Big Business as an Opponent of Free Markets
One never wants to take anything for granted, but it appeared as of Friday evening that “cap and trade,” one of President Barack Obama’s two key initiatives, is at death’s door, while with statist health care, the president is attempting a resurrection.
It is more than a little sobering to realize that, but for a few gigabytes of purloined emails and one upstart candidate’s upset Senate victory in Massachusetts, both measures might by now have received his final signature. It’s downright frightening to realize that these leftist victories, had they been achieved (and one may yet be), would largely have resulted from big business’ attempts to make peace with people who are capitalism’s sworn enemies.
That business leaders are frequently all too willing to sell out the core principles of the free market system in the name of perceived and often illusory short-term profits is not exactly news. Adam Smith wrote over 200 years ago that “people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
Too many businesses, when they reach a certain size and gain confidence that they are no longer just a few missteps away from serious financial problems, often put more energy into cementing their current market positions through anticompetitive means than into growing or expanding their enterprises. If they become big enough, they often turn into institutions inexplicably perceived as “indispensable,” which then enables them to lobby for unfair breaks from governments. Thus, at the local and state level, supposedly indispensable businesses that are sometimes as small as a few hundred employees receive tax abatements and other incentives.
At a much larger level, in the early 1950s, the country heard Charles Erwin Wilson, president of General Motors, essentially tell the nation that “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”
GM’s anticompetitive posture in the 1960s and 1970s, the heyday of Detroit’s Big Three, largely revolved around how “cleverly” it reacted to the federal government’s increasing appetite for regulation. The Wall Street Journal’s editorialists frequently pointed out during that era that any time a new and onerous safety or workplace regulation spewed forth from Washington, GM, instead of objecting on free market or cost-benefit grounds, would immediately and almost cheerfully announce that it would comply. Meanwhile, number two Ford would grumble that it would somehow figure out how to deal with it and much smaller Chrysler would howl with outrage. GM’s receptivity might seem odd, but it knew that it could absorb any new fixed costs associated with government rules and regulations far better than its two much smaller competitors.
“…the Senate and House might have worked out their differences and the long march toward ruination of the best health care system in the world might have begun.”
That has got to be the biggest lying whopper I have heard in a while, Obama’s health care plan was indeed odious nad unaffordable, but calling the US health care plan the best in the world is a bald-faced lie. Scandinavian countries alone have better health care.
Families have been bankrupted by US “health care”, never mind the dubious control and reach of Big Pharma into the FDA, NIH and med journals and the profesional med bodies. The author is clueless. There are scandals in medicine every bit as bad as ClimateGate but they get no real media attention, because unlike global warming, neither the political left nor right has a clue re medical science. Hardly anybody does. That’s why very very few people realised how the whole Obama health care broohaha missed the point, the fiasco of what passes for modern medical care as a whole, and not just in the US. The censorship re medical scandals and corruption, incompetence and cluelessness is so pervasive, from both the Right and Left that the censoroship re climate hysterics and Islam for that matter is nothing compared to this.
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this. As long as the businesses don’t get nationalized themselves, if the government directs everyone to buy something from a large corporation, and grants that corporation a monopoly over production, the corporation is guaranteed a profit, and a large one. Hitler made several deals with big business in the thirties, and they profited a great deal from the stuff they sold the Nazi government, right up until the Allied Air Forces began flattening factories in the Ruhr and the Red Army overran Berlin. You’d think that the deal would be one way (with the government taking from the corporations at the prices it sets) but the government did things like control labor unions, requiring them to work for set wages, and they still set government costs high enough that corporate profits were very high. Judicious bribery was useful in making sure this occurred.
If you have enough money, you can survive government takeover of big business, as long as things don’t get nationalized. The one thing most CEOs are terrified of is the guy who invents something that kills their business. The guy who manufactured vinyl records hates CDs and loathes iPods. If the government controls the business, then competition can be outlawed. The guy who makes vinyl records can complain about how many people would be put out of work if someone comes up with a better technology, and the government can simply decide to outlaw any competition. If it’s not outlawed, then the guy who makes the vinyl will probably wind up in control of the competing technology, too, because otherwise he might be put out of business.
For those who doubt, we do this now, especially in the internet start-up field. while Google started from a small company and got enormous, YouTube got big quickly, but then was bought by a bigger company for an enormous fortune. The result is that the founders made a lot of money, while the heads of the more established corporations weren’t threatened, because the concept was absorbed by one of them. Business as usual, without the dangers involved in a real free market. So I understand, this is due to a change in the tax code that happened during the Bush Administration.
The correlation between Big Government and Big Business has been paid far too little attention. Big Government loves Big Business; a few corporate behemoths are easier to shackle than millions of small players. And Big Business loves Big Government; it can far more easily persuade policymakers to do its bidding when those officials are unbounded in scope and power, and essentially insulated from correction.
America had a small number of largish companies before the Wilson Administration, but the true birth of Big Business uber alles came with the income tax and the Seventeenth Amendment. Isabel Paterson speaks of this in The God of the Machine.
If only more Americans were aware…of a lot of things.
The banks off NYC are against free markets and competition too. They are trying to maintain dark pools of liquidity, maintain rules that allow them to quietly rip off their customers-without the customers even knowing it.
Flatter level playing fields, with lots of information flow-along with Lots of sunshine. that is the answer.
This is a non-partisan issue. Everyone in America ought to be for free markets and capitalism.
Americans don’t like to be aware. It is far better to be cocooned and willfully ignorant than to research a given subject for constructive criticism, or analytical review.
