Rick Santorum preaches to America that anything run by the government is bad and the free market should reign without “job killing” regulations.
So according to Mr. Santorum, everything should be operated by for-profit companies, with very little to no oversight. Of course regarding for-profit entities, the cost to consumers is tremendously higher because they operate with the first goal being – making a profit.
Corporations also have executives who expect to be paid luxury compensation packages, and we can’t forget about shareholders who expect to be paid dividends. All this and more is passed on to you the consumer. This is what pushes up the prices of products and services.
The free market is fine for things like entertainment, the clothing industry, etc. But when it comes to things like healthcare, the price ends up being so high that it shuts the door on far too many people.
Prisons are another good example of an entity that should not be operated for-profit, because privatization results in losing the incentive to rehabilitate and release prisoners. If a privately run prison releases a prisoner, that prison loses money.
Getting back to regulation, I do agree that regulation in some industries can be stifling. But let’s recall history when the banks were released from “job killing” regulations over a period of years, starting in the 1980s with President Reagan. Other presidents loosened up the regulations further and look what happened. The banks played a big part in our economy going down the tube. Turns out those regulations were far from job killing, because not having regulations in place resulted in millions of lost jobs. The banks did not collapse because there was too much oversight.
Rick Santorum recently announced that he believes it was the gas prices that collapsed the economy. He also claims that gasoline prices are at historical record high levels… really Rick?
Did Mr. Santorum not own a car during the Bush/Cheney reign? I recall paying over $4.00/gallon. Sure $4/gallon for gas certainly put a strain on America; but the banks, two unpaid wars and tax breaks for the rich that weren’t paid for are all mainly responsible for our economy nearly collapsing.
What about birth control? Santorum believes that employers should have the right to dictate a woman’s health care needs. This speaks volumes for our country desperately needing a single payer system. Such a system will put health care back to the way it should be, between you and your doctor, not some insurance company or employer dictating your needs. But Mr. Santorum screams socialism if – health care for all – is even brought up.
However Mr. Santorum may not be aware that there are different types of socialism, because socialism is well and live in the USA. Our military is a form of socialism, because tax payers financially support our military – that’s socialism.
Our police and fire departments are a form of socialism, again because tax payers fund these operations that keep us safe. Medicare is socialized health care, the only problem with Medicare is it’s beholden to for-profit companies.
Rick Santorum obviously wants to increase oligarchy within our government. An oligarchy is government power that is vested in a few people, compared to the total population. It’s easy to see this when you understand that special interests (corporations with lots of money) pretty much control everything. And politicians are very responsive to special interest money, rather than the voice of the people, because it costs so much to run a re-election campaign. Politicians need special interest money to get re-elected, so they work to please the corporations in order to increase special interest donation funds.
With this in mind, Mr. Santorum’s beliefs may lead to fascism. The dictionary defines fascism as “extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant of others views or practices” Mr. Santorum as well as the other GOP candidates seem to fit well with this definition.
Remember GW Bush and Dick Cheney? Both men were extremely right-wing and operated with authority of my way or the highway. Finally it’s no secret that both men have always been and still are intolerant regarding different views and practices.
Maybe Rick Santorum is the seconding coming of the Bush/Cheney reign? I don’t know about you, but that scares the crap out of me!
