"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it."
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What others are saying
No to Obama care!!!
This whole thing makes me sick. We do need something done about rising cost of healthcare ie Tort reform, portability, etc. But Obama is trying to pass this for the sake of passing something, albeit a piece of garbage. What I worry about is once this thing is (god willing) denied is that nothing will be done about the current state of healthcare costs in this country. Just more of the same by a corrupt bunch of hucksters dems and repub's.
Well...what is missing is...
a copy of the Constitution in his hand that he's planning to use to wipe ...
Obama's Dog Sqeeze
Wow, it looks like a coiled up kielbasa. Somehow this relates to Pelosi and her peeps trying to ram this bill through the "back door."
re Frank: You're not alone
... Cont
Second, how do you prevent Socialized Health Care from falling victim to the tragedy of the commons (people over utilizing the system to the point it crashes because they have no personal stake in paying for it) without creating "Death Panels" that determine who gets what care based purely on actuarial tables?
Third, how do you keep from socializing the costs of risky behavior without also legislating morality. Abortion is obviously the most contentious example of this, if the socialized medicine covers it then there are fewer consequences to unprotected sex which will lead to more of it and more abortions. On the other hand if you don't cover it or apply other legislative barriers and penalties to unprotected sex you are defacto implementing morality laws that punish people for behavior that harms no one else. Even if you get past abortion though, there are thousands of other issues in this category, Smoking Diet, Exercise, Gun Ownership, choice of spouse, whether you can get divorced or not, whether you have to get divorced or not, etc a thousand times over. Basically in a socialized medicine system any behavior, activity, or choice which can be shown to have a statistical correlation with better or worse health can be regulated by the government by simply choosing to provide or exclude access to health care on that basis alone.
Now, none of this should be taken as an endorsement of the current health care system in the US. It is clearly broken. In fact it is broken in many of the same ways that a Socialized system is because it is almost as far from a free market system as what they have in Canada or Europe, There are significant differences to be sure but the restrictions of competition (primarily caused by linking Health Insurance to Employment) and over regulation of the industry cause just as many economic distortions with some of the same side effects as socializing it would.
In the end, we drastically need health care reform, but it will never achieve the goal of improving quality, access, and price unless it is driven by free market principals
re Frank: You're not alone
I don't think there are too many people who like the current system and real reform that would actually work to lower costs would get plenty of support, even if it happened at the cost of increasing the government.
The problem is any idiot with a 5th grade reading comprehension level can see that this current Democratic plan will not do anything to lower costs and in fact has plenty in it that will increase costs.
As far as portrayals of the Canadian Health Care system go. You are correct Opponents of Socialized medicine cherry pick their data to show what they want to show. The problem is so do the Proponents of it, they cherry pick sob stories about grandma's having to choose between paying for their meds and food when for 95% of the people that is not how it works and they are served perfectly fine by our current system.
The reason for this is simple, either system, what we have in the US today, or European/Canadian socialized medicine you are going to have 5 - 10% of the people get screwed over by the system but it will work wonderfully for the other 90 - 95%. The real place where there are differences are more esoteric and harder to understand so the pundits on each side of the argument go for the emotional angle.
The real reasons why Socialized Medicine does not work has more to do with pure economic theory than anything to do with health care.
First off without the price system of the free market how do central planners determine how much to spend on Health Care? How do they determine which procedures and treatments are worth using and which are not?
cont...
one more observation
Looks like the Doctor was right, Obama needs more fiber in his diet!
@Frank Sanders @ 03/17/10 11:14:00 AM
Part III. If they truly wanted to reduce cost and insure those uninsured Americans (10-15 million) they could have done it using current tax resource without increasing gov’t control, our debt and taxes on the so call rich (those who hire and make the economy move) and eventually the “middle” class. Btw, we already have it, it is call Medicaid and Medicare.
And please don't say Bush did it with Iraq war because he was also wrong for funding a war with Debt. He could have used current resources and/or ask the American people to invest (e.g. war bonds etc…). I personally was not for how we went into Iraq because I think the U.S. needs to stop involving themselves abroad unless they receive a clear invitation since we are blamed if we do or if we don't (e.g. Darfur). I also think as Americans we unfortunately have the tendency to take over and disregard the host's culture (full control is sometimes necessary to implement changes but not all see it that way when the change take a long time) and because the engagement was well thought out (many consideration such as cultural difference were disregarded or not properly implemented and Bush administration did a bad job defending their stance to the American people and the world. We should have gone into Iraq with complete not part-time or dragging partnership from our allies.
@Frank Sanders @ 03/17/10 11:14:00 AM
Part II. In an ideal world, I would not have a problem with universal health care (single payer) if all able body individual pay into the system despite income. No one has the right to another’s labor; therefore, health care itself is not a right. We all have the right to survival but we do not have the right to force another to maintain our survival. Our rights ends were the rights of another begins.
I want to address health care reform which means in our system that can only be done in the market not by the gov't. No where in our Constitution, the gov't has the right to force an individual to buy a product they don't want or force any law abiding citizen to give up their right for another. For universal health care which force another to buy insurance to happen in this country, our Constitution needs to be ratify--any other means is unconstitutional.
