Today, the Daily Zero has a column entitled, "Big hole in mental health help". The upshot is that, here in Thurston County, there is insufficent access (PC alert: this is a buzzword) to mental health care, especially if you are not poor enough to qualify for care that is paid for by other people (aka State aid).

But, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. There is a new law on the way, called a "great leap forward" by Comrade Gregoire, which mandates that mental illness is to be given equal standing with physical illness in terms of being paid for by health insurance. Given the huge number of so-called mental disorders described in the DSM, there will be a deluge of people wanting mental health treatment for their supposed disorders. I predict that the mental health system in the State will be overwhelmed and that the government will respond to the problem it has created by calling for higher taxes to help the "needy". Not only that, but more people will be forced to drop their health insurance because premiums will rise to pay for the new costs of treating mental disorders. The State will call this a "market failure" and will want still more of your money to provide medical care for the people it has forced to give up their own insurance.

This is a classic example of how State interference in the market produces failures which the State blames on the market. Since neither the State nor most of the public understand elementary economics, the State and its media allies are easily able to push the blame for State-caused failure onto "those greedy corporations".

Too bad that elementary economics isn’t taught in government schools. But then, who could teach it? The State and its teachers believe in socialism and have no clue how a free market works. Sigh.