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by User23 630 days ago
> As is usually the case, the government will be left holding the bag.

To be fair last-resort bag-holder is one of government’s primary jobs right behind monopolizing violence.

1 comments

Then what the hell are we paying insurance companies for?
There are two reasons, one virtuous and one sinful:

* People hate saving money, money in our hand now must be spent now. Buying High and Selling Low is in our DNA, quite literally. Nobody wants to save a buck a day for a potential externality when they can spend that buck on something right here right now. Mandatory insurance forces people to save a buck (the monthly premium) for the potential externality, forcing people to Buy Low and Sell High.

* People want wealth, some moreso than others. The secret sauce? Being the middleman has the biggest revenue compared to effort. You are literally moving money from Person A to Person C, and you as Person B can take some of it. This is textbook rent seeking.

If you just want a TL;DR, here: People are shit.

The government can do #1 just fine.
You greatly underestimate the sheer effort undertaken by most people to not pay Social Security tax.