Yeah, the government can't do anything right.

[gridlore]

Ganked from everywhere.

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

tl;dr version: GET SOME FUCKING PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE

Damn right. On our trip, kshandra and I trusted our lives to the Air Traffic Controllers of the Federal Aviation Administration. We also were screened by the TSA. You could also talk to vets about the socialized medicine we get through the VA.

Comments

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Socialized medicine for society's defenders, who shed their blood for a pittance to ensure the freedom the rest of us so often take for granted. It is a poor thank you, in my opinion.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is the vast majority of veterans use something else if they are able. We get a better deal or coverage through our employers, get rich and can afford to pay out of pocket, whatever. The point is we have the option, and it works. Not great, there are lines and wait times, but you get the care you need.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

That's one thing that I'm curious about. I don't think I qualify for VA medical -- three years active in the reserves, and that's it -- so I don't really know. But before a year or so ago, I'd heard that the VA had fairly poor service, that it was a travesty that our vets were treated that way. And then, suddenly, I heard nothing but how it was great and a model of government-run health care.

What's the truth? :(

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Mind if I gank this? I've been trying to drive home (on a DOT approved driving range) that same point for some time & this does it very well.

[karmabreeze.livejournal.com]

I had someone try to argue with me that it meant giving up their freedom.

However, I am confused by how they could possibly believe that freedom in health care entails the collusion of monopolistic insurance companies to deny your health claim for the sake of a profit motive.

[dalen-talas.livejournal.com]

I would agree with the above, except for one item:

A huge part of the TSA screening process is a waste of time and money which does nothing except to provide the illusion of security. Don't have the links at hand, but I heard several feasible ways of beating the security, even if you're on a no-fly list.

EDIT: To expand on that: The stuff listed above (FCC, ATC, FAA, etc.) is what is called "natural monopolies" (by Milton Friedman, if memory serves), and are best managed by a centralized, non-corporate entity. Once the government moves to control the things beyond that, it's overreaching.

Would love to continue ranting, but it's 02:49 here and I need to crash...

[caerbannogbunny.livejournal.com]

I think--for the most part--the agencies you list above are either regulatory/enforcement or agencies whose majority of work exists either in competition with non-governmental (civilian/state/local/international) organizations or depends on civilian competition (like contractors).

In these instances, this competition compels some order of refinement to the governmental agency because of a need to compete--even in a subsidized fashion--with other options as well as the potential influence/meddling of congress at the will of the people--if/when they ever agree on anything for more than 30 seconds.

For example, VA healthcare. I haven't used it as a veteran, but I got to see a lot of it in the late '80's and early '90's with my grandfather. The place was awful, appointments were a pain, the care was--in hindsight, after seeing "commercial" and later military hospitals--mediocre. My grandfather had to seek other sources of care half the time as he suffered first throat cancer and then terminal lung cancer.

The fact we could access an alternative to the standard care when it was really needed was a boon. Even assuming the VA is a shining example today and it has improved, the main impetus is likely by being compared to and forced to compete with other sources.

Likewise, the military hospital system--a true example of socialized medicine--was backed up everywhere but in a combat zone with a parallel, civilian medical system. As a medic last decade, it wasn't uncommon for the PA's and MD's I worked for to refer dependents or even soldiers to civilian sources of care when the treatment needed was either not available from or not allowed by or not schedulable through the military treatment facilities.

Dental care especially.

Also, as an insurance biller for a year, I got to see and understand the stringent restrictions on care and even rationing that were inherent in the Medicare and (Arizona) Medicaid systems. The reason I stopped being an insurance biller was because the practice had an economic setback, had to let people go, and in order to do that they simply stopped accepting Medicaid patients.

The reason was 75% of our billing problems (90% of my job) was getting money for even approved procedures from the government agencies. Medicare patients were an un-talked about option, but the doctor felt she owed some of her older and longterm patients continuity of care.

So, there's a difference between regulation of and management of something--especially when there is a functional monopoly. But--one thing you must remember--is that government is simply a tyranny of those who can get away with it: only interested in what won't piss off enough people to keep them from getting elected.