Due to its poor writing and the chaos it is creating as it is implemented, the Obamacare Act has come under fire in recent months. It has been a complete failure in terms of finances, operations, logic, etc. It really is deserving of the title of worst federal law ever passed. However, a recent essay in the Independent Journal Review served as a reminder that, despite the fact that Obamacare is the worst piece of legislation ever, the federal government has a rather remarkable (albeit unfavorable) record of 13 other significant pieces of legislation that have failed. The American taxpayers paid billions of dollars for all of these failures, but they never came close to fixing the issues that prompted the passing of new legislation. Legislation intended to address issues has often ended up making them worse. The analysis and information from the first 14 unsuccessful pieces of legislation came from the original independent journal review. Having completed the first 14, we were too sad to continue, so we added a couple of our own to this shameful list. 1) Prohibition: the United States was formally declared dry for 14 years, but in reality, it wasn’t; instead, the black market, crime, the mafia, and extreme violence all thrived. It was ultimately abolished in 1933 after being introduced in 1919. but not before a great deal of public money was lost, a permanent underworld of organized crime was created, several government agencies and police units were tainted by the riches of bootleggers, and many unnecessary deaths occurred. and we arrived back at our starting point in 1919. 2) No kid left behind: government funding for schools more than quadrupled under President George W. Bush’s education policy.and test results for students remained unchanged. We continue to fall behind much of the developed world. Despite spending significantly more per student than any other country in the world, we typically place between 20th and 30th in terms of education efficacy on the majority of standardized international student assessments. But before the federal government flooded local schools with funding, rules, and restrictions, we were at the top of the list when it came to providing the best education for our children. We continue to provide the government department of education tens of billions of dollars year in spite of its appalling performance. 3. Medicare: At the time of its inception in 1965, it was projected to cost $9 billion annually by 1990. But by 1990, the yearly expense had risen to $67 billion. exceeded the prediction by a little margin, say by more than a factor of seven! The yearly expenditure for Medicare in 2013 was $390 billion. And even though we spent more than 40 times what the country paid in 1965, are we really that much healthier now than we were fifty years ago? The nation’s GDP in 2012 was less than four times larger than its GDP in 1965, when adjusted for inflation. Medicare spending have increased 40 times while the size of the economy has increased by less than four times. There has been a serious mishap. It goes without saying that this program is rapidly heading into financial collapse and that the broken Washington political elite has no plans to turn things around. Medicare and Medicaid are the same, shameful arrangement. The current estimate is $211 billion, or more than two thousand times the initial cost of $100 million. It goes without saying that this program is rapidly heading into financial collapse and that the broken Washington political elite has no plans to turn things around. 5) Immigration reform: Since President Reagan took office, the number of undocumented immigrants entering the US has more than quadrupled. Whether immigration should be increased or decreased, it is obvious that the federal government lacks expertise in border security. Israel has fortified its borders, putting an end to the numerous terrorist assaults that occur there. It is possible, but the political elite in Washington will not allow it to happen. 6) The war on drugs: since Nixon, millions of Americans have been imprisoned and over $1 trillion has been spent on very little drug offenses. Among our government’s most egregious mistakes is this one. Additionally, our failed war on drugs has given rise to large-scale, violent, well-financed, and effective drug cartels in Mexico and elsewhere, cartels that pose a threat to legitimate governments as well as dishonest law enforcement, judges, and government officials across the globe, much like the establishment of a permanent domestic organized crime underworld during prohibition. 7) Farm subsidy: compensating farmers for not cultivating crops? and sometimes we don’t even pay actual farmers. The week magazine’s August 16, 2013 issue noted that the way farm subsidies are structured in this country allowed millionaires like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Ted Turner, Jimmy Carter, several Rockefellers, and other millionaire non-farmers to amass taxpayer wealth in the past. insane. 8) Ethanol: The federal government has provided the ethanol business with about $45 billion in public funds over the last 30 years. The first idea was to rescue the environment by substituting ethanol for oil in the petrol tanks of vehicles and trucks. issue? It is ineffective, increases the price of maize and increases pollution in several other ways, making food more expensive for the world’s poor. brilliant. 9) Green jobs: President Obama made a major effort to establish the green economy as soon as he was elected. I believe that as of the latest count, the government had given about $40 billion to dozens of green companies, many of which were owned by individuals who had contributed significantly to Obama’s political campaigns. final outcome of this favoritism? About $40 billion was distributed with almost no return to society and a dismal legacy of near-defunct or bankrupt businesses like Solyndra, Spectra, Evergreen, A123, and most likely dozens more. 10) Outlawing DDT: The chemical that prevented malaria, which prevented 500 million deaths in Africa, was outlawed in 1970 on the grounds that it may harm birds. Since then, many studies have shown that ddt may be a highly effective, environmentally benign insecticide that might have prevented millions of deaths if applied carefully and wisely. But the slaughter continues unabated because the US and other Western countries won’t acknowledge they were wrong. 