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The Local Scene 

(medical news, homes for hornets, environmental terrorism)

By Pat Pending

          *The Kentucky Medical Association is considering proposing an end to the “certificate of need” procedure, which prohibits competition in medical care until the state determines that there is a need for a new facility.  The “certificate of need” procedure is supposed to keep medical costs low by avoiding unnecessary duplications of facilities, but, of course, it has just the opposite effect.  By keeping out competition, it increases costs.  Imagine if a proposed new restaurant had to obtain government permission to be sure there was a “need”  before it built a new facility.  We would all be eating lousy food at high prices instead of enjoying the benefits of a competitive market.  Health care is no different.  Bravo for the KMA! (On a similar note -- the miraculous feat of implanting an artificial heart in a local man was not brought about by government regulations but rather by creative, entrepreneurial people taking huge risks in an attempt to make a lot of money.  We hope they will!)

          *Six of Louisville’s Aldermen say they will vote against using taxpayer money to build a new NBA arena for the Hornets.  Now that the University of Louisville has indicated that it is not interested in playing in a new arena, the issue becomes one of pure corporate welfare.  (Also, the city has already squandered many millions on building hotels and restaurants for private owners and is running out of taxpayers' money to spread around.)  Bill Stone had an excellent letter in the C-J on Sept. 27 suggesting that the arena be built and owned by private enterprise – not by taxpayers.  We couldn’t agree more.

          *The extremist “smart growth” folks in Louisville, who are part of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), have been cited in a recent article about home grown terrorists.  ELF is a group that burns down homes and breaks windows to protest “sprawl”.  (Of course, one person’s “sprawl” is another’s suburbs or home in the country, but those who hate “sprawl” don’t want to give us a choice in the matter.)  If it was proper to hold those who criticized the government’s slaughter at Ruby Ridge and Waco responsible for the activities of Timothy McVeigh, then those who support the use of force against property owners to prevent “sprawl”, as do the extremist “smart growth” crowd, should be taking responsibility for this type of terrorist activity.  See Another One for the List http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?

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          *Jefferson County Kentucky has recently eased some limitations on construction, which were causing a hardship on developers.  Apparently, the new regulations continue to protect against runoff from construction sites causing the silting up of waterways, while at the same time cutting through the excessive red tape.  Of course, the environmentalists are upset, but they won't be happy until all human activity is stopped.

          *The light rail (otherwise known as trolley) boondoggle progresses forward.  Apparently our elected officials are so interested in the “gravy train” of federal money to build this wasteful monstrosity, at a cost of over $36,000 per projected rider, that they fail to notice that local taxpayers will be saddled with the huge maintenance fees and operating costs for a project that further congests the highways and hauls very few people.  Let’s learn from the experience of Portland, Oregon, where voters voted down an expansion of their wasteful trolley.  It would be nice if Louisville and Jefferson County voters were given the same opportunity before all the money is spent and we are stuck with a huge white elephant that demands constant feeding.