www.mrbeer.com sells kits to make and bottll your own beer and apple cider. They aslso have rootbeer kits for the kids. As far as wine goes, you're on your own, sorry.
I scored a 65, but the one thing I love most about where I live is so much I need/want is within walking distance. I would think it could be higher. I am central to all the schools. The elementary, middle and high school are all within walking distance. There is a bike path in my backyard that goes through the entire city. The pool and ice rink are just over the creek (that runs along that bike path). There are many food choices on the main road near me (35 miles an hour, semi small city). There are other large parks in the area. We love walking to the ice cream shop in the summer. My friends and family are all within walking distance. The library is a 5 minute or less walk. I can't complain. The only issue is we live in MI and the winters are nasty. Most people don't like to walk in a few feet of snow. LOL
This needs to be addressed by taking a long, hard look at costs. Overbilling on insurance is rife, and I remember one instance where I saw our medical bill and there was a $55 charge on there from a box of tissues! Because we don't pay, it's assumed we don't look. But that doesn't stop these absurd charges appearing. In the end, we all pay. If we could get costs under control, maybe we could all afford great, private healthcare. Where are the watchdogs and regulators?
I'll take a public option. The US hasn't been at the top of the health care system for a while (and I could go on a huge rant re: tech innovation). Cancer screenings/outcome for those under 45 are comparable to that of Europe, while age 65 is better. Why? Medicare - many people get their first screenings/insurance at that point.
- World Health Org. ranked the US at 37 of 191 health systems
- Infant mortality rate in the US is high compared to other developed nations
- The average life expectancy in the US is lower than most developed nations
- The US has one of the highest rates of preventable deaths among 19 industrialized nations
- Even people with good insurance get recommended treatments only about half the time.
- Among other developed nations, only Mexico and Turkey have such large proportions of uninsured residents. None has a similar rate of medical bankruptcy.
- Institute of Medicine reports that thousands of uninsured people die every year from preventable illness
I tried to apply but had some problems with my mic using a virtual machine for windows from my mac. Would love to try it though. Would also love some more extra money ideas like this. Cheers.
Political debate aside, and although I personally lean to the free market system, it's refreshing to read about someone who's experienced both systems first hand and has used them for anything of major importance with their health.
You bring up a lot of great points that I hope we can debate going forward. Part of the "problem" is how complicated this debate really is--there are so many components to something as large as a health care system that it's never going to be a yes-or-no kind of thing.
Hopefully, all of us in the States can have enough perspective to evaluate everything and come to a decent conclusion.
In the ideal world your "blunderbuss" approach makes total sense if the individual has the financial means to meet all his or her financial goals .e.g 401k, Roth, HSA , 529 etc. However, this is the exception rather than the rule.
I am very tired and moreso very skeptical of hearing about all these projected potential earning rates of 6% or greater over a long duration. Most of the time these projection never truly pan out as experience has taught us. Besides, the effect of inflation never is calculated into earnings , forget about capital gains taxes ( if you invest into a taxable account).
Read this link for further information
Don't get me wrong, I will continue to contribute to my 401k, primarily to lower my tax burden rather than to get giddy about some unrealistic projection most of those so called TV experts on talk shows talk about.
Besides, the interest rates on CD's TIPS and other safe investment vehicles are crappy now. Stocks, especially in the US companies are shaky. No one can predict how the alluring markets in the BRIC countries will last or are really reliable.
Rather than park my money in a less than 1% earning account (provided I have money saved for emergencies), I would sooner pay the albatross of a mortgage payment. Once paid or before I pay it off, if interest rates go up, I will then divert it into long term CD's of 5% or more. I know that inflation and taxes will eat some it , but I am not a greedy guy anyway.
I live in MI and so many are without jobs. I know quite a few of them. I have a good job, went through a divorce and I am trying to clean up the financial mess from that. I pay all my bills on time and more then the minimums. I also have a 10 year old child to take care of. I do like a few nice things, but I make a good living. I've made many cuts and watch my pennies. I even clip coupons even though so many look at me like I am a freak. In paper coupons alone, I saved over $40 on my last shopping trip.
