Our federal government basically got sucker punched by the recent economic crisis and political winds, as it believed that the way forward was (is) to endow the public sector with greater control over individual choices and the private markets. In place of maintaining a strong sense of governmental and market integrity and delineation, policymakers overstretched the long arm of the federal government into the private markets in unprecedented ways. Now they're trying to dig the government out of transactions that should have never occurred. More private equity firms, hedge funds, and large financial institutions should have been allowed to feel the severe pains of financial collapse just as individual investors felt the sting and financial losses. Without compromising the integrity of the global financial system, our government should have directed the billions of dollars that were spent upfront to prevent institutional failures more toward stimulating financial activity that would have benefitted the larger economy as well as private citizens. Firms and individuals who gain from the free market during good times must also suffer the losses associated with bad times. The same policymakers who are now insisting on reform, accountability, and transparency in the financial markets, after the fact, should have forced the financial and investment communities to take full responsibility and pay the full price for their risky experiments.

The same lesson must be applied to the health care industry. Health care providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies are the only entities equipped to develop and price insurance plans, not the government. No one wants the government involved in their personal decisions about health care options or what medical services are covered in private insurance plans. The purpose of the competitive marketplace is to allow us as private citizens to choose what plans and services work best for us and our families. If private insurers choose to overcharge consumers with expensive medical premiums, then these companies should be allowed to suffer tremendous losses as a result of increased competition, fleeing customers, and the right kind of health care reform, not because of government intrusion into the private health care markets. One thing that has become evident is the fact that our government is not capable of managing large scale efforts to deliver private goods and services in efficient and cost effective ways. Hopefully these latest experiments of market interference by the federal government have demonstrated why there are essential distinctions between the public and private sectors of our economy. Policymakers must allow the risk takers of the private sector to suffer the consequences of bad and risky decisions and should not use taxpayer dollars to bail them out when their financial losses and insolvency are imminent.