John Quiggin at Crooked Timber saves me the trouble of having to write down thoughts I've long had about America.
On some levels America is very capitalist, materialistic and efficient. But then there are four layers of government, including hundreds of teeny, tiny counties and cities that must have a higher per-capita cost of local services than they would if they amalgamated. Many professions and occupations are regulated by the states which impose different requirements for licensure, making the American labor market quite a lot less free than we imagine it to be. The meeting of two tendencies in American life--local control and the free market--explains many of these quirks, and are part of the rich diversity of life here.
But as I said, someone else wrote about this better than I could.
Posted by robe0419 at January 24, 2006 12:01 PM