Educate or Confuse?

I remember my marketing 101 class where they said advertisers either try to educate you about the value of their product (computers, cars, homes, etc.) or try to confuse you into buying the product they want to sell (toothpaste, cold medicine, etc.)

As I look at the threads here about “fat-tax” and “DMV-Healthcare”, I realize that both these industries are designed to confuse consumers. We spend about 65% of our income on taxes and healthcare yet we allow these “industries” to be as confusing as possible.

I don’t think this is what is best for me.