New York City

[Walker]

The Commie Strategy

Make people dependent (attached), then cut them off for awhile to make them sweat. Throw in a ration of abuse such as clever new taxes, then turn on the love to make everything okay, to teach the proles how the supply chain really works in the land of class warfare.

It’s the Commie strategy of pimping, grooming, and centralized totalitarian control.

As with the looting of other people’s stuff and the literal enslaving of other people's productive life-force in the land of Freedumb, government distribution of goods will eventually run out, as the folks who knew what was happening either left town or if they waited too long, buried their gold and guns.

It’s the way of the world, as Einstein knew.

Folks are still digging up old Roman gold in England because someone way back when was trying to protect what they had. Human nature knows better than to give what you have to someone who wants to destroy your way of life that generated what was traded for the gold.

[Walker]

45 million of the USA population on fungible food stamps?

Just wait until AI eliminates all the jobs, as the doomsters are predicting.

Then everyone will be on rations.

Hmmm. Those wily Russians once made Ukrainians grow their food, while starving them to death. AI is infinitely more wily and capable of tracking every grain of food. If your social credit score says too bad, then no soup for you.

It's not your grandpa's totalitarianism anymore.

[Walker]

Arvo Part - Salve Regina (Full)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1CNNf9 ... rt_radio=1

[phyllo]

Shouldn't everyone have health care?

Paid for by whom?

The community

[Immanuel Can]

Ugh. What a selfish ****. Nothing will change that.

Not at all. I'm an advocate for the poor, who are being robbed by the rich and privileged. And I'm in favour of charity and community efforts of all kinds. I just realize that government is an inept vehicle. And I marvel that you're content to let your money be drained off by government, and thus to do no worldly good for anybody.

If you think it helps people when you let them be robbed, or if you think government is a marvel of good use of funds, I don't know what to say to you.

Where's all this 'stealing'?

It's coming from you and me, through taxation. Did you not ever notice how many taxes the government "buries" so that you won't be conscious of how much money they're taking from you? They have layers of taxes on everything. That's how it ends up that people lose 35-45% or higher of their gross income, and don't know why they can't afford groceries, a home, or braces for the kids' teeth. And most of this is taken not for services, but for the bureaucracies that "manage" these departments, for regulatory bodies and for other purposes from which the average person receives no value, but the bureaucrats and politicians do...like hiring more bureaucrats.

Our governments are so corrupt that a comedy like "Yes, Minister" has become not only possible but resonant with UK culture. And the side-show in the US of shutting down government bodies that were funding trans-surgeries in Guatemala, or terrorists' poppy fields in Afghanistan, or DEI theatre in Ireland, or providing free stuff to drug lords and child traffickers...well, that has exposed just how insane government abuse of the tax system has become. There's no accountability at all.

Now, all that being the case, it's not easy to say how to solve healthcare. It's very expensive. The technology is expensive, and the people who are trained to do it have to have extensive education, and they do a very important and demanding job. They deserve compensation for that, or they simply will do something else instead. And people need essential services like healthcare. But it serves neither the system nor the patient if most of the revenue the government takes in gets wasted, and if the taxation drains the national economy and bankrupts people. What we need is a better solution: something like, perhaps, affordable health insurance, but insurance the dispersal of which remains in the choice of the patient, not in the clutches of government. One thing for sure: what we're doing isn't working well enough -- it's too expensive and not long-term sustainable, and some new strategy needs a try.

[Immanuel Can]

Shouldn't everyone have health care?

Paid for by whom?

The community

That's you and me. Are they going to ask us how much we want to give, or are they just going to take it while we're not looking?

[phyllo]

Paid for by whom?

The community

That's you and me. Are they going to ask us how much we want to give, or are they just going to take it while we're not looking?

Do you get to approve how much is taken for roads, police, fire, education, military?

Same argument, isn't it?

[phyllo]

And while you're at it, we should note that access is severely restricted in many of the same countries...a person who needs a hip surgery in Canada, for example, right next door to the US, can wait 6 months to a year-and-a-half to get it, regardless of the seriousness and potential damage involved, and cannot pay more to move up the wait list. In the US, it's going to be expensive; but if you need it, you can get it. That's something worth considering, too...especially if it's your hip. Doctor availability and skilling is much higher in the US. And as for the level of the medical technology available, there's simply no comparison.

I googled this and got:

Wait time for hip replacement is median 4.3 months (131 days) in Canada

Wait time for hip replacement is mean 5 months in USA

I also googled "health care ranking by country" and found that the USA ranks poorly compare to many nationalized systems

In the US, it's going to be expensive; but if you need it, you can get it.

If you don't have the money, then you can't get it except through a charity or government program.

[Immanuel Can]

The community

That's you and me. Are they going to ask us how much we want to give, or are they just going to take it while we're not looking?

Do you get to approve how much is taken for roads, police, fire, education, military?

No. I get to make sure that the government doesn't get to steal.

[phyllo]

No. I get to make sure that the government doesn't get to steal.

I have no idea what that means. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

[Immanuel Can]

And while you're at it, we should note that access is severely restricted in many of the same countries...a person who needs a hip surgery in Canada, for example, right next door to the US, can wait 6 months to a year-and-a-half to get it, regardless of the seriousness and potential damage involved, and cannot pay more to move up the wait list. In the US, it's going to be expensive; but if you need it, you can get it. That's something worth considering, too...especially if it's your hip. Doctor availability and skilling is much higher in the US. And as for the level of the medical technology available, there's simply no comparison.

I googled this and got:

Wait time for hip replacement is median 4.3 months (131 days) in Canada

Do you know what "median" means? It means that half of the people wait longer.

I also googled "health care ranking by country" and found that the USA ranks poorly compare to many nationalized systems

It depends on the ranking method. By affordability, sure. By other metrics such as technology and number of doctors and specialists, no. And I'm not advocating the American system either, so it's really a moot point.

[Immanuel Can]

No. I get to make sure that the government doesn't get to steal.

I have no idea what that means. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

"Stealing" means "taking money that doesn't belong to them, without permission." I would have thought that was pretty simple.

[phyllo]

Do you know what "median" means? It means that half of the people wait longer.

I know that.

Do you have any statistics which show that Americans have a substantially shorter wait time than Canadians?

It depends on the ranking method. By affordability, sure. By other metrics such as technology and number of doctors and specialists, no. And I'm not advocating the American system either, so it's really a moot point.

The ranking systems tend to blend many factors.

So it's moot because you are uninterested.

Okay

[phyllo]

No. I get to make sure that the government doesn't get to steal.

I have no idea what that means. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

"Stealing" means "taking money that doesn't belong to them, without permission." I would have thought that was pretty simple.

You don't state how "stealing" for roads is somehow different from "stealing" for healthcare.

And you don't state how you "make sure that the government doesn't get to steal".

[MikeNovack]

Where's all this 'stealing'?

It's coming from you and me, through taxation. Did you not ever notice how many taxes the government "buries" so that you won't be conscious of how much money they're taking from you?

"They"? "you"? IC

Look, I live in a small New England town (township) where we still govern ourselves. For example, on the 18th we will have a special town meeting to vote on whether expend funds to finish putting solar panels over the sewage treatment plant. In other words, to spend money on this, money raised by taxes that we impose on ourselves. It is US, not THEM.

Of course can't use such direct democracy in a larger political unit. So we choose representative. They are supposed to represent US. If you say not representing you but representing "them", vote in somebody else.But note that if by "them" you mean the vast majority, the representaive is going what he or she should.