Combat Ranting (formerly known as Famicom Mini)

[Weltall]

I doubt that they're making up the numbers... they're just only using the ones that most suit their case and ignoring a lot of important points. Like the one I mentioned -- relative wealth. In this case how the average CEO of an American company makes $10 million dollars. $10 million. That is a little bit more than the $28,000 of a poverty-line worker. That comparison is unprecidented in world history. If you look at the $10 million on top, the definition of 'poor' based soley on income becomes more interesting... like, would $50,000 even be considered middle class on that scale? Probably not. And we are giving those people who make $10 million massive tax cuts while increasing (or not changing) taxes on the lower end of the ladder!

CEOs do not make up any significant portion of the population.

I don't understand what relative wealth has to do with anything. If the 'poor' are healthy, well-fed and with luxuries and amenities, they are not destitute. It doesn't matter if the richest people had ten bazillion dollars, it wouldn't change the 'poor' much. It's not like things cost less if you're rich or something. You don't get a free discount in the grocery store just because you make over a hundred thou a year. You're gonna be charged the same amount for a gallon of milk that everyone else is.

Hell, if upper limits are put in place in the grading scale, there are probably about a hundred people in the world who aren't poor.

I think this is just your communist wealth hate speaking again.

Same thing. What they stand for has changed a lot, so so has the definition of the terms. Especially liberals -- 19th century 'liberals' were dramatically different from modern ones.

A liberal is someone who embraces change, a conservative is someone who desires preservation. That's as it is and as it's always been.

Maybe they would if you used terms that actually explained the concept... though of course they would hardly agree given how the Framers are a mix across the spectrum. :)

First, what program are you talking about? SSI is for everybody, not just poor people. Poor people get a lot less of it actually since they put less in. Medicare? Yes, that is. Medicade? That's for old people in general... food stamps? That's not free money, that's helping these people survive when otherwise they well might starve or become homeless... free lunches in schools?

Medicade, yes. Food stamps? Regardless of what they are used for (and as often as not, they're not used for food), they're still free money. They are given to people without anything expected in return. It's unreasonable to expect recompense from the elderly, but a majority of food-stamp recipients are not elderly.

SSI is easy. "Do you support taking part of everyone's paychecks to fund a fund that pays people money after they retire?", more or less... not sure about the others offhand. But if you explain first the fact of modern life that you need insurance for health care, and that it costs a lot and often comes from your employer, and about perscription drugs and how high the prices for those are in this country... they well might understand how important better health care for all is.

They very well should. But that's not the question, the question is should it be under the control of the government? That's the bone of contention today, and that little bit is very important.

Reforming the malpractice system and stopping some of the horrendous abuses of the existing medical system need to happen first. Did you know that most people will recieve emergency health care even without insurance? It's the law in Virginia, I don't know about other places. People who take advantage of that are not required to pay for their care, though they are strongly encouraged to, few do. To make up for this, insured people have to pick up the slack and pay for them, which is a big reason hospitals in Virginia have such tremendous operational costs and budget problems. There are awful abuses of this free system, people use the emergency room for very trivial things, and these things carry a big price tag that the rest of us have to take. Abuses like that cause huge financial problems, and one of the big things that scares me about standardized health care is that these abuses will multiply. Who would be able to pay for it all?