It is fair to say the events of this month with government intervention into the financial markets, including the effective socialization of three corporations and the public assumption of nearly a trillion (so far) in toxic debt, will not soon be forgotten. Deregulation, either by direct change in laws or through lax oversight by public officials, is demonstrating its unsuitability for public policy. Misguided or greedy agents can wreck havoc. They will wreck severe havoc. Sooner or later their myopia or avarice infect the public well with the excreta of their dealings.
Yet this very month the American Academy of Actuaries magazine Contingencies has a feature article, Better Care at Lower Cost for Every American, by presidential candidate John McCain urging the same treatment for our health care system. In the article Senator McCain states:
Innovative products? Worst excesses of regulation? What burden has regulation imposed that can compare to the devastation wrought by the unregulated financial markets?
This fall Americans will choose a new president and get the government they deserve.
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