Big news: Obamacare is not replaced by Trumpcare.
Do you really want one quarter of the economy and your ability to purchase lifesaving and life improving interventions managed by, designed by, and named after a politician who never delivered any health care or ran an insurance company?
Washington had no computer policy yet IBM, Microsoft, and Silicon Valley developed by voluntary organic self-organization. Somehow we get lots of computer provided products at reasonable or free prices.
Washington had no individual transportation policy, yet Detroit grew and produced cars affordable to the average American. This all occured before Eisenhower created a national highway system.
Washington had no entertainment policy (perhaps entertainment was not important enough to deserve Washington meddling). Now we have free and low cost entertainment that is so good the whole world inports our products.
Washington has no kitchen appliance policy, or footwear policy, or vacation package policy, or book and magazine policy, or (until very recently) Internet policy. All those areas are horrible for consumers, right? Oh, wait.
Where does Washington have it flagship policies?
Well there is housing. Washington had to intervene in the housing market to encourage more ownership and by the right people. Lets see the results. The housing market experienced an unsustainable bubble and then crashed bankrupting all the banks in the country and the Washington backed mortgage finance companies. Requiring taxpayers to provide millions or billions of their hard earned money to bail out the housing finance “system” (banks, Freddie Mac, Ginny Mae, mortgage backed securities, etc) or face economic collapse. Nice work Washington.
Lets look somewhere else.
Well there is college education. To help less advantaged students gain a college education, Washington provided guaranteed, non-dischargeable, subsidized loans to anyone who wanted to dream of a college degree. The waterfall of money led colleges to raise prices to soak up all the free money sitting on the table. Washington certainly benefited the colleges – the local college is the only nice place in most declining areas. From Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to Lafayette in Easton, PA, the college is the only thing with money to make a nice appearance. Of course, the students cannot repay the loans. Taxpayers will have to have their hard earned dollars used to forgive student loans that never should have been made in the first place.
Well there is the retirement system. Washington said, left on your own you would invest in the American economy hoping it would fund your retirement years. Foolish Americans. The American economy is risky – look at 2008 when the stock market lost over 50% of its value in a few months. Much better to give your money to the USG in the form of payroll taxes and in return for the USG promising to give you lots of money when you retire. While the USG can borrow unlimited amounts at near zero costs to spend anything it wants, this is a good deal. Greece had the same deal when Germany lent it any amount of euros. When repayment became an issue, Greece became a nation of people looking at tree bark for nutrition. If you like the prospects of the social security system, bravo. Most younger people understand that there will be nothing in the social security system for them in the future. It is a scheme of Washington that will end in tears for most everyone.
What next for our technocratic masters in Washington?