The Third leading cause of Death in the United States are Medical Errors
( The JOURNAL of the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA) Vol 284, No 4). More people die from medical errors than Aids, Breast cancer, drunk driving, etc, etc…yet we don’t have anyone picketing outside our medical establishments or having a telethon to ensure there are higher quality standards in our Hospitals. We would rather not be forced to inspect an archaic and disorganized medical system, better to just roll the dice and hope craps does not come up.
The American Health Care system does not allow for independent review and quality control of its systems. It is far easier to simply cover up its mistakes.
The Banking system in the US is centralized in Europe. From European banking families our money flows, and to European Banking families does the interest flow back. The collateral for this movement of currency are the collective American taxpayers, oblivious to their enslavement.
Big Govt and Big Business are not separate entities, they are twins joined at the Neck. We see two heads, but they have one heart and one set of lungs.
The Constitution was designed to maintain separation of these groups, but we have diluted and slowly eroded that mechanism until today it is more fiction that reality.
We have lost the Republic, and in its place sits a creature that does not recognize inalienable rights, nor Liberty, nor the right of people to be free and pursue their happiness. We have as our claim birthrights that millions died for, and we are so lazy as to demand them back again.
The Revolutionary was thirteen BRITISH colonies rebelling against BRITAIN. It may take an American collective to rebel against America, and let History repeat herself once again.
“Corporatism”- the welding of government with corporate power- was the term Mussolini, the former(?) Socialist, coined for his Fascist economics.
In Germany during the 40′s it wasn’t the Nazis that destroyed German industry, it was the 8th Air Force.
Yes we do have the best Health Care System in the world. The rest of the world does not use the same metrics of measurement as we do so when they report a lower infant mortality rate it is because they define infant differently than we do. When thet report a longer life expectancy it is because they do not include deaths by accident or homicide but we do include those in our metrics. Almost all medical inovations come from the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. The entire world benifits from our advances as we also benifit from what advancements are made elsewhere but the glaring difference is that the rest of the world cannot match what we do.
Don’t fix what isn’t broke. Higher Healthcare costs can be attributed to two main causes.
1. Over utilization is one of the primary drivers of cost. We have no need to see a doctor for every bump, scrpe, sniffle or other minor day to day maladys but we see Doctors waiting rooms stuffed with exactly those kind of people. This drives up costs for everyone. It used to be that Insurance was called Hospitilization and had a somewhat high deductable but it was affordable.
2. Yes Tort reform is needed but not the kind being touted. The real 800lb gorrilla in the room is Product Liability. Every facet of Health Care is burdened by the high costs of everything used. Any company who makes things that are used in Health Care have to raise the cost of these items by not a little but sometimes by orders of magnitude in order to afford Product Liability Insurance. If we could just say if a product does not perform as advertised or is not safe when used as intended then the Makers of such products would be liable then we could save Billions of real dollars every year. Instead we have a system where we have to protect stupid people from doing stupid things and that costs the rest of us.
TO: Larry70
You state, “…calling the US health care plan the best in the world is a bald-faced lie. Scandinavian countries alone have better health care.”
Actually, that statement would be a “bald-faced lie” if made by someone with actual knowledge of healthcare in various countries. My brother is a double board certified cardiothoracic surgeon. He studied in Italy and the United States. He has practiced in Europe and is presently associated with a well-known American hospital. Based upon his well-informed conclusion, I can bank on several things:
1. Although many countries have great medical care available, the care available in the US is second to none. But, one will find better care in New York than in Mobile, Alabama.
2. Scandanavian countries have much smaller populations to deal with, which allows government-run health care to work a bit better. Demark (where my brother practiced for 18 months) has a population of about 5.5 million people. The Danes have good medical care, but like almost all socialistic countries, the government makes the final decisions. Need heart surgery in Demark? Well then, you better hope a health minister approves your surgery. So in essence, the difference between great medical care and NO medical care is a bureaucrat’s decision away.
Finally, you miss the whole point of the article: big business will get in bed with its enemies just to protect profits. Stupid, but true.
This is all explicitly described and explained in an old book “None Dare Call it Conspiracy” published 1971.
Read, and you’ll see the answers, and since no-one has acted on the information available then, things are – predictably – going further and further down the tubes.
The current health care bill typify the “big business” solution. For example, blue shield premiums for the individual insurance market are rising 40 percent this year. This cost squeeze is happening because the insurance pool is declining as the rising unemployed and underemployed bail out of health care. This raises premium costs to everyone else in the pool. Remember, health care is still mandated at ER for the sick and injured; and you can’t have socialized health care with cost controls if you can’t control the borders–enforcing immigration law upsets the ACLU and the grape growers too. And then unionized labor and state workers get a tax free health care benefit that is not counted as income–say fifteen thousand dollars a year in provided premiums per worker tax free, a major sticking point in the democratic bill. Of course, there is a solution. Quit mandating that hospitals and doctors play good samaritans, providing health care in lieu of civil and criminal penalties. In other words, allow for failure, whether it’s to big to fail Morgan Stanley or John Doe the substance abusing wild thing living under the overpass. But since no one really wants a free market, we’re going to play that living constitution game where the judges find a new health care insurance right that everyone is forced to buy, from big business.
You forgot Mattel importing lead-poisoned toys from China then happily embracing government regulation that makes it impossible for their small business competitors to survive.
Corporations are for free market until they aren’t. Look at the banks, free market when its profitable, socialist when someone needs to cover their incompetence. But they did pay off the politicals by not squawking to much when told to give loans to people never able to understand them or pay them back.
Very interesting reflections.
I think that your column compels us to reflect once again on the main problem that we are facing today: the quality of the persons involved in the most important choices of our society.
