Understating the Case against a New Government Health Plan

I just caught wind of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) quip about President Obama’s proposal to have a new government health insurance program compete against private insurers:

Having the government compete against the private sector is kind of like my seven‐​year‐​old daughter’s lemonade stand competing against McDonald’s.

That understates the case. McDonald’s doesn’t have guns. It doesn’t use coercion or the threat of coercion against its competitors. A better analogy is that Obama’s proposal is like having a kid’s lemonade stand compete against Al Capone.