I think that the current economic situation has many people looking to more socialist policies as the golden path. The current recession is the result of poor legislation and poor oversight by the government. Now, people want the government to take on more responsibilities and acquire more power. I can't help but see a flaw in this logic. The ideal is that the government program will attempt to work in the best interests of the people. However, government agencies tend to be the least efficient and least organized. With people saying that health care is broken in the US, I shudder to think of what will happen if the government takes it over. I expect there to be more money wasted, than saved, overall. Not only that, some of the liability and legal problems that have caused health care rates to go up will shift to the government turning into some sort of cash pinata for litigants.
Taxing the rich always seems like a winner the problem is that it is a prospect with diminishing returns. Most of those that are well off better at reducing their tax profile. Not only that, it encourages them to be more conservative in their spending. Money goes to the government instead of going into the economy.
Have people not seen what a fiasco the bailout has been? At first government just threw money at banks like it was magic fairy dust that would cure all ills, only to find out that the money wasn't used they way they wanted it to be. We're bailing out automakers that make cars people don't want to buy. Shouldn't we be resisting government's meddling with market forces to protect failing business models? Especially when that government lead us to to where we are today by deciding that people who cannot afford homes should be able to buy them?
So, let's list this:
The US Government:
crafted the legislation that lead to this economic collapse
threw "no strings attached" money at banks (at first) in a panic
is bailing out auto manufacturers (again), that seem to run their businesses with the knowledge that the government won't let them fail
And we want have government also:
take over Health care
take in more tax dollars
redistribute wealth
I just can't see how people are comfortable handing government more power given it's track record. People rest alot of their hope on Obama, but he is not going to magically make the government more efficient.
Thank god for the disable signatures option.
