Posted by
Andrews on Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:30:14 PM
I was speaking with my wife today about my time working at Social Services and the cases for which I felt real sympathy, especially those who had real problems and yet did not know how to game the system, and often walked away with no aid. In the course of our discussion she asked me if I really believed that private charity could adequately provide for people if the government did not.
This pointed out one part of many free market arguments that is made very inadequately by most small government proponents. Right now, between state, federal and local taxes, the average citizen is losing 50% or more of his income. If you figure in the cost increases in good caused by taxes on producers, raw materials, wages and so on, probably even more than 60%. In addition there are the other hidden costs of government, the tariffs, the lost improvements caused by government regulations or just government use of wealth that could go to private ventures. The loss of buying power due to inflation. And the list goes on.
However, if we just consider taxes, think of it this way. Probably 90% of government expenditures are illegitimate. Even in the military huge amounts of money are spent on political rather than military functions and otherwise wasted in ways not related to the legitimate functions of the military*. But let us imagine that I am overestimating, and only 60% of the government's expenses would vanish in a minimal government. That would still mean we would see, for those of us paying taxes, a 60% increase in our incomes.
As many of us give to charity now, either formally through charities or informally by helping out friends, family or strangers, with only half or less of our income, what would we do if that income rose by 60% or more? Especially if we knew there was no government safety net any longer? Don't you think most of us would give even more? Even if we did not give to charities, I think the knowledge that the government would not be picking up the tab, combined with a huge rise in income would inspire most people to help out their friends and family in times of need.
And that is why I think it is safe to say charity could and would pick up the slack were government to no longer extort huge sums to provide an inadequate, intrusive and inefficient medical system.
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* I doubt even the most ardent military booster could argue there is no fat to trim from the military. Clinton did cut the military, and did so in a way that harmed readiness. However, he also left huge parts untouched, and many of those are areas where cuts could be made without harming our nation's readiness. In addition to simple waste, many other areas could result in pretty significant savings. For example, ending our missions in the Balkans, withdrawing many of our troops from unnecessary European bases, and putting an end to other military operations which have outlived their necessity. I am not a Ron Paul type who thinks we should have no overseas bases or involve ourselves in foreign affairs, but much of our cold war era infrastructure is no longer needed and could be safely eliminated or scaled back. We need to maintain a presence in the world, but we can clearly streamline it. However that is the topic for another, much longer post. (And probably, at least in terms of some details, for people both better informed and brighter than I am.)
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POSTSCRIPT
For those following the drama of my physical complaints, no I am feeling no better. But I am a compulsive poster, so after a number of hours I could not help myself and had to write. I almost wrote a few hours ago, analyzing two articles (
here and
here) about the events in Honduras and my thoughts on them, but I put that off until tomorrow. However, I was unable to resist forever. And so, despite the pain it caused, I had to write something.
However, my pain is still quite bad, so I doubt I will be writing again tonight. No matter how obsessive I may be, there is a limit, and I think I reached it now. So, though I hate to say so, I think it will be tomorrow before I write again or respond to comments.