I don't agree that our capitalist society helps people to achieve their goals "if that's what they're after." It's not that easy and it's not that simple. A very, very, very, very low percentage of America is wealthy; and the amount of poor people is growing and growing.
The middle class is becoming obsolete. Wealthy people have better access to schools, after school programs, college, and tons of other opportunities to get ahead. It's simply easier -much easier- for a wealthy person's children to become rich than it is for someone who's completely poor to work their way up. VERY few people are able to do that, and it's disingenuous to say that anyone can. Some people simply don't have the opportunity.
Cost wise, it would be cheaper for me (by several hundred dollars a month) to pay 50 percent taxes (which is standard where people have socialized medicine) than it is for us to pay the current tax rate AND our medical insurance.
America is also the *only* developed nation not to have socialized medicine. Do you really think the best thing for us to do is to let people go bankrupt paying for their medical bills -or die because they couldn't afford a treatment they needed? Is that really the best thing for our country?
People don't have birth freedom BECAUSE we don't have socialized medicine. In most of Europe where they do, people birth at home with midwives. Hospital birthing is rare, and the infant mortality rates are lower.
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Date: 2008-02-08 05:39 am (UTC)The middle class is becoming obsolete. Wealthy people have better access to schools, after school programs, college, and tons of other opportunities to get ahead. It's simply easier -much easier- for a wealthy person's children to become rich than it is for someone who's completely poor to work their way up. VERY few people are able to do that, and it's disingenuous to say that anyone can. Some people simply don't have the opportunity.
Cost wise, it would be cheaper for me (by several hundred dollars a month) to pay 50 percent taxes (which is standard where people have socialized medicine) than it is for us to pay the current tax rate AND our medical insurance.
America is also the *only* developed nation not to have socialized medicine. Do you really think the best thing for us to do is to let people go bankrupt paying for their medical bills -or die because they couldn't afford a treatment they needed? Is that really the best thing for our country?
People don't have birth freedom BECAUSE we don't have socialized medicine. In most of Europe where they do, people birth at home with midwives. Hospital birthing is rare, and the infant mortality rates are lower.