Dammit! Okay, one more post before I head out.
Agreed. I've always liked the "social distrust of the state" in America. However, their distrust doesn't always lead them to react in a good way. One example is electing Scott Brown.
Scott Brown's not so bad. And the candidate he was running against sucked. Here, read this:
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/01/22/hey-democrats-remember-us/I can't say which one is better either but it irritates me when people say "the US is the best". Not it isn't. Scandinavia rules
Other than the gun laws, yeah, I'd say Scandanavia, objectively speaking, is pretty awesome. Wouldn't mind living there, but I think I'd still prefer it here. Scandanavia's a little "too civilized" for my tastes, if you know what I mean? I need the rough edges of life to thrive. I'd probably become wicked neurotic living in a place like that. Then again, most people aren't like me-- I'm a little bit nuts.
Negligible? to us maybe but not to the thousands of families who remortgage their homes or go bankrupt because they couldn't afford their medical bills; not to the gay person who's trying to get his partner a visa to the States; not to the millions of worker who struggle to get 2 weeks off a year; and certainly not to the huge number of people incarcerated for long sentences for minor offences like smoking a joint.
So it's not just numbers, it's people lives.
+1
The medical issue and incarceration issue alone is a huge problem. That a "free country" like the US imprisons more of its own people than the PRC is a huge fuckin concern.
I know a girl from Arizona who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just over a month ago. She told me that she will have to be on medications for the rest of her life and that the medicines she needs are the latest top notch stuff, way over her price range. But nevertheless she still got the medicines for free: "The medication for my disease is WAY the hell out of price-range, so the company gives it to me for free, I simply promote their name." I didn't want to bother her more with it because she has trouble typing atm, but I will enquire further.
Yes, some people can get their drugs from the drug companies free. Many others can't. There's a not insignificant number of people smuggling (legal) drugs from Canada for their personal use.
And it's not just drug prices. I don't know if this is still the case, but before the current recession, medical bills were the Number 1 cause of personal bankruptcies in the US. That ought to tell you something. And there are many states where your medical creditors/bill collection agencies can take you to court and have your wages garnished for unpaid medical bills (even if it was for life-saving treatment). Plus they've changed the personal bankruptcy laws to make it harder for the working stiff to clear his debts. Millions are uninsured in this country, millions more underinsured, because they can't afford the premiums. Medicare for retired folks has huge holes in it, especially when it comes to prescriptions, and Medicaid (and other such programs) is very difficult to get, especially if you are recently unemployed or a member of the "working poor"-- it's actually an incentive for people to engage in welfare and disability fraud, because if you can get on TANF or SSI (difficult in and of itself, especially for single males) then you can get Medicaid. If you just work at some shit job where you barely make enough money to cover your rent, you can't get it.
The system's fuckin broken, Kenan. And the politicians (and many labor unions) don't have the balls or the principles to do anything about it-- that goes for most things, actually.
Poll
Topic: Should religious schools be closed down?