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Sorry Mike - you completely lost me. Because see, the "free market" does not work when unchecked. Not at all.
Government involvement has destroyed many things, agreed. But PRIVATE corporations have done the same.
And I think anyone who really thinks that GOVERNMENTS rule the world anymore is fooling themselves. CORPORATIONS rule the world, we just live in it.
Private corporations have become all about greed and screwing the consumer and worker just to make sure the CEO gets an additional house or two... sorry, I've seen way too much to think just letting things"be" will make it all work out.
While I will be the first to admit that much has changed in this country between the authoring of the Constitution and the present day, what has changed in the respect that every individual should have their prescriptions taken care of as well as retirement savings? This is individual responsibility. Why should the government be our provider for these matters? If we, as a society, have lost such faith in the individual, then the doctrine, which was formed on the pretense of rugged individualism, is doomed. I have a mommy and a daddy, I don't need another one. And I think that's what got us into this problem in the first place. People want to be provided for. Drugs, retirement, and now, health care. How about free food? What's next? Free government issued cars? When does it end?
WOW! There is really silly stuff. The problem with our goverment is sheer fiscal irresponsibility and the criminal raiding of the treasury combined with lack of intrest from the citizens in regard to their government.
An in depth audit would surely prove you should be much more concerned about other areas of government spending before you get to here.
The constitution also says we don't need a standing army...
We have at least 300M to 1/3B people in USA now. We don't have enough natural resources, good paying jobs, etc. to sustain the current populace. The environment has taken a massive beaten. If we go 350M to 1/2B people it will force massive development, ANWR/coastal drilling, more coal mining/burning, depletion of USA NG reserves, etc. USA CO2 emissions will go higher and higher.
It makes no sense to cap CO2 emissions w/o capping the populace. Cap the populace 1st and then look at CO2.
Well, in order to evaluate the current state of calamity vis a vis prescription drug costs, it is appropriate that we avail ourselves of historical facts. To me, the greatest problem with the left wing is their skepticism in the free market, and a marked preference for government to fix or solve problems over private sector and the market. I reject this central tenant, because the government has screwed up almost everything when it comes to interfering with business practices. And, the government, when you examine the current state of affairs with prescription drug costs, is at fault. Have you ever heard of the HMO Act of 1973? Tax rules that do not allow individuals to allocate pre-tax dollars to pay for health care, make individual citizens interact with HMO and Medicare bureaucrats. And why? Unwarranted legislation. This is an unnecessary third party that stands between the doctor and the patient. Shouldn't individual citizens be able to differentiate what prescriptions are appropriate while simultaneously ruducing thieir taxable income for all drug expenditures? When you force employers to offer HMOs and prohibit people from paying for prescriptions with pre-tax dollars, the result is government enabling drug companies to set high prices for middlemen who have no regard for the freemarket.
What about the FDA? Another governmental tenticle that is directly responsible for high drug costs. Pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a single drug to market because of FDA rules. Often FDA approval is never obtained, no matter how much a company spends developing a drug. So pharmaceutical makers naturally try to recoup their huge investments by charging high prices and lobbying to keep exclusive drug patent periods as lengthy as possible. This is an instance of a governmental agency, in this case the FDA, that is doing more harm than good. The drug prices are being artificially raised and stifles the incentive for needed drug research. If the FDA would butt out, there would be more of an incentive to shorten patent expirations and as a result, drug development costs would be reduced. As a result, price competition between drug companies would be encouraged.
Guys, I am no rocket scientist, but this is not tough stuff to understand. We just need to be more aware of historical facts, acts, and their consequences as they pertain to present day, rather than listening to 30 second soundbytes by half-baked presidential candidates, and their followers, who seem to think that when 'their guy' is elected, their standard of life will improve immediately, on January 21st, 2009, without having to do so much as lift a finger. In reality, folks, it doesn't work that way. You have to earn it for yourself. The Constitution only allows for the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of it. And there never will be a guarantee, however, the only way we will be prosperous as a society, ultimately, is when these politiicians of both parties get out of our way, stop the taxation, the regulation, and allow ingenuity to enrich our lifestyles. Washington D.C. will never be able to provide that. And as soon as 50% of this country comes to that realization, only then will we have a chance. Liberty > security.
Great post! It is a real shame that the principles that our country was founded on-well many today think those principles are "out of date".
Please explain to me why if someone isn't for diversity in your eyes, then they will burn in Hell. Go ahead, I dare you.
Oh, that won't do it - what WILL is assuming that somehow you have superiority in any way, shape or form IF you are white...which you don't. Nor do I. Nor does anyone else.....
As stated earlier, SCIENCE has stated that you can not determine race scientifically - I'm going to put my trust there a little more than in the US Courts....
And I hate to tell you this - we will be the US of China one day if things don't improve - and last time I checked - according to the US courts - they are not "white."
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