Rats

One of the major, if not most major, themes of this endeavor is externalities. Microeconomists, the Rand-ians to make a label, studiously ignore the issue, since it messes up their "freedom" meme. But, the fact remains, that the more laissez faire the government, the easier it is for actors to avoid paying for their evil.

In economists' jargon, an externality is a cost (though, rarely, a benefit) imposed on others for one's decisions. Class action lawsuits are one mechanism most often cited as a barrier to unrepentant externalities. Air and water pollution are likely the best known externalities, although most mainstream press doesn't often get that explicit.

So, Yahoo! News offered up this morsel today. The people of Florida have been paying, in many ways, for the evil shit who (intentionally?) loosed these critters. That's a real externality.

The same can be said of Obamacare. Huh? It works this way. Insurance, as defined in the economics profession, is shared risk. Insurance companies have been subverting that for decades, being permitted to segregate identifiable groups with differing premiums. Pre-existing conditions is one such. By doing so, coverage is no longer insurance, but pre-paid consumption. The externality here is that, without a mandate to cover, people will not buy until they think they'll get sick. Thus, to the extent America bothers to do so, more people get "coverage" through minimalist government programs, while the 1% pay little for Cadillac health care. Those who need coverage can no longer afford the distorted premium, since all the healthy folks have opted out or been pooled into a tightly moated group.

The 1% really are evil.