Theft at the Public Till
free enterprise. Attempt to use the government for any purpose - other than law enforcement or military actions - and you will merely swell the deficit and the already bloated federal bureaucracy. All problems should be left to Adam Smith’s invisible hand. If private business is not interested in clean- ing up the environment or providing affordable housing or offering health insurance to the poor, too bad. An op-ed article by an anonymous federal employee, published in the New York Times in March 1991, acknowledged chillingly that the government “is no longer responsible for anything. The unequivocal message throughout the Federal bureaucracy is that nothing is to be accomplished by this government except the creation of good feelings and the illusion of action.” Where are we today? Our health care system stands out for its high costs and poor results. We have a medical system that costs more than any other in the world, yet denies critical access to 37 million Americans. Environmental issues have become so politicized that we gain minimal improvements at maximum expense. New perceived threats to the climate or atmospheric purity need cool analysis, not the massive disruption of politically guided policies. As a nation, we spend too much on housing, yet there are severe regional housing shortages. Solutions to housing and infrastructure problems are increasingly constrained by local politics. Family and community structures are deteriorating. All the key indica- tors of social problems-crime, drug abuse, child abuse, teen pregnancy-are the worst in the developed world. We maintain a drug policy which artifi- cially supports scarcity, inflating the price of drugs and making it possible to become rich by pushing drugs. Our education system is ineffective and costly. We spend more than any other nation, yet we have low rates of both basic and technical literacy. Our educational system pays many teachers so poorly they can no longer afford to teach, yet has more administrators than corporate America. Money-oriented, single-issue politics has become a high art the courts
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