Breaking: McArdle McTarded

Megan McArdle begins "Why I oppose national healthcare" with a moderately funny, self-deprecating intro. Good for her. Then it goes downhill.

I know, most of you have already figured out why I oppose national health care. In a nutshell, I hate the poor and want them to die so that all my rich friends can use their bodies as mulch for their diamond ranches. But y'all keep asking, so here goes the longer explanation.

Basically, for me, it all boils down to public choice theory. Once we've got (sic) a comprehensive national health care plan, what are the government's incentives? I think they're bad, for the same reason the TSA is bad. I'm afraid that instead of Security Theater, we'll get Health Care Theater, where the government goes to elaborate lengths to convince us that we're getting the best possible health care, without actually providing it.

That's not just verbal theatrics. Agencies like Britain's NICE are a case in point. As long as people don't know that there are cancer treatments they're not getting, they're happy. Once they find out, satisfaction plunges.

This might be a little too parochial to be of interest to readers but economists and political scientists tend not to get along. In an effort to heal the divide we devised Public Choice Theory, which manages to combine the worst parts of both disciplines into one useless theory...which Megan McArdle doesn't even understand, from the looks of it.