Reason.tv: Great Moments in Unintended Consequences

Reason.tv presents Great Moments in Unintended Consequences!

All actions have unanticipated side effects, but government acting through regulation or legislation is particularly adept at creating disastrous unintended consequences.

Great Moments in Unintended Consequences takes a look at three instances of epic government facepalm:  Osborne Reef, Corn Ethanol Subsidies, and a particular clause in ObamaCare that is already doing more harm than good.

Approximately 3 minutes.  

Produced by Austin Bragg.

Visit Reason.tv for HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's Youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new

Comments

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Just this morning I'm hearing and reading snippets indicating something about a potential new electronic medical recordkeeping system? I haven't had the time to run this to ground and check the veracity of this, but the general gist of what I heard/read this morning is that over the next couple years, doctors under the new health care reform system will have to start using this system, which requires collection of certain data from patients, and one of the questions is "do you have any firearms in your home?"

Now, I know the American Association of Pediatricians and the AMA have for several years been encouraging doctors to ask that question, particularly when the patient is a minor, so they can encourage the person to make sure their guns are safely stored and out of the reach of kids - because, of course, guns are a "public health" issue.

Now I don't want to be all Glenn Beck paranoid conspiracy theorist, but there may be something to this and it at least bears watching.

I for one would not put such a backdoor gun registration scheme past the current administration and Congress.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Oh, and of course this would not be an "unintended consequence" - to the contrary, it clearly would be quite intentional.

[sage]

Your link is broken.

[Pro Libertate]

I prefer Dieter's "Your story grows tiresome."

[Episiarch]

"Do you have guns in your home?"

"Fuck you, doc. If you ask me a question like that again, I get a new doc."

or:

"No." No matter how many you have.

[Steve]

DADT!

[Anonymous Coward]

NYFB.

(None Your Fuckin' Business).

[Steve]

Agreed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Which three letter acronym would you prefer enforcing ObamaCare? IRS or ATF? I'm thinking they might share (overlap) jurisdiction.

[Pro Libertate]

NSF.

[cynical]

That's terror.

[The Gobbler]

"one of the questions is "do you have any firearms in your home?""

I recommend that you follow the sage advice of Nancy Reagan and "Just say no."

[CatoTheElder]

How long will it take before lying to your doctor becomes a crime?

Also, I thought the whole rationale behind Roe vs Wade rested on the right to privacy in communications between doctor and patient.

[SugarFree]

Around the same time that the FDA, DEA, and pharmacies basically become one government agency.

[nekoxgirl]

The whole electronic recordkeeping systen has already gotten me suspicious way before this. I don't tell my doctors anything I wouldn't want the government finding out about.

[Adonisus]

Damn.....thought we were gonna talk about the John Ross novel (which is awesome, btw).

[Realist]

Well isn't that a surprise...they are all liberal ideas....you know the intellectuals.

[Flex Nasty B.I.G.]

Good one!

[Pro Libertate]

So, how long before I'm justified in having a freakin' cow over Hit & Run ignoring the successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket (for the second time) with the Dragon spacecraft (for the first time), along with the successful, on-target splashdown of the Dragon capsule? Let me know, because I'm ready to unleash.

[Episiarch]

Lighten up, Francis.

[Pro Libertate]

Call me Werner!

[sage]

Yeah, sure, ProL. And the moon shot was real too.

[Pro Libertate]

We're going to terraform the Moon--which would be visible from Earth--send millions to live there, and there will still be people saying that we never went.

[Episiarch]

You have seen Capricorn One, right? Would OJ ever lie to you?

[Pro Libertate]

Got me there. OJ is America's most trusted--and beloved--man.

I'm regularly shocked when running across someone not knowing that the Russians haven't sent cosmonauts to the Moon or that we haven't been to Mars. Though I'm sympathetic to surprise over the latter.

Hal Holbrook was the evil NASA bad guy in that movie, right? Funny, but when it came out, I had trouble seeing NASA as an evil government agency. No longer.

