27 ms·

This sounds really good to the ear, but it's just not true is it? Americans have a lot of choice when it comes to these things, at least compared to healthcare.

• jessaustin 8y ago
  We have some level of choice with respect to healthcare as well. I'm just thinking of other nations I've traveled, in which lots of people chose to live in housing that wouldn't be allowed here, and drove vehicles that wouldn't be legal to sell here. You might argue with the idea that they "chose" those things. That argument would apply just as much to health care. Yes, if someone had the choice between vast wealth and penury, one would choose vast wealth. Given the condition of penury, however, what's wrong with e.g. a tuk-tuk or a corrugated tin shack? Are those not better than living on the street in a cardboard box and walking everywhere you go?
• rconti 8y ago
  It's a byproduct of regulation. When you start telling people they can't consume this substance, or buy a car with fewer than this number of airbags, or without traction control, or you can't sell an apartment with a size smaller than this, you create consequences. Maybe people buy used cars instead of new cars. Maybe they live in illegal units that skirt the regulations not just on sizing, but on fire safety. And so on. You create black markets. This is absolutely not to say that regulation is bad! It is just to point out that it creates unintended consequences you have to be aware of, and place the slider of regulation in the appropriate place. After all, we all intuitively know that a minimum wage of $500/hr and a minimum allowable housing size of 7000sqft won't work! But we also know that telling a surgeon "just use whatever you find lying around" may not be the best approach either.