So what irks me is my ex and his new wife are both out of work, not a penny to their names, but they got married, got a new car (in her mom's name), quit paying on their credit cards, pay $100+/month for cable, took a trip to Cali and many other crazy things that people who are unemployed shouldn't do. It makes me nuts to be responsible and even help them to see them use unemployment money (money from the rest of us) to waste away on non-necessities. I was unemployed in 2000 right after having a baby and buying a house. I was on unemployment for 2 months and could not wait to get back to work. It helped pay for the necessities. We were not eating out, taking trips or buying expensive items. My own father and step mom live in his mom's basement and just pay for groceries. The stepmom doesn't make much and my dad gets nothing except the odd jobs here and there. However, instead of putting some away or helping my Grandma they would rather go to the bar every week and my Dad smokes a pack or two a day. My Grandma was a waitress her whole life and doesn't have a lot. I see others on unemployment buying big screen TVs and then wondering what happen to the money to feed their kids. Everyone bails on their credit cards when the going gets tough as if they didn't run them up buying frivilous stuff. Which in turn raises the rates on the rest of us who were responsible. Sure I would love to walk away and just quit paying on them, but whatever I owe is what I owe and I feel responsible for.
It just makes me nuts how the people don't want to work or can't find work, but try to live well beyond their means. Then the rest of us have to support them through various forms of welfare. If it was to give food, clothing and shelter when someone is down and out, I get it, but the silly things people do with it is beyond me.
When I was in school (okay, this was a bit ago, but I doubt it's changed a whole lot), there were many free or very cheap meals to be had on campus through various organizations. Many Christian organizations had free (or $1-$3) meals at least once a week. Most clubs had pizza at meetings. I'm not saying that people should join clubs or just hang out at organizations in hopes of getting free (or cheap) meals. But it's definitely worth it to take advantage of the meals that are available at groups where students have an interest.
At the Christian fellowship where I hung out a lot, I "earned" many free meals by either cooking or cleaning up from our weekly $3 lunch discussion group. When I lived there, I also had first rights to any leftovers from any of the activities we were a part of. It definitely helped subsidize my food budget.
They started with, "How can you sleep at night?" and ended with, "This company makes me sick."
I recently had a conversation with one of my credit card companies that included, "Aren't you embarrassed to work for a company that would do something like this? If I were you, I would have quit as soon as I saw those letters going out." Then I closed my account. They had decided to unjustifiably raise my APR to 29.99%. A practice all too common right now as credit card companies try to squeeze as much money as possible out of us little guys while they still can. But that's a topic for another day...
In the Spring Kitchen-aid had a similar deal. I bought mine and printed out the paperwork for a rebate plus a magazine subscription. Submitted the paperwork and like you submitted the additional request to opt out of the magazine, netting another $10 off the mixer. My only wish was that you could opt out of the magazine with a checkbox on the initial form - you had to submit the rebate and then a separate request to cancel the subscription.
I've just recently stopped soda. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I gave up caffeine in October after a few hard tries and finally successful and just had to work on the non-caff soda and finally did it!
What I wouldn't have given for a mini fridge/freezer and a few bags of those steamable rice/veggies that they have in the freezer section today. They sound like a great way to fortify a college kid for much less! Great ideas!
I find it interesting that all of the people who oppose the health care reform continue with the same tired arguments.
"Oh we don't trust the government. Oh, we don't need this. Oh, who cares about the have-nots, I am upper-middle class and just plain peachy!" Blah, blah, blah.
Yet they fail to come up with a better plan. They fail to make any real argument. They fail to do anything but throw their tired and uneducated arguments about with no regard to what happens to anyone but themselves.
The thing is, not having proper health care could happen to any of us. The people who whine about health care reform have never been poor, never had to sacrifice food for medicine, never been terminally ill, and have never had any serious issues with the health care system so how would they know what's best for everyone? They don't. And what's worse is they continue to lie to people and they have no evidence to support what they are saying whatsoever!
All they do is complain and whine because they are so afraid of what will happen to their pretty little pocketbooks.
