What's RIGHT with America....

[Wagner]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/10/bec...ica/index.html

[ncx]

[StanF18]

OK, who are we kidding, we all know what's right with America...
We have the coolest aircraft carrier battle groups, B-2 Stealth bombers, Naval Special Warfare units (kick-ass SEALs), bunker-buster JDAMs, and Predator drones with Hellfire missiles. And if Iran's Mahmoud Ama-Douche-ad keeps talking smack, he'll get to witness the poetry of all these systems in Hollywood Technicolor. That will be his dinner. Israel will then give him his dessert

[AzNMpower32]

All points in the article are really true.

The state of California alone has an economy as large as the entire country of France.

Of course, I still think California is a different country.

[Viperfreak2]

AND California should be split down the middle, like the Carolinas.

North California

South California

[PersonaNonGrata]

Amen. There's way too much complaining and I think America has developed a culture of complaining. Yes, some perspective is desperately needed.

The point he made about healthcare struck a chord with me because there is so much talk by certain politicians about bringing universal healthcare and I heard a radio story about France's much vaunted universal healthcare system that while excellent in terms of care, costs people over 20% of their income, still requires many to buy supplemental insurance through their employers, and is a system $9,000,000,000 in debt. So is our system so bad?

[Eric5273]

Originally Posted by PersonaNonGrata

I heard a radio story about France's much vaunted universal healthcare system that while excellent in terms of care, costs people over 20% of their income, still requires many to buy supplemental insurance through their employers, and is a system $9,000,000,000 in debt. So is our system so bad?

Our system is not bad at all when compared to others in the world as far as quality of care goes. We do rank in the top 20% (France ranks #1, we rank #37).

However, when you factor in how much we pay for health care compared to the quality we get, then we drop down to near the bottom of the pack. We pay far more than any other country for health care. 20% of income is nothing. If I were to cover my employees, it would easily cost me 30-40% of their income to cover them, and that is with a plan that has deductables for everything.

Do you think because your employer pays for your health care that you are not paying for it yourself? Sure you are. If they did not have to pay for health care, they could increase your salary instead.

As we discussed in another thread, we pay about 80% more per capita for health care than France does. And obviously our results, while pretty good, are not as good as theirs. As with everything else, it's all about what you get for your dollar, and with our health care system, you get very little for your dollar.

[PersonaNonGrata]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Our system is not bad at all when compared to others in the world as far as quality of care goes. We do rank in the top 20% (France ranks #1, we rank #37).

However, when you factor in how much we pay for health care compared to the quality we get, then we drop down to near the bottom of the pack. We pay far more than any other country for health care. 20% of income is nothing. If I were to cover my employees, it would easily cost me 30-40% of their income to cover them, and that is with a plan that has deductables for everything.

Do you think because your employer pays for your health care that you are not paying for it yourself? Sure you are. If they did not have to pay for health care, they could increase your salary instead.

As we discussed in another thread, we pay about 80% more per capita for health care than France does. And obviously our results, while pretty good, are not as good as theirs. As with everything else, it's all about what you get for your dollar, and with our health care system, you get very little for your dollar.

No doubt we pay. I pay, you pay, we all pay. We do get less for our money because it's a business here. In France, the government sets all the prices for health care services and doctors make significantly less over there. The level of care is very good there. My point is that to get that level of care they are 9 billion in debt. Our system sure isn't the model health care system and there is room for improvement but when people point to a health care Utopia like France, they need to also point out that it runs severely into the red.

[70Sixter]

Originally Posted by Viperfreak2

AND California should be split down the middle, like the Carolinas.
North California

South California

I object. NC and SC and are like peas in a pod. Kali on the other hand (and I speak as a former resident and voter in San Diego with a northern Kali wife) is as different north to south as Korea north to south.

[Meiac09]

The state of California alone has an economy as large as the entire country of France.

And the population
And the size
And the crowding...