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The New York Post's 61,000 Manhattan Millionaires March Against Health Care
Is Your Pill Made of Rat?
New York, 9:05 PM
Tue Dec 8
47 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/16/09
07/16/09
I was born in the UK and lived there for 33 years before relocating to NYC. I'm tired of hearing inaccurate reports regarding the National Health Service by (usually wealthy) Americans to demonstrate why they should not pay more tax for the health of all, and indeed the greater good of the US. The UK system has problems yes, but by and large you get good care and don't have to concern yourself with the costs. Also, the NHS has access to the best surgeons and I know of many (wealthy) individuals who've opted to have major operations of childbirth through the NHS over private care.
It should also be noted, that private interests (through public-private partnerships) have been creeping into the NHS system for a few years and this has undermined it somewhat.
After a few years in NYC, I remain horrified by the terrible deal handed out to most Americans.
As economist you are taking a position that defends yourself and the current system, one that exploits many in the difficult position you were once in, and many who are no doubt entirely trapped by circumstance.
But you bettered yourself, so I guess they can either join you in loyalty to the God-like market or you'll pull up the ladder completely eh?
And my teeth are perfect.
07/17/09
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I find it annoying too when the other side whines about it, but its really nauseating to hear fatties like Beck, who are staffed to the gills with people informing him of facts he would never know on his own, screaming about our country literally burning over us receiving health care.
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A risk taker is a downtown sex worker who does bareback anal with their clientele. And I'll guarantee not very many of them are going to fall into the 57% tax category. Of course, most people consider them disposable, or would rather not think that they exist at all.
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07/16/09
Less sympathetic are the "risk takers" who make nice coin depriving workers who are in every conceivable definition full-time healthcare coverage because the governmental climate was such that the IRA has been looking away.
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And worse still burdening employers with higher health care taxes will ennsure higher long term unemployment. We are going to be more like France where employers are afraid to hire new workers leading to higher long term unemployment.
Worse still this affects New Yorkers more than anyone else because wages are higher here because costs are highter here.
07/16/09
Arguments like yours amaze me because they fly in the face of the experience of literally every other country in the civilized world. We are a pariah when it comes to health care, and it is time to fix it. It's passed time. In fact, our economy wouldn't be where it is right now if not for the fact that the jerkoff Republicans in 1993 - who in fact proposed exactly the same bill Obama is proposing now as an alternative to Clinton's plan - killed health care reform back then. Now they're set to vote against Obama's plan - the same one they themselves proposed 16 years ago - because it's being championed by a Democrat?
Talk about the party of No.
07/16/09
also the employers you are sad for can choose to get insurance for their workers instead of paying a tax in the proposed plan. often getting a plan would be cheaper than the tax.
07/16/09
I went to college in England and have plenty of friends who live in England so I've seen firsthand the nightmares resulting from public health care.
We need to fix the broken system in this country but I dont think public health care is the way to go about it. It will bring everyone down.
I think the solution is simply to make all unemployed people live in work camps where we can control their diet (bread and water) and make them run laps in the hot sun a few hours a day. Then they can be forced to work for minimum wage.
Heck lets make Texas one big work camp.
07/16/09
it SOUNDS like a good idea but I can assure you a public health care system will be the biggest orgy of wasted money since the burning of Rome.
07/16/09
Theres no contradiction here darling. I was born extremely poor and went to bed hungry every night as a child and had to work three jobs to pay my way through university.
If you were born poor you always recognize the value of money so no matter how rich you are later you watch every penny later in life. In fact I saw Sophia Loren make exactly the same point on Charlie Rose last night.
That is why so many superrich people watch every penny. Other people confuse it for being cheap. But you are just being grateful for what you have.
07/16/09
The reason employers in France are reluctant to hire people isn't because their health care is already paid for by the government and won't cause any extra burden on the employer. It's because France requires employers to provide something akin to 2 YEARS of severance to laid off employees. That means if you hire someone, and they suck, when you fire them after six months, you'll have to keep them on the payroll another 2 years before you see the savings of laying them off, which means if your margins are really tight, you might not even be able to replace them, causing unemployment to rise higher.
I've always believed in the bell curve. For their to be a potential for unlimited wealth, there must be a potential for unlimited poverty. Therefor, it is the responsibility of the unlimitedly wealthy to provide a floor to poverty. Health care is part of that floor.
Welfare is one thing, I've recently grown away from supporting its existence because I've seen how it can quell modivation is those who already have little, but universal health care isn't going to stifle motivation in that same way. Universal health care simply means that you know you can receive medical care, that you don't have to worry about the possibility of getting in an accident and being laden with debt for 5, 10 or 20 years while trying to pay off for a single, innocent mis-step.
I hate my step mother and wish for many bad things to happen to her, but, one of the things I wouldn't wish on anyone happened to her which was a breaking her leg while ski as when she was between health care policies when she was in her 20's... One stupid mistake ended up costing almost as much as going to another four years of college and took more than ten years to pay back in full. Like I say, I hate the woman, but there is still something deeply unfair in that. And while life is inherently unfair, this is one thing that, with a 5.6 percent increase in taxes for the upper one tenth of one percent of our country could make the world a little more fair.
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07/16/09
Your point is well taken. There are other features of European economies that kill employment.
But I think forcing employers to pay health care will inevitably reduce employment. But at the same time it will address some of the worst offenders like Wal Mart which pretty much sticks state governments with the cost of insuring their employers.
Now lets get back to my original idea of sending all unemployeds to work camps.
07/16/09
Heres what happens in England and will happen here only worse:
Except for essential medical care you'll wait forever for a medical appointment. Just look at Bart Simpson's book of scary English teeth for an example.
Plus lots of English people wait forever for things as basic as chemotherapy or colonoscopies.
Then everyone with real money in England ends up paying for both public healthcare AND private health care so they can go to private hospitals. Anyone earning a six figure income in England never goes to public hospitals...they go to a private hospital paid for by their employer or themselves. Worse still, a lot of the best English doctors completely remove themselves fromt he public health care system and only agree to see privately paying patients. Same thing will happen here.
I'm moving back to Botswana right away!
07/16/09
It already is.
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See what I did there?
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At least the most awesome pizza in the world is $1.25/slice. Consolation prize!
07/16/09
By living reasonably?
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200 Park Ave @ E. 45th (on 45th behind the Met Life building) ... best shit in town, dolla n' a quata
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04/23/09
Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for drugs.
You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!
04/24/09
04/23/09
[en.wikipedia.org]
04/23/09
Yup. When my mother was still with us, she had to take Coumadin for a time and would refer to it as rat poison.