A public option (for the last freaking time!) is NOT a government takeover of the health care system. It is an OPTION available to the underprivileged. The government will not be running health care. Ever. No matter if this passes or not.
My college son works part time at a very nice steak and seafood restaurant and frequently eats the finest of meals that are sent back because they are over or under done. He has also extolled the benefits of microwaved brown rice with veggies and beans tossed in for protein. His food budget is $100 a month and that includes booze!
I guess Portuguese always knew all of those above :-)
I will toss a few more
1. Butterfly catcher, yes you have to make the frame.
2. Fish catcher, same has above
3. This one's mine. Anti-Bug Green House. Yes, still with a frame. The easier one it's to cut a plastic bottle top and end, in the top just glue the pantyhose.
4. I have seen a dor mosquito mesh with it.
5. The aquario filter was already told, but it's very used in here. I have a big lake so the filter it's bigger. I just asked some cofee shops in here for the cola caps. Then I place them in the pantyhose to make a biologic filter.
6. Tye one end to a pole and in the other one insert a tenis ball. Just play with it :-)
7. To old the fruit in the trees. Like that it will not drop to the flor, it will also prevent bug problems. If you have a diospirus tree, this will help a lot :-)
8. If you have children, it's a very good way to play and store stuff. Just tell them they are role-playing burglar and have to cath all the toys inside.
9. If you're a fisherman it's very interesting to old those worms next to you... and they can be in water fresh and alive ;-) You know what I mean :-)
10. Use it has a special pot. If you do bonsai or are interested in root development, just give it a try ;-)
11. I have always used one when cutting and storing cactus for 2 weeks (or more) before planting them. (This increases the success of rooting). After that I just hang it in a roope inside the green house. When time comes I just cut it to get the cactus. Most of the times I reuse it for step 10.
12. I use it also with some other materials, like a cloth embeded with tar+sulfur+lime (just tiny quantities) insert it along one leg of the pantyhose and tye it to the main tree trunk. It will keep some bugs away, like ants ;-)
Special interest groups, lobbyists, career politicians, and corruption are the problems, not capitalism. Had banks not been strong armed by the government, to give loans to people who could not afford them, this would have never happened. There should have never been a bailout. The government owning everything on "your" behalf is crap. It only provides more fertile ground for more stupidity to grow.
I'll give you one reason why we desperately need to reform the current health care situation in America: your kids.
I'm 22. I couldn't afford college right after high school so I had to put it off. Because of this I was dropped from my parent's insurance coverage. And a lot of the retail jobs I've worked don't even offer benefits. I went a year without health insurance. In that time frame, I went to the emergency room twice for kidney stones and once for the flu. Cost? $15,000 dollars.
What kind of future are you condemning your kids to when they're just "starting out" and already have thousands in medical debt? What chance are you really giving them?
The emergency room is not "health care." I can assure you that I could have easily saved thousands had I had access to preventative care.
Thank you for writing this thorough article with regard to health care in the US and Britain.
You are right, there is NO WAY anyone should be afraid of getting sick because it could cause financial ruin.
I still find it shocking that people are fighting for the insurance companies to keep taking our money and providing nothing in return. Looks like a big ole case of Group Think... whatever the TV says, people believe. We need more people like you telling their stories. Thank you... nicely done.
Though this article is provocative, I don't disagree with it. And while it's great that the author cited sources, I'm baffled as to why there are no links to them. I'm googling to get the raw info, but I'd love to see some of the original articles. What about the Motley Fool piece regarding an "expense ratio" for owning a home, for example. That sounds interesting.
You're right! Barney Frank is the reason for the housing crisis! Thank you so much for clearing that up.
Let's get back to reality. Yes, the government mandated loans to people that shouldn't have gotten them. But the mortgage banks decided to mitigate this risk by putting these people in homes they had no chance of being able to afford. They did this because they could fulfill these government mandates and still profit greatly by selling these houses (after the owners foreclosed) at a much higher price than the original mortgage, thanks to inflation of housing prices.
