 | Here's a book allegedly about junk science, and it devotes an entire chapter on the "myth" that free market medicine (as in the US) is better than socialized medicine. Evidently "science" proves that socialized medicine is actually better. By what standard, you ask? Not to fear. He starts with the assumption that universal healthcare and equality of service are the goals, and goes on to show how the "science" favors nationalized healthcare. Duh.
From the start of the book, he projects a view of the free market as a system of hucksters and cheats, explaining how in the days of unregulated markets, people routinely sold rotten meat to the poor. Only by government intervention, via regulation, did we get past that dark era. And we'd go right back to it without government. In fact, the first half of the book is all about the evils of deregulation. In his view of the world, the people are too stupid to make decisions for themselves and scientists should rule them instead.
I couldn't finish the book. He explains to us how great it would be if the government did whatever the scientists wanted. Research should no longer be "corrupted" by profit, and instead should be put on a firm basis by government funding. If doctors think we eat too much, government should control our eating habits. He even quotes favorably from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an organization known for its junk science. How's that for irony?
While there may be some interesting topics and anecdotes in this book, it's not worth the pain. It's just one more person who thinks controlling people's lives is good policy, and of course he should be the one who makes the decisions.
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Junk Science: How Politicians, Corporations, and Other Hucksters Betray Us by Dan Agin
