Gorgon

Free speech is great, it lets you distinguish idiots from the rest of society in no uncertain terms. A much greater benefit on the whole than the divisions that can be created with hate language. It should be theoretically possible for a white person to use the word **** for comic relief, I can't think of any instances where it actually was funny, but everything is circumstance, the words themselves aren't evil, it's the intent behind them that is important.

On Kianu Reeves, he can be vulnerable and show emotion, it's just that for 90% of the parts he plays he doesn't need anything but his pokerface.

If you base a relationship on whether or not the other person has any money that is pretty sad. These days with the crisis and all you might want to work but be quite unable to land a steady job.

Yes studies show young men coupling up with wealthy older (30 is not old) women who are the breadwinners, these younger men become something akin to 1950 housewives, including mandatory sex. Not a bad gig if you can find it.

I'm with LOF.

Your information is not very useful, she could be thinking about a million things, or just saying what was on her brain. Not necessarily evaluating you for your gene potential. I'm LOF, jump in at the deep end and ask her.

My favorite Commadores track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubd2uUPT5ww...feature=related

It's a bit like those people who claim FPS gaming is a 'sport'. It's about recognition I suppose.

It's probably one of those policies that shift the cost to the user if he/she starts claiming anything, like your car insurance going up if you have been in an accident. The ideal customer isn't sick, and isn't likely to become sick.

There is Painter, which despite it's goal of emulating real life paining is very confusing and has thousands of custom brushes you will never ever use. There is photoshop which you must already know. There have been very few real improvements in the last installations as the developer team is still struggling with rewriting the whole code base to 64 bit. Silly really, but I suppose they can't call themselves 'cutting edge' if they don't. It's quite good for drawing as well as editing. For the free alternatives, Gimp. It's not as intuitive as photoshop and it doesn't have as many functions either. Again it's editing more than drawing, but actual full blood drawing programs usually just aren't that good.

20% of 100 is 20 20% of 200 is 40. Now, 40% of 300 is 120, not 60. See where I'm going with this. If you each pay 13% more it comes to 13% of something + 13% of something else. Not 26%.

13% of what, do you make exactly the same salary. If not it literally is apples to oranges.

See, I dont even understand this mentality. Like we have to "stick it to the man" because he makes more then me? What? No, just that you are the one paying the bonus. If most of the health care sector wasn't profit driven, it would cost a lot less. Ensurers charge whatever they can get away with, the more the merrier. Now if they were competing with a public alternative they would have to really step up their game to survive. There is still a market for private insurance in UHC countries, it allows companies make sure their workers can get 'non essential treatment' right away (what Taks was meant with rationing). A few weeks of rehab without a waiting list after a back injury will get the employee back to work faster, that kind of thing.

How much do you pay now through your employer. What if it turns out even you would save money by switching to UHC. What if there were practical benefits in servicing a much larger group of people, less administration, fewer million dollar bonuses for the execs, etc. They are just practical advantages though, and obviously not as studly as the American self made and self sufficient way.

Where does this idea come from that all rich people are employers. I'd wager a good percentage of them sit around in their fur coats doing nothing, their money in mutual funds producing nothing. Anyway the argument about personal freedom is one I can understand, I don't subscribe to it personally, but it's straightforward at least. The other scare stories about UHC seem to miss the mark by quite a margin for someone who has had experience with it. There can be waiting lists, but guarantees are offered and this is where the private sector picks up the slack to ensure that no one is left without treatment.

delish

Keynes made sense before Globalization. It's a lot harder to stimulate demand or predict how people are going to spend their money with everything so interconnected. Whats the use of a stimulus package if you are just giving the money away to China.

socialist systems cannot afford the "true cost" of health care - socialized systems ration care to satisfy the law of supply and demand, period. hence, the total expenditures may go down, but by no means are they getting the same amount of care for their dollar. once the last bastion of even remotely free market health care goes under, we will see the effects throughout the world, and more importantly, here in the US. Voters want to see their taxes go to pay for health care and eduction over everything else, it's an easy sell. Even in a global economic downturn our government had no choice but to offer treatment guarantees in the form of wavers for private hospitals, should capacity be exceeded, even including treatment overseas. If the system proves infective people will not stand for it, it's beautiful really, democracy in action. The overall impression is that the system works quite well and is not sub standard to anything, I dunno maybe excepting the platinum shield with oak leaves and complimentary caviar and spungebaths. Now, do you have any actual experience or evidence of UHC offering poorer quality treatment or is it really just apprehension and suspicion based on your personal conviction about what health care should be like ?

you're joking, right? do you actually think that going to a public health care system will cut our health care costs (7% is nearly half)? ah, walsh... i am saddened. taks There must be some numbers available on this. How many people live in the US, what is the income per capita. Compare cost with NHS or equivalent. If one were so inclined one could find out instead of arguing about it.

I don't know if markets have ever been free, completely, in the history of mankind. Business sectors seek the upper hand by gaining political influence by lobbying and campaign contributions, and they do this whether they are 'left alone' by government or not. In order for there to be no incentive to do so government would have to spend no money and make no laws affecting the economy. Impossible.

Every other kind of ensurer has a section dedicated to finding reasons not to pay, and we are not just talking about fraud, any reason not to pay. It couldn't surprise anyone if health ensurers were exactly the same. Like their counterparts in other areas of the industry they are good at media management, and not every case has all the right elements to sell newspapers and get attention. The bottom line for these companies are in direct conflict with the best (medical) interests of their claimants. This is not really an area where you want 'market forces' to do their thing and magically improve everything. Health care needs responsible and accountable management, not just to make a profit for the ensurers.

The market is all well and good, keeps prices low, makes sure everyone performs to their best etc. In this case though the most cost effective health care ensurer one could imagine is the one that finds the most excuses for denying expensive treatment. PR firms are a lot cheaper than payouts and they do a lot more for a company's reputation than simply conducting business fairly. The market still wins and the shareholders make money, the patients lose though. You pay all this money into the system, and if you ever get a life threatening illness your ensurer might pay, probably will pay, and then again maybe not. It's utterly insane that a majority of Americans prefer it this way.

How about if you only work 1 hour a year.

Call me stupid, but I actually think there would be money in a PST sequel.

Today I watched all four episodes of a documentary on the Vietnam war from work, then stayed late and scuffled madly do get my workload done before everyone had left the building.