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From the Government

How Governments Have Made Us Healthier, Wealthier, and Better Educated and Made Our Lives Safer and Fairer

How Governments Have Made Us
Healthier, Wealthier, and Better Educated
and Made Our Lives Safer and Fairer

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Healthier

Farmers Markets

December 19, 2020 by Otis Leave a Comment

Farmers markets have caught on in big cities since the 1970s, and a major reason is that governments have subsidized and facilitated their growth. Why? Because farmers markets create “positive externalities,” benefits that are much greater than their costs. They bring neighborhoods together, improve health, and make city life more affordable and enjoyable. And they’re another way government improves our lives.

Filed Under: Local governments Tagged With: Collaboration, Externalities, Healthier, Public health, Wealthier

Medicare

September 27, 2020 by Otis Leave a Comment

Medicare is the second-most popular federal government program, behind only Social Security. Retirees love Medicare, and workers don’t mind paying taxes to support it. So how was this popular, effective, efficient health insurance program enacted? After a bitter, partisan political battle accompanied by warnings that government health care would bankrupt the country, ruin doctors, and bring about an end to freedom. If you enjoy Medicare coverage today—or hope to have it one day—you can thank government leaders for ignoring the hysteria and enacting Medicare 55 years ago.

Filed Under: Federal government, Great Society Tagged With: 1964-72, Elderly, Fairer, Health care, Healthier, Lyndon Johnson, Wealthier

Playgrounds and Recreation

September 12, 2020 by Otis Leave a Comment

Cities began building playgrounds in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a way of getting young children out of traffic and older ones away from delinquency. In time, the physical spaces were joined by recreation programs organized by nonprofit organizations. Today, it’s not only children who use America’s publicly owned playgrounds, athletic fields, parks, and streams. Tens of millions of adults do, too. And for our access to inexpensive recreation, we can thank government.

Filed Under: Local governments, Urbanism Tagged With: Children, Fairer, Healthier, Late 1800s, Parks, Public safety, Safer

Public Hospitals

September 5, 2020 by Otis Leave a Comment

Cities created public hospitals in the early 1800s as places the poor went to die. In the late 1800s, their roles changed dramatically as the practice of medicine changed. Since then, other kinds of hospitals have emerged, but large public hospitals still play essential roles as caregivers for the poor, centers for advanced trauma care, and providers of public services like poison-control centers. Let’s hope you never need the care these hospitals provide. But if you do, you can thank government for making them available.

Filed Under: Local governments, Urbanism Tagged With: Fairer, Germ theory, Health care, Healthier, Late 1800s, Public health

Clean Drinking Water

August 3, 2020 by Otis 1 Comment

The creation of dependable clean water systems is one of our greatest and least recognized urban accomplishments. Unrecognized, that is, unless something goes terribly wrong. But such incidents are exceedingly rare, and hundreds of millions of Americans can trust the safety of their drinking water. For this, we can thank government.

Filed Under: Federal government, Local governments, State governments, Urbanism Tagged With: Healthier, Late 1800s, Public health, Public works

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