You and I agree on corporate welfare. I suspect you saw it big time firsthand, in the military. What percentage of the military budget is for shiny expensive weapons systems that just make a fatcat donor (to both parties) wealthy, vs. what’s more useful to defend the country (IMHO, boots on the ground or on deck, well paid and taken care of). Our defense budget is more than all our enemies combined, and pays for things like ICBM missile defense that doesn’t actually defend us.

And we agree on infrastructure spending. Note, however, that railroads pay for their own track maintenance, but other transportation (roads, airports, ports) are paid for by the public. Thus fewer railroads, which are more fuel efficient than trucks or planes.

I’m certain that ADM would make a profit if we stopped subsidizing them. Food would get only a little more expensive. But our food system is whacked, too. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I’m sure you’d love it.

Regarding medical insurance, our current system is about the worst you could conjure up, providing LESS coverage for MORE money than any other big democracy system out there. Now I generally agree that this isn’t a normal governmental duty, but its becoming a national crisis, AND WE DON’T WANT SICK PEOPLE WALKING AROUND UNCARED FOR. That’s what’s happening now — people who can’t afford insurance walking around spreading diseases. Unfortunately, self-insurance doesn’t work well, either (putting money back in the hands of patients). No one has the cash to pay for a heart operation on hand. You need an insurance pool. HSAs are an insurance pool. You just have to figure out who underwrites the insurance: the insurance companies, who pull out 20% for profit, or the govt, who pulls out about 0.5% for expenses, if you use the VA health system as an example.

Although welfare is a small part of what I’m talking about, the larger discussion is about things like corporate welfare. What would happen to Con Agra and ADM for example if the agricultural subsidies were taken away? Would the nation starve? Or would all of us rugged individual’s devise some clever way to keep on eating? I’m betting that we would figure out how to keep eating, and that our food supply would probably be better off for it.

Our Government should be limited in scope. Defense is an area where the budget should be big, but the use small. Iraq is a bad fight for us as an example. The budget for building and maintaining our infra structure should be big. Bridges, roads, railroads, reservoirs, and similar projects are vital to our ability to prosper as a nation.

Affordable medical insurance is important. Should the government be in the medical insurance business? I don’t believe so. Typically the government, any government will mismanage its programs. Do we really want the government running our health care? One of the contributing factors to the high cost of health care is the insurance companies. Patients buy insurance or have it provided, and when they go see the Doctor they don’t have to worry about paying the bill. Who determines what the price of the care should be? The insurance companies don’t quibble over prices the way a struggling housewife in Thailand haggles over the price of a chicken so the Doctors, hospitals, and HMO’s tend to charge more. Put payment back into the hands of the patients and patients will learn how to negotiate for a better bargain.

Towards this end I hear a lot of good things about HSA’s. Health Savings Accounts. Typically a family with an HSA has a $5000 deductible. They’ll pay for any services under $5000, and the HSA pays for everything over.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Let the discussions continue.

Also, note that it was Lincoln who changed the nature of the federal budget: before the civil war, it really was limited. During the war, the pigs sidled up to the trough, and it’s never been the same since then.