Really Help Those in Need
Brianna at NTU's Government Bytes notes the “astute observation" of a fellow blogger at Clear Commentary who observed the “disturbing” trend by politicians to:
“’help’ those in perceived need, rather than to reduce taxes and regulations to increase the chances for economic success.”
She then goes on to make some astute comments of her own:
“Government’s role has changed from maintaining the rule of law so we can all help ourselves to being the first defense against problems. Despite their (expensive) efforts and (best) intentions, too often Government ends up hurting those they intended to help. Government does not have the same feedback mechanism as the market and so its efforts do not always reach their intended beneficiaries. Past experience shows that farm subsidies don’t reach poor farmers, rent controls don’t improve housing situations for the poor and universal health care doesn’t guarantee access to doctors. [links in the original]
“Shifting the argument, people claim that though things are not perfect under government programs, they are much better than they would be otherwise. How do we know that? We are far enough away from a free-market economy that pointing out current failures will hardly prove their point. The regulations and taxes, as mentioned above, have distorted incentives and prices. Government insertions in the economy can mask true costs and eliminate the potential for private solutions to be discovered.”
Reducing taxes and regulations. Wow! Too bad most of the political class in Arlington, Virginia, and the United States are not equally astute.