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Who is going to implement such a social net? Congress? The same Congress that has a 15% approval rating and a 97% re-election rate? The same Congress that is
by boromir 18y ago
Who is going to implement such a social net? Congress? The same Congress that has a 15% approval rating and a 97% re-election rate? The same Congress that is run by K-street? Currently, we spend as much as a percentage of GDP on Medicare/Medicaid as every other developed country spends altogether on healthcare. Theoretically, we could just turn Medicare into a single payer system that covered everyone, get the same benefits as the European countries, and not even raise taxes. Strangely, no presidential candidate has mentioned such a sensible proposal.
The problems Aaron cites can almost all be blamed on the government. The drug companies, insurance companies, and big city hospitals are effectively state cartels. The AMA and nurse unions are a state guilds. They have all worked together to drive the price of healthcare through the roof. Government zoning regulations and negative interest rates have made housing prices rise at a far greater rate than wages. The decline of the dollar has led to massive investment in commodity indexes, driving up the price of food and oil. SEC regulations make it very difficult for entrepreneurs to raise money from small time investors. What makes you think that the government that causes all these problems is going to wake up tomorrow, and in a fit of competence and good sense, actually fix them? Better idea: abolish the Feds altogether. Without paying taxes to Washington and monopoly prices to state guilds, we could all retire at 30.
- jmatt 18y agoA true libertarian. One implication of having similar temperaments (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240) is that a lot of NTs tend to be libertarians. So this site will likely favor a libertarian view. I agree partially with this. Government regulation in some industries prevent startups from entering (ie health care and medicine). And since the most radical solutions are going to come from startups, no startups will slow down innovation. I also agree that the US is spending a lot of money inefficiently where companies motivated properly could spend it more effectively. I believe if the house, senate and presidency is democratic that a social net is possible in the next 4 years. Implying that low approval ratings mean congress won't do anything isn't true. If anything it may motivate them to do something like this.
- bayareaguy 18y agoStrangely, no presidential candidate has mentioned such a sensible proposal. My candidate (Mike Gravel) did: http://www.gravel2008.us/issues http://www.gravel2008.us/issues