[dirtboy]

Cowperthwaite believed that government should concern itself with only minimal intervention on behalf of the most needy, and should not interfere in business ... statistics for mortality and disease showed steady improvement, and, despite its parsimony, the government maintained an ambitious refugee rehousing programme. Cowperthwaite himself had a Gladstonian sense of obligation towards the least fortunate: he rejected the notion of tax relief on mortgage interest because it would have benefited the better-off and might have prejudiced "our maximum housing effort at the lower end of the scale".

Man, these viewpoints are music to my ears.

Look at our programs to help the "needy". Social Security has become a wealth transfer mechanims from working adults trying to build savings to what is now the wealthiest segment of the population. And I love what he says about tax relief on mortage interest - that in turn tends to polarize the difference between the more well-off and the less well-off. Likewise with our perverse tax policy that health insurance isn't tax if your employer provides it, but you are limited in your tax writeoffs if you have to buy your own insurance or pay for your own medical expenses out of pocket. Those are the kind of perversities you get when government dabbles in the economy, as Cowperthwaite realized.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Sadly, these lessons are never learned, or when partly learned on brief occasions, are soon forgotten.

[okie01]

Those are the kind of perversities you get when government dabbles in the economy, as Cowperthwaite realized.

There is a writer's story...

This writer is lost on the desert, crawling up one sand dune, then down the other side, desperate to find water, any kind of water, to slake his thirst.

He crawls to the top of the next dune, looks over the top and there below him, is an oasis -- palm trees, green grass...and a pool of bright, blue, shimmering, cool water. A whole swimming pool full of it.

He staggers down the dune and across the grass, throwing himself on the tile next to the pool. He cups his hands and begins scooping cold, fresh water into his mouth, bathing his face in its comforting coolness.

When, finally, his thirst is slaked, he looks up. And there, down at the other end of the pool, stands his editor.

As he watches, his editor unzips his britches, wheels it out...and starts peeing in the pool.

Aghast, the writer jumps to his feet, rushes down to the end of the pool and accosts his editor. "What are you doing?", he shouted. "Why are you peeing in this beautiful pool of cool, clear water?"

The editor looked at him, re-stowed his equipment, calmly zipped his pants and, with a sly grin, muttered, "Relax. I'm making it better!"

*************************************

Substitute "government" for "editor" and you've pretty much got it...