Of Course We Need Profit-Driven Healthcare...The Problem Is Government-Protected Profits

By Chris Rossini

Politics and government are the prime residence of demagoguery and hyperbole. 

The latest episode of demagoguery consists of the argument that the problem with the medical industry is that it is "profit-driven." Such statements should be immediately understood as being absurd, but for many, who have been shielded from understanding what profits actually are, they're not.

What are we supposed to have?

A "loss-driven" medical industry?

That sounds right up the government's alley, doesn't it?

After all, when major corporations fail and should go bankrupt, who steps in to save them, and keep them around? The government!

When wars are lost, and drag on for years, who keeps shoveling money and lives into them? The government!

The government needs to "save face" you know, and the way to "save face" is to just keep doing the wrong thing, over and over again.

The problem with the medical industry is not that it's profit-driven.

Profits are a signal that consumers really want something. It alerts other entrepreneurs to shift their resources to the profitable area, which then drives prices down. An increase in supply leads to a decrease in prices. 

Losses provide the opposite signal to entrepreneurs. Consumers do not want it, so resources should be shifted out to areas where the profits are greater, and where consumer demand is higher.

The problem with the medical industry (as with other industries) is not profits, but government-protected profits.

Government-protected profits hide behind the euphemism known as "government regulations." In other words, the market is not allowed to work, but is instead distorted by government intervention.

Americans are brainwashed into believing that "government-regulations" are necessary, and that they protect the consumers. In reality, "government-regulations" protect the major corporations and artificially raise their profits.

In case you haven't noticed, major corporations welcome "government regulations." Oftentimes, they are the driving force for the creation of more "regulations."

Look at Mark Zuckerberg & Facebook. Do you think he's calling for government regulations because it will hurt his business? NO! Of course not.

Government regulations set up high barriers to entry. They keep competitors out, and squash new competition before they can even begin. Entrepreneurs notice the high profits, but they can't get in to compete. They can't increase the supply and drive prices down. Government regulations prevent them! 

With government regulations, the consumers suffer, and the major corporations get a continuous stream of artificially high profits.

The free market is the toughest regulator imaginable. It plays no favorites. It bails out no one. It can't be bribed, because there is no one to bribe.

That's why major corporations despise the free market. The last thing that they would ever want is for their competition to be on an even playing field. That would spell the end of their government-guaranteed artificially high profits. 

Do you know how many major corporations supported Ron Paul's presidential campaigns? After all, if the corporations were suffering from government regulations, Ron Paul was their way out! He would have freed them!

Guess how many major corporations supported Ron Paul? ------ ZERO!

Major corporations finance the candidates that promise more government regulations, because that's where the artificially high profits come from.

If you have an issue with the medical industry, or any other industry for that matter, there is only one solution.....DEMAND the free market.

No more government intervention.

No more artificially high profits.

No more crutches.

No more bailouts.

The major corporations are betting that you'll do no such thing. And because of that, Ringo Starr's famous quote will continue to ring true:

"Everything government touches turns to crap."