I think what he's getting at is the concept of a "trustful society". Essentially one like the Amish he describes: people act responsibly with the community's mo

I think what he's getting at is the concept of a "trustful society". Essentially one like the Amish he describes: people act responsibly with the community's money. You might well think this has broken down in America. There's both a lack of formal restraint in the form of laws holding down the price, like in the Swiss private health system, as well as a lack of informal rules like he's mentioned, preventing people who've hit their deductible from going nuts with their treatment. And the culture of suing doctors has led to even more issues. The trustful society thing is interesting. A friend of mine lost a grand-uncle in Denmark a couple of years back. Now this guy had grown up before the welfare state, and took pride in not taking handouts that he didn't need. He lived on a family farm on an idyllic island called Bornholm. When he died, the authorities called and asked what to do with nearly 2M DKK of pension money he hadn't collected. At the other end, you get people growing up having never seen what preceded the welfare state. You often get debates about whether the kids are spending their student allowances wisely, because obviously you see them around town and they are having a good time. This is a cash grant from the government that you don't even need to use for tuition. Are they being profligate with the state's money? It's a debate that keeps going.