election of Massachusetts’ senate seat now behind us and, what we at CIRCLE believe to be, a loud and clear message to Washington elites to obey the natural laws of economics, it will be interesting to see if they get it.

Today is voting day in Massachusetts.  It appears to be a fierce fight between two big-government politicians (and Joe Kennedy, no relation to the late senator).  Many think that Mr. Obama wants Coakley to win so that he can push through a very unpopular healthcare reform bill. I think otherwise.

I think he wants Brown to win. Why? Because by having R’s have 41 votes, he will be freed from the ultra liberal shackles (no slavery pun intended) of Reid and Pelosi.  He will finally be in charge rather than having to bow to a few bi-coastal congressmen.   With this new found freedom comes an ability to push through a more “balanced” and “fair” healthcare reform bill that is just as intrusive, just as reliant on centralized government manipulation as the one currently being proposed.  The big difference will be in the way the press and congressmen on both sides present it.

Both sides will shake hands, slap each other on the back, do a high five, or some other self congratulatory masturbation celebrating their ability to “cross the aisle” in the name of protecting the people of America.

In the end, Obama saves his first term, Congress becomes a little more functional (unfortunately), and we suffer under an increasing weight of centralized government manipulation.  Congratulations!

Over the past 3 or so months, I have been hit by many healthcare reform proponents using a very consistent message that makes me think MoveOn.org penned a script to use when confronted with rational opposition.  They all use the highway system as an example of a central government success story and want to apply it to the healthcare reform debate.

I see two issues with this.  First, what similarities are there between building and maintaining highways and imposing a centralized approach to healthcare services?  It’s not size relative to the economy.  Highway infrastructure accounts for less than 1% of GDP while healthcare is upwards of 16%.  It’s not employment, only 600,000 work in the government highway system versus the 14 million plus that work in the healthcare industry.  Maybe it’s in the rate of innovation of the two sectors?  No.  Actually, there is no rational reason for using the highway system as an example.

Second, how could anyone look to the US highway system as a great example of success in centralized government manipulation?  I’m not even sure where to start.  How many of you have been driving home during rush hour to see the highway crew block off one or two lanes for a mile or so and have no one out there working?  How much over budget was the Big Dig of Massachusetts?  Well, they did finish it on time… NOT!  How many stories are there of payoffs and corruption within the highway construction industry?  Answer:  Too many.

What about the fact that most roads are locally managed and most commercial traffic flow over local roads, not highways.  Let’s not forget that government highways may be a monopoly within long distance transportation by automobile, it is not a monopoly of all transportation (private rails constitute the majority of goods transported, air freight is a large business that circumvents the highway system, barges also are a reasonably good transporter outside the highway system for the central part of the US).  I’m also very impressed with the myopic view these people have when they use the highway system as an example.  Do they not read about the crumbling infrastructure of our national bridges and tunnels?  Is that what they want our healthcare system to turn into?

What seems lost on some are the vast differences between these two systems.  Our highway infrastructure is long lasting (20-60 years between replacement cycles), static in the area of innovation (possibly due to government regulations), and not a monopoly of all transportation.  Our healthcare system and the proposed reform policies are completely different.  Innovation within the current healthcare system is enormous and funded by private enterprises on the order of 10 to 1 over government funds.  All medical services have a variable cost component that is significantly above zero unlike our highway system where an extra truck or two are hard to notice on the wear and tear of the infrastructure.   Oh, and let’s not forget that the proposed reform policies are attempting to turn the entire healthcare industry into a monopoly, not just a very small fraction of the medical care infrastructure.

I think it says a lot about their position when the best example of centralized government manipulation is the US highway system.  Remember this note the next time you hit a pothole.