Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Interesting. This top 10 list written by "Canada" describes many issues that Canadians simply do not regard as worthy of discussion. When "we" Canadians talk about issues in the United States, we do not generally discuss things like tax fraud, federal entitlements towards blacks, and US gas gouging. "We" tend to list stupidity in terms of things like health care, poverty, child care benefits, and employment issues (among others, of course).
In other words, this list was obviously written by an American, and from an American perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohio_peasant
Agreed. Whenever I visit Canada, the principal barbs aimed at American society look like this:
* Why do Americans love their guns so much? Do Americans seriously believe that private citizens using rifles and pistols could forestall government tyranny?
* Why do so many things in America vary from one state to another?
* Why are so many Americans philosophically opposed to a single-payer health care system?
* Why are Americans so religious?
* Why does America not have a merit-based legal immigration system, where for instance persons with STEM degrees and demonstrated command of English can obtain a long-term work visa?
* Why haven't most Americans (except for maybe those in Minnesota) figured out how to drive in the snow?
* Why has America not seriously considered a national sales tax (value-added tax)?
It reads more like it was written by the Tea Party than by "average Canadians". On average, Canada is to the left of America so this being a "Canada list" kind of puzzled me.
It reads more like it was written by the Tea Party than by "average Canadians". On average, Canada is to the left of America so this being a "Canada list" kind of puzzled me.
It's less Canada being more to the left than us, but the US being more to the right than most of the western world.
2.) The states are independent laboratories. They have some autonomy. Why shouldn't they? Central governments are disconnected and tend to become tyrannical over time.
7.) Because there is NO revenue problem, there is a spending problem. Giving a heroin addict more heroin will not improve his life.
Part of my list was tongue-in-cheek; part is reporting of perspective that I’ve encountered with which I don’t necessarily agree, but which I’ve frequently heard across the dinner-table on visits to Canada; and part very much shares my own perspective.
Foremost amongst the latter is state government/sovereignty vs. national government. In my view, the 10th amendment was a craven sop to certain truculent elements of the original 13 colonies, as an expedient to ratifying the Constitution. It is obsolete, and should be abolished. I believe that that government governs best, which is furthest away. State government breeds corruption and ineptitude far more ravenously that federal government. Sometimes it really does feel that the “United States†are 50 separate countries protected by a common (but not commonly sustained) military, minting a common currency and speaking (more or less) a common language.
I won’t debate here the questions of guns, religion and health insurance, but will raise the question of national value-added tax. Would it not be a conservative proposition, to shift part of the tax-burden away from income and assets (property tax), towards consumption? Presumably, the affluent and the investor-class have excess income, consuming only a portion of their earnings, and would therefore benefit from such a revision of the tax code. But this runs into another conservative mantra: revulsion towards national initiatives. The romance of maximally leaving economic policy to the states, trumps the fiscal self-interest of passing a national sales tax in offset of a reduction of income tax.
Last edited by ohio_peasant; 01-22-2014 at 04:34 PM..
So Doctors should work for free? GE should build MRI machines for free? Pharmacists should work for free? Or do you mean the government should just pay them for everything. Well where does the government get money, oh thats right from you and me. I.E. its not free, youre just making the government the middle man. Derrrrrr.
No one should work for "free". But they shouldn't be OVER CHARGING the HELL out of us, either.
I stayed in the hospital once and I got a $53,000 bill. Each "cat-scan" costed like 11 thousand dollars . (!)
and they did 3 scans.
The ambulance ride was another 10 thousand.
The REST was for miscellaneous things like $1 for the STICK that they check your tongue with (put out your tongue and say "Ahhhh".)
Trust me, I was charged for EVERYTHING from cups to blankets/sheets, to the crappy lunches.
(I went in after a car crash, and they kept me for 3 days to check for possible internal injuries)
Really??? $55, 000 dollars?
As for the machines.... I'm sure they can make them CHEAPLY, and SELL them cheaply,
but since the KNOW that people's LIVES DEPEND ON THEM,
they CHARGE whatever they WANT.
"Do you want to LIVE??" It's gonna COST you. "want us to use this machine, to check you??"
That's gonna COST you as well.
Where does it stop.
That's why they won't cure AIDS or Cancer. People like yourselves, trying to justify GREED.
It's not just me - 25% of my province's population does not even have a family doctor. Stub your toe? Go to the emergency room.
American health care has serious flaws, I'm sure we can all agree, but Canada is hardly the shining example that people around the world like to make it out to be.
I don't know what to tell you.
I can only ask you this: Would you prefer to PAY out of your POCKET YOURSELF???
Do you think THAT will get your son the attention he needs?
If the answer is 'you can't afford it', then... you have a better system where you are.
(I hope you guys can get the attention/help you need. good luck & God bless)
"Do you want to LIVE??" It's gonna COST you. "want us to use this machine, to check you??"
That's gonna COST you as well.
Where does it stop.
Good point. I'm all in favor of free-markets, but for markets to function, both parties to the transaction need to be well-informed, and to have the capacity to walk away. Healthcare fails on both counts. One side (the providers) is inordinately better informed than the other (the patients). And the patient has no means of walking away, other than for elective procedures.
The American healthcare system is a worldwide bonanza for medical research and for making advances at the forefront of medical technology. But such progress comes at a price. The price is borne by the consumer - whether the patients themselves, or the insurance companies or the government.
Speaking of insurance companies, I've noticed in glancing at my medical billing-statements that the "rack rate" charged by the medical provider is often 5X-10X higher than the rate negotiated with the insurance company. In other words, if a diagnostic procedure is billed at $3000, the actual price negotiated with the insurance company is $600 or even $300.
Interesting. This top 10 list written by "Canada" describes many issues that Canadians simply do not regard as worthy of discussion. When "we" Canadians talk about issues in the United States, we do not generally discuss things like tax fraud, federal entitlements towards blacks, and US gas gouging. "We" tend to list stupidity in terms of things like health care, poverty, child care benefits, and employment issues (among others, of course).
In other words, this list was obviously written by an American, and from an American perspective.
Interesting. This top 10 list written by "Canada" describes many issues that Canadians simply do not regard as worthy of discussion. When "we" Canadians talk about issues in the United States, we do not generally discuss things like tax fraud, federal entitlements towards blacks, and US gas gouging. "We" tend to list stupidity in terms of things like health care, poverty, child care benefits, and employment issues (among others, of course).
In other words, this list was obviously written by an American, and from an American perspective.
Yep, it was written by some right winger from the good ol' US of A. It's every GOP talking point from the past 20 years only with neocon-like embellishment.
Example:
"1) Only in America ... could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all."
A blatant misleading and incomplete point. The top 10% pays something like 70% of all federal income taxes. It also controls more than 75% of the wealth. Also, I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to realize that, if a wealthiest 10% pays 70% of the tax, the nations wealth distribution is remarkably skewed towards that group.
Last edited by Cleveland_Collector; 01-22-2014 at 09:55 PM..
Yes. Any cash income is taxable. Some people qualify for income tax credits which may negate them, but it is definitely taxable income. Usually, what winds up happening is that people who are employed have income tax deducted at a rate that applies to yearly income (say, $100K @ 26% or $26K/yr or $500/wk ). If they lose their job and receive unemployment (usually about $11K/yr or 400/wk), no more tax will have to be paid due to the fact that they will have already overpaid based on the full year's income. But, leave it to the wingnuts to distort the issue. It's one of the few things they're good at.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
