With Sept 11 coming up...

[Alex]

Well, on road and utilities the profit motive is maintained, the government just pays for it to mediocre results. And if you don't think anybody derided the interstate system as socialist, that's because you weren't there when it was being debated. I do think the FDA should be abolished as a federal agency, or if it exists should only be an advisory organization like the Consumers Union. And I have no idea how good the federal government would be at running a utility, it never has.

There are a lot of people who only do research because they want to help people. But I would guess there are a lot more people who do research because they want to help people, it pays reasonably well, and there is a chance for a huge jackpot. Most people pick professions based on financial reward. Government service hardly ever offers much financial reward.

I'm not necessarily opposed to nationalizing healthcare, but if you do you have to nationalize the whole thing and live with the fact that innovation will go down. Nationalized industries are just a form of monopoly and you can't expect them to operate much differently than any other monopoly (bloat, inefficiency, poor service, disinterest in innovation).

And you think health care is politicized now, just imagine what it would be like when politicians actually run the entire system and senators are the ones debating how large a dose of medicine X should be covered and for what purposes.

Also, I would argue that much of the reason for the spiralling cost of health care is because most Americans are way overinsured (because government regulation has, proabably irrepairably, broken the health care marketplace) which makes it almost impossible for the ones that aren't insured at all.