Tom Coburn, a U.S.Senator from Oklahoma and a medical doctor, raised concerns in his article of 10 August 2009 regarding "health-care reform" entitled 'Ten Questions Politicians Won’t Answer.' [Source article]
You may hold issue with some or most of the Ten Questions, but there is one which I think is the most salient, most prominent of all. The way he put it was, "How will a government-run public option perform better than other failing government programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Indian Health Care?"
To that I will add numerous other government programs, oversight and regulatory agencies that have failed to accomplish what was their original intent.
One example of failure comes to mind as a fair measure. The Department of Energy. (see details below *)
Another example is the Federal Reserve.
The Social Security system was originally defined with some simple goals. Subsequently it has been altered by congress over the years with incremental additions and coverage which now put its costs orders of magnitude greater than originally described and defined.
Our history is replete with examples of governmental ineptitude and inefficiency in management of efforts to "do something" about issues that were deemed beyond the private sector and individuals themselves. In the great majority of these government added little value and made it worse.
Some facets of life should not be subjected to governmental intrusion. One of them is my health. To measure, I ask what is the practical and sustainable value added? What government has done to date has made the health cost problems we face today...caused by legislation, lawyers and insurance companies. All three of these enhance themselves by the "reforms" being presented.
At the risk of improperly quoting the saying, I believe that government that governs least governs best.
* On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Organization Act (Public Law 95-91), centralizing the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission and other energy-related government programs into a single presidential cabinet-level department. The DOE, activated on Oct. 1, 1977, provided the framework for a comprehensive national energy plan by coordinating federal energy functions. The new Department was responsible for long-term, high-risk research and development of energy technology, federal power marketing, energy conservation, energy regulatory programs, a central energy data collection and analysis program, and nuclear weapons research, development and production.
In simple terms, in the 1970's an Arab oil squeeze threatened to strangle U.S. commerce and transportation. To prevent this from occurring in the future, the DOE was established with a clear understanding it was to develop means to avoid our dependence upon foreign oil and it's leverage against our country.
For FY2009 the DOE requested a budget of $25 billion dollars and noted approximately $200 billion expended in the past eight years. It began with about 20,000 employees with a budget of $10.4 billion. The number of people employed and the offices established now are greater.
Yet, the U.S. dependence upon foreign oil is even greater today than in 1977...much much greater. And that department has not developed other energy sources. All of the fine goals and promises for the changes made came to nothing and worse.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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