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originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: muzzleflash
Sorry. But hey, you like working all the time because it makes you a 'man' right?
Sounds like you're speaking directly to my *ahem* privilege.
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: rickymouse
THE COST OF ITS HEALTHCARE?
Get real rickymouse! The US government spends a great deal more on devising, developing acquiring, and distributing methods of ending life, than it ever does on saving it!
originally posted by: Gryphon66
a reply to: JinMI
So, over two thirds of our "debt" is little more than an accounting measure? Another bogeyman?
Thanks, carry on.
originally posted by: usernameconspiracy
AS long as U.S. Treasury Bonds are the most secure investments in the world, the debt simply doesn't mean much. Everyone from the average guy down the hall to entire counties are happy to continue investing in the solid return on investment.
originally posted by: kelbtalfenek
a reply to: JinMI
So lets raise the debt limit...Yahoo!!!
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: rickymouse
What the devil are you talking about rickymouse?
The US government spends more on ways and means of murdering people, than it EVER has on the healthcare of its citizens.
War spending = $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion approximately.
That dwarfs every other thing the US government does with its money, by many, many times. So whatever the hell you were talking about, why don't you try justifying that total clusterbang of a situation?
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: rickymouse
What the devil are you talking about rickymouse?
The US government spends more on ways and means of murdering people, than it EVER has on the healthcare of its citizens.
War spending = $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion approximately.
That dwarfs every other thing the US government does with its money, by many, many times. So whatever the hell you were talking about, why don't you try justifying that total clusterbang of a situation?
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: rickymouse
rickymouse,
First of all, America is home to the primary purchasers of chaos in the entire world. It funds terrorism globally, which it then uses to excuse over inflated military budgets. Its also worth pointing out, that we are not even dealing with the unknown and unknowable amount, that is spent on intelligence agency activities and dark military projects, operations, and so on, the so called "black budget".
If America feels it needs the amount of military spending it currently has, the reason is that its notaries and high fliers are literally buying the fear which keeps people from questioning the direction that spending is taking, and prevents anyone from properly investigating the cost of the intelligence agencies operations, which is ironic, since they pose a greater threat to your liberty than any of the proxy armies that other branches of your government, as well as private individuals and industry leaders, pay for by the back door.
So no, regardless of the published figures, which do not include the ACTUAL spending on all aspects of defence and security, the simple fact is that your country does NOT spend more on healthcare than it does on war. Not at all. Another point I would make, is that it only spends so much on healthcare, because the morally retarded bastards running the place are still trying to run hospitals like businesses, not public services. The provision of healthcare is not supposed to be a business, and those involved in it are not supposed to occupy a special place in the social strata. They are supposed to do what they do for purely humanitarian reasons, and be happy to live normal, not high flying lives as a result.
The evidence is clear that something is amiss in your spending on healthcare, but not in the way you think.
Let me put it to you this way. If everyone in your country could afford the insurance (which should not be necessary to function a health service, but thats by the by as far as this example goes), even at the present cost level, the cost of treatment would still be obscenely high, and not be justified by the quality of health outcomes for those covered by any of the healthcare plans in existence. Simply put, the quality of the care provided, is not relative to its cost.
This means that the cost of performing individual procedures, providing drugs, to any one person is not only far too high in and of itself, but has not resulted in better outcomes, despite the cost of the care involved. The ONLY way that can happen, is if the companies providing the care, the drugs, and so on, charge more than they have to in order to cover the cost of production, distribution, and provision of the service, drug, or equipment.
That is the ONLY manner in which it is possible for America to be paying as much as it is for its healthcare, without notable improvements in the outcomes of that care. This is like paying enough for dinner at the Ritz Carlton, but getting a Happy Meal. This is not the fault of any of the defenceless people that are often blamed for the care quality crisis in your country, nor persons with officially sanctioned entitlements, nor any other commonly referred to thing, save for this:
The people who decide what things cost, are criminally greedy, and do not care what damage they do to their country or their countrymen, in order that they, the insurers, the medical supply companies, the drug manufacturers, continue to make obscene profits from the suffering of others, literally putting people over a barrel in order to extract from them money they have not got, which forces them to get loans, which puts them in debt to other big, often multinational firms, in a big corporate circle jerk, which will kill a patient through stress just as easily as through the cancer, the heart disease, the kidney sickness, they were getting treated in the first place.
This is not only impossible to justify, because it is evil in the extreme and utterly objectionable, but easily remedied. The remedy however, is unpopular, because it is not at all a capitalist solution.
originally posted by: Aazadan
originally posted by: kelbtalfenek
a reply to: JinMI
So lets raise the debt limit...Yahoo!!!
Debt limit is a nonsense concept. The whole thing comes from a failure of Congress (or perhaps a failure of our Constitution) in WW1.
What happened, was that prior to WW1 Congress would have to itemize every expendature the government made and approve or deny each on an individual basis. WW1 took so many resources though, that it became impossible for Congress to do this, even when they devoted 100% of their time to it.
The solution was to authorize spending in chunks, which was the debt ceiling. So each department is now budgeted money, and allowed to do with it whatever they want.
It's a problem that no other country has, and one that we shouldn't have either.
It would be a "simple" matter to remove the debt ceiling and make Congress authorize every departments budget individually. Or better yet, approve all spending, that would use up enough of their time that they wouldn't be able to write laws authorizing much new spending. It would also remove a lot of partisian bickering, because outside of a couple deficit hawks, most would want to write spending laws for their districts.