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Find a socialist country with a similarly sized population to the US. Find one that is NOT a net energy exporter.
You can't because it doesn't exist. Unless those two criteria are met, that argument is invalid.
I can't speak of the second, but in terms of population, this could be at the state level. Federally, it would be much more difficult to implement, I'll give you that. But at the end of the day, the US has a lot to learn from our European counterparts. Capitalism has screwed how Americans think of themselves and their communities. We are too individualistic, caring only about ourselves and not what is best for the community. The needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few.
No, they just die while they're waiting for their name to get to the top of the waiting list. In a way, that's more "fair", because everyone has to wait, it's not dependent on how much money you have. But the reason our and their systems are the way they are is because health care is expensive! Back surgery costs an arm and a leg. Catastrophic trauma is expensive to treat--gluing a person back together who's been in a bike or car accident is extremely costly. Heart surgery, cancer treatment, brain surgery for aneurysms and other emergencies, liver transplants, it's all insanely expensive, even in a system that would be operating on a not-for-profit basis.
So how to deal with that? Care has to be rationed somehow, either by who can afford it, or who's first in line. There's no way around it, without even more extreme taxation than the highest-taxed countries already have.
Actually, it doesn't go by who is there first, but who is in most need/urgency. So, yes, you may need back surgery, but the guy over there who is having a myocardial infarction will be seen first because he will be dead at the end of the day if he doesn't.
That being said, I would like America to take on the Australian approach where universal healthcare and private health insurance coexist happily.
To fulfill my perverse desire to be universally hated by all sides, I'll announce that I'm neither capitalist nor socialist, but a statist. I view with considerable skepticism both the coddling welfare state, with its social safety net and high taxes, and the free-wheeling small-government state of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. I believe, with Thatcher, that the socialist state will eventually run out of capital; but the Friedman-Hayek state lacks the civic imperative and national-will to accomplish truly transformative ends. Instead, I lionize the totalitarian super-state, which unleashes capitalist drive and creativity where necessary, which safeguards private-property to motivate working and earning, but which carefully and attentively maintains national oversight of principal systems and concerns, sometime by soft power, but where necessary by raw coercion. Leviathan, the mega-state, would supplant both religious affinities and family loyalties, turning Man into a truly public creature. My ideal state would be a fusion of Plato's Republic, Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward", and Huxley's "Brave New World".
Actually, it doesn't go by who is there first, but who is in most need/urgency. So, yes, you may need back surgery, but the guy over there who is having a myocardial infarction will be seen first because he will be dead at the end of the day if he doesn't.
That being said, I would like America to take on the Australian approach where universal healthcare and private health insurance coexist happily.
Surgery for a chronic condition and surgery for an emergency wouldn't be seen in the same department. The heart attack patient would be in the emergency room, the back patient and the liver transplant patients would be in a different section of the hospital, and would have waited their turns on the waiting lists.
What gives you the right to take other people's money? How do you justify having the authority to decide for others how they can invest their own money or earn their own living?
Why not just leave people alone and have socialism among like minded people who hold the same beliefs?
In the end you people are just stealing and forcing your demented views on others who have no desire to partake in your socialist expermiment.
To each their own I guess but I wish you people who just keep to yourself and keep your hands off of my money.
What gives you the right to take other people's money? How do you justify having the authority to decide for others how they can invest their own money or earn their own living?
Which one of this things did you pay for?
- Highways and highway lighting
- Streets and street lighting
- Railroad tracks
- Dams to provide water to your city
- Police in your city
- Firefighters in your city
- Military to protect you
Now... if you want to live in a place where you pay ZERO taxes and don't get any of those benefits
You might want to try a place like Somalia that right now is pretty similar to "The Wild West"
To fulfill my perverse desire to be universally hated by all sides, I'll announce that I'm neither capitalist nor socialist, but a statist. I view with considerable skepticism both the coddling welfare state, with its social safety net and high taxes, and the free-wheeling small-government state of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. I believe, with Thatcher, that the socialist state will eventually run out of capital; but the Friedman-Hayek state lacks the civic imperative and national-will to accomplish truly transformative ends. Instead, I lionize the totalitarian super-state, which unleashes capitalist drive and creativity where necessary, which safeguards private-property to motivate working and earning, but which carefully and attentively maintains national oversight of principal systems and concerns, sometime by soft power, but where necessary by raw coercion. Leviathan, the mega-state, would supplant both religious affinities and family loyalties, turning Man into a truly public creature. My ideal state would be a fusion of Plato's Republic, Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward", and Huxley's "Brave New World".
I don't get it... Bellamy's state was a Socialist utopia, Huxley's is a segregated hedonistic-utilitarian welfare state, and Plato's Republic lionizes the philosopher king. Please explain how your coercive capitalist super-state is compatible with Bellamy (or even Huxley)? And philosopher kings can theoretically be a part of most systems (even Democratic, if the people recognize the merits of said king...).
Last edited by kwhitegocubs; 09-28-2014 at 02:26 AM..
Though I do take issue with the numbers being skewed in the case of the smaller countries that are sitting on vast oil wealth. Luxembourg has a very specialized banking industry. I dont even want to get into Hong Kong and Singapore, but I wouldn't want to live in either place. So essentially, I would consider the USA best on that list!
Now, I didn't mean to imply that "best country" was synonymous with wealth. The USA is the wealthiest, but it isn't the best anymore, in my opinion, in terms of economic sustainabilty, quality of life and culture.
"Wealth of the nation"? What wealth? The US is the most indebted nation on earth. There is no wealth, when you subtract the crushing debt.
Ma'am... I'm talking about GDP. How much WEALTH the nation generates each year. There is no way you can assert that the USA is not the wealthiest nation in the world in terms of how much total income it generates each year.
Now, how the USA squanders that wealth and misappropriates and misuses it is another thing.
If you want to talk about the national debt, the USA is the POOREST nation on the face of the earth. But that's not really an adequate picture either.
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