It’s the same theme that I often evoke in my posts when I talk about my astonishment for the easy and fast conquer of the democratic party by a fringe of radicals. I often wonder where all the serious persons that DO understand what is happening are, and why they are resolutely…SILENT.
Tens, hundreds of Congressmen sit silently allowing a radical fringe to endanger America:
what has happened to all of us ?
Which kind of elites have been selected in the last few decades, and how is all this possible ?
People who read my posts know that I refer to nihilism as the main root of our troubles, but I would like us to reflect about this point in a complex manner: nihilism is the root, but in the years, it seems, a whole evil tree has grown out of it. The short-sightedness of the present day elites, is, in this perspective, the ultimate consequence of a long term cultural degradation.
And this isn’t an easy diagnosis: it causes other questions to rise: what failed ?
Which cultural (cultural in the widest sense) institutions have failed, have failed in their educational (educational in the widest sense) goals ?
We need to find the answers.
Rolling back the attempts to subvert the Republic is only PART of the solution of our problems.
We need to be able to build on the long term perspective.
I apologize for the length…
Very good article, sent it to all my friends.
8. richb313:”Over utilization is one of the primary drivers of cost. We have no need to see a doctor for every bump, scrpe, sniffle or other minor day to day maladys but we see Doctors waiting rooms stuffed with exactly those kind of people. This drives up costs for everyone. It used to be that Insurance was called Hospitilization and had a somewhat high deductable but it was affordable.”
Indeed. Couple all that with the fact that insurance coverage is now designed to cover all those little maladies which are not be all that expensive to treat. But noooooo. People file for every little thing; it’s no small wonder health care coverage has become so cumbersome. This is like expecting your auto insurance policy to cover oil changes and new tires. Ridiculous.
People should be encouraged to have catastrophic health care coverage just for those things that are really expensive to treat.
Another near bullet to dodge and a startling example of how to do it wrong is the Greek deficit and potential collapse. Corporatism with socialist unions and grand entitlements should be warning flag enough to steer the ship of state back to the American centralist way. Will President TinEars and that pack of jackals congress take heed?
Wow, thanks for this. I was wondering why on earth private corporations were acting suicidally; I thought it was for good PR or because today’s managers are products of our wacky liberal universities. In the end, it’s short-sightedness and circumvention of honest competition.
I wish the Fords and Chryslers would be gutsy little mavericks and defy those government power grabs. Motivate their workers, customers, and dealers to fight. Never back down.
One of the first steps in moving beyond the narrative fed us by the thought leaders is to understand how big business uses the government to improve their profits by placing regulatory or other burdens on their competitors or consumers. This is mercantilism. Big business also uses the CIA to spy on their foreign competitors, and generally give money to politicians so that they may receive benefits at the taxpayer’s expense.
Witness the recent law that bans incandescent bulbs. General Electric and other light bulb companies just improved their profits by requiring people to buy a $5.00 light bulb rather than a 50 cent one.
When you consider that neither the republicans nor democrats are particularly interested in truly free markets, its amazing that we have as much capitalistic competition as we do.
Let’s face it, opponents of free enterprise, Obama, Pelosi and Reid, to name a few, have no appreciation for also the American Spirit.
In fact, if a stethoscope could hear the American Spirit, those three amigos, I think it’s fair to say,
wouldn’t have a pulse.
Anyone who has read Atlas Shrugged would not be surprised by this.
Long-term, permanent reform of the relationship
between government and business should involve
a degree of regulation, and transparency, scaled
to the size of the business, from self-employed
individuals treated as private citizens upwards
to Mega-Corporations treated as part of Govt.
Short-term, temporary reform intended to get the US
out of its current economic paralysis, before a 2nd
Great Depression results, should duplicate the rule
imposed on Germany by the Occupation Government after
WWII: _All_ bureaucratic regulations restricting the
operation, and formation, of new businesses were
suspended; The result was known as “The German
Economic Miracle”, and we sure need a miracle now.
Don’t blame it all on big business; you need to include all of us. Wheat, corn, and dairy farmers, for example, who perennially use their political power to extract large “rents” (as economists call these government-enforced rewards) from other taxpayers. And unions, public- and private-sector who extort wages and benefits well above their market value. And we seniors, who receive enormous subsidies in Social Security and Medicare. Lots of blame to go around.
The early-nineteenth century French philosopher Frederic Bastiat expressed it well: “The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.”
And another writer from the same time (Joseph de Maistre) said: “Every nation has the government it deserves.”
Those French guys were pretty preceptive, eh?
and then, maybe Bismarck was correct (I believe it was Bismarck) when he said that God protects fools, drunkards and the United States of America.
We can only hope that’s true.
Mr. Blumer:
Another example of Lenin’s perspicacity when he wrote:
“A capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with.”
To update Lenin’s aphorism for 21st century America:
An American capitalist is the man who will sell you the rope to hang him with…and finance the sale.
(You can credit that one to “The Sayings of Chairman Bilgeman” Vol. 1).
“The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [of businessmen], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.”
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.
Don’t forget Walmart, a big backer of Obamacare. When my brother, a finance guy, called them on it, they had an interesting response: their competitors currently pay 45 percent of the health costs of their employees, while Walmart pays 51 percent.
In other words, we don’t give a rat’s patootie what a government health takeover does to the country or our customers, all we care about is getting an edge on our competition. Sam Walton is turning in his grave.
The only organized forces for free markets are organizations specifically designed for that, such as think tanks.
