On Feb 18, 2005, at 6:06 PM, William T Goodall wrote:
I'm not American (thank Dog!) and know nothing about your broken political systems but haven't you just pointed out the fact that Social Security and Medicare are different? So if they are, then bringing Medicare into the argument about Social Security is a big red herring?
Living costs is one thing, medical care is another. Yes, no?
Possibly not in the US. This is a nation where a lot of people don't seem to be able to tolerate a *minor* ailment -- and of course The Media™ makes it worse by regularly airing scare stories about such things as flu vaccine shortages -- and most people, particularly older people, seem to feel that it is their non-god-given right to have as many drugs as they want as often as they feel they need them.
How outrageous is it becoming? Viagra might soon be recognized as an "essential" drug for the elderly. Worse, to me, than paying SS to a wealthy person is the idea of buying him his boner pills to boot.
Of course this is the same nation wherein obesity is considered a disease rather than the symptom it more usually is.
I heard a comment, years ago, from a Canadian; don't recall the context but the essence was, "you Americans are all so afraid of death you're willing to bankrupt yourselves and your families to prevent it when it's inevitable." That's not necessarily a faulty observation, and it's consistent with the idea of a nation wherein medical care is considered a legitimate part of the cost of living.
And medical care *is* getting stupidly expensive. There's no plan in place to reverse that trend either; it's considered anti-Free Enterprise.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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