Mark Levin interviewed U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) about A Roadmap for America’s Future:
In May, Representative Ryan outlined his plan in the Wall Street Journal:
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the rest of government will consume nearly 40% of the economy by the time my three young children reach my age (38). This will require more than doubling the average tax burden of the past 40 years just to keep the government afloat. Continuing down this path will eventually strangle our economy.
To meet this challenge and secure our fiscal future, I’m introducing a comprehensive legislative plan called “A Roadmap for America’s Future.” Here are its components:
The longer we delay shifting entitlement programs to the private sector, the more painful that transition will be on America’s children.
Hannity looks nicer in person
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Getting the Federal, State and Local government out of the entitlement business cold turkey is impossible. That said all effort should still be made to shift responsibility for SS and medical care to individuals, as quickly as possible, and in so doing engage people to pick up and control their own costs and destiny to the greatest extent possible.
Human beings survive best when pursuing their own self-interest. You can call it selfishness or greed, or by any other description, but the negative terminology cannot obscure the basic reality that self-interest, no matter what nomenclature is used to debase such motivation, is not a bad thing and is in fact far more virtuous, based upon the intentions that God or Nature had in mind, than the socialism that government implements as a substitute. Individuals engaged in seeking what is good for themselves and their families only becomes a flaw when a government tries to justify redistribution through its’ flawed concept of compassion and equity. In other words self-interest can be a two edged sword.
When people pay their own bills they seek the greatest value and are concerned about costs and what they are getting for what they spend. They do not waste money, or the products that they purchase, because that represents their time, effort and property. As a result efficiency is maximized and competition, in order to succeed, must work hard to provide a better service or product for less. Value is maximized and expenditures are minimized.
Now consider when something is considered to be free and how that same self-interest takes a different turn and achieves the very opposite effect it was originally intended to achieve, by the laws of God and Nature. Under such circumstances there is no interest to reduce cost or waste since the outcome does not immediately affect the individual.
A friend of mine is renting a rather expensive apartment and always paid for her own electric bill. The apartment complex then decided that the electric expense would be collectivized and each apartment would pay a pro-rated share. The bill has more than doubled; no surprise because there now isn’t any incentive to turn off lights or to raise the air conditioning thermostat since it is assumed that others will not do so either and everyone wants to get what they perceive as their free share and a bit more. Similarly I recently ordered lunch for a co-worker and myself. Other office staff ordered from the same restaurant and when the food arrived I found it unimaginable that the number of people present could possibly eat all of what was ordered. It was then that I learned that a pharmaceutical company was picking up the bill for this particular luncheon. In effect people ordered more than they needed because it wasn’t their money and each person felt that they were entitled to as much as their co-worker ordered and then some.
If the government provided free food people would never need refrigerators because there would be no need to save leftovers when you could just get more for nothing. If they could they would all also order lobster and fillet mignon. If gasoline was provided for free what effort would be made to conserve its’ use?
Needless to say self-interest is virtuous only when individuals are responsible for their own destiny. They need not make excuses for such behavior and need not feel guilty because they are not confiscating the liberty and freedom of anyone else. On the other hand when that same self-interest is exercised, within the context of socialism, waste is increased, efficiency is reduced and the liberty and freedom (property, labor and time) of some is sacrificed (stolen) and used by others. Socialized medicine is doomed for lots of reasons but the most obvious and pernicious is that there cannot be enough of a supply considering the enormous demand when it is perceived to be free. Hence the quality must go down, the services available will be reduced and the reminder to be distributed must be rationed.