Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Does Washington Know Best?

According to some estimates, there are more than 100 million traffic signals in the U.S., but whatever the number, how many of us would like Washington, in the name of public health and safety, to be in sole charge of their operation? Congress or a committee it authorizes would determine the position of traffic signals at intersections, the length of time the lights stay red, yellow and green, and what hours of the day they can be flashing red.

While you ponder that, how many Americans would like Washington to be in charge of managing the delivery of food and other items to the nation’s supermarkets? Today’s average well-stocked U.S. supermarket stocks 60,000 to 65,000 different items from all over the U.S. and the world. Congress or some congressionally created committee could organize the choice of products and their prices. Maybe there’d be some cost savings. After all, what says that we should have so many items from which to choose? Why wouldn’t 10,000 do?

More

No comments: