> Kevin,
>
> I've been reading this thread and your contributions, and I've been
> trying to understand your viewpoint. I have a question that I am
> wondering about:
>
> Do you believe in any government (not necessarily Federal, if there
> is an alternative) provided safety nets (SS, medicare, welfare,
> etc.) or improvement programs (education, environment, inner-city,
> transportation, scientific research, etc.). If so, which ones and why?
>
> Erik Reuter
Yes I do. As I had said the SS was a good idea but right from the
start it was done badly. I applaud Gore for saying that he will make SS
untouchable, which it should have always been and I don't blame the people
in the 30s for not being futurists. Just because I like the idea of some of
the money being invested doesn't mean some financial crisis won't cause my
portion to become smaller. Back then right after the crash they couldn't
have foreseen that the market would have a steady climb, although small. Me
saying 'if they would have just put a percentage of the money aside to be
invested' doesn't mean anything because, unless _Frequency_ happens, we
can't change the past.
I'm not an anarchist. I do believe in government and that it does
good things. All of the programs you mention are worthwhile but because of
human nature they instantly become polluted and for that reason I don't
believe that the government can really reform itself. Those were two
contradictory statements but that's they way it is. Think of this as an
example: the highway system is a great idea (borrowed from Hitler). It was
built with federal money. From the start, even before the first piece of
land was surveyed, money was changing hands as graft and kickbacks which
shaped where the highway went, where the exits were and so on. Think of the
highway that was built through Toontown..oh wait that was a movie. Would the
highway system have been better if it was somehow done privately? No but
that doesn't automatically make the government way the best.
My complaint about 'everybody having their hands out' falls into the
same category. I just checked the SS web page, there is no limit on the
money a person earns; once they hit retirement age they get their full
benefit. Take Dick Cheney. He's at retirement age, was a government
employee. He gets a government pension and SS along with the big windfall
from Haliburton (who I used to work for). Do I see something massively wrong
with the system? Yes but to means test also seems un-American and it's
against the law.
This leads to the insurance debate. If you ask somebody who's older
there really was no health insurance until the 30s or later. You got sick or
had a sick child you were treated, you tried to pay the bill as you could,
your church and/or community helped out. Workplace insurance was a great
idea because it gave employees some security but it became big enough that
outside people had to manage the insurance. And real insurance companies
began to pop up. And as more levels were added there was more paper to push
and more people to read and type and interrupt the rules, all in all more
people who really had nothing to do with your health and your doctor(s) but
they all needed paid. Adding the government to the mix won't help.
Has anyone heard about 'tuition inflation'? To me the
college/university system is efficient. You get a loan from a lender which
was basically already there in the first place, and grants from state and
federal levels and also tax breaks. In my state the state colleges get funds
from the state government (that's obvious I guess). They ask for so much and
usually get less then they ask for. They raise tuition to make up the
difference. The problem is that they are at the top of the rung and their
increases have been higher than the rate of inflation by as much as five
times. For what? Yes they have salaries, buildings to update and build,
supplies, books, equipment, and other outside services they have to pay for.
But why is the increase always more than inflation? Wouldn't there be one
year where the price of everything only rose as much as inflation so they'd
only need that much? As long as they can keep raising tuition and students
can get loans or otherwise pay, the prices will raise as fast as they can.
Thinking about that let's go back to SS and health insurance. The
amount that SS pays out is fairly simple to figure. Imagine for health care
that they came up with a master price set, and the prices were adjusted up
or down for the zip code that the doctor's office or hospital was located
in. So you were in the hospital for three days, had these doctors, these
drugs, this procedure and so on. The list was coded and electronically sent
to Washington DC. The list was compared with the master list and a total was
calculated. Electronic deposits were sent to the respective accounts for the
doctors and hospital. No human hands, no paper. Sounds wonderful. But what's
to stop the doctor or hospital from adding a drug you didn't really get, or
additional procedures you didn't receive. Or worse you had complications
that couldn't be quantified, so the doctor was with you for six hours
instead of two. How can the flat rate he is paid reflect that? If we went
back to the old system, you paid out of your pocket, even the web savvy
among us would be hard pressed to look at pages of a hospital bill and
figure out if everything was real and mandatory.
This was way too long but to close look at this, another reason to
not trust the government:
http://www.issues2000.org/More_Al_Gore_Government_Reform.htm
Big Government comes from Congress; agencies; & lawyers
We all want clean air and water. We want workplaces that don't
injure us. We want our savings protected. And much
more. That's why we have laws. The real problem is what happens
after the laws are passed. Actually, there are four
problems:
1.Congress passes laws, but seldom repeals them-whether or not
they're relevant anymore, whether or not they work.
2.After laws are passed, agencies produce regulations describing
how they will achieve the law's intent. But between
Congress' vagueness and agencies' mania for covering every
eventuality, the result has been regulatory overflow:
130,000 pages in 202 volumes.
3.After regulations are approved, legions of lawyers seek out and
find loopholes in them.
4.Agency employee are duty-bound to enforce regulations once
they're approved. That's their job. Common-sense
interpretation is expressly forbidden.
It's said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. There
may be no better illustration than the US federal government.
Source: Common Sense Government, p. 27
& 45-6 Sep 7, 1995
I'm at 99% of voting for Gore but that might as well be the
difference between me going the speed limit and faster than light. Sorry.
Kevin
