Freedom or Socialism?

[Nithavela]

It's a tough decision. Our founding fathers knew we'd value a few cents in our pockets today in exchange for dying tomorrow.

The worst part of single payer is that it allows people who didn't earn healthcare to have access to it.

You are absolutely correct. The undeserving should perish.

 

[pacomascarot]

Conservatives’ concern that the liberals will use government as a means to be a “wealth-redistribution” is well founded because that’s how you prevent revolutions from occurring.

Wealth accrues at the top and that, in turn, is transferred to political power, keeping the money flowing the the “right direction”.
Government is there, in part, to prevent this from developing.
But the Top never recognizes this fact until it’s “too late”.

This is why it is extremely important to remove "Critical French Revolution Theory" from our schools. We need to STOP teaching our children that when income inequality and access to goods and services get extremely limited bad things can happen to the "job creators".

 

[Nithavela]

This is why it is extremely important to remove "Critical French Revolution Theory" from our schools. We need to STOP teaching our children that when income inequality and access to goods and services get extremely limited bad things can happen to the "job creators".

Just like with sex, "eat the rich" is an idea that comes naturally once the poor gets pushed too hard.

 

[pacomascarot]

You are absolutely correct. The undeserving should perish.

I don't want to see the poor "perish", but I would like it if more of them had the get-up and go to become a business executive and make lots of money so they can afford the healthcare they require.

It's such a shame that there are so many lazy Americans out there today. But it's on them.

 

[pacomascarot]

Just like with sex, "eat the rich" is an idea that comes naturally once the poor gets pushed too hard.

It's a sad measure of the quality of poor people, isn't it? Why can't poor people not be so poor?

 

[Nithavela]

I don't want to see the poor "perish", but I would like it if more of them had the get-up and go to become a business executive and make lots of money so they can afford the healthcare they require.

It's such a shame that there are so many lazy Americans out there today. But it's on them.

Indeed. Anyone who isn't managing a multi-million corporation isn't even trying.

It's a sad measure of the quality of poor people, isn't it? Why can't poor people not be so poor?

Bad genes, probably.

 

[Clare73]

It's a tough decision. Our founding fathers knew we'd value a few cents in our pockets today in exchange for dying tomorrow.The worst part of single payer is that it allows people who didn't earn healthcare to have access to it.

I'm thinking the worst part is going to be the limitations put on it and its quality of care.

 

[RDKirk]

I'm pretty sure that's not how you catch wild pigs.

Sure won't work in Texas or Hawaii, where I've hunted wild pigs.

 

[RDKirk]

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting
communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.
In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked: Do you know how to catch wild pigs?
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.
The young man said that it was no joke. You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs
find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn.
When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.
When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.
They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.
The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again.
You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom.
They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America.
The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably delete this email. But, God help us all when the gate slams shut!
Quote for today:
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

That's not how you catch a wild pig...at least it won't work for feral pigs in the US.

But interesting that this person (if a real person) did include industry subsidies and tax credits for unearned income along with welfare as examples of socialism.

 

[pacomascarot]

That's not how you catch a wild pig...at least it won't work for feral pigs in the US.

That's because AMERICAN feral pigs have all by this time secured positions in the c-suite.

 

[Ana the Ist]

But interesting that this person (if a real person) did include industry subsidies and tax credits for unearned income along with welfare as examples of socialism.

What's unearned income?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Just like with sex, "eat the rich" is an idea that comes naturally once the poor gets pushed too hard.

Which really just demonstrates how bad the poor are at understanding economics.

There simply aren't enough rich for all of them to eat.

 

[pacomascarot]

Which really just demonstrates how bad the poor are at understanding economics.

There simply aren't enough rich for all of them to eat.

