Sunday, September 26, 2010

Bills start with good intentions

All the bills that are initiated in Congress start with good intentions but then they run into competing interests and influences and limitations. Even if the bill is passed intact (which it really does) in the house, then the Senate has a different idea and they pass a different version of the same bill. Once it passes both the houses in separate version, then the bill is sent back to a joint committee of both the houses to hammer out a compromise bill and by the time it becomes a law, the originality of the bills is reduced to shreds.

Take for example the health care bill and the finance reform bill. Even with the best of intentions, the bill creators and supporter ran into a maze of competing interests and powerful lobbyists who want to make sure that the bill reflect as little regulations as possible. For example as I wrote here before, even the finance bill curtailing some bank practices of late fees or the credit card fees, I knew that the banks will find a way to make money in some other way since they are in the business of making money and any thing which has been free or minimal fees will be jacked up with different names and it has started to happen. The same is happening with the health care bill and we will see more premiums being raised and the health care becoming more expensive in the future, no matter what the intent of the legislation is. As the saying goes “there is no such thing as Free Lunch”.

No comments:

Post a Comment