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At what point can we all stop and say the federal government is 'big 'enough'? We can always find more for it to do, but I think most people here will agree the

At what point can we all stop and say the federal government is 'big 'enough'? We can always find more for it to do, but I think most people here will agree the market is better, for most things, than bureaucracy. I'm all for trying different tax strategies to be more fair and efficient, but I think we need a line in the sand we won't cross before we add another potential slope to slide down.

thundergolfer 6y ago
No I don’t think most people would agree with you. Outside of the USA, the idea of leaving healthcare and education and environmental sustainability up to the market is laughable, and scary.
- BobbyJo 6y ago
  "most things"
anoonmoose 6y ago
Most people here not in the US will tell you that there are two things that are incredibly expensive in the US because they are controlled by the market instead of by the government like they are in almost every other country (healthcare and higher ed).
- logicchains 6y ago
  Healthcare is controlled by the government because it enforces licensure artificially limiting the number of doctors. Prior to the AMA's lobbying for such restrictions in the early 1900s, medical care was cheap and plentiful; people even had doctors go to their houses. Education is also artificially influenced by the government because it gives out special loans and makes it illegal to declare bankruptcy on them, allowing colleges to keep raising prices because they know students will always be able to pay via student loans.
  - anoonmoose 6y ago
    Those issues are still the result of the market responding to the government's actions/policies; remove the market (make both single payer) and the government will have much more incentive to fix the problems.
    - BobbyJo 6y ago
      The market has a response to literally everything. You can't 'remove the market' from a given industry. Single Payer would still have to pay market prices.

thundergolfer 6y ago

No I don’t think most people would agree with you. Outside of the USA, the idea of leaving healthcare and education and environmental sustainability up to the market is laughable, and scary.

BobbyJo 6y ago
"most things"

anoonmoose 6y ago

Most people here not in the US will tell you that there are two things that are incredibly expensive in the US because they are controlled by the market instead of by the government like they are in almost every other country (healthcare and higher ed).

logicchains 6y ago
Healthcare is controlled by the government because it enforces licensure artificially limiting the number of doctors. Prior to the AMA's lobbying for such restrictions in the early 1900s, medical care was cheap and plentiful; people even had doctors go to their houses. Education is also artificially influenced by the government because it gives out special loans and makes it illegal to declare bankruptcy on them, allowing colleges to keep raising prices because they know students will always be able to pay via student loans.
- anoonmoose 6y ago
  Those issues are still the result of the market responding to the government's actions/policies; remove the market (make both single payer) and the government will have much more incentive to fix the problems.
  - BobbyJo 6y ago
    The market has a response to literally everything. You can't 'remove the market' from a given industry. Single Payer would still have to pay market prices.