Distortion of free markets is not limited to the political left. Stop trying to narrowly blame political left because that lets the political right slip in their distortions, as if it’s okay when they do it. Conservatives’ romanticism with military spending is as distorting to free markets and commerce as any entitlement program. As well, child tax credits are a distortion, regulating the internet for child porn is a distortion, and banning internet gambling is a distortion. All of these are championed by conservatives.
from the view of a CEO of a major company why take the risk of allowing competition when it’s so much easier to buy some politicans to make laws that exclude competition from the equation? and once you’ve done that why not just buy a few more politicans and eliminate any and all risk?
welcome to America 2010… Washington, Madison, Jefferson i’m sure would be so proud of what we’ve come.
27. Distorting though it may be, child porn is rightfully the federal government’s business. The internet is federal jurisdiction, and child porn is unmistakably the exploitation of minors.
How goverment will screw many people again!!!!!
The whole solar and green jobs agenda has become a joke.
Over the next few years many people who have been sold another feel good agenda will be hosed.
The whole solar and wind agenda will sting many many consumers in the butt. We will see another reason why Goverment and business should not mix.
Example: I live in NJ. I recently had a customer of mine install a 40 panel solar system on their brand new house I built. The state of NJ paid approx. $40,000 of the $78,000 system installed. The customer gets about $1,500 in electric savings a year on their bill. They also get about$1,200 a quarter for renewable energy credits that companies must buy to reduce their carbon footprint #s.
Customer pays $38,000 up front cost
State pays $40,000 (the peoples money)
Customer saves $1,500 electrical bill reduction
$1,200 x 4 = $4,800 in renewable energy credits
$6,300 a year in customers pocket
Now the state has told everyone that these credits will be gauranteed for another 15 years
Now the customer says yes to that install $6,300 x 15 years = $94,500 Sounds good!
NOT! Just buy a good dividend stock not this crap
The customer says that doesnt seem to bad. They sign up
The companies who buy these credits just pass the cost on to US! in higher prices
(The goverment has stuck it to us again)
Now that the cap and trade, global warming crap has been proven to be alot of hot air, watch whats going to happen
Everything in the solar industry is going to blow up. The solar companies are pushing hard and heavy selling this as an investment. In about 3 years this is going to blow up. The renewable energy credits will dry up. 15 years will become 3 years.
Example
The traders who buy up the credits at a reduced price
(customers will not want to trade their credits on the market, so they will opt to sell the full 15 years at a reduced price. Instead of getting the $1,200 a quarter where their price is not stable, they will opt for 60% on the dollar or $720 a quarter. (It feels safe to know your money is garaunteed) That is still $2880 a year in renewable energy credits plus their $1,500 energy savings. Over 15 years thats $42,000. It doesnt sound as good now so the salesman talks about the tax credits also and that you will always have the $1,500 a year in savings. He also states that these panels will last 50 years. So the customer says ok and still signs up.
Now this is where others will get bit again. Remember the traders! They are in the market to make money. If they hold the credits they could earn a nice profit for pre buying those credits. The wise traders will package these energy credits and sell them on the market to us the investor. These things will be packaged up and repackaged just like the last bubble.
Remember these things will dry up!! Do not count on 15 years of good steady energy credit returns. The investor will get screwed again!! Just like the last bubble
And the company who gaurantees those 15 years of renewable energy credits will disappear
JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY GOVERMENT AND BUSINESS DO NOT MIX!!!
If you want solar go to the beach!
#9 James
you tacitly acknowledge that health-care is better in Scandinavia than the US by engaging in apologetics re Scandinavia’s small population. You just repeat without evidence, America’s health-care is the best nananana. Not very impressive line of argument that, argument from evidence free assertion. Only people that impresses are the blindly patriotic Americans. Sure US health care is great, and better than Scandinavia IF you have COMPLETE health cover and insurance, if you don’t you may as well be in the Third World.
Naturally James doesn’t take into account the tens of millions of Americans who don’t have insurance or adequate insurance coverage (and the latter is what you need to take into account) or in order to pay for it’s spiralling costs, are seriously put out of pocket and have to forego expenditure on other things that they might need (and I’m not talking luxuries here). But I realise that to people like James the poor and the lower middle-class in the US don’t count, they are the non-people, so when we talk about health care, they don’t matter.
Your brother’s a surgeon, so? I guarantee you he is no more aware of so many scandals and dubious medical schemes and disasters in US medical care, any more than you are. Given the wide censorship within the medical journals, within the prof med bodies and the like, things are hushed up pretty quick. If anybody makes too big a noise, they can lose their job, funding etc. I personally know of many cases. Unlike you James I have knowedge of so many of these scandals. You have no inkling what I am referring to, and your surgeon brother wouldn’t know either, has nothing to do with heart surgery.
I always laugh when people who know nothing about med science think they have a clue because their brother or uncle is a prof at Harvard in neurology or something. Harvard itself is disgracefully corrupt, a recent med scandal at the Harvard School of Public Health (a year or two ago) there should have seen heads roll but nothing happened, because the corruption is endemic and nobody cares, except for following the money trail. James like the rest of you doesn’t have an inkling to what I am referring to anymore than his surgeon brother would have a clue, and you all think you get the subject of “health” care. Would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Larry70, take your self-righteous crap on HC and stick it…
I am a Canadian. This, I think, gives me a different perspective on Health Care from most Americans. I am also generally libertarian in my outlook. Would I recommend the Canadian single payer (the government) system for the US? No. Do I think the current US system is the best possible? Again no.
Although not a fan of Barak Obama, I think his desire to ensure that no American is financially ruined because they get sick is a noble goal. Let’s compare the benefits and drawbacks of the two systems:
Benefits:
The American system is the most innovative in the world in creating new medical technologies and methods.
