If it's true that 50% of bankruptcies are caused by medical bills

[guitar man]

Would it be illogical to assume that this "crisis" could have been avoided by fixing the healthcare system? What would $700 billion, or even half of that, have gotten us in the way of universal healthcare or another workable healthcare solution??

I'm telling you, I'm so mad about this crap I could just spit nails!! :grr:

[codjh9]

1. And what about what we've spent on Iraq?!? Examples abound of insane govt. spending,

especially among the 'fiscally conservative' Republican administrations! BAH!

[guitar man]

2. bingo

so we have traded healthcare and solvency for Iraq/bailout. What am I going to tell my child when she's old enough to enter the workforce and is forced to pay for these disasters? :(

[Warpy]

3. The GOP is completely blind to the demand side

of the economic equation. They have a childlike faith that everything will sort itself out once the wealthy are secure.

There would be no problem had regulation to protect borrowers remained in place. There would be no problem had wages been indexed to inflation. There would be no problem had we gotten a reasonable health care system.

All of this was created by the GOP's peculiar form of blindness. Now they're trying to throw money at the top to fix it. They've done that before, too. Hoover did it. They're completely blind to the fact that they've killed the goose that laid all the golden eggs for so many years.

Their dogma is rigid and never changes except in vocabulary.

[guitar man]

5. wasn't it Einstein that said?

"the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting to get s different result"

my god, we've been doing the same thing for 28 years, since the start of Reagan, and it's the same result every time, only it seems to get worse every time it hits the fan. Whatever happened to common sense?

[Warpy]

9. They've done it forever, through every single boom and bust

cycle this country has been through from the beginning.

Like I said, the dogma just never changes.

Marxists have long noted the cyclical nature of capitalism and concluded the cycle is an inherent part of capitalist economies. What proved them wrong was the long period of stability during the application of Keynesian theory after the Depression. Booms were mild and recessions were shallow and the vicious boom and bust cycle seemed to have been eliminated until the stagflation in the 70s due to repeated oil shocks allowed the Chicago School to gain prominence, banish Keynes to the dustbin, and re establish the cycle.

"Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell." -- Edward Abbey

[guitar man]

10. I like that quote

I'm going to have to file it for future use. :hi:

[Greyhound]

11. Yes, and he also said, "Only two things are infinite,

the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe".

We prove him right every damn day.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. A decades-long 'crisis' in healthcare isn't worth a second to Congress. Only a 'crisis' of cash

amongst their donors can demand an immediate giveaway of $trillions!

[guitar man]

8. pretty much

A healthcare system that benefits all is a dirty commie plot, but a bailout for the rich is a sound investment I guess :crazy:

[TahitiNut]

6. Whatsammatter you? Don't you LIKE buying a pig in a poke???

After all, they've even put lipstick on the pigs! At least that's what THEY say ... as THEY pick our pockets.

[guitar man]

7. lol

What I really don't like is having a degree and working a middle management job, that should by any reasonable standard pay me $45k a year for $33k. The total cost of health insurance for my family is $15k annually, of which I pay about $$4500 and my company pays the rest.

$33k + $10.5k = $44.5k, or pretty damn close to what I should be making.


:grr:

[Oregone]

12. Its often cheaper to prevent a problem than to fix it, BUT,

Not when you are interested in siphoning wealth from the lower classes to the upper classes (instead of the other way around).

So, its rather illogical to think this "crisis" would of been avoided anyway, because its contrary to the philosophy of the ruling class.

[depakid]

13. It would have helped

It's one of many systemic reasons that underly the current problems.