by Walter Grace

Created on: January 08, 2009

There are many opinions concerning the role of government in energy and heath care and their relevance in a global economy. While there are those that believe the government can take better charge of the situation, all one has to do is evaluate the past performance to predict future results. Right now, there is a program near and dear to the heart of every U.S. citizen called Social Security and Medicare. While these are solvent at the current time, there is a valid concern they will run out of money in the near future. Another government run program concerns roads and bridges all across the country. We've all heard about the bridge in Minnesota that collapsed due to being deficient. The roads in my home state, Michigan, are deplorable and have cost me personally over $800 this year in car repairs. Many other states, though not as dire, are also critical.

Another program that government has tried to take charge of is the school system. While there are many children that can and do succeed, there are many more that have trouble reading and writing because of methods that don't work. The cost per pupil in Michigan is over $9,000 and rising. Detroit schools spend about $13,000 a student, which is what I spend for year at a private, accredited university. Others spend much more and there is very little praise for government schools except in the rural areas.

Government has also taken it upon itself to be in charge of the banking and financial system of this country. Lo and behold, we have pumped nearly a trillion dollars into the banking system, against the will of the people and the credit crisis is still deepening. The DOW has also lost ground nearly every day since this fiasco began.

The idea of past performance is the way banks rate consumers, investors rate firms, school rate potential students and employers rate potential employees. The government has had a few successes, but these are again, few and far between. This writer would like to say that government can fix everything and make us competitive with the rest of the world. However, this is not government's job. Every other nation that has tried nationalizing heath care has ended up bankrupting hospitals, discouraging health care professionals and inflicting harm on patients by rationing care. Energy nationalization does not work either, with the nations practicing it being responsible for unbearable price increases and causing war without end.

Private industry is in a better position to provide health care and energy independence to the United States and to make the idea of competing irrelevant. While there needs to be oversight; government has even failed at that. Again, past performance is the best way of evaluating future results.

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