Treatment can usually be obtained more quickly in the US than in Canada. Because of cost constraints, governments in Canada (health care is the responsibility of the provinces) often ration the availability of operating rooms and diagnostic equipment. For example, Canadians needing a hip replacement or other elective surgery often have to wait many months or even years for their procedure; in the mean-while suffering untold agony. Canada has a much smaller number of MRIs and CATscans per capita with the result that patients often have to wait months for a diagnosis.
Drawbacks:
The American health system is the most expensive in the world – by far. The spiralling explosion of costs has resulted in health care absorbing about 17% of US GDP. In Canada, that proportion is about 12%. In most European countries, it runs between 9% and 11%. Unlike Canada, with its single payer (Government Monopoly) system, all European countries have a mixed public/private system. Of course, the Canadian system, in practice, is not a government monopoly because patients with the time and resources can always go to the US to obtain better or more timely treatment. Foolishly, the federal government (through the Canada Health Act) forbids patients from purchasing health insurance to cover this eventuality. However, this proviso has been successfully challenged in the courts and may change soon.
As noted above, not all Americans are covered. In some cases, if an American gets seriously ill, the result can be financially ruinous for him or her and their family through no fault of their own.
By many measures, American health care delivers poor results overall. For example, average life expectancy in the US is marginally shorter than in Canada, Japan and most European countries. Of course, we should note that life expectancy is the result of many other factors although the Health care system is an important component.
What to do?
Obviously, I don’t have the time or expertise to discuss all the components of this very complex issue. But here are a few suggestions for your readers to consider.
As even Milton Friedman noted, American health care is hardly a pure free enterprise system. In fact, it is largely controlled by a monopoly. Not a government monopoly but a doctors’ monopoly through the AMA. A good move, in my opinion, would be to strip the AMA of its power to certify physicians’ competency and the spaces available in medical schools.
One of the major factors in inflating medical costs has to be lawsuits. Grossly inflated costs for malpractice insurance get passed on to patients. Further, fear of such suits, often leads doctors to over-prescribe diagnostic tests and medications. Tort law reform, properly implemented, whould greatly reduce these costs while preserving reasonable compensation for the victims of medical errors. Since US lawyers overwhelmingly contribute to and support the Democrats, clipping their wings might be a satisfying lagniappe to a Republican health care reform package.
No solution will be completely satisfactory because it will be trying to square two incompatible objects, universal access and preservation of a dynamic free enterprise system. However, I hope the above suggestions will suggest a path to a reasonable compromise to preserve, as much as possible, the virtues of the American system while ensuring no one is undeservedly ruined because they get sick. In addition, I hope my observations might help to rein in the spiralling and unsustainable cost increases of your current system.
It is so tiring to hear people debating which health care “system” works better. My liberty isn’t for sale even if you could make a private industry like health care, or even all private industry, work better. Anyone who prefers socialism (or whatever label you prefer) has many places to go. Quit whining and just go. The only reforms we need or should accept in a free country are those that take the government out of micromanaging industry, not those that inject more government tinkering into it. Separation of business and state.
Scandanavian countries have much smaller populations to deal with, which allows government-run health care to work a bit better.
It also helps that Scandinavian countries populations are made up almost entirely of Scandinavians. Americans of Scandinavian descent have life expectancies identical to those of Scandinavians in Scandinavia.
#33 Nevsky:
“Although not a fan of Barak Obama, I think his desire to ensure that no American is financially ruined because they get sick is a noble goal.”
Usually I’m loath to have discussions about American domestic issues with foreigners, but you do indeed offer, as you say, a different perspective.
The problem with Obama/Pelosi/Reid et al’s “noble goal” is that instead of being financially ruined because you got sick, you will now be financially ruined because someone ELSE got sick.
To my mind, there ain;t much nobility there.
And as you may have direct experience of from the Canadian system, the health care bureaucracy will continue to draw a paycheck no matter what kind of care, if any, is given to the taxpayers.
That’s the prime difference between a government-run sysytem and a private one…the difference between being a taxpayer and being a customer.
Actually, Adam Smith’s “conspiracy against the public” quote was intended to be directed at guilds. Guilds were basically, the medieval equivalent to unions for business owners. All guild members would meet privately and would set the playing field equally to eliminate competition. The price of guild involvement (which was mandatory) was that it was illegal to advertise, control your prices, or even sneeze in front of your store (to avoid bringing attention to a certain store). In return, these guilds would provide assistance for health-care, business assistance, and protection from authorities.
Just felt like adding that.
@33. Nevsky: – I am a Canadian. … Although not a fan of Barak Obama, I think his desire to ensure that no American is financially ruined because they get sick is a noble goal.
Nevsky, you’re proceeding from a false – or at least a terminally weak – premise. There is no evidence whatsoever that BHO is motivated by the altruistic goal you’ve attributed to him. All of his rhetoric and, more importantly, his actions – especially those taken against the automobile industry – demonstrate that his motivations are purely marxist-leninist in nature: “from each according to his gifts, to each according to his need”. The key, of course, is that BHO and his ilk arrogate to themselves the authority to define “gifts” and “need”, and to act as the arbiters for the redistribution of those “gifts”. This is what “health care reform” is all about, for them: spreading the wealth around. Comprehensive, group health care insurance already does this on a nationwide scale in the U.S., by spreading the costs around. So there’s no mystery why they’re sacrificing the rest of their agenda to nationalize the health care insurance industry.
Bilgeman makes the critical point here: the Progressives see no problem in financially ruining the entire country as long as they can pat themselves on the back for their good intentions – and, of course, having increased the power of the federal government by several orders of magnitude, pushing us ever-leftward toward a totalitarian State.
