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Just curious, besides free mediocre healthcare and secondary education, what other freedoms are provided by the higher taxes?
And what in God's name is FREE healthcare? There's no such thing. The healthcare fairy doesn't come down and wave her magic wand, sprinkling free healthcare and glitter over the nation.
15.5% of Canadian households owned firearms in 2004-2005. 42.8% of American households own firearms. Also, it's nearly impossible in Canada to get a permit to carry. Draw your own conclusions, I guess.
The USA has better survival rates for SOME cancers, not all cancers. Cuba has one of the best survival rates for breast cancer. Canada does better than the USA in others.
But your statement is really sort of a misdirection. The original question here was (paraphrasing) "why don't we get the better medical care that is available in other countries?" The premise is that our medical care system is substandard. This premise was largely created by the commonly quoted statistic about life expectancy. Well, life expectancy is a really poor indicator of the quality of the medical care system because so many lifestyle factors such as typical diet, exercise patterns, prevelance of obesity and so forth play such a strong role in life expectancy. To carry it to an extreme, if you weigh 400 pounds, eat junk food and drink beer all day, and never exercise, no amount of outstanding medical care is going to give you a long life expectancy. The statistics about American's with respect to these factors indicate this is the real reason for our lower than stellar life expectancy.
Rather than using life expectancy, 5 year cancer survival rates are a better indicator of the quality of the medical care system. The reality is that the current medical system in the United States ranks towards the top of the list quite consistently with respect to cancer survival rates. Perhaps not # 1 across the board (although I've seen some data that does place us in first for most common cancers), but it's right up there with the best countries. There is nothing about this data that indicates we need a major overhaul of our medical system. Room for improvement, sure, that's almost always the case.
Another interesting statistic to look at might be average waiting time for insertion of a stent. I couldn't find a comparitive study, but I do know that my boss's brother, who lives in Canada, waited for over a year to have this done. Here in the U.S. you would typically be in and out of the hospital in a couple weeks, if not in fact a few days for this procedure. Anecdotal I know, but absent a full study I'll take this one instance as indicative.
So what is the basis for the assertion that our current medical care system is in fact substandard?
So you don't need to protect yourself because your 2/3's less likely to be killed, got it. I'm sure the people that were murdered wish they had a gun to protect themselves.
So you don't need to protect yourself because your 2/3's less likely to be killed, got it. I'm sure the people that were murdered wish they had a gun to protect themselves.
Do you not have fire alarms, fire extinguishers, car/life/home insurance? Because if you have any of those, your just living in fear by your definition.
I would better describe it as preparing for a situation that you hope does not happen.
So you don't need to protect yourself because your 2/3's less likely to be killed, got it. I'm sure the people that were murdered wish they had a gun to protect themselves.
People own guns in Canada, too.
They just dont hoard assault rifles and pray to jesus for a home invader.
They just dont hoard assault rifles and pray to jesus for a home invader.
Lol! I've actually seen some posters hoping for an altercation so they could shoot some scum. Git 'er done!
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