CONTEMPLATING VANGUARDISM. On one hand, Mrs Alan Greenspan offers an editorial comment while reporting on poll results not favorable to governmental restructuring of health insurance. On the other hand, a government program to buy up and scrap high-fuel-intensity cars runs out of money when the experts underestimate the interest.

If these geniuses are so sure they know how to operate 1/6 of the economy, how come they couldn't even predict how many people would like a free $4500 to trade their car in would be able to make the delicate adjustments to figure out which drugs to approve and which patients to allow payment for their doctor's recommended surgeries if we give the government control over the health industry. And then add in their similar ambitions to figure out the whole energy industry and regulate supply and demand there. Do you have confidence in the government's ability to manage all these industries?

It's easier to get rich reinforcing the establishment's prejudices on television than it is forecasting economic activity for that establishment.