I'm not trying to argue here but I am optimistic that Obama will make a dramatic shift in the country, but I feel it will shift in the opposite direction than you are hoping for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Glan
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I'm not trying to argue here but I am optimistic that Obama will make a dramatic shift in the country, but I feel it will shift in the opposite direction than you are hoping for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Glan
Also, I like peeps in this country more than the arrogant peeps who we've elected to serve. I'm hopefull capitalism will remain in this country and we won't go the way of Europe.
My neighbor said the other day that he came to this country cuz you can work hard and get ahead. He lamented that we will be like Europe before long.
I'm for free markets (obviously with some regulation) and let the chips fall where they may. Let companies fail when they have been mismanaged. Let peeps fail when they have mismanaged themselves. We have a huge safety net already in place so peeps won't go homeless or hungry. Its enough.
Locally funded means you still forced to pay for a public service not mandated by the constitution, that was my point.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tahoe
I'm not sure we'll ever get to a good universal health care system. I think it's a good thing, but I'm not confident we can get things right based on all the barriers people put in place.
That being said, the system is certainly broken right now. It will take something as drastic as universal health care to fix it.
I'm not a fan of all these safety nets for businesses either. Some things need to be helped, others should be allowed to fail. I still don't understand how these companies getting aid are giving bonuses...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tahoe
Agree and some bizs are just too big to save.Quote:
Originally Posted by WTFchris
It is not terribly isolated to suggest that parents without health care would delay treatment. Consider appendicitis, where it is unclear whether the kid just has a stomach ache. Alternatively, the kid could have strep throat turn into pneumonia. Another kid might have a tumor that could be operated on if diagnosed early enough. Providing health care insurance for children is not terribly expensive, because most are healthy. However, the few sick ones can be terribly expensive and much more than a working class family could afford. Providing insurance for all children provides many more benefits than costs imo. I'm sure it could be done for 1% of the defense budget.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermy
What happens if a kid with cystic fibrosis or some other long term costly disease is born to poor parents without insurance. Are those parents forced to pay health care bills they can't afford for the rest of their lives. Do you stop providing care if the parents can't pay for it? Giving away free cars has nothing to do with this.
Also, you can only negotiate in non-emergencies. There's not much you can do if you need emergency care after a car accident.
Giving away free cars would cost less and save more children than your suggestion, but you don't care about any of that.
You can negotiate after treatment. I have done it.
Good lord, Tahoe. Have you ever been to Europe? Have you forgotten that I went to Denmark this summer? Home of some of the highest tax rates and biggest social entitlement programs in the civilized world? Where everyone receives not only free health care, but also unlimited unemployment, free college, and a staggering system of state property?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tahoe
And also, apparently, the winners of the Newsweek World Happiness Index?
If you went to Europe because you were hoping you could find some place that didn't have capitalism, you'd be HUGELY disappointed. In a lot of ways, they put us to shame.
Honestly, if your neighbor left Europe because no one can get ahead in Europe, he must have been from Eastern Europe during the Iron Curtain years. If not, he's not very bright. He could have easily gotten a government-guaranteed bank loan to start up a new small business in a country like Denmark - something you can't count on over here.
Not sure how a free car improves a child's quality of life, but whatever.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermy
If you can negotiate it is certainly not common knowledge. And even if you can, getting a $100,000 organ transplant cut in half isn't going to do shit for most people in terms of affording it.
A day in the life of Tahoe.*
Tahoe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Tahoe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Tahoe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Tahoe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Tahoe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Tahoe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Tahoe’s employer pays these standards because Tahoe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Tahoe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Tahoe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Tahoe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some liberal wanted to protect Tahoe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Tahoe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Tahoe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Tahoe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republicans would still be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Tahoe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Tahoe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Tahoe enjoys throughout his day) Tahoe agrees, "We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have".
*Not actually Tahoe