As far as the “cost” of health care in the U.S. goes, you’ve distorted the facts in order to lie using the statistics (perhaps not intentionally, but a lie is a lie). That Americans spend up to 17% GDP on health care does not mean that it’s necessarily “the most expensive”. It means that Americans consume more health care than people in other countries.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, access to health care is not yet restricted here by bureaucratic fiat, as it is in Canada and all other countries with so-called “universal” care.
Second, the comprehensive group health care insurance that we abuse to pay for every dollar of routine, commodity health care, encourages extremely bad economic behavior. Because “insurance will cover it”, health care consumers never think twice about a doctor’s visit or a prescription.
Even worse, because “insurance will cover it”, a great deal of defensive medicine is practiced by doctors – possibly up to 50% – not because it’s medically necessary, but because it’s legally advisable. Note well that the Progressives have made no effort whatsoever to enact tort reform – for obvious reasons.
The result of all this is far higher health care consumption than if we were limited to low-premium / high-deductible policies, and resorted to paying for all routine care out-of-pocket. That, by the way, is all that’s really needed to prevent people from being financially ruined by health problems. Government-run health care insurance can’t, and won’t provide that guarantee.
None of your recommendations will help because you fail to understand the facts on the ground. The AMA is hardly a “monopoly”. A monopoly controls both access to and the price of a commodity, and the AMA is not in a position to exercise this power. Ask any doctor who and/or what controls what they can charge for a given service.
What we DO have in the U.S. is a proxy monopoly, formed by the cartel (accidental though it may be) of comprehensive group health care insurance companies. Collectively, THEY control both access to and the price of health care for the majority of health care consumers. If you question this, find someone in the U.S. to send you a few EOBs (Explanation of Benefits). You’ll note that the health care provider does NOT receive what they bill, they receive a percentage of that, as determined by the insurance company which, since it holds the purse strings, controls the price of health care in the U.S.
The missing link in all this is the health care consumer. By interposing itself between provider and consumer, the health care insurance industry has effectively neutralized almost ALL downward pressure on health care prices – this is reflected in the skyrocketing cost of health care, as compared to the consumer price index, over the past several decades. The insurance industry has little if any motivation to keep prices down over time because, just as the government has the option to raise taxes whenever it’s convenient, insurance companies can raise rates as they please.
All of this began when the government started pushing for more widespread insurance coverage rather than using its legislative power to support a free market for health care where prices are kept affordable through the direct relationship between provider and consumer. That relationship DOES NOT EXIST right now. That’s why health care costs are skyrocketing. That’s why fewer people can afford it every year. That’s the problem the socialists are exploiting in order to force their leftist agenda down Americans’ throats.
We live under an oligarchy. The current big government big business meme is pure and simple malfeasance, and breach of public duty.
Anything GE is good, anything not GE or of an equivalent size by category is bad.
This leads to low quality, no competition and no innovation accept. All innovation is iterated by the GE or the equivalent, in order to present an inovative identity and to present a claim on status while ruling out competition.
Take cfl bulbs, these mercury laced bulbs have poisons and are being promoted in the marketplace as energy saving….they are basicly junk light compared to the actual innovative light from LED. Yet, today the government through its agency hacks set up another system where GE Sylvania and OSRAM are the lamps that qualify for credit under the scheme to fix markets to annointed vendors.
Lets all get this right, demopublican hegemony is Oligarchy. we have no law that is not subject to fiat stipulation for who is targeted to win, and who is set up to lose.
Better hope the Non Voting Majority gets a sense for what is at stake….whether its done under the guise of Tea Party or some other acceptable identitities, established to roll back the malfeasance of our oligarchic elite.
.
goyman:
The Conservatives see no problem in financially ruining the entire country as long as they can pat themselves on the back for their unfair profits – and, of course, having increased the power of the federal government by several orders of magnitude, pushing us ever-rightward toward a fascist theocracy.
You’re right! Way right!
@40. skeeziks: – …ever-rightward toward a fascist theocracy.
Heh.
Drop whatever you’re doing and go get an education.
On the far right of the political spectrum lies Anarchy. Fascism, socialism, communism, syndicalism, corporatism, et al., are all facets of leftist totalitarianism – even when they’re abetted by the theocracy of, say, Anthropogenic Global Warming Mythology.
goy:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Sounds familiar to me. It all started with Reagan. Drop whatever you’re doing and go get a life.
@42. “skeeziks”: – Fascist regimes …
…, like all totalitarian entities, are on the far left end of the ideological spectrum. Anarchy, conversely, is on the far right.
Sounds familiar to me.
It should. It’s what you got instead of “Hope ‘n’ Change”. You voted for it.
#41 goy:
DNFtT!
NOW look what you’ve done…he’s citing from his “Pocket Guide to Fascist Theocracy” and laying his (gulp) PHILOSOPHY thereof on us!
I’m just so very glad that THESE speakers go to “11″…
Nah, skeezie is (once again) shamelessly plagiarizing – copying and pasting. This time it’s from a “Truther” site (scroll down).
41@goy
Anarchy isn’t ‘far right’. Rather the lack thereof. Economic
libertarianism has no relation to conservatism, which has roots
originating in the Dark Age of Europe where King and Pope colluded to oppress man. Minimalism isn’t conservatism.
Economic libertarianism has no relation to conservatism, which has roots originating in the Dark Age of Europe where King and Pope colluded to oppress man. Minimalism isn’t conservatism. Anarchy isn’t ‘far right’. Rather the lack thereof.
