Hello Evmetro,
Ok lefties, If you could have USA modeled after a socialist country, which would it be? What is the greatest socialist country that you know of?
I don't think we should model our country after any other single country.
We can take ideas and use them, but I can't really think of any other nation which can realistically serve as an example of how the USA should be. Some of the examples given are the size of one of our States. It would be unrealistic to try to take a program which works for 3 million people and try to make it work the same for 300 million.
I'm calling this a moot question.
It appears to stem from an old myth that a nation has to choose between capitalism and socialism. For years it was thought that socialism is like a disease, which once begun, grows and grows until it destroys capitalism and freedom.
But that is not the case. Capitalism and socialism can be mixed, resulting in a hybrid economy. And there is very just cause for doing so.
Some things should be left to capitalism.
Other things should be done with socialism.
Still others should have a 'public option' where the government provides a bare-bones basic version of something, and individuals are free to purchase a nicer version of that same thing.
Take transportation, for instance. We already mix socialism and capitalism there. We have mass transit, (which does not always pay for itself,) and we have fancy automobiles and private jets/helicopters. The poor have a way to get around, go to work, participate in the economy, and the rich have nicer ways to travel. And it all works pretty well.
Personally, I think health care should be done in a hybrid way. The government should provide a bare bones health care system paid for by taxing mostly the rich. If richer people want something better for themselves, shorter lines, fancy architecture, private rooms, etc, they should pay for that themselves. I could see government hospitals, labs, doctors, pharmaceutical production, all at no charge to citizens, and a completely parallel private system with all the latest and fanciest stuff, all for-profit, with comparable insurance rates. You get what you get from the government, and if you want better, then go earn lotsa money and buy it up. The government should not be on the hook for providing the most expensive care, and there should be limits to what the government will provide. For tough-luck cases that need more than the government can do, let there be non-profits which rely on charity, or for-profits which want the PR of taking some of those cases.
And let there be a strong part of that which focuses on PREVENTION. One of the reasons health care costs so much in the USA is because we get so sick. We have to turn that around. We have allowed capitalism to make people sick. Capitalism doesn't care if you get sick are stay very healthy. Capitalism, left unregulated, is going to market and sell some of the most unhealthy things out there. Anything for a buck. We need to be far smarter in our regulation. There are too many gullible people who fall for too many come-ons. People need to be encouraged to eat much healthier and get more fitness. For instance, crony capitalism tells our government to produce an eating guide that tells people what a balanced diet is. But those recommendations may not really be the healthiest way to eat. Red meat is part of the government diet, but if you eat too much you might just have a heart attack. Why are the messages of capitalism so much stronger than true public information messaging? And what is this about going after kids? That is not cool. We have to properly regulate capitalism so we have a healthier stronger populace instead of this huge and far too common overweight problem.
All schools need to have PE. Budgets should not be cut to the point that kids are not even exercising. That is ridiculous. Like asking for health problems in a decade or two. Mandatory PE!
Professionals would have to decide in my system if they are in it to help people and earn a reasonable living doing so, or if they are in it for the big money. Then we would find out how many doctors are really altruistic, and how many are only in it to get rich...
It makes no sense to have health insurance for profit. Especially if it is tied to employment. There's no competition. The whole health care system is totally rigged and everybody knows it. It shows very plainly how capitalism has broken down. The users cannot shop for price. Usually it comes with the job. Somebody else shops for you. That's not capitalism. That's a rigged system.
You want tires? You can call around, get the best price comparing the same product. You can't do that with health care. It's rigged. Not capitalism.
It's just like what coal mining did to local economies. Those at the top got very rich. The rank and file got seriously taken advantage of. None of the rank and file coal miners got rich. All that energy they were extracting out of the ground made somebody else rich, somebody who wasn't down in the mines risking their lives.
Big Pharma and Big Insurance got rich. Fancy doctors got rich. Hospital corporations got rich. Patients and lower echelon workers, even nurses, got the shaft. Before Obamacare, many American households were bankrupted by a medical event. And that still happens - While all those fancy big power players are getting rich. The whole thing stinks. We should throw it all out, start from scratch, and create a sensible health care system.
The rich have the rank and file arguing against one another. Thinking that health care is so expensive that others need to be left out so they can have lower rates. How about leaving out the ones who are extracting so much wealth out of the middle class? That's where the money is going!
The rich power-players have pitted the left and right against one another so everybody will be distracted and won't notice how bad the rich power-players are ripping us all off.
Basic health care does not need to cost this much, folks.
We don't have to exclude anybody.
We don't have to be so chintzy.
All we have to do is cut the profits out of basic health care.
