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Monday, February 9. 2009

Non-options

David Warren begins:



One of the key functions of modern government is to reduce, by law, the options people have, especially when they are facing challenges to survival.

A classic example of this is socialized medicine. Like all socialist systems, government health care creates big shortages and surpluses, beyond the reach of market correction: in this case, serious shortages of doctors, nurses and essential equipment, balanced by huge surpluses of administration and unspecialized support staff.

By contrast, one need never go far to find a dentist or a veterinarian in Canada, because these fields have not been fully "socialized."

So if you have a toothache, or your cat is ill, you know where to go.



Vets, dentists, and lawyers - still outside the State. I believe that there is no case to be made for socializing medicine which cannot also be made for socializing legal services. Whole thing here.

Posted by Bird Dog in Politics at 07:08 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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I find fall of the Roman Empire even more chilling. “the fall of Rome was fundamentally due to economic deterioration resulting from excessive taxation, inflation, and over-regulation. Higher and higher taxes failed to raise additional revenues because wealthier taxpayers could evade such taxes while the middle class--and its taxpaying capacity--were exterminated.”

www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cjv14n2-7.html

Taxes on the middle class became so high, farmers were forbidden to flee their land to avoid the taxes by Emperor Diocletian – effectively making them serfs. Taxes became so bad citizens were selling themselves into physical slavery since slaves were not taxed. Better to be an actual slave to a decent master than a tax-slave to the state.
#1 NJSoldier on 2009-02-09 08:01 (Reply)
This would have been a better comment if it had landed in the Plato post.
#1.1 NJSoldier on 2009-02-09 08:06 (Reply)
I never cease to be amazed at the folks who complain about runaway medical costs and think that socializing medicine is the answer. And if you gave them half a chance, they'd socialize vet and dental care, too, then complain about those results. The first step seems to be vet and dental insurance. Quickly they move on to the belief that premiums are too high. The underlying assumption seems to be that the vet and dental service should arrive free in the mail -- or, of course, that "someone else" always should foot the bill. All those mythical people out there who can afford it better than we can, and should pick up the check for everything under the sun.
#2 Texan99 on 2009-02-09 11:13 (Reply)

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