Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (4812)	2/22/2008 6:58:07 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 42652

"in this instance the tunnel vision is mind boggling." Emotionally held beliefs are very difficult to shake. I must admit that my experience has taught me that governments are not trustworthy. It is not that the institution itself is not trustworthy as much as the failure of governments to purge employees caught abusing their power. Businesses with corruption become front page news and eventually the perpetrators become subject to legal proceedings. OTOH when incompetence and corruption occur in government the perpetrator is seldom punished, and if punished is almost never subject to external legal proceedings. Of course when you add the value of entrepreneurial zeal coupled with competitive pressure and compare that to the ingrained apathy that afflicts a substantial minority of government employees the higher value of the competitive system becomes recognizable. Only slightly OT: Think about the most recent high profile purges of government authorities. Richard Armitage exposed a desk jockey in the CIA and Scooter Libby was made to take the fall for him. The President's UN Ambassador was effective so partisans attacked him and prevented him from being permanently appointed. The World Bank purged their President who acted to reduce corruption and after the corrupt bureaucrats tasted blood in the water they went after the director of the corruption investigative department. A mayor of a city totally screwed up handling a weather disaster after city officials squander federal money to improve and repair their levies and so he was reelected and the director of FEMA was made to resign. Still there are a significant number of people who demand that government be granted greater power when government creates problems.