On 12/16/2014 10:15 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
Hi Liz,
On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 7:51 PM, LizR <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
What is funny - as well as sad and frightening - is the number of people
here who
apparently don't believe in democracy, even in principle. Democracy is the
idea that
we can elect people to do things for everyone else (the NHS, conservation,
social
security, infrastructure, regulations, police, army science etc etc).
All of the things you mention are run by unelected bureaucrats with long careers, who
see politicians come and go.
I highly recommend the British show "Yes, Prime Minister!" to learn about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmXzGI0XP7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF_o1Ss1NQ
Yet all I can see here is people saying that it doesn't work. I think the
truth is
that it can be hijacked and THEN it doesn't work. The NHS (despite
everything) was
one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, after all. And it was
introduced by a government because of its beliefs and principles.
The NHS is the sort of thing that should worry an Ecologist, because it's based on
infinite growth. Both the European system (based on infinite demographic growth) and the
Anglo (based on infinite economic growth). I also feel that it serves mostly to fix a
problem created by the government itself in a previous regulatory wave. The barriers to
competition in the practice of healthcare are so high that it becomes unaffordable
without insurance or subsidy.
Health care isn't well regulated by competition because the consumer is ill equipped to
judge the necessity or the quality of service and the most expensive service tends to a
one-time event for the consumer.
It's one of the several resource confiscation traps that have been emerging under crony
capitalism.
What does that mean?
I know, I know. You're going to say that lots of deaths have been prevented by these
regulations. This is true. But how many deaths have been caused by poor or inexistent
access to healthcare?
In the U.S. it's been estimated as at least 40,000/yr.
How many have been caused by the glaciar pace of innovation imposed by such
regulations?
What innovation has been delayed by regulation? thalidomide? abortion pills?
By patents? People refuse to recognise that this trade-off exists.
I dream of flat guaranteed income based on a real currency (not the current pyramid
schemes that we call Dollars or Euros). Possibly a cryptocurrency with a smart algorithm
that hopefully cannot fall under the control of the bandits.
Isn't there already an effective guaranteed "income" in terms of food, shelter, health
care. I doubt people are allowed to starve or freeze or go without medical treatment. Of
course I would agree that there should also be a guarantee of as much education as a
person wishes to absorb.
Brent
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