I promised myself to never reply to any of your posts but here goes anyways. Sigh.

Let's see... America doesn't have a decent education system.

Really? That's why you are going to school in Brazil right now? My wife and her entire extended family left the country they were born and raised in because the US has the some of best schools in the world. Most of the people you associate with on a day-to-day basis probably went to public schools, and it worked out fine for them. Our education system isn't perfect (and there's always room for improvements) but it seems to work fine for the vast majority of people who make there way through it.

We can no longer afford the insurance which gains us access to our failed medical delivery system.

94% of Americans are insured, and even the uninsured have access to medical care. Again, the system isn't perfect, but to say it's "failed" is hyperbole to the extreme.

We don't have affordable competent daycare or senior care...

Umm... just two days ago I signed my daughter up for daycare. It is affordable, very competent, and was very easy to find. The yellow pages can be very helpful sometimes if you let your fingers do the walking.

We move piles of money to develop radio-emitting tags so that Wal-mart can track where you take your purchases. Althought they are the most profitable company on the planet, the tags will help Wal-Mart make more money.

I know we'd all be embarrased if the government knew you bought Air Bud on DVD last week, but there's a couple of quick solutions: 1) Don't shop at Wal-Mart (I know you love those Faded Glory brand jeans, but resist, resist) 2) Throw the friggin' box away when you get home

Not only would a system like that make money for Wal-Mart in the long run, it would also drive down prices for consumers who choose to shop at Wal-Mart.

Gomez 01 May 2004

94% of Americans are insured, and even the uninsured have access to medical care. Again, the system isn't perfect, but to say it's "failed" is hyperbole to the extreme

I can vouch for this. My brother is a physician and we just talked about this. He has never turned anyone away who asked for care. Nor has his hospital, and he was hard pressed to recall even an accusation that someone hadn't been cared for who'd asked for care. On the other hand, his practice is threatened by huge malpractice insurance bills (there's a fight to fight if there ever was one, the lawyers), and he routinely writes off more in 'charity' than I've ever made in a year. You wouldn't even know about it unless you asked, which I did.

The problem with insurance is that the solutions ('free health care' and government intervention) have skewed the market forces, such that government largess (er. taxpayer money) now dictates the equation, instead of supply and demand.

It's screwed up, that's for sure, but it didn't happen yesterday or the year before, and it's a misnomer to suggest that anyone is really suffering physically because of it.

QTip 01 May 2004

I reread my reply here and on reflection it seems a little harsh. The context of the conversation I had with my brother ranged over alot of things, but it started with the idea of 'going to Canada for prescription meds...'

To the politicians this seems like a good idea, because it's 'cheaper up there'.

Like all things that seem simple, though, the truth is a little muddier.

Apparently Canada forces the drug makers to adhere to a strict pricing code in order to sell meds up there. As I understand it, there's a ceiling on including R&D costs in the price of a given medicine, and some brilliant politician has no doubt come up with the perfect formula to determine that portion. The problem is that R&D costs money (as does the aforementined liability insurance), and someone has to pay it.

Of course, if you're paying less for the meds in Canada, the price here can only go up to compensate.

QTip 01 May 2004