Minimalism isn’t conservatism. Economic libertarianism has no relation to conservatism, which has roots originating in the Dark Age of Europe where King and Pope colluded tooppress man. Anarchy isn’t ‘far right’. Rather the lack thereof.
@46. kochevnik/Nero/whatev.:- Anarchy isn’t ‘far right’.
Mmmmmm… yeah, it is. The contemporary misunderstanding of ideological left-right is a communist invention which, like most leftist deconstructions, makes no real sense at all. It was intended to distance socialist ideology from its murderous, and often genocidal historical outcomes: Stalinism, Nazism, Maoism and Fascism.
At the furthest point to the left on the political/ideological spectrum we have Totalitarianism. What Totalitarian States have in common is that they represent omnipotent government, in a State where everything is politicized and all economic activity is controlled by the State through one or more of collectivism, syndicalism and/or corporatism. Totalitarianism is represented historically by Communist & Fascist regimes. Both of these are totalitarian derivatives of Socialism which differ only in regional scope; the former is International Socialism and the latter is National Socialism. Just ask Mussolini when you see him.
The direct opposite of omnipotent government can only be “no government whatsoever” – i.e., Anarchy – which, therefore, is necessarily at the far right on the political/ideological spectrum. QED.
As to what is or is not conservatism – an irrelevant thesis which was not part of the above description – that’s easy: it’s the practical definition of Centrism, i.e., that “sweet spot” between Totalitarianism and Anarchy, where individual liberty and law are balanced in the most socially sustainable way. To date, the most perfect expression of that condition is the U.S. Constitution. But one needs to consider a second dimension – idealism – in order to adequately understand it.
More on that here, if you’re really interested.
45. goy:
You can’t deny it. Fascist theocracy. And no, I didn’t get it from that site. But I understand your bit of morally adolescent misdirection and deflection of the detection of your infection. I think you and Bilgeman should spend a little more time on the surface, know what I mean? You’re buried in your own appraisal of self intellect. You should really try to get out among the living and not just the digital now and then.
#50 skeeziks:
“…I think you and Bilgeman should spend a little more time on the surface, know what I mean? You’re buried in your own appraisal of self intellect. You should really try to get out among the living and not just the digital now and then.”
Recommendations from a guy who is hiding under his bed,(or is it in an underground bunker?), fearfully awaiting the advent of Fascist Theocracy.
O-kay, pal…suuuure.
(backs away slowly from the crazy man)
@50. skeeziks: – You can’t deny it. Fascist theocracy.
Why would I deny the nature of the regime you helped elect and continue to apologize for? The Cult of Obama the Unaccomplished, as supported by the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming and Apoplectic Hysteria, has pushed this country the furthest to the left in its history, and the closest it’s ever been to Mussolini’s fascism. Fascist theocracy: QED.
Stay off those Truther sites, fake vet. Drink less. Think more. Do all that and you may eventually wake up. Some day.
52@goy
If you actually knew Mussolini as you purport, you would know that
fascism is corporatism. Socialism is concentration in government,
while communism is corporatism applied to government. Corporate
behavior is tantamount to military behavior, with divisions etc.
Anarchy is the antithesis of the above.
But don’t ask me. Write a college thesis and see if you can pass
without bribing the dean.
@53. Nero/kochevnik/whatev.: – If you actually knew Mussolini as you purport, …
Read again, for comprehension. I “purported” no such thing.
- … fascism is corporatism.
Not quite. Corporatism is a subordinate facet of fascism, at least as defined by fascism’s inventor. Right now BHO – a marxist – is pursuing corporatism with abandon (see also: Chrysler, GM, the banking sector, et al.), as well as syndicalism (see also: UAW bribes, support for “card-check”, etc.).
- Socialism is concentration in government,…
Try again. Socialism is an economic system – one involving either collective or State ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. That is, the State – either in its own right or as a proxy for the collective – controls all economic activity. As such, it is completely compatible with corporatism, which is nothing more than State control over ostensibly capitalist enterprises.
- … communism is corporatism applied to government.
Wrong again. Communism – or International Socialism – is not much more than socialism taken beyond economics and applied to all other areas of society; that is, the politicization of everything, with the goal being worldwide in scope (see also: Soviet Union). This is what makes it an example of far-left totalitarianism.
- Corporate behavior is tantamount to military behavior, …
Irrelevant. Corporate “behavior” reflects its hierarchical, bureaucratic nature, which is all it has of substance in common with the military. National Socialism, OTOH – at least in its two most famous incarnations, Fascism and Nazism – is much more akin to military behavior. It is in effect the nationalization and militarization of every facet of an entire society, using egalitarianism as the justification, national purity/supremacy as the goal and socialism as the economic system.
- Anarchy is the antithesis of the above.
Anarchy – literally: no government – is the antithesis of omnipotent government. As such, and as previously mentioned, it is at the extreme right on the ideological spectrum.
- Write a college thesis and see if you can pass without bribing the dean.
Been there. Done that. Graduated with honors decades ago, before it became mandatory that teachers call themselves “educators”, before testing and grades were abandoned, before unwarranted ‘self-esteem’ took precedence over the teaching of History, Mathematics and Logic. Funny – back then, no bribe was required. Thanks for playing.
I lived through six years of socialized medicine in the UK. Bottom line… Socialized ANYTHING sucks. Say NO.
54@goy
You’re probably a great guy and all, but your entire rebuttal is a series of false distinctions which only serve to prove my points. So thanks, I guess.
Specifically on anarchism, you trip over yourself agreeing “Anarchy – literally: no government”. Then you go on to say it is an extreme rightwing government. I’m glad you got your degree and all. I hope the frat parties made great memories.