Your argument is ignorant, nearsighted and worthless. Saying, "the government failed at x, so it will fail at healthcare" is not convincing. I could easily say the same thing against the private industry, and it'd be just as pointless.
... so let's privatize the police, fire service, and the military. "I'm sorry, ma'am. We can't come out and arrest your husband for beating you if you can't afford our $200 fee."
There are services that are NEEDED, and these services should not be left in the hands of those who are motivated by profit and not by patient care. I recently spent a month in England, casually observing the NHS for a Rotary program. I didn't see any kind of deficit in care over what we receive here in the US. In fact, in some ways they were far more innovative in managing certain disease states. And when I was there, legislation was passed requiring that anyone who was suspected of having cancer receive follow-up testing within two weeks of the doctor's initial suspicion. I'm a nurse, and I can tell you I sure as heck can't guarantee that for my patients here.
This is a great post. I have been engaged in the same argument with various people, but my experience is with the Australian health system (pretty similar to U.K).
Too many people spouting negative comments about a "Public Option" or "Nationalized Healthcare" have no experience with such systems. They are just listening to Glen Beck or Palin - characters that have no experience with them as well!
Now to capitalism. I came to America because of this capitalism. Because people are driven to succeed. Who knows - maybe people are driven to work hard or to start companies because if they don't, they will go hungry and will not have healthcare! Maybe this drives America forward? Then again - I do know many people who would leave their corporate jobs in a flash to launch a startup if they did not have the "golden handcuffs" that Paul mentions.
Finally - I am amazed at how many Americans talk about being afraid of their Government and they are truly afraid to have their government involved in their health. Don't get me wrong - people are pretty skeptical of their Government in Australia, but the conspiracy theories (death panels) and fear that the "Government is out to get us" (so lets stock up on guns) - I have never heard people talk like this in any other industrialized nation I have visited. Not saying it is wrong - just pointing out that this culture is coloring the argument.
www.mrbeer.com sells kits to make and bottll your own beer and apple cider. They aslso have rootbeer kits for the kids. As far as wine goes, you're on your own, sorry.
enjoy
Just another viewpoint to throw into the debate:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/SpecialReport.aspx?id=510262
I scored a 65, but the one thing I love most about where I live is so much I need/want is within walking distance. I would think it could be higher. I am central to all the schools. The elementary, middle and high school are all within walking distance. There is a bike path in my backyard that goes through the entire city. The pool and ice rink are just over the creek (that runs along that bike path). There are many food choices on the main road near me (35 miles an hour, semi small city). There are other large parks in the area. We love walking to the ice cream shop in the summer. My friends and family are all within walking distance. The library is a 5 minute or less walk. I can't complain. The only issue is we live in MI and the winters are nasty. Most people don't like to walk in a few feet of snow. LOL
This needs to be addressed by taking a long, hard look at costs. Overbilling on insurance is rife, and I remember one instance where I saw our medical bill and there was a $55 charge on there from a box of tissues! Because we don't pay, it's assumed we don't look. But that doesn't stop these absurd charges appearing. In the end, we all pay. If we could get costs under control, maybe we could all afford great, private healthcare. Where are the watchdogs and regulators?
I'll take a public option. The US hasn't been at the top of the health care system for a while (and I could go on a huge rant re: tech innovation). Cancer screenings/outcome for those under 45 are comparable to that of Europe, while age 65 is better. Why? Medicare - many people get their first screenings/insurance at that point.
- World Health Org. ranked the US at 37 of 191 health systems
- Infant mortality rate in the US is high compared to other developed nations
- The average life expectancy in the US is lower than most developed nations
- The US has one of the highest rates of preventable deaths among 19 industrialized nations
- Even people with good insurance get recommended treatments only about half the time.
- Among other developed nations, only Mexico and Turkey have such large proportions of uninsured residents. None has a similar rate of medical bankruptcy.
- Institute of Medicine reports that thousands of uninsured people die every year from preventable illness
I tried to apply but had some problems with my mic using a virtual machine for windows from my mac. Would love to try it though. Would also love some more extra money ideas like this. Cheers.
