Recommended: Politicians in Wonderland

I recommend Thomas Sowell's Feb 2, 2010, article Politicians in Wonderland. Sowell is the author of Economic Facts and Fallacies, a wonderful book that explores the reality behind a lot of our economic myths. It's not yet on my book list because I haven't finished reading it.

Sowell makes the point that politicians frequently mandate things that they "think" are good for us, without really thinking through the unintended consequences. For example, a mandated minimum wage sounds like a good idea, but one unintended consequence is that lots of low-paying jobs just disappear (are moved offshore, or automated, or are just eliminated) when the governmental mandates a wage higher than some low-skill people are worth. Now instead of having a low-paying job, they have no job at all - hardly what the politicians intended.

Sowell argues much the same thing is happening as Congress works through things like the health care bill (a bill, by the way, that will not affect members of Congress at all, since they have their own federal "Cadillac" health care plan which is largely exempted from the restrictions and taxes they intend to impose on the rest of us.)