[Brian from Texas]

Too bad Jackie Gleeson's no longer with us. He apparently had some cheep, secret way to go to the moon, seeing as how he was always threatening to send his wife there.

[Pro Libertate]

I've heard of this. He was apparently quite vague about the mechanism.

[BakedPenguin]

I heard about that, too. From what little I know, it was a two stage process.

[Pro Libertate]

Did he send her luggage "to the Moon" separately, you think?

[SugarFree]

"It was just a metaphor for beating his wife."

[Pro Libertate]

Back off man. I'm a scientist.

[Episiarch]

Yes, it was Holbrook (who is now an evil shadowy conspiracy controlling guy on The Event). Wasn't Hal the bad older judge in The Star Chamber too?

[Pro Libertate]

You are correct.

I believe he was also evil in Fletch 2. I like Evil Hal Holbrook. I think he should do the Twain shows that way sometime. Evil Mark Twain.

[Episiarch]

Mark Twain was always evil. It is Samuel Langhorne Clemens who was good.

I am not surprised that you fail to understand this. But I have been to his house in Hartford and seen the torture devices, the copies of the Necronomicon, and the stuffed corpse of Harriet Beecher Stowe. You have no idea.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, Twain is almost as beloved as OJ, so watch it.

[SugarFree]

He was also the shadowy "Stage Manager" in Our Town. One of the most evil characters in all of fiction.

[Episiarch]

He was also in The Kidnapping of the President with Shatner, and as this was during Shatner's...ahem..."atrocious" period, it makes him doubly evil.

[Pro Libertate]

You take that back!

[Episiarch]

Ahem:

Impulse

The Devil's Rain

I'd list more, but H&R only allows two.

[Pro Libertate]

You just don't appreciate high art, you anti-Canadian practically living in Canada!

You'll be sorry when he is gone!

I AM KIROK!

[reason would omit....]

reporting on that too.

[Slap the Enlightened!]

What's that got to do with gay marriage?

[SugarFree]

Don't worry, you'll still get to gay marry transvestite Eva Braun.

[Southerner]

Here's some good news for you: Ron Paul is now head of the Monetary Policy Subcommittee. Finally, he has found the position for which he is best suited.

Freepers are laughing and popping the popcorn as we speak.

[dbcooper]

Bid and raise money for charity:

Brian Posehn & Steve Agee will watch a Steven Seagal movie of your choice with you (and they'll even bring snacks!)

[Warty]

The correct answer is obviously Half Past Dead.

[Episiarch]

Anybody know who killed Bobby Lupo?

[SugarFree]

After all, it was you and me.

[Pro Libertate]

Are you suggesting that Episiarch is Mick Jagger?

[SugarFree]

Just the part that had sex with David Bowie.

[Episiarch]

There is no dishonor in being with the Thin White Duke. You should know this, philistine.

[SugarFree]

I hear and obey, Queen Bitch.

[Pro Libertate]

So you mean he's Iman?

[Episiarch]

For thirty years I've played The Idiot. Now I want you to be my dog.

[Pro Libertate]

You win obscure quote of the day.

[SugarFree]

I'm not a dog, I'm a street-walking cheetah with a heart full of nay-pam. I'm the run-away son of a nuclear a-bam.

Rhyme scheme, Iggy. Rhyme scheme.

[Pro Libertate]

Speaking of Bowie, he pretty much owns "cool", right? I mean, if he says it's in, it's in.

[CatoTheElder]

Cute video.

I can see how the reef episode and the ethanol episode resulted in unintended consequences. However, I am convinced that the consequences of the health care reform were intended. The PPACA was intentionally designed to kill private insurance.

Also, the consequences of the ethanol mandate may have been unintended, but the intentions were never good. The intentions were nothing but dirty, rotten politics.

[MNG]

Is it possible for their to be unintended bad consequences of government non-action?

