razma766's Blog

Here is a letter I recently sent to the Midland Daily News:

In his recent letter, William Smith expresses his concerns with the status quo in the political process: “If the president and his party don’t help the majority of the people during his term in office, vote them out! Until then, how will we know? I am sick and tired of status quo. Can’t we just once pass some bills and see if they will help the American people? Maybe, just maybe, that in turn will help the condition of our country” (Sick of the status quo, February 15).

Although I sympathize with Williams frustrations, it is wishful thinking to expect anything other than the status quo from the American political process. Politicians, regardless of their party, face gross incentives in favor of pursuing their own reelection and virtually no incentives to improve the conditions of the public. As Don Boudreaux said in September of 2009: “No delusions should remain that the most recent presidential election has “transformed” Washington into anything grander than what it has always been: a ’spoils exchange’ where A and B shamelessly conspire to rob C and then swap the plundered proceeds with D for D’s commitment to help A and B retain their seats on this exchange.”

Kurt Bouwhuis

Here is a letter I recently sent to the Midland Daily News:

Dr. Valeriy Ginzburg states in a recent letter that “the bills adopted by the Senate and the House probably represent the most fair way of covering the uninsured while spreading the costs in an equitable fashion.” (“Health care reform imperative,” February 5).

I respectively disagree.

If the bills adopted by the Senate and the House truly spread costs across society fairly, the respective number of pages for these bills would not surpass 10 pages. In other words, it would be simple to total all health care costs and divide them equally amongst the members of society. It is precisely because these bills favor particular classes of people over others that these bills are well over 1000 pages of elusive legal jargon.

Kurt Bouwhuis

http://tryingliberty.com/2010/01/28/stimulating-broken-window-fallacy/

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