jg, now we’re starting to get on the same page! It sounds like you’re an old-school libertarian and if the government was really to cut spending across the board as you suggest, I could see lots of things improving. No more subsidies for corn farmers — no more cheap corn syrup to make unhealthy snacks and sodas — no more cheap feed to grow fatty unhealthy cattle — much less type 2 diabetes — much less heart disease — lower health care costs. Lowered “defense” spending — fewer military adventures overseas in 13th century medieval wastelands — less terrorism and blowback.
I still think that a couple of government-managed private non-profit insurance monopolies could be a good thing if you could somehow keep the pigs away from the trough. Canada does it for car and health insurance and it seems to work okay. You could always have private for-profits to get even more coverage if you wanted.
I sometimes think the differences on this board are not as severe as it might seem at first. People just look at the same problems from different angles…
