Originally written by John Bunch on August 11, 2009 10:59 PM They are going to vote in "universal" care for us, but there is a provision that allows them to opt themselves and their families out !!

John,

I keep thinking out loud. I have no way of knowing whether all details of ObamaCare are good or bad and how that system would work in practice. In my days, federal employees had to belong to a federal pension system which later was phased out and merged with the Social Security. So modifications are possible along the way. We are talking about a minimum of civilizational decency. I for one never use the universal healthcare system in Poland because I cannot afford the waste of time. I only use the private one and pray not to have to go to the hospital which is when I would have to use the state system. The latter is used, though, but the overwhelming majority of population who cannot afford the private system. Both system should be there for people to freely choose between.

I don't know either, but I think that the burden of proof is on Obama to show how the government taking over 15 % of our economy would be better than what we have now, more efficient, less wasteful, etc. In my view, Obama has failed miserably in showing me why I should support it. Meanwhile, the latest controversy is the alleged "fascist" symbols, being used by Obama. You decide...

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/edward_tenner/2009/08/dictatorship_democracy_and_design.php

Originally written by Jacek K. on August 12, 2009 1:23 AM  The latter is used, though, but the overwhelming majority of population who cannot afford the private system. Both system should be there for people to freely choose between.

Yes, I agree, although I absolutely adoid doctors: medicine people make more sense to me.

Originally written by John Bunch on August 12, 2009 8:10 AM ...the government taking over 15 % of our economy

Here is how that sector works:

Originally written by John Bunch on August 12, 2009 3:07 PM Don't you get that Medicare does this by underpaying doctors ??

Maybe, but are those doctors not exaggerating charging $12,712 for cataract surgery, $20,120 for a knee operation and $72,000 for a spinal fusion procedure?

Originally written by John Bunch on August 12, 2009 3:07 PM Imagine if Medicare paid for translation. You would send them a bill for $ 100 and they would send you $ 55

If that bill were for having translated half a page, I would reply: Mea culpa! Apologies. Half a page should indeed only cost $55.

Originally written by Jacek K. on August 10, 2009 6:20 PM Have You No Decency? Governor Palin writes: “And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled.” ... If you live in any big city, go down to your local public hospital emergency room. You will probably find people in visible discomfort or illness languishing for hours. A society that cares about human rights and dignity would not tolerate this. Harold Pollack is a professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Full story: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/08/08/have-you-no-decency.aspx

"Palin was the last clear expression of capitalism-as-usual before everything went south. That’s quite helpful because she showed us—in that plainspoken, down-homey way of hers—the trajectory the U.S. economy was on before its current meltdown. The core of her message was this: Those environmentalists, those liberals, those do-gooders are all wrong. You don’t have to change anything. You don’t have to rethink anything. Keep driving your gas-guzzling car, keep going to Wal-Mart and shop all you want. The reason for that is a magical place called Alaska. Just come up here and take all you want. “Americans,” she said at the Republican National Convention, “we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. Take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska, we’ve got lots of both.”

And the crowd at the convention responded by chanting and chanting: “Drill, baby, drill.”

Watching that scene on television, with that weird creepy mixture of sex and oil and jingoism, I remember thinking: “Wow, the RNC has turned into a rally in favor of screwing Planet Earth.” Literally.

But what Palin was saying is what is built into the very DNA of capitalism: the idea that the world has no limits. She was saying that there is no such thing as consequences, or real-world deficits. Because there will always be another frontier, another Alaska, another bubble. Just move on and discover it. Tomorrow will never come."

--Naomi Klein http://www.progressive.org/klein0809.html