There are lots of good articles which refute several angles or detailed aspects of universal healthcare at mises.org and fee but I can't find a really good global refutation. One that explains why socialization of any product or service is destined to fail. I'm stuck siting Hazlitt but most of my opponents won't readily go read his book. It's more convenient to have an article ready for siting.
Any one have a link to a solid post thats toned in such a way that even socialist nut jobs would at least finish reading it?
Statism is a religion.
http://mises.org/etexts/mises/interventionism/section7.asp
Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid
Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring
I usually offend nutjobs when I write. I consider that desirable. Of course, "Who is a nutjob?" is a relative definition.
All you need to say is "The AMA licensing cartel artificially restricts the supply of doctors. This drives up prices and forces the rationing of medical care. It is silly to talk about healthcare reform without addressing the damaging affect of the State AMA licensing cartel. The USA does not have a free market health care system, due to the AMA licensing cartel. The problem is not 'too much free market'. The problem is 'too little free market'."
I've decided that debating idiots is a waste of time.
I have my own blog at FSK's Guide to Reality. Let me know if you like it.
I'm inclined to agree with fsk on this issue. If the people you are debating can't understand that
then I'm pretty sure it's not worth wasting your time on these folk.
Nonetheless, there have been a few excellent threads on this topic recently, with a lot of diverse sources. For instance:
On "What Soviet Medicine Teaches Us"
Irish Liberty Forum
You guys are probably right. It may not be worth the time.
Still I think there is much more at work besides the AMA cartel.
I seem to remember an article about 5 years ago about the FDA being under scrutiny where employee's of large drug companies were employee hopping back and forth between Medecine co and FDA. Unfortunatelly I cannot find those articles but I still beleive thats probably the case and wouldn't be suprised in the least bit. Those kinds of special relationships scare me.
nirgrahamUK: http://mises.org/etexts/mises/interventionism/section7.asp
Alright this is the kind of stuff I am looking for. Thank you sir.
You've answered your own question with the below; it really isn't worth the effort unless you want to relieve stress by calling them names and trolling a bit. Bottom line is, anyone who looks at the US Health Care system and says the problem is free markets is disconnected from reality to put it politely. You can't debate with someone to whom reality does not matter. You'll always 'lose' because they can argue whatever the hell they want. They would argue that the 'free market' is why the USSR eventually collapsed. Usually because after years of government controlled schooling 'free market' has come to mean 'whatever you don't like about life' to most people. I've routinely tried to point out to people that when they complain about the 'free market' they're without fail always pointing to issues in our most heavily regulated market sectors. It's like trying to dent a solid steel block with a toothpick. It just doesn't get through.
filc:You guys are probably right. It may not be worth the time. Still I think there is much more at work besides the AMA cartel. FDA also shares part of the responsibility for making unecessary scarcities in medecine. Employer based mandated insurance which has effectively destroyed the individual market for HC. This causes a scarcity in the consumer base and minimizes the target audiance for insurers. Medecine and insurance is no longer marketed or sold to individuals but to companies. Insurance regulations which takes drug shopping out of the hands of the consumers but into a nifty business deal between the FDA, Drug Companies, and insurers. I seem to remember an article about 5 years ago about the FDA being under scrutiny where employee's of large drug companies were employee hopping back and forth between Medecine co and FDA. Unfortunatelly I cannot find those articles but I still beleive thats probably the case and wouldn't be suprised in the least bit. Those kinds of special relationships scare me. "I was just in the bathroom getting ready to leave the house, if you must know, and a sudden wave of admiration for the cotton swab came over me." - Anonymous | Post Points: 5
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