Congress to Oversee All Traffic Lights

Well, not really, but Walter Williams makes an excellent point when he analogizes Congress doing this and the ensuing problems to the infinitely more complex task of it trying to manage all U.S. healthcare. Dr. Williams lays out the scenario:

According to some estimates, there are roughly 100 million traffic signals in the U.S. How many of us would like the U.S. Congress, in the name of public health and safety, to be in charge of their actual operation? Congress or a committee it authorizes would determine the length of time traffic lights stay red, yellow and green and what hours of the day and at what intersections lights flash red or yellow. One can only imagine the mess Congress would create in the 40,000 cities, towns and other incorporated places in the U.S. But managing traffic lights and getting good results is a far less complex task than managing the nation's health care system and getting good results, which Congress tries to do.

Quoting fellow economist the late Nobel laureate Friedrich August von Hayek, Williams makes his central point, "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."  Precisely. We don't yet know what we don't know and what you don't know can kill you. A little more humility and caution in public policy would be a good thing. 

townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2017/11/08/ignorance-versus-stupidity-n2405433