I do understand the challenge you point out under our current Private Healthcare system; and though I can appreciate thinking things through, I do not buy into the obtuse "doom and gloom" rehtoric regarding Single Payer Healthcare.
So Australia's and Canada's population combinded is less than that of the U.S. To me what you just said is that we have 5x the capacity to increase that .60¢ per dollar paid by medicare to 100% tax paid. This would also level the field when it comes to astronomical cost for treatment.

I'll say it again...Redirect what we are wasting taxes on. We need not to "financially" support Israel or any other foreign Government for that matter. As George Washington said in his farewell address; "Why take from our own to give to another". Stop engageing in unnecessary and illegal wars, shut down 1/3 of our Military bases. As well remove Marijuana from being a Schedule One illicit drug; legalize medical Marijuana, and decriminalize recreational use and simple posession under an ounce. Stopp sending responsable working class tax paying Americans to prison for non criminal behaviour.
The U.S. wastes more money and time on its failed 40 year War on Drugs than ALL other countries combined. Legalize, Regulate, Educate.

And to correct you...Though Australia allows a person to purchase "private" health Ins. the majority of Australians do not and they receive A+ treatment...So much for that Greed and Jealousy; it must just be an American thing! Oh the tangled wed we weave.

Couple things about government run healthcare, Australia has 22 million people, Canada has 35 million people, USA has 313 million people. The delivery system here will be overwhelmed. Never be enough doctors or nurses. Also as you may know Medicare pays maybe 60 cents on the dollar to healthcare providers so the cost shifts to private insurance policies to pick up the slack. You know the baby boomers are headed for a train wreck in the medicare system. you will see the so called "death panels" in order to control costs. we in the baby boom generation have a target on our chest. Now through Obama care they are stripping more payments out of Medicare. Doctors will stop taking Medicare patients. Or will they be forced to. Maybe more doctors will start accepting only patients they choose, as you indicated (those willing to pay for better service) -- and then I think you see the snowball of the free market being forced to be a bit disfunctional. Of course the slippery slope of government intervention could dictate all kinds of regulations and penalties to patch up the system and preserve crappy healthcare for all. Can you imagine the beuracracy that will be created for this monstrosity. And as I have said before government programs and spending are forever, politicians and tax rates are temporary. I think in the closed door discussions of these masterminds, population control in order to contain healthcare cost is centerpiece. That is why you see the push for free contraceptives, abortion on demand, and soon a planned parenthood facility in every city. watch out for that flu vaccine.

In Social Democracy...Capitalism still excist; there is just better regulation, equal distribution of wealth, and a more focused public policy.
And in my opinion most people are not greedy or jealous to the degree that you seem to imply; at least that is what I gather from your tone in many of your posts. In fact you come off as a greedy jealous person. Why is that? Are you not confident and comfortable in your own skin? In my experience I have found neoconservatives to be very greedy angry people. Why is that? Most of the hate speach and defaming of peoples charecter seems to come from the extreme right. Why is that?

Global I have to ask you what your issue is with having a single payer healthcare system that would allow all Americans to receive medical attention without having to go bankrupt? And if some uber rich person wants to buy private health Ins he can. Much like they do in other developed and organized countries. Austrailia is a excellent example; I know this because I have family that have lived there for the past 43 years (they are dual citizens). They (Austrailians) also receive Government mandated paid holidays (vacation) with the minimum number of days being 22 days per year, some jobs offer more. How dredfull!
Anyway back to the issue of Single Payer Health Care...
I run a business and work 40-50 hours a week; I make relatively good money but certainly not a level of income that would afford me and my wife healthcare Ins. And my wife works for a company that does not offer their employees health ins. And even with two incomes we still cannot afford health Ins. For the most part we do not live above our means, but if one of us were to become ill to the point of needing to see the Doctor it is practically out the question due to the expense.
I personally would rather my tax dollars go towards a single payer healthcare Ins. then towards say supporting Isreal, a hyped defence budget, corrupt military contracts, overseas nation building, and illegal and unnecessary wars.
It saddens me that so many Americans would rather spend trillions of dollars a year on killing and the formentioned then reduce military and defence spending and apply it towards public healthcare, (as well as improving our education system, and establishing a better clean/alternative Energy Policy; mainly wind, wave, solar, and natural gas).

As far as Welfare goes...I agree I'd like to see people become more finachlely independent. However that being said I am ALL for welfare in a time of economic chaos. When there are millions and millions of people who have lost their jobs to overseas cheap labor and millions more that have been booted from their homes do to an artificially inflated housing bubble, the deregulation of banks and the scum-bags that profited by stealing from Main St. America. As well I am all for enforcing wellfare regulation in order to weed out those who abuse the system. I'd rather my tax dollars go towards programs that help those who are in finachle dire straights then towards our much failed War on Drugs and silly Zero Tollerance Drug Laws; both of which waste billions of dollars and have caused more harm than good.
I have a sister who went to prison for 10 years mandatory no parol when she was 26 for an ounce of weed and 2 grams of coke. She had no priors, and at the time held an excellent job as a radiologist asst. making over 50k per year plus bonuses. Now she works 40hrs a week as a casher for 8.50/ hr., babysits on her days off and has to rely on food stamps and family to help make ends meet. Was it stupid of her to jeapordize her wellbeing???Absolutly! Do I feel she is a dangerous person???No! However since society is so "unforgiving" for the mistakes we ALL can and do make, she, and many others like her, will continue to be a burden to us all; at least until we stop being so God dam self righteous and hell bent on condeming people for being people and not allowing for a second, third or fourth chance. I'm not saying you or anyone else should feel sorry for her, or anyone else who chooses to break the law, however I do feel sorry for her because of how she has been condemmed by a hysterical and ignorant majority of society. Life is already difficult without all the man made bullsh*t.
We - you, me, our brothers and sisters - need to change our way of thinking. History does not prove socialism to be a failure...However Stolinism does. True socialism has been given very little opportunity do to hyped rehtoric and ignorance. It is my opinion that Stolinism would be avoided under a Social Democracy as would Capitalism run amuck.