Political debate aside, and although I personally lean to the free market system, it's refreshing to read about someone who's experienced both systems first hand and has used them for anything of major importance with their health.
You bring up a lot of great points that I hope we can debate going forward. Part of the "problem" is how complicated this debate really is--there are so many components to something as large as a health care system that it's never going to be a yes-or-no kind of thing.
Hopefully, all of us in the States can have enough perspective to evaluate everything and come to a decent conclusion.
In the ideal world your "blunderbuss" approach makes total sense if the individual has the financial means to meet all his or her financial goals .e.g 401k, Roth, HSA , 529 etc. However, this is the exception rather than the rule.
I am very tired and moreso very skeptical of hearing about all these projected potential earning rates of 6% or greater over a long duration. Most of the time these projection never truly pan out as experience has taught us. Besides, the effect of inflation never is calculated into earnings , forget about capital gains taxes ( if you invest into a taxable account).
Read this link for further information
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/another-los...
Don't get me wrong, I will continue to contribute to my 401k, primarily to lower my tax burden rather than to get giddy about some unrealistic projection most of those so called TV experts on talk shows talk about.
Besides, the interest rates on CD's TIPS and other safe investment vehicles are crappy now. Stocks, especially in the US companies are shaky. No one can predict how the alluring markets in the BRIC countries will last or are really reliable.
Rather than park my money in a less than 1% earning account (provided I have money saved for emergencies), I would sooner pay the albatross of a mortgage payment. Once paid or before I pay it off, if interest rates go up, I will then divert it into long term CD's of 5% or more. I know that inflation and taxes will eat some it , but I am not a greedy guy anyway.
I live in MI and so many are without jobs. I know quite a few of them. I have a good job, went through a divorce and I am trying to clean up the financial mess from that. I pay all my bills on time and more then the minimums. I also have a 10 year old child to take care of. I do like a few nice things, but I make a good living. I've made many cuts and watch my pennies. I even clip coupons even though so many look at me like I am a freak. In paper coupons alone, I saved over $40 on my last shopping trip.
So what irks me is my ex and his new wife are both out of work, not a penny to their names, but they got married, got a new car (in her mom's name), quit paying on their credit cards, pay $100+/month for cable, took a trip to Cali and many other crazy things that people who are unemployed shouldn't do. It makes me nuts to be responsible and even help them to see them use unemployment money (money from the rest of us) to waste away on non-necessities. I was unemployed in 2000 right after having a baby and buying a house. I was on unemployment for 2 months and could not wait to get back to work. It helped pay for the necessities. We were not eating out, taking trips or buying expensive items. My own father and step mom live in his mom's basement and just pay for groceries. The stepmom doesn't make much and my dad gets nothing except the odd jobs here and there. However, instead of putting some away or helping my Grandma they would rather go to the bar every week and my Dad smokes a pack or two a day. My Grandma was a waitress her whole life and doesn't have a lot. I see others on unemployment buying big screen TVs and then wondering what happen to the money to feed their kids. Everyone bails on their credit cards when the going gets tough as if they didn't run them up buying frivilous stuff. Which in turn raises the rates on the rest of us who were responsible. Sure I would love to walk away and just quit paying on them, but whatever I owe is what I owe and I feel responsible for.
It just makes me nuts how the people don't want to work or can't find work, but try to live well beyond their means. Then the rest of us have to support them through various forms of welfare. If it was to give food, clothing and shelter when someone is down and out, I get it, but the silly things people do with it is beyond me.
When I was in school (okay, this was a bit ago, but I doubt it's changed a whole lot), there were many free or very cheap meals to be had on campus through various organizations. Many Christian organizations had free (or $1-$3) meals at least once a week. Most clubs had pizza at meetings. I'm not saying that people should join clubs or just hang out at organizations in hopes of getting free (or cheap) meals. But it's definitely worth it to take advantage of the meals that are available at groups where students have an interest.
At the Christian fellowship where I hung out a lot, I "earned" many free meals by either cooking or cleaning up from our weekly $3 lunch discussion group. When I lived there, I also had first rights to any leftovers from any of the activities we were a part of. It definitely helped subsidize my food budget.