LOL! True dat. Which is kind of a problem when you think of it. When enough poor Americans finally get off their beee-hinds and do some work and become rich it will cause a point in time when there is just enough rich people for the remaining poors to eat more of. But, the one thing that will keep this from being a complete disaster is that the left-over poor people who didn't get rich are probably too lazy to go out and get a rich person to eat. So there's that.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I don't want to see the poor "perish", but I would like it if more of them had the get-up and go to become a business executive and make lots of money so they can afford the healthcare they require.

It's such a shame that there are so many lazy Americans out there today. But it's on them.

That's ignoring the problems in the healthcare industry though.

We already subsidized drug development costs...for example. It's difficult to make a profitable drug without assuming some of the risk, as a taxpayer, on the front end .

The problem is that you're also absorbing massive cost markups on the back end as well. Why? Well you've got a middle man to pay (your insurance company) and there's essentially no limit to how high they can mark up a necessary drug in a capitalist economy.

Even if you want to make sure it's still a capitalist system, you can definitely change the cost to the consumer.

 

[pacomascarot]

The problem is that you're also absorbing massive cost markups on the back end as well. Why? Well you've got a middle man to pay (your insurance company) and there's essentially no limit to how high they can mark up a necessary drug in a capitalist economy.

And that is EXACTLY why Capitalism is the best. There's nothing to ever stop you taking massive profits! And if it is for something everyone NEEDS then it's ca-ching! Makin' it rain!

If someone wants to find a better deal on a medical procedure they can shop around! If someone finds out their little kid has an aggressive cancer they can shop until they find a doctor who can help for a lower cost. OR they can balance out the relative value of the child. If they have several children it might not be a bad thing to just let one go. If you can't afford the cancer treatment you can't expect to get it.

Drugs are another thing. Take insulin for instance. A material that's been around for a while so doesn't really need TOO much gussying up but you can literally charge whatever you want for it because the people who take it need it to live! They will pay ANYTHING for it!

 

[Desk trauma]

 

[RDKirk]

What's unearned income?

I'm sureyYou know what "unearned income" is.

Unearned income includes investment-type income such as taxable interest, ordinary dividends, and capital gain distributions.

It also includes unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, annuities, cancellation of debt, and distributions of unearned income from a trust.

Unearned Income (irs.gov)

 

[Ana the Ist]

I'm sureyYou know what "unearned income" is.

Nah, never heard of it.

And that is EXACTLY why Capitalism is the best. There's nothing to ever stop you taking massive profits! And if it is for something everyone NEEDS then it's ca-ching! Makin' it rain!

If someone wants to find a better deal on a medical procedure they can shop around! If someone finds out their little kid has an aggressive cancer they can shop until they find a doctor who can help for a lower cost. OR they can balance out the relative value of the child. If they have several children it might not be a bad thing to just let one go. If you can't afford the cancer treatment you can't expect to get it.

Drugs are another thing. Take insulin for instance. A material that's been around for a while so doesn't really need TOO much gussying up but you can literally charge whatever you want for it because the people who take it need it to live! They will pay ANYTHING for it!

Is this a joke?

 

[SimplyMe]

I think utilities may be regulated in Texas.
Have you checked to see what that had to do with it, if the company was not allowed to raise rates to cover the expensive winterizing, etc., therefore nixing it?

Yes, their were no regulations governing the winterizing of equipment in Texas, though -- after the last blackout in 2014 -- there were "advisories" to winterize that the energy companies agreed to but didn't follow through on.

In this years legislative session, bills were passed to require companies to winterize their power equipment -- after which these companies rewarded the governor and legislature millions in campaign donations.

 

[Nithavela]

Yes, their were no regulations governing the winterizing of equipment in Texas, though -- after the last blackout in 2014 -- there were "advisories" to winterize that the energy companies agreed to but didn't follow through on.

In this years legislative session, bills were passed to require companies to winterize their power equipment -- after which these companies rewarded the governor and legislature millions in campaign donations.

And why didn't the people of Texas bribe their legislators to winterise the equipment?

There are 29 million people living in Texas. If everyone would have just chipped in a dollar, they would have easily outbribed the energy companies.