Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Earlier this year I posted an essay entitled cognitive dissonance. Today John Aravosis at AMERICAblog reports on a similar, but more expansive essay on this topic circulating on the Internet:
Something that's been flying around the Internet – I couldn't figure out who the actual author is.
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet — which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration — and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
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Todd:
Not necessarily true. Here’s a great technical paper on it (yeah, it’s long and dry). Essentially the conclusion is that Medicare’s administrative costs are actually at least equal, if not higher, than that of private insurance.
http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/CAHI_Medicare_Admin_Final_Publication.pdf
I should also mention that LBJ (the President responsible for Medicare) predicted that the cost would never be higher than ~$17billion annually. That cost has skyrocketed to $500billion annually. Just a touch off on his figures. Doesn’t it worry you when we are being told that the new healthcare plan will be cost-neutral, even though the CBO completely disagrees?
The government runs Medicare better than the private sector would. Look at the administrative overhead of Medicare vs. private insurance.
Randy:
Name one program that the government runs better and/or more efficiently than the private sector.
“FYI, I have government teacher friends, sometimes the problem isn’t the employees, it is a system that separates good services provided from a system that would reward good employees (e.g. the current system).”
It’s good to know that SOMETIMES the PROBLEM with education isn’t incompetent “government teachers.”
Teacher-bashing has long been a viable activity for certain people on the political right (e.g. the problem with public schools isn’t declining funding or an unwillingness of states to fund them at appropriate levels, but “incompetent government teachers.”)
In France, public servants are perhaps the most qualified candidates and their jobs are highly sought after. People in this country who denigrate public servants (like teachers) who do thankless work while being paid practically nothing (and who now live with the constant fear of being laid off as a result of the epic budget fail) should ask themselves what they would do if they were working hard jobs for little pay and were constantly being reminded of how worthless they were. Perhaps the question isn’t “why are government teachers so incompetent” but rather “why does anyone even want to be a teacher given how poorly our society treats them?”
And to anyone who has ever engaged in teacher-bashing: I challenge any one of you to walk into an inner-city school and do what some of these “government teachers” do every day. Let’s see how long it takes before your spirit is broken and you start bawling like a little baby.
I’ll just mention that many of the above examples, the Federal Reserve for one, are examples of services provided as a monopoly. The product provided might (not in my opinion) be serviceable but government subsidies make it impossible to determine if we are paying too much (or too little) for government currency, government water or government time accuracy services.
Am I buying too much (or too little) government police and fire department services? Am I paying too much or too little for them?
Is the FCC doing a good or poor job of regulation? I can’t know because nobody has a choice, all 50 states get the same rules regardless of their inapplicability to a given area.
As for the FDA, they prohibit drug use that I might want to take after I review the risks.
As for public schools, I imagine they are doing a fantastic job, their funding is guaranteed by taxes and provided by government employees. I don’t imagine there is ever a problem with funding or quality of services there, is there? (A touch of satire here – please take it in moderation)
FYI, I have government teacher friends, sometimes the problem isn’t the employees, it is a system that separates good services provided from a system that would reward good employees (e.g. the current system).