With state control of medicine, everyone used to believe that euthanasia was the big threat. But Gary North’s article suggest another possibility: the state subsidizes longevity. The barely alive are kept that way as long as possible, in order that they can operate as convenient channels for funneling cash via the welfare state from taxpayers to the state and its friends. In the Soviet economy, where the state was short on cash, hard currency was tough to come by, and everyone was scrambling for every last morsel of wealth, the aged were shoved out of the hospitals to die prematurely. … Continue reading Socializing the Costs of Longevity