tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post8449649368537547021..comments2023-12-03T02:23:12.272-06:00Comments on BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com: Tony Snow's Plight Would Be Vastly Worse If He Was An Ordinary, Working-Class AmericanMarc McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-35650610670937635572008-07-05T07:51:00.000-05:002008-07-05T07:51:00.000-05:00Well..he worked hard for his money and he's going ...Well..he worked hard for his money and he's going to get the benefits of his labor - which includes better health care.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-88236722930475255232007-03-30T05:28:00.000-05:002007-03-30T05:28:00.000-05:00To Captain Conservative:America, and much of the r...To Captain Conservative:<BR/><BR/>America, and much of the rest of the world, already tried for a long time the free-market, no-welfare-state, minimal-regulation route that you apparently want us to go back to, circa 1890, and for decades before and after. Actually, this encompasses very much of our history. The average life expectancy was less than 50. If you were hit with really, really hard times, there were these things run by counties called "the poorhouse" where people would go to die of consumption while they worked as much as they could on the county farms and slept on hardscrabble bunks. Read a book, ostensibly a novel, but actually journalism of the time, The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair, that describes the Chicago stockyards. People worked in animal shit and blood to deliver septic sausage to the innocent U.S. breakfaster, for subsistence wages -- that is, if they were lucky. If they got hurt, well hey, it's a hard life. No workers comp back then. To the streets they went, arm casts and all. If they couldn't figure out a way to eat -- tough shit, boy. You shoulda gone to the college of your choice, Yale or the like. Even City College might have done; you could get a clerk's job, Jurgis (character in The Jungle). <BR/><BR/>So yeah, let's go back to that small government, with no OSHA, no workers comp, no nothing for the hapless schmuck who gets exploited and hurt. It's funny -- it was back in those days that the idea of communism actually started to gain popularity. It is often said that history repeats itself. Personally, I don't want to do Stalin and Mao all over again. Do you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-88300372393932656962007-03-30T04:44:00.000-05:002007-03-30T04:44:00.000-05:00The previous poster is just throwing out a lot of ...The previous poster is just throwing out a lot of (long-discredited) Rush Limbaugh talking points. Indeed, like Rush, he doesn't talk so much about the way the world actually is, but rather the way (he believes) it ought to be. I find it interesting that Rush once wrote a book called, "The Way Things Ought To Be."<BR/><BR/>I keep an open mind on every issue. But what seals the deal for me on supporting a single-payer European health-care system are the following basic facts:<BR/><BR/>1. The European nations, and Japan, have healthier populations as a whole than the U.S., as demonstrated by numerous yardsticks. For example, average life expectancy is higher in the Euro nations and infant mortality is much lower than the U.S. The Japanese have the highest life expectancy of any major nation.<BR/>2. The Euro nations and Japan all spend vastly LESS on health care than does the U.S. In fact, as a percentage of GNP, they spend less than half of what the U.S. spends. So much for the "efficiency" of the private sector in health-care.<BR/>3. So, although the Europeans and Japanese spend vastly less than the U.S. on health care, they live longer, healthier lives.<BR/><BR/>However, in a way, I hope that Captain Conservative and his Republican friends continue to peddle their notion that leaving us all in the hands of greedy, ruthless HMOs is the way to go. Such a philosophy is going to continue to severely tarnish the appeal of the GOP for most voters.<BR/><BR/>Polls have consistently shown that a large majority of the American people WANT the U.S. government to step in and get involved and provide universal health-care. You Cons can talk all you want about "what the purpose of the government is" but the FACT is, the government works for us: the American people. People like Bush have forgotten that concept (as they spend all their time doing nothing but favors for their billionaire buddies with our tax dollars).<BR/><BR/>As usual, the Republicans are out of touch with what the American people want---and as a result, they have no chance in 2008. Americans are sick and tired of the socialism-for-the-rich that the modern-day GOP represents. Indeed, if this nation continues down the path it has been following the past quarter century, then it is inevitable that a people's revolution will be on the horizon.Marc McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-22022860234618796152007-03-29T16:18:00.000-05:002007-03-29T16:18:00.000-05:00What a great posting! The author has precisely ide...What a great posting! The author has precisely identified the over-riding problem with our country: we do not have enough rich people. When we wake up and realize the federal government is the least efficient way to address our own personal responsibilities such as buying our own health insurance, we will be moving toward a better lifestyle for each of us individually. <BR/><BR/>I am sure the author was only one tiny step away from pointing out that half of our incomes go to pay taxes which get sucked into a giant grinding machine of the inefficiency that is the federal government. And what do we get? Very little. How much more could we gain in personal services if we only paid less in taxes??? <BR/><BR/>So great job. That is the way to demonstrate we should be screaming "that's not what government's for!!!" The federal government was intended from its inception to only perform the necessary functions that are so enormous in scale that even large state governments are overwhelmed such as defense, space exploration and some infrastructure that is shared among states. <BR/><BR/>If operated according to the constitution, the federal government would be very small indeed. It would not be operated as a forced charity. Individuals would not be imprisioned for not agreeing with every bleeding heart cause. Art would not cease to be created because of the lack of a government mandated funding. <BR/><BR/>States and local governments have to take responsibility for caring for the needs of individuals. Somes will balance the needs and the resources better than others. Those who compete well will have more residents than those that are poorly run. There will be regional differences based on regional preferences. Louisiana and New York for instance will see populations wither once they are required to fund their own state supported welfare. Conservative midwestern states will get by on less state aid, and their hard working populations will benefit immensely over time as a result of keeping more of what they produce.<BR/><BR/>More people will get rich and will get stellar health care based on what they can afford once the government gets out of the way and lets the machinery of capatailism run unimpeded. <BR/><BR/>Many thanks to the author for pointing out thse truths. The moral we can once again take from his little story: work hard, increase your value to employers by adding to your skill set (go to school)save, be a conservative, and you will live a longer healthier life.<BR/><BR/>What a great message!Capatain Conservativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13375086449933129807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-73266256862237470132007-03-29T11:59:00.000-05:002007-03-29T11:59:00.000-05:00Even corporate America is starting to complain abo...Even corporate America is starting to complain about the broken U.S. health care system, saying that it hurts their global competitiveness.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-24382661718782246502007-03-28T15:58:00.000-05:002007-03-28T15:58:00.000-05:00.The ball is always in the court of the HMOs. Sinc....<BR/>The ball is always in the court of the HMOs. Since they're in the business of dealing with sick people, they know that, if they can just drag cases out (or tie them up in the court system) eventually, their customers will die. So HMOs actually get rewarded for crappy service and denying (or delaying) medical payment claims.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com