11) The war on terror: Since President Bush launched it, many billions of dollars have been spent in an effort to fortify our borders and combat terrorism. We have caused enormous financial losses, severe injuries and fatalities to our military troops, and hundreds of thousands of deaths among civilians by invading and upsetting other nations. With a presidential government and a federal security infrastructure that gathers and retains almost all of our electronic communications, we have destroyed the fourth amendment. We have been shown to conduct massive surveillance on other nations, including friends and enemies, in addition to spying on ourselves. This harms our reputation and relationships abroad. The amount of money the federal government spends on counterterrorism efforts has increased dramatically, but we are still not much safer from terrorist attacks than we were a few years ago. Consider the successful bombings of the Boston Marathon, the Fort Hood mass shooting, the underwear bomber that failed (due to a malfunctioning detonator), the Times Square bomber that failed (due to a malfunctioning detonator once more), and the successful terror attack at Benghazi. 12) The assault weapons ban: Since the ban’s expiration in 2006, fewer people have died from firearms, whether or not they are assault weapons. Say enough. 13. Social Security: Social Security was a 1% income tax when it was first implemented in 1935. It is now above 6% and still rising. As America aged over the next 75 years, social security will collapse. This government program is also on the verge of financial collapse, and the broken Washington political elite has no plans to turn things around. 14) Obamacare: President Obama promised Americans the Affordable Care Act would not cost more than $1 trillion when he first introduced it. According to the most recent estimate, the initiative will cost three times as much. In addition to these depressing financial forecasts, take a look at the other many issues with Obamacare that are mentioned in the two links above. a very pitiful history throughout the many years of unsuccessful federal government initiatives. schemes that establish gangs and cartels of organized crime on a long-term basis. plans that fall far short of the initial financial estimates. initiatives that exacerbate already-existing issues. However, I believe that although being good, the independent journal review study omitted a couple more significant disasters: 15. Head Start: Two comprehensive, significant research studies created and released by the Obama administration have discovered that, almost fifty years after the program’s inception, children who participate in it are not any smarter, wiser, or better off than those who do not. In fact, according to one study, early start actually makes things worse for certain children in some places. It seems that for over fifty years, we weren’t doing anything to give our children a head start—rather, we were merely utilizing public funds to fund a nationwide babysitting business. 16) National energy strategy: Forty years after the oil shocks of the 1970s, we still haven’t come close to developing a smart, workable, and cohesive national energy plan that maximizes environmental protection while minimizing energy costs. The price of gas has almost doubled from where it was just four years ago. Since we still import a large portion of our oil to meet our energy demands, we are susceptible to developments in world politics. The Department of Energy costs us tens of billions of dollars year with nothing to show for it in the way of significant advances in energy research or benefits to society. 17) Budget management: The US government’s debt is quickly getting close to an astounding $17 trillion. This results in an approximate $54,000 debt load for each adult and kid in America. Therefore, only to pay for their portion of the national debt, a family of four would have to spend more than $200,000. terrible money management abilities. 18) Foreign policy: According to Ramsey Clark, U.S. foreign policy has been the biggest crime since World War II. He may have been correct. We have assisted in the overthrow of legitimate governments (such as the Shah of Iran and Mubarak of Egypt), we have likely participated in more wars and military operations than any other nation on Earth (such as the Korean War, Vietnam, Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq/Twice, Afghanistan, and so on), we use drones to launch missiles into numerous countries (such as Yemen and Pakistan) in an attempt to kill terrorists but frequently end up killing civilians, and we have supported oppressive tyrants who pose as amiable to our needs and wealth (e.g., the Shah of Iran, Mubarak of Egypt), we failed to recognize the arab spring until it was well under way, and we have stationed armed forces all over the world. everything to get us to the precarious and unstable situation we are in now in relation to the rest of the globe. Regardless of whether political elite has control of Congress or the White House, similar catastrophes have occurred. Not just one or two presidents or a few senators, but eighteen failures of the Washington political establishment are at fault here. This is a systemic risk of failure across the board. In our book love my country, loathe our government, we offered numerous solutions to these issues, ranging from reforming congressional district gerrymandering to campaign finance to taking a completely new, innovative approach to many of our pressing issues (lost war on drugs, high health care costs, failing public education, etc.). But if we are to find genuine answers to genuine issues, the most crucial thing we can do is to give all Washington officials time limitations. While several of these mishaps and failed initiatives occurred across decades, many of the current members of Congress held office throughout that period and are accountable for all 18 of these mishaps. Term limits must be used to force them out of office so that fresh minds and new ideas may take their place and replace the outdated, inefficient methods of doing things. How much worse could it be, considering the eighteen significant failures and catastrophes mentioned above, if we began over in Washington with fresh people? Associated articles: agriculture subsidies, ethanol, government debt, Bon Jovi, Springsteen, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the war on drugs
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