Life is Getting too Complicated

In America, we have made everything so complicated, that we are suffocating growth and progress.  I am just finishing the process of buying a house.  The amount of paperwork required for that process is absolutely ridiculous.  There are hundreds of pages of documents to fill out, disclosures to read, and releases to sign.  All this administrative work requires the employment and oversight of real estate agents, title companies, appraisers, bankers, loan officers, insurance agents, accountants, lawyers, clerks, and a variety of other positions.  A hundred years ago, buying a house probably involved paying a couple hundred dollars, and signing a deed.  We have added way too many steps since then.

I didn't even get a mortgage, but if I had, there would have been even more paperwork.  Just the initial pre-approval required me to submit hundreds of pages of information.  That is all tied to one's taxes, which is a whole separate over-complicated process.  I had a 133 page tax return last year, and that is not counting state forms.  It will probably be even longer this year, since I will now be a first time home buyer as well.

It is said that the only people who can get loans are those who don't need them.  It turns out that even those of us who don't need them can't get a loan, courtesy of all the new government regulations.  And the Federal Reserve is competing for that money, with federal guarantees, so what bank wants to loan money to John Doe, with all the paperwork and labor required, when they can get just as good a return on their funds by leaving them deposited in the Reserve.  One more step in the wrong direction, in the name of helping the economy.

I have this theory, that no one actually comprehends numbers over $1million dollars.  Showing the average person an article about $50Million dollars in government waste or debt, will get no different reaction than one describing $50Billion dollars.  And now that we are in the trillions, no one can even tell the difference.  Our nation's problems are so removed from the average American's comprehension, let alone awareness, with everything virtualized and aggregated to a scale that can no longer be intuitively related to.

Similarly, we are about to see the medical world make a serious change, compelled by the government.  In the last four years, my monthly premium has nearly tripled, and my deductible has doubled, with no improvements to my actual coverage or benefits.  My plan, where people take some level of responsibility for their own health, is one now prohibited by the government, unless you are grandfathered in.  And if I was to add my wife to that plan in the future, the monthly cost would triple for some reason.  So guess who isn't going to hear about me getting married?  I will insure my wife independently if necessary.  But all of the proposed changes to the system don't improve or affect actual healthcare, it only affects who will pay for it, and how much.  And don't forget of course, the added paperwork.

So what should we do about this disturbing trend?  Well we could complain to the government, which would probably involve filling out some more paperwork.  Moving to a third world country looks more tempting every time I turn on the national news.  There are problems there too, but they are less complicated, and easier to understand.