Clark parses the candidates on healthcare

When you look back our nation's growth, the thing that has made us unique is our free market and entrepreneurial spirit. People come to America to start companies because we've been a beacon of opportunity. Our free enterprise system is unique in the Western world because half of all employment is with small firms.

Clark was recently speaking to a woman who used to be a burned-out corporate lawyer. She always loved making draperies and eventually quit her day job to do it fulltime. Now she has 6 employees in her basement -- probably against zoning laws -- and she makes more money than she did as a corporate lawyer.

The healthcare question has become the single greatest impediment to our nation's legacy of entrepreneurship. Would be entrepreneurs can not leave the firms they work for without fear of losing their employer-provided healthcare.

Simply put, our healthcare system is broken. The University of Minnesota finds that what we pay for healthcare is up 30% in 4 years! Meanwhile, the average family premium is $11K/year. It's gotten so bad that the University of Texas nonprofit medical system has actually turned dying people away because they're afraid they won't be paid.

Clark doesn't do politics on his show, but he believes that John McCain has come out with a common sense proposal to address the healthcare question. McCain is seeking to eliminate the corporate healthcare deduction. The 2 Democratic candidates, meanwhile, seek more government intervention in healthcare. McCain's plan would be similar to giving out vouchers for families to buy healthcare in the free market.

He's on the right track, Clark believes, though his proposal is like Swiss cheese and needs to be filled in. Standardized policies are necessary so that we can buy identical coverage from state to state and insurer to insurer. So far, the McCain plan is the only one that Clark sees helping out the small business entrepreneur. And that's crucial for the future success of our economy.