Re: Socialism
Sep. 22nd, 2008 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyatFrom Time Magazine:
"There is no way that the French government can pay for this lifestyle forever, except that it somehow does. "
Yes. The argument that socialized health care and welfare will somehow bankrupt a country is an odd one, since it often comes from strong proponents of free markets, who firmly believe in society's ability to generate wealth. I also hear it from people who claim the military is underfunded.
Of course, that last point may be legitimate in Canada, where the military budget is just 1% (give or take a few tenths) of the GDP. However, I more commonly hear it from Americans, where military spending represents about 45% of total world military spending, and is at the point where the U.S. could annually fund the construction two dozen space elevators instead, something which, P.S., would generate more wealth rather than simply evaporating into accounting limbo.
In any case, the belief that socialized health care and welfare will eventually bankrupt a nation is similar to the belief that continuing to buy groceries will eventually put you in the poorhouse.
"There is no way that the French government can pay for this lifestyle forever, except that it somehow does. "
Yes. The argument that socialized health care and welfare will somehow bankrupt a country is an odd one, since it often comes from strong proponents of free markets, who firmly believe in society's ability to generate wealth. I also hear it from people who claim the military is underfunded.
Of course, that last point may be legitimate in Canada, where the military budget is just 1% (give or take a few tenths) of the GDP. However, I more commonly hear it from Americans, where military spending represents about 45% of total world military spending, and is at the point where the U.S. could annually fund the construction two dozen space elevators instead, something which, P.S., would generate more wealth rather than simply evaporating into accounting limbo.
In any case, the belief that socialized health care and welfare will eventually bankrupt a nation is similar to the belief that continuing to buy groceries will eventually put you in the poorhouse.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 12:11 am (UTC)The UK has 2.5, and Germany has 3.4. Cuba has 5.91.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 01:56 am (UTC)1. In 1992, the federal government enacted recommendations in the Barer-Stoddart report (penned by a couple of accountants) that suggested that Canada had too many doctors and projected a huge surplus in the near future. As a result, medical school and residency enrollment was cut by 10 percent across the country.
2. The foreseen surplus never occurred for the following demographic reasons: a) most doctors are baby-boomers or older and are retiring (or dying off) b) the ones that aren't, tend to work part-time as they are elderly or mothers with children (Yours Truly falls into this category)
Thus, the doctor-per-person statistic is sort of useless because it doesn't take into account the type of doctor (full-time family physicians are in shortest-supply) or how many hours they work.
The frustrating thing is no politician seems to want to talk about these root causes and how they can make sure this bad planning doesn't happen again. They just want to throw money at the problem.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 04:44 pm (UTC)