Lagniappe - July 2009

National People’s Radio – I’ve been listening to NPR a lot lately, and I realized that they’ve really only got one story. Someone somewhere depends on some government program, and that government program is underfunded. That’s it. That’s the only thing happening in this country on any given day according to NPR. You’d think that, with a $3.5 trillion budget, a $2 trillion deficit, and an $11 trillion national debt, there would be at least one fully-funded federal program out there somewhere, but it seems that no amount of money will ever be enough for the NPR crowd. This attitude is not suprising given the fact that a good chunk of funding for NPR member stations also comes from tax money. “Support for NPR comes from a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust - and from you, the taxpayer, whether you like it or not. This is NPR. National Public Radio.”

Health Insurance vs. Health Care – Has anyone else noticed a shift in the language the media uses to discuss the debate over socialized medicine? I wrote about Obama’s plans for a government health insurance program last month. On more than one occasion since then, I’ve heard news stories refer to people who don’t have health insurance as “living without health care.” These are two very different things. One may be without health insurance and still be able to get health care – if one is willing and able to pay for it out of pocket, or if charity provides for it. (And once President Obama has his way, we’ll just all pick each other’s pockets to cover the cost). A sloppy use of language by the popular media can certainly color the debate in Washington - to the degree that there is a debate in Washington over socialized medicine. “We have to spend a trillion dollars on a government health insurance plan!” “A trillion dollars? Are you crazy? We shoudn’t spend a penny over $900 billion!”

Venezuela – Hugo Chavez continues his efforts to see just how bad he can make things in Venezuela. Oil workers have been told that they have to be socialists if they don’t want to be suspected of “conspiring against the government.” Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of a television station critical of the Chavez regime, faces a charge of “usury” stemming from a Toyota dealership he also owns, and has been told that he cannot leave the country. And Venezuelan newspapers can’t get the hard currency they need to buy newsprint. (The Venezuelan government maintains a currency control mechanism known as CADIVI, which it has used to prevent certain politically disfavored companies from importing needed raw materials and finished goods).

The newsprint story from Venezuela reminds me of something Murray Rothbard wrote over thirty years ago in his book, For A New Liberty. “Take, for example, the liberal socialist who advocates government ownership of all the ‘means of production’ while upholding the ‘human’ right of freedom of speech or press. How is this ‘human’ right to be exercised if the individuals constituting the public are denied their right to ownership of property? If, for example, the government owns all the newsprint and all the printing shops, how is the right to a free press to be exercised?”