They started with, "How can you sleep at night?" and ended with, "This company makes me sick."
I recently had a conversation with one of my credit card companies that included, "Aren't you embarrassed to work for a company that would do something like this? If I were you, I would have quit as soon as I saw those letters going out." Then I closed my account. They had decided to unjustifiably raise my APR to 29.99%. A practice all too common right now as credit card companies try to squeeze as much money as possible out of us little guys while they still can. But that's a topic for another day...
Spend $25 in the Amazon Toy Store, get a subscription to Parenting or a $10 refund. I just sent in my paperwork Friday.
In the Spring Kitchen-aid had a similar deal. I bought mine and printed out the paperwork for a rebate plus a magazine subscription. Submitted the paperwork and like you submitted the additional request to opt out of the magazine, netting another $10 off the mixer. My only wish was that you could opt out of the magazine with a checkbox on the initial form - you had to submit the rebate and then a separate request to cancel the subscription.
I've just recently stopped soda. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I gave up caffeine in October after a few hard tries and finally successful and just had to work on the non-caff soda and finally did it!
Good Luck to Everyone!
Jessica
What I wouldn't have given for a mini fridge/freezer and a few bags of those steamable rice/veggies that they have in the freezer section today. They sound like a great way to fortify a college kid for much less! Great ideas!
Linsey Knerl
I find it interesting that all of the people who oppose the health care reform continue with the same tired arguments.
"Oh we don't trust the government. Oh, we don't need this. Oh, who cares about the have-nots, I am upper-middle class and just plain peachy!" Blah, blah, blah.
Yet they fail to come up with a better plan. They fail to make any real argument. They fail to do anything but throw their tired and uneducated arguments about with no regard to what happens to anyone but themselves.
The thing is, not having proper health care could happen to any of us. The people who whine about health care reform have never been poor, never had to sacrifice food for medicine, never been terminally ill, and have never had any serious issues with the health care system so how would they know what's best for everyone? They don't. And what's worse is they continue to lie to people and they have no evidence to support what they are saying whatsoever!
All they do is complain and whine because they are so afraid of what will happen to their pretty little pocketbooks.
A public option (for the last freaking time!) is NOT a government takeover of the health care system. It is an OPTION available to the underprivileged. The government will not be running health care. Ever. No matter if this passes or not.
My college son works part time at a very nice steak and seafood restaurant and frequently eats the finest of meals that are sent back because they are over or under done. He has also extolled the benefits of microwaved brown rice with veggies and beans tossed in for protein. His food budget is $100 a month and that includes booze!
I guess Portuguese always knew all of those above :-)
I will toss a few more
1. Butterfly catcher, yes you have to make the frame.
2. Fish catcher, same has above
3. This one's mine. Anti-Bug Green House. Yes, still with a frame. The easier one it's to cut a plastic bottle top and end, in the top just glue the pantyhose.
4. I have seen a dor mosquito mesh with it.
5. The aquario filter was already told, but it's very used in here. I have a big lake so the filter it's bigger. I just asked some cofee shops in here for the cola caps. Then I place them in the pantyhose to make a biologic filter.
6. Tye one end to a pole and in the other one insert a tenis ball. Just play with it :-)
7. To old the fruit in the trees. Like that it will not drop to the flor, it will also prevent bug problems. If you have a diospirus tree, this will help a lot :-)
8. If you have children, it's a very good way to play and store stuff. Just tell them they are role-playing burglar and have to cath all the toys inside.
9. If you're a fisherman it's very interesting to old those worms next to you... and they can be in water fresh and alive ;-) You know what I mean :-)
10. Use it has a special pot. If you do bonsai or are interested in root development, just give it a try ;-)
11. I have always used one when cutting and storing cactus for 2 weeks (or more) before planting them. (This increases the success of rooting). After that I just hang it in a roope inside the green house. When time comes I just cut it to get the cactus. Most of the times I reuse it for step 10.
