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Idiotic Governance: How Our Political Discourse Hurts Our Economy

2012-04-03 · John · watch on YouTube · US politics & society · news analysis

John argues, through FAA funding, the highway bill and Medicare, that US political discourse rewards disagreement over sensible compromise, producing costly, inefficient policy; he also laments that the US keeps the penny after Canada dropped it.

What is said

00:00:03 — Canada drops its penny, the US keeps its own; three examples of how political discourse leads to bad policy

  • ★★ John says Canada recently decided to discontinue its penny because it doesn't facilitate commerce and costs 1.5 Canadian cents to make. — 00:00:03 · Canada
  • ★★ John sarcastically notes the US keeps its pennies although they also don't facilitate commerce and cost 2.1 cents to make. (playful) — 00:00:10 · United States
  • ★★ John says he hates pennies, repeating it at the end of the video. (playful) — 00:00:17 > «God I hate pennies!»
  • ★★★ Calling the penny a minor inefficiency, John sets out three bigger examples of how terrible political discourse is leading to awful policymaking. — 00:00:18

00:00:30 — FAA funding: 23 short-term extensions, the summer lapse that let airlines keep the tax, a billion dollars lost

  • ★★ John says the FAA, responsible for air traffic control and safety inspections, is mostly funded by a tax on airplane tickets, which he is happy to pay. — 00:00:30
  • ★★★ John says the last five years have seen 23 short-term extensions of the FAA ticket tax, mostly because Congress fights about unions, which helps members raise money. — 00:00:47 · United States Congress
  • ★★ John says each short-term extension hurts the economy, because projects like a new air traffic control tower are cheaper on a long-term contract, as phones are on two-year contracts. — 00:00:56
  • ★★★ John says Congress let the FAA's funding lapse over the summer, so the ticket tax could not be collected, and airlines raised prices by the exact amount of the tax, keeping the money. — 00:01:12 · United States Congress
  • ★★★ John says Congress finally passed a long-term FAA budget in February, but by then the dispute had probably cost a billion dollars. (hedged) — 00:01:42 · United States Congress

00:01:48 — Highway bill: short-term extensions because Tea Party Republicans oppose big numbers; not a pinko communist

  • ★★★ John says highway funding also runs on inefficient short-term extensions, though no one is fighting about unions, even as everyone agrees long-term deals are cheaper. — 00:01:49
  • ★★★ John says long-term highway deals fail because they involve big numbers: Tea Party-backed Republicans oppose big spending, so rather than, say, one $250 billion bill, Congress votes for ten $30 billion bills. — 00:02:05 · Republican Party
  • ★★ John says many conservative Nerdfighters probably now think he is a big pinko communist, but he is not. (playful) — 00:02:22 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:26 — Medicare: unsustainable costs, Democrats refuse Republican reforms, low-spending states get the best outcomes

  • ★★★ John says everyone agrees Medicare, a popular program giving health care to old people, is unsustainable: by 2020 it could account for 5% of GDP. (hedged) — 00:02:34
  • ★★★ John says Republicans have proposed interesting Medicare reforms, but Democrats refuse them as cutting seniors' care, since seniors tend to vote for Democrats. — 00:02:41 · Republican Party
  • ★★★ John says the states that spend the least per Medicare patient get the best health outcomes, largely through boring things like preventive medicine and hand-washing. — 00:03:03

00:03:15 — Conclusion: disagreement for its own sake beats compromise; pennies; a turtle; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says the data could be used to reform Medicare and control costs, but politicians will keep disagreeing for its own sake, because yelling is worth more political points than sensible compromise. — 00:03:15
  • ★★ John concludes the government will keep inhibiting economic growth while also minting pennies. (playful) — 00:03:25

Humor (significant)

  • John explains why, like most frequent fliers, he is happy to pay the FAA ticket tax. — 00:00:39 > «my favourite kind of air traffic is controlled air traffic, and my favourite kind of landing is not crash.»
  • Airlines kept the lapsed FAA tax by raising prices the exact amount. — 00:01:31 > «I am a giant squid of anger!»
  • John introduces Medicare as a fantastic and very popular government program. — 00:02:26 > «in which we give medics air.»
  • John voices the view that spending more on seniors makes them healthier and happier. — 00:02:58 > «And we all want that, because when they're not happy they're very cranky.»

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