Originally Posted By EdisYoda <<<Oh and remember that plane in MN that was stuck for nine hours. Well besides that being the fault of Continental(worst airline out there) the National Transportation and Safety Board wouldn't let people off the plane because everyone went home. >>> The TSA already said that the passengers could have deplaned and could have remained in the concourse behind the security lines without having to be re-screened. I'll see if I can find the article(s) stating this.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I'm not saying the current system is perfect, but you are so friken naive if you think it's going to be better.<< OF COURSE it's going to be better. It's better right now in ALL the other industrialized nations. The only way it wouldn't be better is if the current industry bigwigs get to write the legislation ... which looks like it may be happening. >> Is it going to cut down on wait times at the doctor's office.<< I 'spect it will depend on your doctor. My primary care doctor's office is pretty efficient, so for me, probably not. Certainly won't make it longer though. >>Will I not get the care I need because someone's got a cold and they weren't insured before so I guess they get to skip me.<< Explain this? Why would that happen? EVERYBODY gets health care, including you. >>And you know for a fact that people are going to abuse the living crap out of this driving up costs even more.<< No, I don't know for a fact. If everyone has health care, what are they going to do to abuse it? Come in twice for the same complaint?
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder As someone who works for "the government" and is married to someone who works for "the government", I take offense and find these statements denouncing how "the government always screws things up" to be asinine, ludicrous and wholly uninformed. Does the government screw up some things? Of course, nothing's perfect. But when left to its own devices, the private sector screws up just as much, and more often on a much grander scale. I give you the unregulated mortgage industry, for example, and the oil speculators for another. But just another post pointed out several days ago, there are so many thing the government does that people take for granted some tend not to notice just how well it functions. However, if you're going to insist the government collectively is a bunch of backward yokels who can't see straight, in the future, please refrain from turning on your water, putting your trash out to the curb, calling the police because there's trouble, calling the fire department because your kitchen is ablaze, applying for welfare because you're a parent who has been laid off and the unemployment has run out and the job market has dried up despite your diligent job search, applying for help with your child support, checking out a library book, bringing your kid to the local park district pool for swim lessons, calling vector control to rid your house of rodents, visiting the animal shelter................
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Check out the 8-day health clinic for low income people in Inglewood, California (<a href="http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/health/health_news/Inglewood_Health_Fair_Continues_Day_3_20090813" target="_blank">http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/hea...20090813</a>). This is an event where you can go in to get your rash looked at and they tell you you caught TB from standing in line so long. If that isn't proof that we need health care reform I don't know what is.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Is that the free clinic at the Forum? My wife said exactly the same thing. All those people waiting forever in line for health care is a living testament for the need to reform. But don't tell that to the talk radio acolytes. They've got theirs.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 So the government always mess stuff up.. Okay let's see. Roads are safer due to federal and state DOTs. Millions of children are able to go to public school, saving their parents thousands in tuition costs. The FDA and USDA make sure that you do not die of foodborn illnesses. Your water (unless you are on a well) is kept clean by municple governments. Police and firefighters are at your disposal whenever you have an emergency. The DEA, FBI, DHS, and multiple other organizations keep us all safe. OSHA and the Department of Labor make sure that your workplace is safe. If you lose your job you can get unemployment benefits to tide you over until you can find another job. There are many more examples that I can't think of right now. If you truly think the government cannot get anything right, take a look at all of the government programs that make your life a little better. Then move to some small African nation and see how great things are when the government does not provide these services.
Originally Posted By hopemax Earlier I started thinking, "If the government messes things up so badly, why on Earth are we relying on them for the safety of this country?" Certainly, there is nothing more important than our national security. Why do we leave it in the hands of such incompetents? Why was there not more outrage when the Government increased their role in those areas with the creation of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act?
Originally Posted By DAR ^^^ It's because the military is run by people who know what they're doing and has the least amount of bureacratic influence. And we work best as a country when the government let's us be.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>It's because the military is run by people who know what they're doing and has the least amount of bureacratic influence.<< Did you really just say the military has the least amount of bureaucratic influence? I mean, I can't see you typing so I'm going to hope you were laughing while you said it, because I've never read such a false statement in all my time here. And that's saying something.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 "It's because the military is run by people who know what they're doing and has the least amount of bureacratic influence. And we work best as a country when the government let's us be." What country do you live in? The DOD nd DHS are both bureacratic entities. Both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security are political appointees...Neither the FBI, CIA, or DEA are run by the military either. In fact, the government was set up so that the military is run my a civilian leader, the president, because the founders did not believe the military should have that much power.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 >>It's because the military is run by people who know what they're doing and has the least amount of bureacratic influence.<< LMFAO, DAR, I can't have your back on this one, as a member of the military there is layer upon layer of bureacratic nonsense.....
Originally Posted By ecdc But DAR has got to the heart of the issue here. He likes the military. He thinks they run well and he loves our troops and supports them. That fact inconveniently bumps up against this notion he's apparently developed after waiting in a long line at the DMV that government is incompetent and can't do anything right. So to resolve the problem, he's done what millions of Americans have done lately: invented his own "truth" out of whole cloth. And that's really what this is about. Americans have invented, out of whole cloth, their own "facts" about this. Facts like other countries' socialized medicine is a failure. Or that the private industry always runs better than government. Or that government screws everything up. These aren't facts at all, but people believe them, so they think it must be true. Our nation is run by truthiness. And that's why we're in this mess.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones The US Postal Service will take your stupid letter, no matter how unimportant it is, and take it to any address in the United States for 44 cents. I get my DVDs a day after Netflix sends them. I've never had a DVD get lost in the mail and delays are very rare. Who does Netflix ship with? The US Postal Service. Now that's efficiency. As they faced competition from email and other postal services, they got more efficient. They're running into trouble what with the economy and all, but if they were gone, you'd miss them.
Originally Posted By DAR Hey what can I say I'm a private industry guy and I'm not completely anti-government. In addition to our soldiers, I hold our public school teachers, the one's that aren't slaves to the teacher's union, in very high regard. And I should I have friends and family in the profession.
Originally Posted By DAR I'll tell you guys what. Since you all think the government will do a better job. I'll go one step further. I want them to be perfect no red tape. When you have an appointment you get on your terms not theirs. Oh and if you're sick, then you're cured right away.
Originally Posted By DAR <<That fact inconveniently bumps up against this notion he's apparently developed after waiting in a long line at the DMV that government is incompetent and can't do anything right.>> I guess having to wait two hours for me to get my license renewed with only three people in front of me was apparently the height of competence.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I've had to wait in insane lines at private businesses. That the DMV has the insurmountable task to license and at least attempt to educate every driver and register their crappy cars in California prompts me to cut them some slack. No private business could do what they do any better.
Originally Posted By DAR But see if there was a private DMV entity you would have the option to go to another place. With schools if parents aren't happy with their child's school they can look for another school whether it's private or public. We're not going to have that with health care. Competition is good for the market place and the economy.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones The nature of licensing drivers and registering cars doesn't lend itself well to private enterprise. Your comparison is invalid because a privately owned DMV is infeasible.
