Resource Economics..Grease your brain

We have had eight recessions since 1960 and  survived them all without government take over of industry.  In 1993 IBM cut 60,000 jobs–yet we survived.

We have added $3 trillion dollars of debt in the last two years, President Obama has borrowed another $1.5 trillion.

I would love to have a monopoly in my industry. I cannot imagine what it would be like in terms of price fixing, price gouging, and guaranteed business.  What other industry enjoys a monopoly other than health care insurance?

So why aren’t we starting with anti-trust reform? Instead of just replacing the leaky windows in your house, your blow up your house. Now how much sense does that make?  Insurance companies are exempt from antitrust laws.

Instead of overhauling an entire industry, why don’t we start with:

1. Eliminate underwriting which would require insurance companies to accept everyone irrelevant of pre-existing conditions.
2. Eliminate antitrust regulation for health insurance companies which would require the industry to compete fairly like every other business in America, open up fair practices and compete across state lines.
3. Include medical tort reform as studies place the direct and indirect costs of malpractice between 5% and 10% of total U.S. medical costs.  How can you address health care reform without including tort reform unless the objective wasn’t really to reform health care.

As we have experienced this last year, government officials rarely accept responsibility for the current economic climate.

When the United States is in economic peril as a result of unsustainable debt, remember this series.  We couldn’t afford to take on the expense of a legacy that debases our currency that cripples our country.

Or maybe the objective was to increase our debt to such prodigious proportions for other reasons. Why would someone so bright ramp up so much debt so quickly with a tin ear to eighty percent of the country?

The purpose of this entire series serves as a warning; especially since one of the problems with the financial crisis was the lack of foresight and perspective.

One of the greatest benefits of capitalism is the opportunity to fail.  And how do you fail in a capitalistic society?  Through bankruptcy.  When government interferes with that process it lengthens the process.

Our government has become less tolerant of economic failure for the chosen few, for the large firms that have special lobbyists—yet the backbone of our country, small businessmen without  lobbyists are left to fail.

Throughout the world we are envied for our optimism, our entrepreneurial spirit, and our pursuit of capitalism.    This is our competitive edge and has been since our forefathers landed on the shores of  Plymouth in 1620.

We can adapt to new challenges, learn the lessons of excess, grow from our mistakes and rebuild.  In this great nation of the United States of America, we will rise again like the phoenix.