Catholic Fundamentalism sometimes looks at various bubbles in the economy. They’re easy to spot. Their collapse is foretold by The Book of Revelation describing parts of Babylon going bust.
There is an Education Bubble. Many public school districts pay upwards of $20,000.00 per student per year. When we realize that if a good teacher rented a classroom and charged $10,000.00 per student for 15 or 20 students that parents selected him or her to teach, everyone would benefit.
There are several education bubbles from grade schools to graduate schools. All are too expensive. All are getting closer to the breaking point.
Medical Bubbles are equally vulnerable. Consider this abbreviated digest from Carpe Diem: “In Oklahoma City, Itegris Baptist Medical Center charges over $33,000.00 for a ‘complex bilateral sinus procedure’. When the very same doctor performs the very same surgery at the Surgery Center, it costs less than $6,000.00.”
Why is the same operation so expensive at Baptist Medical? “In 2010, the top 18 administrative employees at Integris Baptist Medical Center received an average of $413,000 in compensation, according to the not-for-profits’ 990 tax form. There are no administrative employees at the Surgery Center.”
That’s a classic bubble. Can it be fixed? Only if there is freedom to let people make choices to save money. Increasingly, government exists to protect the inflated salaries of the top administrative employees at Integris Baptist Medical Center, administrators at local school districts and universities, and overpaid people whose only skill is finding protection in tax-supported institutions.
In the Education Bubble, government protects the jobs of all those involved while sacrificing student learning and taxpayer dollars.
All governments prop up bubbles. And, some bubbles may be necessary. When governments prop up too many bubbles collapses are bigger.
When there are too many such bubbles, God, Himself, in the Book of Revelation 18:17, tells us what happens: “Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.”
When governments prop up too many bubbles, collapses are bigger. Bubbles grow by squeezing out and absorbing other bubbles. When one bubble gets too big, the inevitable collapse described in the Bible is very destructive.
