Solving the problems of the Economy

How I WISH I could give you some kind of an award for that response! There's MUCH too much truth in what you wrote. Annie

I disagree. The market should never be regulated for social interests. We tried that. We forced banks to make bad loans, for "social interests". The result is 2008 sub-prime crash. Further, no one is griping about paying a miniscule amount of tax to run some dumb regulation agency, that largely doesn't do anything (despite claims it keeps people out of our food). What we have a problem with, is the other $2.5 trillion in taxes wasted on government hand outs to people who haven't earned it. And then having some leftist run around whining because we don't want to pay another Trillion in taxes, supposedly for the dumb agency that doesn't keep people out of our food.

I agree! lol good one knoodle.

A small business can not compete with Walmart or Target because of the size and the efficiency of the larger stores. However in community after community you will see Target or Walmart build and smaller specialty shops spring up next to or near them simply because Target and Walmart will draw customers in. These smaller stores will complement rather than compete.

I would tend to agree with you on general terms. We do need some government oversight but it seems that all too often we find common sense out the window and out of the world theories take over. One example is an oil production field obtained all the necessary permits and filed all the environmental and safety reports and permits were issued but at the last minute, after investing and building a $40 million facility a new inspector arrives and tells you that there is a village 95 miles away that could be effected by the pollution from your plant if the wind is of such a speed and it came from the right direction and if someone with breathing problems was out working they might develop respiratory problems therefore you can not put your field into production and create 500 jobs. Never mind the fact that the wind is mainly blowing away from the village and only in rare strong storms will it blow toward the village and that on those days the production is shut way down and the villagers are inside. This did happen in Alaska and the company is appealing and I don't know the outcome but it is a costly appeal for the company. Unions are the same way. When they first started they were good and even now they do keep the employer honest in dealing with workers. However many times the develop some very strict work rules. A friend of mine managed a large warehouse that employs about 75 people. Recently they decertified from the Union and productivity has gone up, employees have received nice year end bonus based on the savings of the company. What changed was the work rules. They used two types of vehicles indoors. One set was the forklift which ran on Propane and electric carts that moved smaller items to the loading doc. When a worker need an electric cart under the Union Rules he had to call an electrician to unplug the cart and had to call him back when he returned the cart to be plugged in again. If air was needed in the tire you had to call a mechanic. If there was something spilled on the seat or floor you had to call housekeeping to clean it. Now the worker who is using the vehicle does all that. They are getting more work done, there are fewer breakdowns because the mechanic and electrician are not being called off a job to to do the simple things. In both cases the Government regulators and the Union is there were some restraints put on them things would move smoother and more efficiently. What is needed in Health care is more not less competition. If the government removed the restrictions on forming a group for Health insurance (the Catholic Church could form a group whose members were catholics, or a civic club could form a group, or Walmart could form a group of all the people who have a Walmart credit card) and let companies compete across state lines like auto insurance prices would go down. These groups would be thousands or millions in size and could offer a range of benefits. If we changed from a Health Maintenance plan paying first dollar coverage to a Health Insurance plan where you determined your deductable that would save money. The government could say that if you have insurance and change groups you must be covered, when a child reaches age 18 they have to be accepted into the group within 6 months or they could be covered as a single person on their parents group. The problem with a single payer is what do you do if you don't like the coverage? You have no other option and the single payer has no incentive to improve because you can't leave them. We do need a combination of both the Free Market and government and I am one who feels there should be more Free Market and I am sure you would disagree which is the beauty of our system. Thanks for your thoughtful response.

If it is 'obscene' why not do away with them altogeter? And Humana does not insure cars the last time I checked.

I'd be fine with for profit health insurance companies being done away with altogether. I don't think Humana sells car insurance either but I never said all insurance companies sold all kinds of insurance, but many do. Do you think a rich person's life is worth more than yours? Is a rich person's life worth more than anyone's without health insurance or a ton of money to pay for care when needed? I think NOT, everyone is equally deserving of quality care when they need it and preventative care if they wish to take advantage of it. Annie

You are correct that the economy is in a constant state of flux. The problem is what to do when the economy turns downward. One of the best examples is to compare the 1920 recession with the 1929 recession. In 1920 the government did nothing to fix the economy but let it find bottom and then recover. Some people got hurt and others made money. In 1929 President Hoover started to let the economy find bottom and the economy was starting to recover when the government under President Roosevelt (FDR) stepped in with massive government spending and borrowing and new taxes and regulations and finally a world war before the economy recovered. The 1920 recession had worse numbers to start with but because it was allowed to run its course it was over much quicker. What FDR did with massive government borrowing and new taxes is he took money out of the economy and there was less for the private sector to borrow to expand their business and hire new people. One of his regulations the minimum wage caused unemployment to increase because a person could not work for less than minimum wage even if he/she wanted to. Employers were forced to increase the pay of some workers and was forced to lay off others to make up the difference.