@56. kochevnik/Nero/whatev.:- … your entire rebuttal is a series of false distinctions …
Really? And you supported that assertion how, exactly? Oh, wait… you didn’t.
- Specifically on anarchism, you trip over yourself agreeing “Anarchy – literally: no government”. Then you go on to say it is an extreme rightwing government.
“Government”? No.
Here, let me help you with that one because you obviously don’t possess the reading comprehension skills necessary to understand the words I actually wrote. I did NOT write that anarchy is an extreme rightwing government. What I wrote was that anarchy is, to use YOUR word, the “antithesis” of omnipotent government. That is, it’s the direct opposite, diametrically opposed, etc., to leftist totalitarianism. Since the opposite of left is… right… that puts Anarchy at the far right extreme of the ideological spectrum. That spectrum stretches from all-powerful, totalitarian government on the extreme left to no government at all on the extreme right. I hope that helps with your confusion.
- I hope the frat parties made great memories.
Sorry to burn another of your ad hominem straw men and all, but I worked full-time the entire time I attended school. So, no “parties” for me, I’m afraid.
I think the reason anarchism gets misconstrued as a leftist movement is that many, if not most, anarchists are actually communists who believe the way to achieve communism is to tear down all existing institutions, including the government, and establish communes with no formal government.
57@goy
>I did NOT write that anarchy is an extreme rightwing government.
>What I wrote was that anarchy is, to use YOUR word, the
>“antithesis” of omnipotent government. That is, it’s the direct
>opposite, diametrically opposed, etc., >to leftist
>totalitarianism. Since the opposite of left is… right… that
>puts Anarchy at the far right extreme of the ideological >spectrum.
Oh poor goy, you are trapped in classic christer ‘logic.’ You don’t understand duality so you’re caught in a web of black/white dualism.
While you may be mildly-autistic, you are no doubt intelligent and probably passed the required coursework at your bible university. Your post history highlights rigidity and high intelligence befitting the pattern of the very gifted, yet black and white thinker. Individuals as yourself have a difficult time dealing with unknownsand open-ended questions, that is, difficulties dealing with ambiguity. Such individuals make excellent scientists, accountants, and mathematicians. Having characteristics related to Asperger’s syndrome, which, in my view, is really a highly developed obsessive-compulsive disorder, allows these individuals to excel where detail and processing of objective data is paramount. These individuals also are very talented in recognizing and memorizing extremely detailed and technical data. Such individuals also have difficulties relating to others; often preferring mail order brides from the Philippines.
You are a testament to those who are mildly autistic and all special needs individuals who have persevered and learned to focus despite having difficulties relating to other individuals and despite being cruelly rejected at some junctures in his life.
And yes goy, the opposite of ‘dog’ is ‘cat’, not ‘wolf’. There can only be one answer to any query. There are never many answers, or unanswered questions. Spread the word!
@59. Nero/kochevnik/whatev.: … you are trapped in classic christer ‘logic.’
Again, no support for this. *yawn*
- While you may be mildly-autistic, …
Ad hom.
- … difficulties dealing with ambiguity.
Your inability to choose a handle hasn’t created any difficulty whatsoever.
- Having characteristics related to Asperger’s syndrome, which, in my view, …
Clearly, you meant in your case.
- You are a testament to those who are mildly autistic and all special needs individuals …
Ad hom.
Thanks for demonstrating the standard, morally adolescent response, kochevnik. Keep working on it, and at some point you may even appear clever to someone other than yourself.
60@goy
Well goy, I wasn’t going to do this, but you leave me no option. You have committed a grievous logical error. You inferred that because A,B have a relation, and A,C have a relation implies a relation between B and C. In general that is FALSE. You assumed the transitive property where none existed! Now go apologize to all the persons with whom you construed invalid inferences over the past three or four decades. Over that time I imagine you’ve boiled enough blood to transfuse a city-size hospital!
Nero:
“fascism is corporatism. Socialism is concentration in government,
while communism is corporatism applied to government. Corporate
behavior is tantamount to military behavior, with divisions etc.”
Now, y’see, bub, you and the above paragraph is precisely why Re-education Camps were invented.
You have learned all these words, and may have learned their proper applications, but you have apparently utterly failed to learn their MEANING…and they all have but one single meaning.
That MEANING is:
You do what you’re told when you are told to do it, and you do NOT do what you are told is forbidden for you to do..
If you do not do what is required, you will be punished.
If you do what is forbidden, you will be punished.
You will have no say at all in what you must do or what you are forbidden from doing, and you will likewise have no say at all in what punishment will be imposed upon you.
Now, whatever flavor of “-ism” it is under which you are being worked to death in a Labor Camp is little more than an insubordinate, but trivial little mental diversion of yours while you break your back for the State’s benefit in the Gulag.
“Anarchy is the antithesis of the above.”
Nonsense.
Anarchy is you are free to do anything and at any time and in any way that you wish…or not.
Unfortunately, that means that everyone else is free to do whatever THEY wish, at any time and in any manner.
Which actually MEANS that someone else will come along and kill you for no apparent reason whatsoever and jack your sh1t.
If they don’t kill you, they will likely enslave you.
In which case you’re right back at the Labor Camp again, daydreaming about Political Science and hoping that the guard in the tower with the sniper rifle isn’t having a bad day.
Just a good rule of thumb to follow is that when you hear any political system mentioned that has an “-ism” suffix, you should get a mental picture of the “wrong ends” of a whip, a cage, and a rifle…in that order.
(The Sayings of Chairman Bilgeman, Vol. II)