Getting Healthcare Right

Capitalism is already breaking the backs of the working class, call us middle class, or lower class. One thing is for sure, many of us in the middle class are in reality, on our way south. We're not keeping up over these past years, and many of us, are going backwards. This is the cost of capitalism run unchecked. It's like Marxism; a marvelous ideal which could never work in a world of humans. Our basic nature is to, unfortunately, pad our own nest in any way possible. Our nest and those closest to us.

Animal Farm- Remember, they are all equal in the beginning, and then they were all equal, but some were not quite as equal. Socialism works on that premise. And it wouldn't work, except in Utopia.

Capitalism relies on the idea that those at the top will be decent enough to pay those under them a fair wage; what they deserve. Somewhere that's a least a good percentage of what that big giant made just because you were on the job today. Some of these large companies may have been started by someone who romantically not only wished, but believed, their staff would be paid according to their worth.

They generally pay as little as they can possibly get away with. They generally give as little benefits as they can get away with. Now the practice is to try to make your worker do the work of two or three employees. Do they do this because they are trying to improve our skills? Is it for us? No and when you are pushed and under that kind of pressure in the workplace, monetary pressures at home because of how little of your worth you are getting paid for , and if you wouldn't have ended up with heart disease through genetics or lifestyle, it can certain be attributed to your livelihood.

At the top of this company, the money which should have, at least a lot more of it if not all, been yours, is now being given out in the form of huge bonuses; I'm not even going to go into what these moneys could be used for instead of filling already overstuffed pockets.

 

You need to go back and read the conversation. It's a long one. And the girl is in Canada.lol

 

Absolutely.

 

NOW it makes sense - LOL!!!

 

No it doesn't. It relies on supply and demand.

 

Really not sure, sorry to say

 

It's OK you dont really need to know until you come over for a visit - which you are welcome to do!!!

But one of the things that makes American health care more expensive and one which is usually NEVER MENTIONED!! Is gunshot wounds

They represent an epidemic that is not impacting on other health care systems

 

It's a bit more complicated than that. The free market relies on the idea that those who work know what their labor is worth, and that is something that should be rectified because there are some immoral employers out there who are willing to take advantage of an employee who doesn't really know what their labor is worth.

This is something that communication between workers can certainly help with. Employers hate it when the employees get together and start comparing salaries and benefits. Bob might be getting 50k with an annual bonus of 10k, while Bill who is doing the same thing is only getting 40k. If Bill finds out about Bob's salary, he can march into the boss's office and demand a raise, and probably get it.

Now you're thinking like a communist. Whatever the big bosses get, that's something that they negotiated. Unless you're a big boss, it doesn't matter what they get paid because a janitor can't demand to be paid the same as a VP. It's not the same work, so it's not the same money. Anybody can scrub a VIP toilet, but not everybody can get a client to sign a contract that is worth millions of dollars in profit.

I agree with your basic premise that there are a lot of workers who aren't getting paid what they are worth, but that's a simple matter of knowledge and communication.

 

Oh,is that why they've been moving their plants and manufacturing to places where the general populace is desperate enough to take even less wages to do that conglomerate's bidding? Our industries all disappeared here on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia ( out in the water northeast of all of you) A whole bunch of American call centers rushed in. Now please don't tell me they moved the businesses out of the "greatest country in the world" to help us poor maritimers in Canada? All of the callers were Americans, so it was no Canadian demand they were supplying. If my recollection is correct, you don't enjoy 100% employment any more than we do.

And I have to tell you, there seems to be a lot of callousness towards one's fellow man in what I've been reading on these pages. If you don't give a f... what happens to the poor unfortunates in your own country, and I think most of us are intelligent enough to understand that big business is for big business, and I don't believe those businesses came here because of anything called "supply and demand". Even I am not quite that naive.

 

Yup. And keep in mind that Trump was elected by 29% of the voting-age public, and by fewer people than those who voted for Hillary. And now that the republicans have shown all they have after 7 years is a "plan" that will do harm to the public, the majority of republicans and democrats don't want Obamacare repealed unless something better can be substituted. Now, what is "it"? National healthcare? If so you need to write more clearly. "It, it, it".

You can hear it is people's words. They're sick and tired of the healthcare BS and know that every other developed country has healthcare at half the cost and often with equivalent or better outcomes. So yes, national healthcare will happen in the U.S. in time. Maybe not in 2017 or 2018 but eventually and soon.

 

The only way to control any of it is with government control. Even that is not enough because the same people hooked up with big business often run the government. We should be getting paid a much larger portion of what we're worth. Nobody's asking for millions, just enough of the hundreds that our lives are easier and not just theirs'.

 

You can't replace a broken car with another broken car and expect to be somehow getting ahead.

 

Hilary got more votes by the American people.

 

That's where you're going to find a lot of pushback because I don't trust the government, nor do many conservatives. The state is a lot like a loaded gun. It's dangerous, and only useful when a loaded gun is required for the job. What you're trying to say is that the best way to fix a leaky toilet is with a shotgun.

 

What, no Republican death panels? We get to keep our health insurance? Let's celebrate....

 

Great. What happens when the worker knows they are worth twice what is being offered but there are 150 other qualified applicants waiting behind him and he hasn't had a job for 2 years while applying for 100 other jobs?

Now you're talking like a socialist union advocate.


[/QUOTE] I agree with your basic premise that there are a lot of workers who aren't getting paid what they are worth, but that's a simple matter of knowledge and communication.[/QUOTE]
Ya think? You're inconsistent.

 

That's what I said, yes? Yes.

 

Not 1 single plan ever offered was to reduce the root cause of rising costs.
All plans shuffle around who will pay.
D's say the rich, R's say the poor and elderly should pay.
Never addressing the cause of rising prices.

Did you see the photo of the group discussing womens issues while the R plan was being debated?
The only woman in a room full of white men, was Kelly Anne.
They don't care. All dog and pony, all of it.

 

Yes. I recommend a basic course in economics.

 

How does the worker know they are worth twice what is being offered if he can't find anybody willing to offer it? Sounds like cousin Eddie who has been unemployed for the past five years, and is waiting to be offered a management position.

The way we find out what our labor is worth is by finding out what we can get paid for it.

Sure, I have no problem with unions. Just don't be surprised if that backfires on you, and you end up unemployed because your union leaders tried raising only to have the employer fold.

How am I inconsistent?

 

You are lucky enough, obviously, to have never had to be subsidized.

Perhaps in your next life, if reincarnation exists, this will be the lesson you need to learn in that life. It could be down's syndrome that forces you into poverty, maybe it'll be autism, a mental illness, a chromosomal disorder, simply being born female in the wrong part of the world, or even in this part of the world a woman who is left alone with children by a man (statistically, one of the best guarantees of poverty is being female.) Maybe it'll be any number of bad luck scenarios which puts you at the mercy of those around you. Let's hope those around you possess a sense of responsibility towards those less fortunate.

 

No, let the corporate sector fix it with a cannon.

If we could all agree what we want government to do, we could force it to do it.

 

Well. I wasn't talking about competing for jobs. I was talking about what workers get paid when we do work.

 

No, the government isn't a magic wand that will do whatever we want it to do. But if you think that's true, then you have a local government. Give it a go and get back to us with the results.