There are many that believe that there is nothing wrong with expanding the federal government. Many of these people are your Obama die-hards. The Michael Moore anti-capitalists who use capitalism to get rich wannabes ignore the many historical examples of how dangerous and inefficient the government is, despite any good intentions. So the next time someone tries to argue that the government should be given more responsibility and power over our lives, ie… health care, here are a few examples you can throw at them.
I will start with some historical cost predictions in health care itself. And for argument sake I will not even cover the socialized health care systems that are in dire straights around the globe. What about our own Medicare system. It was predicted in 1990 that Medicare would cost the taxpayer $12 Billion dollars. The actual number. $110 Billion in 1990. They were off by nearly a factor of 10. Massachusetts, a state that recently started a universal health care program had the same prediction problem. A predicted cost of $472 million turned out to be $628 million in reality. A difference of $156 million. By the way, they are already rationing care. Our government consistently underestimates the costs of health care so why in the world would we trust the numbers they are showing us today. Especially from an administration who fudges stimulus job numbers and economic projections to make themselves look better.
Amtrak is another one of my favorite examples. Nixon started Amtrak in 1971 with $141 million in taxpayer funds with the prediction that it would be self sufficient in 3 years. I guess it never fulfilled its potential because it has never had a profitable year. But instead of letting it fail, our beloved Congress subsidizes it to the tune of a billion plus dollars a year. A quick check with Wikipedia will show you that government intervention back in 1910 was the beginning of the end for this industry. Government intervention into private industry could be the theme of this administration and just like the good old days, they do more damage than good.
Another rationale of the Obamaites for the government health care plan is that the government plan and private industry can coexist. Competition will be fair. I promise. Well, unfortunately for liberals, history has also given us a great example to combat what logic will not. They are our friends Fannie and Freddie. I wrote about it here in this post , and here is a link to the congressional report. The report shows how the GSE’s relationship with the government gave them an unfair advantage in the mortgage market. It also illustrates the corruption and waste that is inevitable when the government gets involved. I do not think I have to show the idiocy of Obama’s post office analogy again. That was a good one though.
For those who are allergic to historical references there are a couple of recent events that illustrate the evils of government intervention. Mainly Cash for Clunkers and the Stimulus. A recent report revealed that the taxpayer ultimately paid $24,000 per car sold under the cash for clunkers program. Congressmen and this administration were so proud of the supposed success of this program that they rushed more money into it so it could be extended. Turns out it was not so great. Classic shortsighted syndrome. In the end, Edmunds actually determined that the sales numbers would have been better without the program. Go figure.
And then there is the ever famous Stimulus. ”We might never recover without it” said Obama, but then again we may never recover from it. Recently the White House released data showing only 31,000 jobs were created from the $16 billion spent so far. Then even more recently they corrected that number…seems they double counted some so the total is actually only 26,000. I will let you do the math on this inefficiency. The list of projects getting funded looks more like a ransom list from a comedy than something to stimulate the economy. Here are a few of the best and brightest projects. To make matters worse, it has been revealed that over $1.2 billion of the 16 has gone to contractors on watchdog lists for those who have broken federal and state laws.
As you can see, government intervention does not lead to good things. History is a very blunt reminder of this. So the next time someone argues that it is, question them. Don’t let them get away with arguing a point with no foundation. Remember, these people want to give more power to those who cannot even balance a budget.
