As the Senate considers socialized medicine for the U.S. today, consider what the concentration of government funding for socialized medicine throughout Europe has done for the business of health care. See Medica 2009 in Dusseldorf. It’s simply enormous. Floor space for the 4-day event costs around $20,000 for a 10′ x 10′ square. That’s $2M for a 100′ x 100′ space. The opulence is palpable. Massive displays of every medical device, machine, and product stretch for acres and acres in multiple linked buildings. Thousands of beautiful women and sharp dressed men represent their products with panache, elan and requisite sex appeal. The Medica show began around the same time governments began pouring public money into health care in the 60’s and 70’s. If you want more of something, subsidize it, and the evidence seems beyond doubt that public health care dollars have had this effect. It is puzzling, however, that the business of health care seems to be doing so well while the actual provision of health care seems to be in a state of crisis and in need of further socialization, more subsidy, and more government control. Is there really a disconnect here? Or is the argument for socializing health care in America a myth propagated by a leftist congress intent on perpetrating an extreme device to transfer more wealth and power to government forces? If the U.S. House and Senate get their way, we’ll definitely get more health care business. Ironically, we’ll also get health care rationing, scarcity of providers, and enormously increased taxes. Imagine how our economies would look without governments confiscating enormous wealth and directing it into favored industries, and instead, people directed the spending of their own wealth toward goods and services they actually wanted? Would we buy these fantastically expensive trade shows? I seriously doubt it. 