Regulation

[rjwould]

John McCain and the rest of his republican friends have all of a sudden become believers, no, enthusiasts of regulation. Hooray! You might say.

But wait, theres a catch (there always is with these republican hypocrites). The regulation McCain and friends are taking about is regulating the flow of money from the taxpayer to failing corporations.

What happened to Laissez-Faire? Where is all that macho talk about heat and kitchen.

I find it absolutely amazing that the federal republicans cannot find the money for health care, which the majority of Americans want, but we can afford to support the health of the wealthy in this nation.

Who are the parasites now?

 

[New Ager]

John McCain and the rest of his republican friends have all of a sudden become believers, no, enthusiasts of regulation. Hooray! You might say.

But wait, theres a catch (there always is with these republican hypocrites). The regulation McCain and friends are taking about is regulating the flow of money from the taxpayer to failing corporations.

What happened to Laissez-Faire? Where is all that macho talk about heat and kitchen.

I find it absolutely amazing that the federal republicans cannot find the money for health care, which the majority of Americans want, but we can afford to support the health of the wealthy in this nation.

Who are the parasites now?

We are in debt, so no, we don't have money for a huge socialized medicine program.

And the majority of Americans want socialized medicine??!?!

And the parasites are still liberals. They are the ones who get in the way of progress.

 

[Darat]

We are in debt, so no, we don't have money for a huge socialized medicine program.

...snip...

Surely if you are in debt you should be looking at how to reduce costs? And since a universal "socialized" healthcare system could cost the USA less than the current non-universal "socialized" healthcare system surely that's an option to consider if you are concerned about debt reduction?

Why would you want to continue to spend more on your healthcare system than you need to?

 

[SezMe]

We are in debt, so no, we don't have money for a huge socialized medicine program.

I assume, then, that you are adamently opposed to the federal help given to Bear Stearns, Freddy and Fannie, AIG, etc.

And the majority of Americans want socialized medicine??!?!

Nice strawman. The majority of Americans want univeral health care.

 

[senorpogo]

We are in debt, so no, we don't have money for a huge socialized medicine program.

And the majority of Americans want socialized medicine??!?!

And the parasites are still liberals. They are the ones who get in the way of progress.

Nice derail.

One of the main realizations I've come to over the years is that America has never been a free market. Republicans are all for regulation when it suits them and their interests. Laissez-Faire, free markets, et al are just words they throw around to appeal to a certain part of the voting populace. Socialism, regulation, and so on are the words they label Democrats with.

A quick Republican rule of thumb - if what you're doing helps an energy concern, it's capitalism. If what you're doing helps individuals, it's socialism.

 

[rjwould]

And the majority of Americans want socialized medicine??!?!

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9e06e7d71631f931a35750c0a9619c8b63
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/healthcare031020_poll.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/01/opinion/polls/main2528357.shtml

Want more?

 

[casebro]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9e06e7d71631f931a35750c0a9619c8b63
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/healthcare031020_poll.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/01/opinion/polls/main2528357.shtml

Want more?

Consider those sources? Your three cites are about two polls, one by the NYT, the other by the Washington Post. Here's one snippet from the NYT poll:

"the confidence of nearly 6 in 10 Democrats on the issue"

nuff said?

Now can we get5 back to the gist of the OP: Should we be bailing out private enterprises?

 

[rjwould]

Consider those sources? Your three cites are about two polls, one by the NYT, the other by the Washington Post. Here's one snippet from the NYT poll:

"the confidence of nearly 6 in 10 Democrats on the issue"

nuff said?

Now can we get5 back to the gist of the OP: Should we be bailing out private enterprises?

So they broke it down. Too bad you can't give and take in a conversation unless everything is your way, The sources are fine, you're simply biased.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Surely if you are in debt you should be looking at how to reduce costs? And since a universal "socialized" healthcare system could cost the USA less than the current non-universal "socialized" healthcare system surely that's an option to consider if you are concerned about debt reduction?

In the entire history of the United States, it has never been the case that the government has ever demonstrated the ability to run any enterprise as efficiently as private enterprise could. Whenever the government provides any service that can also be provided by non-government providers, the government-based service is always more expensive, and lower quality.

I am constantly amazed that there are so many people who imagine that somehow, health care would be some magical exception to this.

 

[SezMe]

In the entire history of the United States, it has never been the case that the government has ever demonstrated the ability to run any enterprise as efficiently as private enterprise could. Whenever the government provides any service that can also be provided by non-government providers, the government-based service is always more expensive, and lower quality.

I am constantly amazed that there are so many people who imagine that somehow, health care would be some magical exception to this.

Your first statement is just plain false. Speaking of amazing, the best counterexample is, in fact, health care. The government-run Medicare system has an overhead of ~2-3%. IOW, of every dollar Medicare spends, 97 cents go to actual health care. The private-run health insurance industry has an overhead of ~70%. IOW, of every dollar private industry spends, 70 cents go to actual health care.

The utter vacuity of your post is where the amazement lies.

 

[rjwould]

In the entire history of the United States, it has never been the case that the government has ever demonstrated the ability to run any enterprise as efficiently as private enterprise could. Whenever the government provides any service that can also be provided by non-government providers, the government-based service is always more expensive, and lower quality.

I am constantly amazed that there are so many people who imagine that somehow, health care would be some magical exception to this.

You mean like Enron, Bear Sterns, AIG, Freddy, Fanny and the rest?

Government is run by people just like private companies. The difference is that there has been a concerted effort over the years on the part of many industries to sabotage legislation in the name of private enterprise.

Congress is mostly made of a bunch of corporate lawyers and past and future lobbyists that have less than the desire to see government succeed completely in nearly any endeavor. Government is constantly portrayed by the conservative media as a made up group of bumbling imbeciles, and that simply isn't true.

When I was coming up in the late 50's thru the 70's, government worked pretty well for at least white people (not trying to inject racism here, but it was what it was). Life in my family was pretty rough financially due to personal, family related circumstances, and government provided medical care through medicaid for our family of 9.

Government can work just fine if the American people would only get behind it. Today with the interest such as is found on this and other forums, there would be much scrutiny and the system could be held accountable, and as long as people had a positive attitude, mistakes could be corrected quickly. All it takes is American will. In fact, it could be held to higher standards than any private endeavor because a wider spectrum of people would be behind it....and it would be ours......all of ours.

Sorry, I'm a romantic!!