Here is an excellent example of why having the government run business leads to rationing, poorer goods and services and the powerful getting more power.
It’s great that the economy grew, but the cost at which we grew seems far to great a price to pay. We need the government to stop trying to spend our way out of a recession and prevent future tax payers from footing an enormous bill.
This entire article is a very sad commentary on our society. We have people fighting for money that our country doesn’t even have. It so sad to hear more of these stories than stories of neighbors showing love to neighbors or of people overcoming with their own determination. We simply have people becoming dependent on the government for everything in their lives - jobs, food, education, clothes, tv’s, parenting, housing. Eventually all this social welfare is going to cause the government to collapse under all of its promises and the only people who will truly benefit are those at the top.
Here is a thoughtful review of one questionable government activity. It makes me nervous to see the government becoming more involved in directing organizations to act in ways outside of their stated missions.
It’s difficult to get through the day with out encountering the topic of Health Care in the United States. There is so much discussion on it in Washington, in the press and among individual friends and family. One comment that has stood out to me for some time is the claim that Health Care should be or is a right for all citizens.
At first, that idea sounds very noble. Why shouldn’t every citizen have Health Care coverage provided to them as a right? As a compassionate and loving country we should make sure all of our citizens are taken care of, correct?
The strongest argument against declaring Health Care a right becomes apparent after reading the United States Bill of Rights. One common thread through all the Bill of Rights is that those rights are granted to everyone. Not one of the rights gives the government the right to take from one group of individuals to provide for another. In order for the government to provide Health Care to all citizens, it has to take from one group of individuals to give to another. This fact alone prohibits the idea of Health Care being a right for citizens from being acceptable.
There is something seriously wrong with our education system. The end result is that stupid people just rely on the government to solve the problems they are to stupid to think through. It’s terribly sad.
This is one of the most disturbing stories I have ever read about our government. North Carolina (and other states) ran a eugenics program from the 1920’s to the 1970’s that many times forced sterilization on people because they were mentally ill, homosexual, promiscuous or had other charicteristics that were deemed inferior. It was started by a few rich people (one the heir to Proctor and Gamble) and supported without scrutiny by the local media. It is so reminiscent of Hitler and Nazi Germany. It’s incredible to think that such horrible things could be done by our government and supported by the intellectually elite. I think this serves as a strong warning on giving the government too much power. Power corrupts.
Is there something wrong with this picture? Maybe I’m being overly-critical, but it seems that our country has it’s priorities out of line when people are in soup kitchen lines and can still afford cell phones.
Barack Obama said last Tuesday that our country’s lifeblood is credit and I have heard other politicians make similar statements. At first it sounded like a sensible statement, but the more I thought about it the more it sounded faulty. To put it another way, that statement means our country’s lifeblood is our ability to get ourselves into debt. Making it easier to get ourselves into debt is the exact ability that got us into our current economic crisis. I understand that credit is a very important thing to keeping commerce moving forward. There are certainly businesses and individuals who are attempting to get loans to expand their businesses or purchase homes. However, if credit didn’t exist at all, goods and services would still be purchased - it would just take longer to save up the money to do so. I would instead argue that productivity is our country’s lifeblood. Productivity is the measuring stick that lenders use to determine whether someone is worthy of taking on debt. If someone is not going to be productive especially with someone else’s money, they shouldn’t be given a loan or extended credit. After thinking about this topic, it seemed like such a simple concept. This doesn’t appear to be an extraordinary revelation to me, but why are our political leaders still pursuing solutions that will make it easier to get ourselves in to debt? It seems that pursuing solutions that make us more productive would be more sensible. Thoughts?
It’s incredible to read this article from 10 years ago and then realize that this was one of the first steps that got us into the economic mess we are in right now. Politicians make decisions with short-term view points (winning them votes) and don’t consider the long-term ramifications of their actions. It doesn’t matter how good an idea “feels” on the surface if its result will be the opposite of the intended effect. I hope people learn from this.