The problem is that American has allow its politicians (republican & democrats) to trash the Constitution for years because it did no yield any big consequence to self. I for one am glad that all whether conservative or liberal or independent are now paying attention to the process and the laws that are being passed. I believe America can be saved from financial bankruptcy but it is up to the people to do it.
obama statue
that's what is fix'n to happen to the american public.when we get our obama bill enama, preformed by nancy pelosi. that is just a leaders example
@Frank Sanders @ 03/17/10 11:14:00 AM
Part I. Would you agree the U.S. and Canada are two separate nations with two difference charter that governs the nation? I don't know much about Canada but I do know Canada and the U.S. are not one in the same.
The error people on either side of the argument make is that they keep on comparing the U.S. and Canada medical cost. Universal health Canada is a way of life in Canada--that is fine because that is what the people in that country want. We can not compare U.S. to Canada because we do not have the same gov't structure, individual mentality, culture, etc...
Here according to our Constitution, the gov't works at the will of the people not the other way around. We are an individualistic society with the tendency of collectivism. We do not mind paying a certain amount of our wages to the gov't but we mind when the gov't wants more than 1/3 (which I think is too much) and mind when dependency on the gov't instead of oneself, family, church, synagogue, mosque, or community is becoming the norm. I believe in capitalism and the free market; a market based solution with sensible, sound, clear and precise gov't oversight.
comment for Antonio
Like you I share your concern that this bill and the methods by which it is bieng passed will change our great country. No - Neal's picture was not "classy" but at times frankly what else can you do? I'm reminded of a scene in the movie "The Changling" where a mental patient, in describing the illegal way she was committed says, (and I'm paraphrasing) "F-ck him and the horse he rode in on". The heroine in the story, Anglina Jolie says "Those are not the words or a lady" to which the inmate responds "sometimes words are all you have." Well - sometimes words are all you have. People have been protesting, speaking at town halls, writing and calling. Our representatives (and I refuse to capitalize those I have no respect for) in congress and the administration know that most people are opposed to this. Even if it was a GREAT plan, which it isn't, and even if they did not have to bribe members of congress and the unions, which they do, the bottom line is that WE CANNOT AFFORD it. Our CBO knows it, we know it, our president knows it but...see...this really isn't about healthcare. This is about a president so petty, so narcessitic that he makes this all about him. He can't bear to lose on this and the American people be da-mned. So no - pictures like this aren't classy but sometimes that's all we have left. WE will change it all in November and I, for one, can't wait.
I Imagine
Web Wench will be busy with this one.....
keep on being classy!
The way I see it, the picture is right on! You guys can continue trying to be refined, and classy, etc, etc... while a group of Marxists ideologues try to UNconstitutionally pass legislation that will CHANGE our entire economy and form of government... This will no longer be the America I immigrated to and I loved so much, it looks more like the country I escaped from... Have you ever figured out a good way of grabbing a turd? Well, that is exactly what you, the “refined” are doing!
Statue
Over used now.
Neil knows
Neil knows how to enrage the the moochers!
This version of Health Care reform - a real monster lurking.
This monster in the works will ultimately hurt everyone except the insurance companies. They stand to make more money by forcing everyone to buy insurance. And taxes have to get much higher thanks to this healthcare reform, the TARP Wall Street bailouts, and the out of control government spending.
Why is it that Canadians pay, per capita, 47% of what Americans pay, for their socialized medicine system? And this is before Obama's healthcare reform. And everyone gets treated in Canada, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It doesn't matter if you have a job or not. I know that some rich Canadians travel to the U.S. to get private specialized treatment, and the talk show hosts make us well aware of this. I also know that rich Americans go to Canada to get specialized treatment. And I know Americans that go to Hungary or Poland to get quality dental care for 1/5 of the cost of American dental work. These the talk show hosts "conveniently" forget to talk about. Canadians are also free to go to local private doctors who are outside of their Medicare system.
Something definitely has to be done about Health Care. America does have the best health care in the world but it is simply too expensive for many. Just like a five star restaurant is unaffordable for many, this system is beyond the reach of many hard working Americans. So some kind of reform is needed to make it affordable for every honest working person. But this Obama-proposal is not the solution.
I am familiar with both systems because I am a Canadian living in the States. The Canadian system isn't as bad as what the AM talk show hosts make it out to be (did they ever go to a large Canadian city and interview real Canadians on the street). And I too had to wait in American hospitals despite the fact that I have quality health insurance. If the Canadian government were to implement the system they have in the U.S. I think there would be a revolution in Canada. But you need to pay for the system thus taxes are higher. But here in the States, taxes are starting to exceed Canadian taxation levels without any of the benefits of their socialized system (practically free healthcare, highly subsidized university tuition, generous pensions etc). Here we prefer to pay high taxes to bailout banks, the UAW, on pork spending, and to provide AID to other countries. The taxpayer gets little for their high taxes.
Now let's see how many readers blast me for not loving the current health care system we have in place (and also hating the new health care proposal).
suggestion
Take a picture of him pooping on a map of Israel or the Star of David.
From Investors Business daily: This is not a sustainable path for a democracy. A minority of productive citizens cannot support a majority of citizens subsisting all or in part on entitlements.
Forcing a health care entitlement that will cost $2.5 trillion in its first decade,
The combined unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare — now at $107 trillion, according to the government's own estimates — by themselves are enough to sink us.
while I agree,
that's a bit juvenile.
Boortz...ever the classy one...
Yea that Boortz sure is classy.
HAHAHAHA
Sadly that is miles better than what conservatives are proposing.
Search Boortz.com
