All Forum Posts by: Joseph Ziolkowski

A little p.s. to the above longwinded statement... :)

Big Macs run about two bucks. If the government were to cut out the consumer, and supply everyone with Big Macs, how much would a Big Mac cost then? Ten dollars? Twenty? A hundred?? Big Macs are a lot like health insurance that way...

You're absolutely right about that Eddie. We do have to address it. I'm certainly not advocating profiteering in the healthcare industry, or any industry really. I'm all about making tons of cash from a business that you build. It's the American way. What isn't the American way (or damn well shouldn't be) is doing that at other peoples' expense, as you seem to feel as well.
The point that I'm trying to make is that health care would absolutely work in a true free market enviornment. It would work because in that kind of enviornment, if one company was offering more value for less money, they would smoke their competition. They would survive, and the hucksters would not. But that requires two things, just like any industry would:

1. A responsible population of educated and diligent consumers

2. A customer base that actually consisted of these individual people, and not conglomerates and the government

Since most individuals, as you said, can't afford their own healthcare (largely for the above stated reasons) they are not the consumer base that insurance companies have to cater to. Most of the real customers of health insurance "providers" have pockets that are miles deep and lined with gold. If you were the insurance company, what would you do?

If they were forced, like every other business in a truly free market, to cater to individual consumers, they would have to find a way to make money while making their product better and more affordable. That's how that works, as you know.

Thing is, insurance companies have, for years, (thank you federal government) been working in an artificial market which allows them to inflate their costs to no end. There is no true competition when insurance can only be bought in your own state, even when these big companies are national and multi-national. It's almost like a forced monopoly, only it's shared among several fatcats within each state.

Add to that the malpractice premiums for doctors and hospitals (largely against bogus and frivilous lawsuits), and no wonder it costs so darn much!

Capitalism works every single time if it's done right. When the motivation is profit, people tend to get really good at making things as action-packed and affordable as possible. Or else their company dies and they don't make any money. It inspires efficiency. The government (in most evertything they have EVER touched) is not motivated in the same way. If they even touch this, inefficiencies will abound and grow, prices will go up even higher, and the taxpayers who, in a better system, could have paid much less for their own damn isurance, will be forced, whether they can afford it or not, to pay for everyone else's.

I agree that we need major change in the system, but please believe that this is not the answer.

Well stated Vikram, thank you. I think that at least some Americans, based on having a slightly different world view than many Europeans in gereral, probably have a different perspective on Bush and the things that he did.
I don't think that even his most partisan of supporters were happy about everything that he did. On the extreme of both sides, there will be empty-headed puppets, but for most conservatives that were paying attention to what was going on, Bush was a mixed bag.
I think it's dangerous to blindly follow any party, as they are only SUPPOSED to be a vehicle for a set of beliefs. But no matter how perfect an ideal, no human being could ever be perfect enough to carry it out. Ego always gets in the way to some degree, and even when someone gets it almost right, (not talking about W) they will falter at least a little.

Vikram, I'll admit that I don't know much about the western European perspective on this. What was it about Bush that they didn't like? I heard that they felt that way, just never heard why.

That's true Mike. In all fairness though, we already made money on the bank bailout. In otherwords, government is actually getting back out of the banking industry like it was supposed to. Now the automakers, on the other hand...

Short answer...no :) IMO However, he did pull some bone-headed stunts for sure.

:lol: Viagra...well said Eddie! I agree with so much of what you said. The only thing I don't agree with is this..that 65% of Americans want the healthcare plan to pass as is. I think about 99% of all of us agree that the system needs to be fixed, but I haven't found a single reputable poll that says that even a small majority of Americans want that. And I feel that many of the folks that do think they want it only think that because they are being lied to. The whole Public "option" thing doesn't really work out in the benign way that they say it will. Private companies will of course elect to throw their employees into the government cheese healthcare plan. And who could blame them. Healthcare is a huge drain on them now.
Why not just fix the current system by making insurance companies compete nationwide instead of this "instate competition" bullcrap? Sprinkle in a little torte reform, and the same tax breaks for individuals to buy their own insurance as the companies get, and there ya go.
It's important to note in this debate, which a woefully small amount of people with a strong opinion seem to understand, is that we do have national healthcare right now. What we don't have is national health insurance. No one is denied medical care when they need it. But why not create a system where everyone can pay for their own instead of everyone paying for their neighbor's? It doesn't even make sense when you balance the two arguments together on the same page.
You just have to create an enviornment where people can reasonably afford it, and are in fact rewarded for doing so.
If someone genuinely needs the help, give it to them, for sure. But someone making $80,000 a year simply doesn't need free government healthcare. Under any circumstances ever. It's just wasteful, and another excuse for the government to stick it's greedy, manipulative, inefficient mitts where they don't belong. IMO :mrgreen:

Wow Mike, as failures go, those are some big shoes to fill :lol:

Amen to that Rich!

Wow, I think that this is delicious! Every last one of those scoundrels out on the street :) I think you're very right about that Eddie. The only thing is that once we mobilize, and those scumbags know that we have their number and that they can't bs us anymore, they will behave whether they want to or not. Or OUT they go :) Yeah!