You Are The ‘World’
11th January 2015
In the United States failure appears to be a profit opportunity. Several American friends have unaccountably offered me exactly the same piece of sage advice. ”Richard, never trust anyone who hasn’t failed.” In their view anyone who hasn’t been flat broke at least once in his life has some kind of character defect. One acquaintance wistfully recalled the time he lost his fortune and had to live out of his car, and how that motivated him to even greater wealth. Maybe his last conscious thoughts when the time comes to cross the river will not be of the yacht anchored off the Riviera, or of starlit nights and steel guitars in Rio, but fond memories of a shower and shave at the CITGO rest room.
The downside to this laudable impulse to self-help is that very few American politicians are ever punished for their blunders. The population apparently finds it easier to adapt. It is easier to invent a new industry than start a political movement.
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Megan McArdle notes the reason Vermont gave up on Single Payer was it would cost as much as everything the State was now spending. The problem isn’t how to divvy up the bill. The problem is the bill. Nobody can make the unaffordable affordable any more than guys at a clip joint can pay for the bottle service when the dollars in their pocket come up short. Asking the waiter for single or separate bills is irrelevant. The reason health care is so expensive is it already consists of a mass of workarounds.