One other note about socialism...You do realize military life works under a socialistic democratic philosophy...No?

In one of you response to anothers post you commented that the news program Democracy Now is Social Propaganda. What?!?!? Democracy Now is nothing more than true responsable reporting. When the Occupy Wall St movement begain in the early days of Sept. 2011 Independent news sources, like Democracy Now and Thom Hartmann, were the ones giving true coverage and informing the public. It wasn't untill days later that mainstream commercial news sources begain reporting on the events, and even than they were grossly slanted, condeming and misrepresenting. Same goes for the Pvt. Bradley Manning case and Julian Assange. Independent news sources like Democracy Now are the only ones reporting facts rather than acting like judge and jury. In fact you rarely here the mainstream media report on Julian Assange and yet our Government has a hard-on for him with wanting to arrest and extrodit him here to the U.S. in order to charge him for crimes of espionage.
Again in my opinion, based on obbservation and experience...If more people watched and listened to Independent News Media - like Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann, RT, etc. maybe we would see less rush towards war. It is no mystery that Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, etc, etc. propell our Governments War Machine Agenda.

[Please forgive any gross mispellings, run ons and digressions...It is 4:30 am and I'm running on 3 hrs sleep]
ciao

Alice, you sound like you are ten feet tall. Relax, as I said before, taxing the so called rich is an emotional issue for the Libs and means Butkus to the massive spending problem we have with these incompitant leaders in Washington. And who cares what Fox News or MSLSD and the socialist propaganda at Democracy Now has to say. I think and interpret events as I see them. The litmus test for any legislation or policy should always be how does it affect the freedoms of me and my family. That core understanding will release your frustrations.

The truth is, Mister Global, socialism isn't the enemy of freedom or democracy; it's monopoly crony capitalism and it's all about Plutocracy. (Do you know what Plutocracy is? Try looking it up.) The trouble isn't spending, or that bogus "Fiscal Cliff" the Republicans invented to scare us peasants into submission; it's the transfer of wealth, from the bottom 98% to the top 2%. (HELLO.) The system ain't broke; it's FIXED, and it's the 98% who are the losers here. That means us. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, pal. And while you're at it, try wiping that massive chip off your shoulder. - Doro Reeves -

Do you happen to be a member ot the Billionaire Lucky Sperm Club? If not, then let me remind you that you are nothing to these plutocrats but an itsy-bitsy, no-count peon. Your loyalty to them is sadly misdirected. You characterize the president as an "economic illiterate", a "socialist" or whatever, but what would you call Baby Bush? Isn't he the one who created this deficit fiasco in the first place? What's more, Bush Junior was all about socialism & entitlements, but only for the rich; not you or me. Ditto Mitt Romney. And Ron Paul?! Oh please. Throwing Granny under the bus is precisely what these country club elitists intend to do. They do it by shredding the paltry remains of a raggedy-ass safety net, one that has already taken quite a beating from corporate lobbyists, corrupt politicians and the special interests they serve.

If at first you don't succeed, try again and AGAIN and... !!!!!!!!!!

What the???? You sound like a tyipical 1950's parinoid white American. Correct me if I am wrong - and I know you will - but your idea of socialism seems passé and stems from Stolinism and not actual socialism. And this so called destruction of "your" country...It started long before Obama was first elected. The real culprits are not limited to just those in Washington; more so it is a group of white elitest families, with such names as J.P. Morgan, Rothschild, Rockafeller, etc. Obama - like every president - is playing the hand he was delt. But believe when I say I am not a Obama supporter since he too has crossed several moral and ethical lines in my opinion. I am a registered republican, however I DO NOT support the party since the party is filed with greedy selfish bigoted business man; which has proven more and more to not be what is best for America. That being said I fully support the efforts to raise taxes on the upper 2%, cut spending on defence and like Ron Paul proposed; close certain military bases and reform our foreign policy to a more diplomatic one rather then a militaristic one; which cost us more than we can truely afford finachlely and jepordizes the wellbeing and wellfare of ALL Americans. Further more I would like to elaborate that Socialism, Communism, Anarchism are all philosophies that have just as many positive points as Democracy and Capitalism. However I do not accept Soviet Socialism to be an absolute example of what socialism is; just as I do not accept American Capitalism to be a pure model of true justice and freedom. American Capitalism has led us into every bloody war - foreign and domestic - in the history of our country. As well American Capitalism is the root cause to our two tiered Justice System. As Howard Zinn once pointed out; "We can use socialism in a Democratic Elected Government to equalize our resources and help people". I like this idea in that it benefits ALL and not just a few. I am not opposed or fearful to leveling the playing field.

yes I think it's only the beginning of a long and furious fight with the bigot side and am behind him all the way and we should all do the same. he needs to hear the chants of "GO FOREWARD" and keep on fighting for what's right. !

Nor should you! Amy Goodman for President!

Good start, but there's more. Corporations have too many loopholes to avoid paying their fair share in taxes, we pay oil companies subsidies instead of them paying taxes, defense contractors are paid much more than it would cost if the military did it themselves, Since Israel wants to take over the Palestinian land by builiding settlements on it, cut Israel off. Don't give them a penny. They will come around, but look at the money that will be saved. And for all of those whining about those making over $250,000 a year, would you like some cheese with your whine?

Will the general principle that comes out of the latest Supreme Court decisions be seen to be that the Commerce Clause cannot be used to preserve the environment but only to govern commercial transactions. Eye Center Murrieta