Hothouses & Healthcare

August 22, 2007

Two quite unrelated topics, today:

It’s expensive to ship fresh produce via air freight to the Northern provinces of Canada, yet it’s somehow, miraculously, going to be cheaper to ship tons of potting soil, trusses, panes of glass, insulation, fertilizer, irrigation systems, etc., in order to build a multi-million dollar greenhouse for seventy-five idiots who live in a barren wasteland? Seventy-five idiots, who it seems will operate the greenhouse as a collective, each working a few hours a week.

Adam Smith must be rolling in his grave.

(Note: the project stalled because of a “lack of funding,” which I suppose is Nook for “government funds,” which really means “other people’s money.”  Even 75 idiots wouldn’t put together their own capital to build a greenhouse on the north pole.)

+++
A brief examination of the patchwork of government programs and legislation which have given us the health care system we currently have. It’s interesting to note that the system (as flawed as it is) covers 85% of the population, that’s five out of every six people. Sure sounds much better than proclaiming that 45 million people don’t have access to health care (which is also true.) Oh, and the incentives:

As long as I can simply shove the costs to you (the younger working person), the incentive is to take all I can get …

Further, a RAND study indicates that it’s not possible to have so-called “universal” coverage without a government gun :

“One implication of our findings is that if you really do want to get universal health insurance coverage, voluntary solutions that rely on financial incentives aren’t going to get you there.  Government is probably going to have to mandate it.”

Mandate it, as in, you have to pay for it even if you don’t want it. What’s next - forcing people without a car to pay for car insurance?


Posted in: Economic Fallacies, Government is Slavery, Subsidize This!

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