Alternatives

Actor Ryan O'Neal and son Redmond were arrested on drug possession charges this morning, Daughter Tatum claims her arrest saved her life. It may not be the case when you view the website, but a NYTimes writer has a new book suggesting if we have a green revolution, it will save the USA economy. As if Biofuels and other "green" initiatives have not already done tremendous harm.

The O'Neals have plenty of money, but apparently there is no known cure for what ails them, so they self-medicate. Bastiat pointed out long ago in economics, it is not so much what you see as what you do not see. We do not see a cure for what ails the O'Neals and many others.

We do see wars, malinvestment in housing and misallocation in airline capacity and many other problems, results of socialist policy failures, plaguing our country.

In spite of the fact that all that ails us now was predicted by marginalized thinkers, but quite accessible (so there really no right to complain)... those in charge profess to be baffled.

Mish Shedlock recommends taking down the malefactor entities like the Fed, etc... which is a start, but we would see some improvement if there was, as some pundits argue we need, and engine of economic improvement. There is one available, it is called deregulation.

Deregulation is being given a bad name with people claiming deregulation caused the mortgage mess. No, there is hardly a market imaginable that was not more heavily regulated and subsidized than housing and mortgages. Most of the mortgages that are in trouble were violations of federal rules that carried a million dollar fine and a ten year prison sentence. the law was not enforced once in the last ten years.

True deregulation is when there are no restrictions or subsidies. Right now medicine in USA is getting more costly and less accessible. Whole swaths of care go unaddressed, becuase money for research and cures is misallocated into McMansions and war. At the same time, medical tourism is picking up.

What good does it do to have govt health care if the govt decides what is health care? And once they decide that, it all gets to rationing.

An alternative is to deregulate something, say medicine. Only 17% of our economy, but with freedom it would develop as an engine of innovation and growth, and our relative freedom would attract time, talent treasure from marginally less free endeavors. We'd be the envy of the world, again. Of course, we could do this to the whole economy, but people are too afraid of freedom. So go slow, something small. And in time no doubt, people who suffer now will find freedom from their ailments.

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