| | | >> You do know that the US is just about the only developed country where education is not controlled at the federal level?
>> Ever wonder about that?
Not at all. There are many things some governments do well that don't work well here. Federal health care programs being the most obvious example: In some smaller countries, national health care -- either single payer or government run health care -- works reasonably well. Here, it is an absolute impossibility. Which is why Medicare, VA, and now Obamacare are all failures -- our government simply cannot handle these tasks. But that doesn't mean federal health care programs everywhere are destined to failure.
Our political system is such that the federal bureaucracy should be turned to only as a last resort. Because they don't do much of anything well. Worse, things that function well in which government involves itself tend to deteriorate rapidly. Health care is one such thing and education is another. But there are tons of them. Pollution control/EPA, a legitimate function of government, has seen such an escalation in bureaucratic regulation over the last five years that compliance has become nearly impossible in some areas.
What ought to be done is to reduce funding for government bureaucracy by half, overnight. That doesn't mean stop paying Medicare bills or SS checks. But force bureaucrats to get by on half the money and fire employees who aren't needed, which easily amounts to half.
One of my lifelong best friends is a grain & elevator inspector for USDA. A really nice person, a big government liberal, and I'd hate to see him lose his job. But the truth is we do not need USDA inspectors running around checking out grain elevator operations and inspecting grain. Because elevator operators are subject to tort law, and buyers will do a fine job of inspecting the grain they buy. While there is some marginal value, it is extremely marginal and can be done more effectively in the private sector. Or if some buyer doesn't care, maybe not at all. That's the buyer's problem.
These kinds of government waste operations are everywhere. They serve no legitimate purpose but cost a lot of money by making commercial operations less cost effective, raising prices to everyone.
I don't believe a case can be made for federal government involvement in 80% of what they do. |
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