[MNG]

there not their, arg!

[SugarFree]

"Will no one ride my stalking horse?"

[MNG]

He's a unicorn dammit, and he deserves a ride!

[CatoTheElder]

A reaction requires an action.

[Brian from Texas]

I think Wayne Allen Root once said the less time Congress is in session, the less damage they can do to the nation by passing bad laws.

[Jim]

I had lots of contact with that guy when I was in the gaming business. Two words: Slea Zy

[Anonymous Coward]

Or "Why aren't the law and morality the same thing?"

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Is it possible for there to be unintended bad consequences of government non-action?

Non action precludes consequences, nitwit.

[Wargames83]

No it doesn't. If you have a choice to to action or not to take action, and you choose not to there will be consequences to that choice.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Wargames83,

No it doesn't. If you have a choice to to action or not to take action, and you choose not to there will be consequences to that choice.

Choosing not to do something IS an action, dumbass, as it is IMPLICIT you're aware of the choice. NON action means not even being aware of such a choice: NOBODY IS OMNISCIENT!

MNG must think government people are omniscient and simply chose to let bad things happen before they chose to prohibit them. He's a dumbell, but you do not have to be one as well.

[MNG]

I mean, couldn't we list all of the bad things that happened that are now barred by government action as the unintended consequences of government inaction?

[Hazel Meade]

Action and inaction are not equal.

Inaction doesn't carry the same moral responsibility for consequences that action does.

You can hold someone responsible for stabbing you in the face, but not for failing to jump in front of the flying knife.

[Wargames83]

But you can hold someone responsible for not helping you when they could of.

[Hooha]

No, you can't. I mean, you can, if you're a politician, but that doesn't make it right.

Compassion and assistance are not mandatory.

[R C Dean]

I just can't get that sentence to parse, MNG.

Stuff that used to happen, but doesn't anymore because the government acted, is an unintended consequence of the government not acting?

If you're saying bad shit happens even when the government doesn't make it happen, then, sure. Way to make a trivial point.

If you're saying bad shit happens when the government declines to act, then, sure, etc.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

I mean, couldn't we list all of the bad things that happened that are now barred by government action as the unintended consequences of government inaction?

You mean "bad" things like drug use? Prostitution? Gambling? Eating a Happy Meal?

[NoVAHockey]

"Elimination of the discounts for orphan drugs at children's hospitals came as a surprise to federal health officials who work on the program. They said they learned of it only after President Obama signed the legislation in March."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12.....espolitics

[JD]

Well, it's a good thing it passed then. Otherwise we would have never found out about this.

[DDavis]

This is a great idea. I hope you make it a continuing feature.

[Hooha]

I agree. I enjoyed this so much, I forced other people to watch it, and they liked it too.

[Lisa]

I'm not so sure that negative consequences from policies are always unintended. Minimum wage is an example of a law that was first enacted with explicitly biased intentions. Then the original intention was "forgotten" and now the effects on low income workers are brushed off as unintended. So it's possible that there are other laws out there with more shady origins than we know about.

[Tom Servo]

Does anyone know the origin of the "winged sun" symbol on this video? It's centered just above "reason.tv presentation" in this video. I first saw this in the first Fallout game a few years back. I assume it's from the 50's... just curious where it originated.

[heller]

It's sort of like the Arizona flag.

[gaoxiaen]

Japan?

[Jim]

I'd probably sign up to throw a few tires in the water to create an artificial reef. Of course, it's more effective to use a large ship to make a reef.

[Cuddly Soft Balls of Death]

Yeah, a ship full of tires!!!1

[nike shoes UK]

is good

[Kevin Durant Shoes]

so perfect

[wubai]

How about mbt kisumu sandals this one: there are X driving deaths a year- what % of driving deaths (or serious injuries) involve alcohol, or other intoxicating substances? kisumu 2 People are pretty darn good drivers when they are not impaired.

[jiusuan]

good