Comments on: Missing The Point

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:39:36 +0000

The anti-tax idiots can’t make the connection. They seem to believe that they can have all the services that they want and not pay for them – they want a “free lunch”.

I don’t know where the mythical “fat in government spending” is supposed to be, but it usually ends up being some pet project of one of the people who don’t want to pay anything for government services.

Like all dishonest people, the anti-tax people think everyone is dishonest. You get what you pay for, and if they knew as much as they claim to know about a budget, they could see it.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:24:23 +0000

LOL No matter which Nation has Gov medicare, it’s paid for by the people. Every single thing any Gov does is paid for by the people, of course. 🙂 Most Governments increase tax to cover the costs of medicare. Our Labor (at the time) Gov decided to be a tad more honest, and have a medicare levy separate to the normal payroll taxes. They did it mainly so that it could be monitored and audited so that people would know the money was *actually* being spent on medicare and nothing else. We were given the choice, it’s the way we wanted it. Aussies are nothing if not pragmatic. We know nothing is *free* and we expect to pay for services. But we better damned well get what we pay for!! (As Howard found out).

It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to discover that many (or even most) Americans don’t understand that they are paying for every single thing Bush has done, and will be paying for a long time. 🙂

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:23:16 +0000

What is this “free” crap? If you have the fee deducted from your paycheck, it isn’t free. Being paid for by the government doesn’t make anything free. Every bloody penny that the Hedgemony spent on their unnecessary war is going to be paid by taxpayers with interest added.

I’ve never understood why some people think it’s a bad idea for citizens to benefit from the same sort of volume purchasing that has made Walmart the largest retailer in the world. The process is called free market capitalism.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:59:02 +0000

We used to have a decent medicare system, and it was mostly funded by a small contribution from wages (taken out with the tax). When Howard got in he destroyed it. He couldn’t totally get rid of medicare without being assassinated, but he slowly changed it over a decade and created a two-part system. Medicare for *basic* (and I do mean basic!) health care and Medibank Private (which is now a private health insurance company like the others). Medicare is now a refund system. You pay the bills and get a partial refund, eventually. If you are on a pension or unemployed, you get a ‘health care card’ which enables one to have free basic medical cover. None of the medical cover schemes, even most of the private ones, cover dental and most don’t cover optical. Of course, poor people don’t need good teeth or eyes. 🙂 But wait… several research has conclusively proven that bad teeth has a big impact on overall health and has *increased* the strain on, and the cost of, health care systems all over the World. But, the morons will still have none of it. You can prove that giving free dental cover will ease the strain on all parts of the medical system, but the problem is that word that makes them cringe like a crucifix to a vampire… *free*. The fact that it will ease the burden and the cost of the medical system for everyone (including Government) is immaterial when that most hated word *free* is part of the deal. 🙂

Don’t you love intelligent and compassionate Government? I do… I may see one one day. I doubt it will ever happen in my lifetime. I’d live to just meet an intelligent. honest, compassionate, unselfish Politician. That would be rarer than an albino kangaroo! LOL (I don’t think there has ever been an albino kangaroo… at least, I’ve never heard of one. *shrug* Just sayin…)

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:53:10 +0000

The local groups over here think working 12 hour shifts at the hospital is all the health care coverage anyone needs, and they use volunteers for a lot of the office work.

I didn’t go to work for those guys, they were jerks. They had problems because they messed over the last guy who had the job. They weren’t programmers, and the actual product was created by “an employee”. After reading their employment contract I told them to stuff it – if I create it, I own the copyright and get paid a lot of money to give it up.

I was also unhappy with some of the “features” of the program that cut a little too close to stealing the work of other companies.

There was a lot of art financed by the FDR programs, something that has never been approached at any time since. The Smithstonian is the store house for a lot of great work that was financed by these programs, and there are wonderful murals in a lot of the buildings that the WPA created.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:10:43 +0000

as far as i can tell, there isn't much in the way of wpa/ccc projects around here. after some extensive googling i found a post office mural nearby. i keep meaning to go see it, but have never gotten a round tuit.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:06:23 +0000

that’s one of the problems with tender-hearted liberals, they do get caught up in stuff floated by the concern trolls.

death valley national park, in july. the idea has appeal.

the hospital corporations around here do offer health insurance to their employees, even the lowly clerks, which is more than many of the other employers around here offer, so i’m not sure what the turnover is here. if in general the turnover is high [makes sense to me] then that’s one group of workers we can let right-size itself by attrition, rather than actively make provisions for.

various acquaintances of mine are in these jobs just for the insurance. as you say, the child care alone takes up most of the actual income.

there are a number of cottage industries [and not-so-cottage] that will take a hit if we get single payer, including software writers of various stripes. just one example, i had no idea the denial management industry even existed, let alone how many flavors of computer program you can buy, until i stumbled over it while researching single payer. glad to hear *your* income doesn’t rest entirely on keeping our present system [or does it?] i’d feel guilty about advocating for the eradication of teh kittehz’ meal ticket.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:37:08 +0000

My Dad was in the CCC after high school, and he thought it was a great change from my grandfather’s poultry farm.

The high school my Mother and I graduated from was built by the WPA and is still in use. One of my great uncles worked on that project after he lost his farm to the bank.

There are a lot of things that need doing, that governments at all levels have been putting off, and this is an opportunity to get them done and build a foundation for the next century.

The National Parks all need help, because there are a lot of things that haven’t been taken care of since the CCC was disbanded.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:15:46 +0000

If the problem is jobs for the people put out of business by Medicare For All, we can just open the Depression-era CCC back up for business. I have a place for them, doing some trail building in a national park that has been long neglected to the point where most of the trails have disappeared due to landslides and time. So I propose we just take them out to do some trail building. In Death Valley National Park. In July. Problem solved 😉 .

– Badtux the Snarky Penguin

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:43:23 +0000

There are a lot of them that would love to stay home, Hipparchia, because they aren’t making much more than they have to pay for child care. I had a neighbor who made a dollar an hour from her job, after she paid for child care. That isn’t much of a career, but they needed the dollar for the utility bills.