Ken Mac
Platinum Member
You're calling for socialism. A "system" that is controlled by the government is socialism. The government is not efficient at ANYTHING and produces NOTHING except infrastructure. Our government is a tax on the products we produce. The government is blood sucking overhead." And before it's said this is not a call for communism. "
Yes it is, although you don't seem to realize it. You're talking about raising taxes on everybody and redistributing it according to the gov'ts determination of needs. That is de facto communism, perhaps not your intended result but it is the final outcome once the gov't gets control of who gets what. Should someone with more talent, ambition, perseverance, and hard work benefit from that? You say no, that person has to pay more in taxes to pay for improving the lifestyle of someone who doesn't even make the effort. Merit gets you nothing or next to nothing extra, but I'd bet your connections would in your world. That's how reality works, if you're Hunter Biden then you're all for it; but if you're nobody then you're fucked.
Not quite what I am saying. If I were to go into more detail about a redistribution then I would not go along with what many in the Democratic Party are advocating for which is increased taxes on the wealthiest to help supplement the income or lives of the poorest people or even people that basically mooch off of the system. The redistribution of wealth and the dismantling of capitalism is not a belief that I have. My belief is in using capitalism to create systems that benefit all that pay in. So for example with healthcare for me everybody would pay in to that system, janitor to CEO to doctor to fisherman, and so on, and create that system to where it gives everybody equal interest and equal ownership in seeing it succeed. This a lengthier topic though.
"So for example with healthcare for me everybody would pay in to that system, janitor to CEO to doctor to fisherman, and so on, and create that system to where it gives everybody equal interest and equal ownership in seeing it succeed."
Yeah, but that's not what Biden and the democrats want, or at least what they're saying. Biden wants to raise taxes on only the wealthy that make $400,000 or more, and that just ain't close to being enough. Estimates I've seen for single payer or Medicare for All put the cost at something like $30 trillion over 10 years, which means everybody has to pay in and a lot of money too. But Biden and the democrats are not being honest about the cost, they don't tell us that part cuz they know the raising taxes to cover the real cost of healthcare for everybody is quite staggering and people won't vote for that.
My opinion, if it's free then people will abuse it. And BTW we don't have enough providers and facilities to handle the increase in demand. There's gotta be some skin in th game, over and above your taxes; if you've smoked and drinked, and done drugs, and got grossly overweight and now you've got health problems, am I supposed to help pay for your excesses? If we as a society do that, are we dis-incentivizing people to live a healthy lifestyle cuz we'll still take care of you if you don't?
I agree that the healthcare system that Biden and the Democrats want is not realistic and it's also not the system that I would advocate for. The standard Democratic system is to tax the rich so that we all have free healthcare, that's obviously unrealistic. What I would call for is increased taxes for all citizens, both flat tax and a tax based on income bracket, along with increased sales tax, business taxes and so on, which would all go towards investing in a system for all citizens that we all pay into and all have the incentive to want to have it succeed. It wouldn't be "free" either unless you are a child or a senior citizen. Everybody would have to pay a deductible every year out of pocket and then once that deductible is reached and then a future service would be "free" for the remainder of that calendar year with exceptions. It would still bring money into the system through the services provided along side the increased funding through taxes. There's more detail that will come from it but the point is that i'm not calling for what Biden wants.
It's not really a matter of one system or the other in my opinion. It's not really an either/or. We can utilize capitalism for the betterment of the many and not just the individual. A nationalized universal healthcare system that is primarily funded by basic taxes and payroll contributions generated by the capitalist would not make the US a "socialist" country but just blending certain economic systems for certain social systems. I'm not saying that private health insurance would be banned or anything like that, but if we made a universal system good enough and fair enough then the vast majority of the country would probably opt in.
Give this a go. This is what I think ought to be done.
Everyone gets free checkups and preventative care. Preventative care goes a long way in reducing costs down the road. Any "disaster" health issue over 75K per year (or pick your number) will be taken care of by taxes collected from the people. People can utilize private insurance to cover up to 75K with a deductible they choose and they pay the premium for the private insurance.
I'd go for that.
The 75K is to ensure no one is buried for life in debt because of a medical condition.
I really think this is doable.