I’ve always been of the opinion that often the primary outcome of government regulation is to stifle competition. Here’s another case that proves the point, brought to us by TechDirt.
Some new taxi cab services sprung up awhile back in Tampa, Florida. They use electric vehicles and don’t charge for the rides. The cabs are wrapped in ads and they only accept tips. The transportation commission licenses (and limits) vehicles for hire but there rides were free so they escaped regulation. Naturally the taxi drivers for hire didn’t like the competition.
But that’s all changed since the transportation commission recently ruled that the free cabs are actually for hire. So they need licenses. Except, but the way, there aren’t any available. So a new, seemingly well liked, transportation system has been shut down due to artificial limits set by government regulation. Luckily, Hillsborough county seems to be alone with it’s roots in the last century and other nearby counties are accepting the electric cabs.
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Raising Taxes = Cutting Costs
I was reading a NY Times article about how lobbyists are fighting the “last big plans to cut healthcare costs” and noticed that one of those “big plans to cut healthcare costs” is actually a tax hike.
The white house budget director referred to this tax when he said:
They call it a tax on “gold-plated insurance plans as if only CEO’s get them. What gets conveniently overlooked is that some companies, such as Zappos, provide excellent health care to all their workers and would be considered “gold-plated”. Some of the labor unions have also negotiated “gold-plated” plans. Although some would prefer to simply exclude those plans from the tax. After all, labor is the democratic base.
Naturally the healthcare and insurance industries don’t mind since it will give them money. What they opposed were the provisions that would allow Medicare to negotiate pricing on prescriptions.
Only in Washington could a tax we pay be considered “cost containment”. If you feel the tax is a good idea at least call it what it is. This is what sends me over the edge in the healthcare “debate”. The politicians talk about controlling costs as if they are trying to lower them. What they really mean is they want to control who pays.