Fix the Leak!

If our governments really knew what they were doing, our problems would have been solved by now!

Fix the leak!

There was a guy I know who was watching TV during a rainstorm, and water started leaking out of the ceiling. He placed a pan on the floor where the water was hitting, and continued watching TV.  What else could he do?

A few days later, when the ceiling had dried out, he fixed it.  Good as new.  Like it never happened. Perhaps you perceive a flaw in the plan.  Sure enough, the next time it rained, water came through the ceiling, because he had never repaired the roof.

Boy, was THAT dumb! 

And now, let’s examine some of our own failures to ‘repair the roof’.

The cost of education has been growing exponentially, faster even than the cost of healthcare, for many decades now.  Why?  Good question.  It’s a question that gets discussed, but never answered.  We need a solution.  But rather than get at the root causes of the absurd increase in costs, our solution is to put more government money into education.  Huh?  How does putting more money into education lessen the cost of education?  It’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing. But here’s why it’s done: Government money is perceived as someone else’s money.  But it’s really our money. Students going to college are thrilled that there are Pell grants, and (outrageous) student loans that don’t have to be paid until later. So, they consider the problem of educational expense to be solved.  But no, these ‘solutions’ only exacerbate the problem. And ‘Government’ money goes into public school education at increasing rates.  How does that lower the cost of public school education?  It doesn’t. We keep patching the ceiling, but the roof still leaks.

Healthcare suffers in the same way. Insurance becomes too expensive, so the government subsidizes it.  That’s more money into a system that we’ve determined is getting too much money. And then there’s drugs. How much of a case do I need to make that drug companies are way over-compensated? Not in all cases, but to a great extent. I’m in an advantage plan in Medicare (more government money), and I get reduced costs of drugs.  In many cases, reduced to zero. I take statins for cholesterol. I don’t have a severe condition, moderate at most. I’ve asked my cardiologist about how badly I really need to take those stains.  He says I don’t have to, but it’s for the best.  They’re free, so I take them.  There is some price, above which I would not pay for those drugs.  But money has been thrown at the ‘problem’, and I take the ‘free’ drugs. Ceiling fixed, roof still leaks.

How about housing?  It’s too expensive.  The average wage earner can’t afford an average priced house.  That didn’t used to be the case, but now it is. What’s going on here? Let’s not figure this out; instead we’ll just subsidize housing.  Housing costs too much, so we’ll throw more money at the problem.  That only makes the housing more expensive, and by the way, it gives the federal government more control of housing, in neighborhoods all around the nation that it really has no legitimate reason to be involved in. Now that I think about it, ditto for education and healthcare. Hmmmmm…

I think I’m spotting a trend.  The more the federal government ‘helps’ with the expenses, the more expensive it gets.  And the more control the federal government has, the more it gets to regulate housing, healthcare, and education. Am I paranoid?  I don’t think so. I’m old enough to remember going to older, less expensive schools that provided BETTER education.  The test scores prove it.  And speaking of ever decreasing test scores, how do we solve that problem? Should we redesign education to be, you know, better?  No, we do away with the tests.  Problem solved. The SATs have now been redesigned to make it harder to get a top score, but easier to get a higher low score, if that makes sense. Does any of this solve the problem of ever decreasing educational functionality of our schools?  Nope.  The roof still leaks.

There used to be a dream of families having their own home, their own yard, their own ownership of real estate.  For many, that home is their financial investment in their future. That used to be the dream.  Now, the dream is non-ownership of government subsidized apartments. Fifteen minute cities. No sense of individuality, individual ownership, or individual responsibility.  It’s a dream that only a communist could love. Pay more, get less, and be happy about it.

Back to healthcare.  Healthcare should cost more.  It has improved greatly over the decades.  MRIs, CT scans, artificial joints, organ transplants, and cancer therapy are all new within my lifetime. But who should pay for it?  Who IS paying for it?  WE are paying for it. Believe it or not, back in the day, I paid for my and my family’s health insurance for decades, out of pocket.  It was doable.  Until the government ‘fixed’ it. No longer can an individual choose a policy that fits his needs; he has a limited selection of choices as mandated by the federal government.  Huh?  Why is the federal government in charge of what health insurance an individual can buy? And, until the Supreme Court ruled against it, the federal government had laws that said you HAD to buy this insurance. But don’t worry.  If your income isn’t high enough to pay for this mandated insurance, Big Brother is there to subsize it for you.  More money thrown at a problem, even though the problem is that healthcare costs too much.  It’s like trying to put out a fire by spraying it with gasoline.

I’ve said many times, the only certain result of throwing money at a problem is that your problem will become more expensive.  The roof is springing more and more leaks, and we keep repairing the ceiling. We put out more and more pots to catch the dripping water. For God’s sake, people, FIX THE DAMN ROOF!

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What if our politicians and political parties are not nearly as competent as they would have us believe? Chances, are, deep down, you know that’s true. Well, now what? Let it keep happening? Kick the can down the road?

It’s up to us. It’s up to you. It always has been. Take control of your own life; take control of your governments. Scary, right? Welcome to adulthood.

Here’s a post from someone I read a lot. It’s full of numbers and graphs. Ewew!!! But even without careful interpretation of the data, you can get the point. Things are nowhere near as good as the ‘official’ numbers suggest. Politicians talk a good game, but know no more, probably less, than we do.

QTR's Fringe Finance

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