12. I use it also with some other materials, like a cloth embeded with tar+sulfur+lime (just tiny quantities) insert it along one leg of the pantyhose and tye it to the main tree trunk. It will keep some bugs away, like ants ;-)
Ok... I stop now :-)
Special interest groups, lobbyists, career politicians, and corruption are the problems, not capitalism. Had banks not been strong armed by the government, to give loans to people who could not afford them, this would have never happened. There should have never been a bailout. The government owning everything on "your" behalf is crap. It only provides more fertile ground for more stupidity to grow.
I'll give you one reason why we desperately need to reform the current health care situation in America: your kids.
I'm 22. I couldn't afford college right after high school so I had to put it off. Because of this I was dropped from my parent's insurance coverage. And a lot of the retail jobs I've worked don't even offer benefits. I went a year without health insurance. In that time frame, I went to the emergency room twice for kidney stones and once for the flu. Cost? $15,000 dollars.
What kind of future are you condemning your kids to when they're just "starting out" and already have thousands in medical debt? What chance are you really giving them?
The emergency room is not "health care." I can assure you that I could have easily saved thousands had I had access to preventative care.
Thank you for writing this thorough article with regard to health care in the US and Britain.
You are right, there is NO WAY anyone should be afraid of getting sick because it could cause financial ruin.
I still find it shocking that people are fighting for the insurance companies to keep taking our money and providing nothing in return. Looks like a big ole case of Group Think... whatever the TV says, people believe. We need more people like you telling their stories. Thank you... nicely done.
I'm all for the public option!
Though this article is provocative, I don't disagree with it. And while it's great that the author cited sources, I'm baffled as to why there are no links to them. I'm googling to get the raw info, but I'd love to see some of the original articles. What about the Motley Fool piece regarding an "expense ratio" for owning a home, for example. That sounds interesting.
Why just a textdump without any links?
You're right! Barney Frank is the reason for the housing crisis! Thank you so much for clearing that up.
Let's get back to reality. Yes, the government mandated loans to people that shouldn't have gotten them. But the mortgage banks decided to mitigate this risk by putting these people in homes they had no chance of being able to afford. They did this because they could fulfill these government mandates and still profit greatly by selling these houses (after the owners foreclosed) at a much higher price than the original mortgage, thanks to inflation of housing prices.
Your argument is ignorant, nearsighted and worthless. Saying, "the government failed at x, so it will fail at healthcare" is not convincing. I could easily say the same thing against the private industry, and it'd be just as pointless.
... so let's privatize the police, fire service, and the military. "I'm sorry, ma'am. We can't come out and arrest your husband for beating you if you can't afford our $200 fee."
There are services that are NEEDED, and these services should not be left in the hands of those who are motivated by profit and not by patient care. I recently spent a month in England, casually observing the NHS for a Rotary program. I didn't see any kind of deficit in care over what we receive here in the US. In fact, in some ways they were far more innovative in managing certain disease states. And when I was there, legislation was passed requiring that anyone who was suspected of having cancer receive follow-up testing within two weeks of the doctor's initial suspicion. I'm a nurse, and I can tell you I sure as heck can't guarantee that for my patients here.
This is a great post. I have been engaged in the same argument with various people, but my experience is with the Australian health system (pretty similar to U.K).
Too many people spouting negative comments about a "Public Option" or "Nationalized Healthcare" have no experience with such systems. They are just listening to Glen Beck or Palin - characters that have no experience with them as well!
Now to capitalism. I came to America because of this capitalism. Because people are driven to succeed. Who knows - maybe people are driven to work hard or to start companies because if they don't, they will go hungry and will not have healthcare! Maybe this drives America forward? Then again - I do know many people who would leave their corporate jobs in a flash to launch a startup if they did not have the "golden handcuffs" that Paul mentions.
Finally - I am amazed at how many Americans talk about being afraid of their Government and they are truly afraid to have their government involved in their health. Don't get me wrong - people are pretty skeptical of their Government in Australia, but the conspiracy theories (death panels) and fear that the "Government is out to get us" (so lets stock up on guns) - I have never heard people talk like this in any other industrialized nation I have visited. Not saying it is wrong - just pointing out that this culture is coloring the argument.