Technocrats Running Amok: What It Could Mean For America Inc.

Check out The New York Times columnist David Brook's most recent article for an insightful look at how the Europeans entrusted their collective economic future to an expert technocratic class.  Once those mandarins were unleashed, their bureaucratic disdain for undereducated commoners was only exceeded by their skill at complex obfuscation.  Egads.

On the other side of the globe, China's state-managed businesses are making a mess of high speed rail, creating a housing bubble and are enabling an autonomous People's Liberation Army.  And last but not least, the Russians have taken the concept of state sponsored oligarchy to a whole new level.

Compared to the rest of the world, carrying mortgages, automobile manufacturers and solar panel plants on the U.S. balance sheet may just have to be a new way of doing business.  If that's the case, we'll also need our pool of cool, pedigreed, hyper-educated Masters of the Universe like Energy Secretary Mr. Chu, who can easily triangulate on policy, politics and returns on investment. Thanks to brainy virtuosos like him, Uncle Sam, Inc. will be able to roll the dice and be a venture capitalist. 

And health insurance isn't immune. The virtuosos in Washington are busy setting the essential benefit, determining the best medical loss ratio and which companies can compete in exchanges.  Generics are regulated and if there is no approval, drugs won't be covered.  Even though elections have consequences and Disease Management Care Blog readers may loyally disagree from time to time, how can we turnips dare to cross swords with experts like this?

It's ironic that with this as background, our political class can claim to understand the concerns of "Occupy Wall Street."  So does the DMCB, but that doesn't mean it isn't also worrying about those elite technocrats helping Washington become Wall Street.