Give Me a Break: Book review--Part I

I found this book provocative. I agreed with John Stossel's points on many subjects. I think terminally ill people should have the option to use experimental drugs provided their physician agrees and they sign a waiver releasing Big Pharma from liability. (Perhaps, more integrative medicine may help provide other treatment options for us all?) I agree that telephone service improved markedly after Ma Bell got dismembered. I agree that consenting adults should be able to do with what and to which and to whom providing it does not involve any minors. Legalized prostitution in places other than most of Nevada might be an excellent source of tax revenue?

I do not support euthanasia because I don't want some doctor offing me or deciding the disabled don't need to be around as we take up too many resources. Glad Beethoven, deaf in his later years; J. S. Bach, blind in his later years; Julius Caesar, epileptic; aren't around now! While I can see the medical necessity of abortion, I think it should be a last-resort. Birth-control AND abstinence should be considered first--even adoption, open or otherwise. I was disappointed to hear that organic farming can be bacteriologically harmful if fertilizer (i.e.) bovine manure is not processed correctly.

I do not have Stossel's faith in the market place's ability to regulate itself. Being blind and at the mercy of the economy of scale or lack thereof, I cringe when I have to buy something like a treadmill, a jam box, or computer. I need adaptations that may not exist (despite the universal design people) or if they do as in text-to-speech software can be extremely costly esp. to one on a miniscule monthly government assistance. Do we really need billionaires? Was it their skill alone that made them this rich??? Curious minds want to know!

Stossel did not mention the hydrogen economy of the future. Hmmm. He did suggest that some medical sources doubt the existence of fibromyalgia. (I must humbly beg to differ with these students of Hippocrates. I was disgusted at the uses to which the ADA was put by people who claimed spurious disabilities. I think Stossels makes a valid point when he suggests loser-pays-all and even loser's lawyer pays some might be a deterrent to America's sue happy craze. I also agreed that the sports stadium thing is a scam. Wish I could scam on the mega-level and then convince myself that I was not really scamming but was helping everyone in my city make a buck while I made a few nickels, too.

Click on my three-part commentary to learn more.