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Originally Posted by saden1
Yes, and for a good reason too. Health care in this country is very expensive and for what? It's certainly not because we have the best health care, especially when compared with developed nations that do have national health care. Yes, we have the best doctors in the world but not everyone can afford them. Certainly not your average Joe. Anyone who has health problem in this nation will most certainly go into a financial hole. Someone declaring bankruptcy because they can't cover their health care costs doesn't sound right to me.
Social Security is a safety net not an investment program. There is a reason why as you get older you move your money to safer investments. This money is primarily intended for the old and disabled. It is intended for those who have the least and those can not generate (livable) income. If you want to privatize social security, why not get rid of it all together? I mean, you might as well have people manage their own funds. Of course there are issues like what happens to your employer's SS match? I'm sorry but privatization is not the answer. The gap between the haves and havenots will only grow.
What's wrong with price control, or rather examining excessive profits? The United States successfully utilize price and wage control during war time. Left to their own devices corporations will seek to maximize profits at the expense of consumers and the competition. For that reason there are valid economic motivation for outlawing cartels and monopolies. It's simply isn't good for the economy in the long run. Looking at the profits generated by the oil companies, it pretty clear they are taking advantage of the public.
Finlay, the role of the government is to administrate the nation's affairs, this includes looking out for the people first and foremost. |
On health care, there is no doubt the system we have in the United States isn't perfect. But if your only solution is for the government to assume control of it, it will get far worse, not better. Don't believe me? Ask just about any veteran about VA hospitals. Didn't we learn anything about the fiasco at Walter Reed? That's just the latest example of what can happen with government-run health care.
Go to your local post office and ask yourself if that's the environment you'd like to find yourself in when it's time to visit the doctor. With nationalized health care, you should expect all the compassion of the IRS, and the efficiency of FEMA.
Social Security -- all it has ever done is create dependency. Over the long haul, private investments through the stock market have consistently out-performed the return on social security. And the government gets to decide at what age your entitled to it, the rate at which they can send it to you, and thanks to Clinton/Gore, they can tax you AGAIN on the payments you receive. Then when you die, all the money you've paid into it for your whole life goes to the government, not your family. Sure, it's a safety net. But a really bad one. If the people had that money to save and invest as they saw fit, they'd be in an infinitely better situation.
Price controls/windfall profits tax -- what do you think will happen with the price of gas when the government takes more of the profits from oil companies and their shareholders? The price will go up. There is no better economic system than when a business owner or corporation is motivated by seeking maximum profits on the products or services they provide. When that happens the consumers get better quality. As an aside, do you believe the quality of a product is better when it's free? Or when the person behind that product is motivated by getting as much money as they can for creating the best product they can?
Price controls do nothing but create scarcity of goods and services. When the government steps in to dictate how much anyone can make on a product, the incentive for the creation of that product declines.
Free markets work, Saden. Government control does not.