Flyover Country

Newton’s Third Law of Motion is, to paraphrase, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This law of physics also applies to actions made by organizations, either public or private and is commonly referred to as the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see this Law in motion when I was flying across the country. My trip consisted of two flights with a short lay over in between. As you probably know, most airlines have started to charge for checked baggage on flights. I can understand how initially this makes sense from a business perspective. The initial price of the ticket is fairly low, but then you can tack on other fees for baggage, not to mention other ‘extras’ that used to be free like meals, snacks, drinks, pillows, etc., and then you have effectively raised the price of the ticket while keeping the perception of lower prices.

During preboarding of both of my flights, announcements were made begging passengers to please check in baggage at the gate for no charge because there wasn’t room for the carry-on luggage for all of the passengers. One flight was actually held up while the flight attendants arranged the overhead bins to fit as much in as possible.

This got me thinking about how the government seems to be surprised by the unintended consequences of its actions. Take the news that several major corporations took a hit on their
books for perceived future losses from the passing of the healthcare bill, for example. Members of the current administration seemed shocked by this news as if the projected increase in costs occur in a vacuum.

Or, take the current oil situation in the gulf. (As a side note, I refuse to call it a ’spill’. What part of what happened even comes close to resembling a spill? Maybe ‘oil leak’ is better?) There are those who condemn BP, and with good reason, and there are those who want to blame various other organizations some for political gain and some for other reasons both good and not so good. One group often overlooked includes environmentalists. Ironically, by pushing the offshore drilling so far out into deep waters, they have unintentionally contributed to the mess we have today.

When you see a bill passed, a new policy enacted, or an organization make a change, do what most people fail to do and consider what the unintended consequences could be before you decide where you stand on the issue.

Would you give up your home to live in public housing?

I’m assuming, of course, that you don’t now live in public housing.  If you do, let me turn the question around.  Would you prefer to stay in public housing or own your own home?

Myself, I’ve never lived in any sort of government provided housing.  At least I don’t think I have.  My family certainly was not wealthy when I was growing up.  I’m sure we would not have been considered middle class, but I’m digressing here and getting off the point..

I have been around public housing.  I worked at a landscaping company in Dallas, TX and some of the work we did was at public housing facilities.  Let me tell you, most of them were scary places.  My dad (who owned part of the company) still makes fun of my reaction to being at some of those places.

I’ve also known people who have lived in subsidized housing, that is government doesn’t provide everything but just makes up the difference between what the tenant can pay in rent and what the landlord wants (or actually what the government says the landlord deserves.)  I’ve also known property owners who provide such housing.  Some owners I’ve known LOVES to provide the subsidize housing because they don’t have to maintain their property at a very high level because where else are the tenants going to go?  Now, the ethics of that aside, that is part of the problem with abandoning a free market economy in any industry.  See, property owners who rent property to the general public must provide a certain quality of dwelling or those general public people won’t rent the property, or at least won’t rent the property for a decent amount of money.  By providing tenants and a guaranteed amount of rent, the owners have no incentive to keep their property properly maintained, and vice versa. the renters have less of an incentive to maintain the property.

So.. here’s some Flyover Country homework for you.  Drive by some public housing this week.  No matter where you live it is there.  If you don’t know where it is, call your local HUD office and ask them where to find it.  Drive by and take a hard look at it.  Find more than one if you can.

The next step in our homework is to contrast and compare your current housing arrangements with what you see.  (Again, think in reverse if you currently live in public housing.  Compare with your desired housing arrangements.)  What is the quality differences between the two?  What are the visual differences?  Which looks safer to you?  What is the neighborhood like?  What are the schools like?

Now, having looked at public housing in person, are you SURE you want public health care?

Let’s not let the best health care system in the world turn into the equivalent of public housing!

One thing they probably didn’t think of:

Now that there’s a pandemic, the public will be leary of using mass transportation.  Who wants to ride in a train/bus/subway packed in like sardines when there’s the danger of the swine flu?

It took a catastrophy to nationalize the auto industry and the banks.  Next in line is national health care.  A crisis is needed to help push it along.

From the Syndey Morning Herald:

A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world.

Vivienne Allan, from WHO’s patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths – all in Mexico – and 79 confirmed cases of the disease.

I don’t understand this at all, but maybe I’m missing something.  Would some either comment or email me and let me know what I’m not getting here?  According to the CDC, approximately 36,000 people in the US die from the flu every year in the US.  7 confirmed dead from this swine flu and the world is in a tizzy.  Until someone explains this to me in a way that even those of us in Fly Over Country can understand, I can only assume that there’s some other reason the media is reporting this so heavily; such as the desire for nationalize health care.

Anyone want to clue me in?