Regarding for-profit, pay-or-die healthcare: "The system we have works fine for me," says OU812, "and I'm not interested in changing it."

This is who labels me "angry" and "bitter". Guess I can't argue with that. Selfish people bring the "angry" and "bitter" out of me. I just happen to dislike selfish people; especially when it comes to issues like healthcare, literally a matter of life-versus-death for millions.

One of our comrades on this blog lost an eight-year-old daughter to cancer a decade ago, all because he and his wife couldn't pay for the treatment their doctor prescribed. This treatment would have given their kid at least 80% odds for recovery. But they didn't have the MONEY and now she's DEAD.

Just one heartbreaking example to highlight what happens in a sick and twisted system such as ours, that values profit over life. And to be brutally frank, I think anyone who applauds or condones it is a goddam pig. If that makes me "angry" and "bitter", then I guess I'm an "angry bitter person". No apologies. And as long as this forum exists, I will continue speaking out against that mentality, along with its hideous manifestations in our society. And pay-or-die healthcare would top that list. - AIW

P.S. By the way "OU", if you're going to continue teaching, you might try brushing up on your grammar and spelling.

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Quote chuckle8:Pal -- No other building in the world has ever been built like the WTC. It had its strength in the outside walls. Lots of buildings since 9/11 have had that architectural feature, but they did not try to save money by using gypsum in those walls like the WTC did.

Building seven (the third building?) came down because of the sub-station under it.

Quote Architects And Engineers for 9/11 Truth:Twin Towers Evidence Blows Away Fire Collapse Theory

The catastrophic destruction of the World Trade Center complex is said by government reports to have resulted from structural failure due mainly to fires initiated by the impacts of the airplanes. A closer look at the evidence reveals a much more disturbing crime.

Apart from the fact that no steel-framed high-rise building has ever collapsed due to fire prior to or since Sept. 11, the manner in which the buildings came down is itself a substantial cause for re-investigation. A collapse due to fire would likely proceed gradually with large deformations visible in the building’s perimeter, with the building tipping over slowly in the direction of the steadily weakening structural members – to the path of least resistance.

Yet the Twin Towers both came down quite suddenly, without warning, and without any “jolts” that would indicate the upper mass impacting the lower mass. The smooth rate of descent was measured at 2/3 of free-fall. In other words, the building was accelerating (traveling faster and faster second by second) straight down through what should have been the path of greatest resistance – the 80,000 tons of structural steel below that was at least five times stronger than necessary to resist this load. Physicists and other experts agree that this could have happened only if the underlying supporting structures were removed ahead of the falling upper building mass. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) acknowledges that each building was destroyed in fewer than a dozen seconds, and that they “came down essentially in free-fall”.

Chi Matt -- Thank you for intently thinking about what I said.

I presented the gini coefficient for exactly the reason you stated. Economics is complicated. Actually, it is human behaviour that is complicated and very non-linear. Therefore, when you say what is the maximum income one should make, that is trying to simplify something that needs a more complete view.

When you say

Quote Chi Matt:Despite what Thom and other negative-minded people may think, there is still a chance to get ahead in America,

We agree. We only want economic policy that improves those chances (social mobility has been consistently going down since reagan). In a similar vein, you say people will always scam the system. We agree. We just want to make it harder for them to scam the system (e.g. bring back Glass-Steagal).

My next question how is higher tariffs a redistribution of wealth? How is raising the top tax rate to 91% so the wealthy can pay less in taxes (just ask Rush) redistribution of wealth? How is protecting pensions from private equity firms a redistribution of wealth? How is paying CEOs in actual dollars vice options a redistribution of wealth?

Not as sorry as I feel for you...you are a bitter, angry, person.

Chi Matt -- Extinction of our species is much bigger than death. Death is just part of the cycle of our species.

Is there any difference between individualism and selfishness?

No serious Christian believe the book of Revelations was meant to be taken literally. The people who believe that are a small fringe minority, but they get a lot of media because it draws in viewers and re-affirms stereotypes.

I don't think it's complacency, but rather big-picture pragmatism mixed with individualism. Why conserve and save the planet? For the future of course. What about your future as an individual? Unless you're immortal, sooner or later, we all share the same fate.

That being said, I'm all for environmentalism. I do what I can, like everyone else. If I had a garage to put a charger in, and they made an electric minivan, I'd be all over it.

Maybe I'm going through a mid-life crisis, but when I hear reports about how bad the weather will be in the year 2050, or how there will not be any oil left within 50 years, or whatever the crisis is on the horizon, I always have the same two reactions: I will be dead (which seems to me a more pressiing issue), and I hope someone figures out a way to get the carbon out of the atmosphere, for my children's sake. But, then again, they will be equally as dead sooner or later, as will their children, and so on.

If you want to talk about looking at the big picture, it doesn't get much bigger than death...

Relax Chuck - I had some things to take care of and didn't have time to respond last night. While your model with the Gini coefficient and income levels may be sound, it's not practical, which is what I always think about when it comes to politics. First of all, it requires an understand of something complicated. Perhaps you've had different experiences with your fellow Americans, but for me, asking the average American to understand or even care about something like that is far-fetched. Secondly, like all other Progressive economic theories, it requires a massive redistribution of assets and wealth, but doesn't also require a redistribution of work ethic and knowledge. I know some poor people never had a fighting change. I know some rich people didn't earn it. But those are the fringes. Despite what Thom and other negative-minded people may think, there is still a chance to get ahead in America, if you work hard enough. I am proof of that. And I see it in the people around me, some are highly-motivated to work their way up the economic ladder, and some don't bother trying. I'm sure we all know someone like that. For me, I have a relative in her mid 20s who still babysits for a "living", not because she can't find a job, but because she isn't even looking. She's more concerned with her social life than with her future. Why should I, who worked two jobs when I was her age and had zero social life, so I could save my money, be compelled to "share the wealth" with her?

Yes, I know that's just one example, and I sound bitter, because I am.

When I worked retail, we had people who would come into our store and offer use of their LINK cards (IL version of welfare - it's like a credit card for food) to anyone for half-price in cash. One of my employees always took them up on the offer, and I never said anything about it. The two would go accross the street to the grocery store, she would get a lot of groceries, he would pay with his card, and she would give him half of the value in cash.

I've seen a lot of similar scams first-hand as well. I know several small businesses that pay minimum wage over the table, and cash under the table, so their employees will still qualify for assistance (and avoid child support in some cases.)

I bring these up to point out the impractibility of Progressive economics in this country. People will ALWAYS find a way to scam the system, and it can't possibly be enforced without a police-state sort of government. It's the same argument that leads to the legalization of marijuana - people will do it anyway, and it's impossible to enforce.

Not to mention that the wealthy will also just find new ways to hide their money if a new system were to come along.

I'll never understand why the citizens of Louisiana would elect someone like Bobby Jindal. I read an article about him in The Nation a few years ago. With his social values, if he migrated to Saudi Arabia he'd fit right in. Either Louisiana's elections are rigged or those people are just plain stupid. - Aliceinwonderland

Marc, you're the coolest, most original-thinking Christian I've ever crossed paths with. - AIW