The End Of Liberalism?

Originally posted by joe beyser
Oh yes. Back when the whole Obamacare thing got started I looked into it. I say heard because many sources were audio. Plenty of reading available too I might add. I do not think all nations are affected the same with regard to my earlier statement but Canada sure heck fire is.

You think the Canadian health care system is worse than the American one?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
You think the Canadian health care system is worse than the American one?

I have a great story about that.

When I was in 10th grade (in New York City) I had a friend from Toronto. I didn't know much about politics but he kept going on and on about how great the Canadian healthcare system was. I had no idea one way or the other and so I never argued.

Once day I was in social studies class and my teacher, a young conservative Catholic from Mississippi, is talking about political systems and he says something about "the disastrous healthcare system they have in Canada." I immediately snapped out of my half malaise that I usually sat in during class and said "Sorry. WHAT did you say?" And he says "about what?" I said "About the Canadian healthcare system." He responds "It's a disaster."

I said "I'm sorry. Could you please hold on one second?" I ran out the door and tracked down my friend the Torontonian (who was on the basketball court as he had a free period) and dragged him in total confusion all the way back to my class, literally dragged him through the door and asked the teacher "Could you please repeat what you said about the Canadian healthcare system." He looks up and says "It's terrible." My fried says sternly with a comically serious face "That's not true! That's not true!" and then turns around and runs back to the basketball court.

As I sat down, all the teacher could do was look at me with a mischievous grin and say "Thank you for the show and tell."

That might have been the highlight of my entire high school experience.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
You think the Canadian health care system is worse than the American one?

They both have their problems. The American system has problems with price because of Insurance companies and the Canadian system has problems with quantity and quality because of the government. Which is better I couldn't say. I know for those waiting to see a doctor and get put on a list and then find out they have cancer and it could have been effectively treated if they would have had a diagnosis sooner, would say the pre Obamacare American system is better. For most of the stuff, the deductible is about what the total price should be. Once again though Obamacare is not social medicine. It will have the same flaws though as greed will kill folks.

Originally posted by sh76


That might have been the highlight of my entire high school experience.

Wow.. your high school experience sucked hard.

Originally posted by PsychoPawn
Wow.. your high school experience sucked hard.

lol, yeah I was thinking the same thing. The highlights I remember from high school all pretty much have to do with getting laid.

There were a lot of highlights.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html

Originally posted by joe beyser
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html

That's an opinion article, not research. I skimmed through it briefly and stopped reading at the first grave factual error, which was after about 10 seconds near the end of the article, where the absurd claim that "[...]the U.S. is so much wealthier than other countries[...]" is made. The US is much poorer than, for instance, Norway, yet still pays more per citizen for its health care, even in absolute terms. This fact would be well known to anyone with rudimentary knowledge of economics and/or health care systems.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
That's an opinion article, not research. I skimmed through it briefly and stopped reading at the first grave factual error, which was after about 10 seconds near the end of the article, where the absurd claim that "[...]the U.S. is so much wealthier than other countries[...]" is made. The US is much poorer than, for instance, Norway, yet still pays more ...[text shortened]... ould be well known to anyone with rudimentary knowledge of economics and/or health care systems.

Norway has more money than the US?

Is this in absolute terms or in some 'way of looking at things'? If it is in absolute terms then you have a point. If it isn't in absolute terms, then you are simply babbling.

Originally posted by Eladar
Norway has more money than the US?

Is this in absolute terms or in some 'way of looking at things'? If it is in absolute terms then you have a point. If it isn't in absolute terms, then you are simply babbling.

Norway has a higher GDP per capita; it's approximately double that of the US.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
That's an opinion article, not research. I skimmed through it briefly and stopped reading at the first grave factual error, which was after about 10 seconds near the end of the article, where the absurd claim that "[...]the U.S. is so much wealthier than other countries[...]" is made. The US is much poorer than, for instance, Norway, yet still pays more ...[text shortened]... ould be well known to anyone with rudimentary knowledge of economics and/or health care systems.

So you skimmed the entire thing in 10 seconds and have made such a judgement on its content?. You are full of Mesican strawberries my friend. How is the healthcare in Lapland? Do you think they will let me take my m35a2 there?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Norway has a higher GDP per capita; it's approximately double that of the US.

Per capita? So I take it you mean by a certain way of looking at it.

How does it compare in GDP?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Norway has a higher GDP per capita; it's approximately double that of the US.

How do you figure double?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

World Bank

Norway 65,640
United States 49,965


IMF:

Norway 54,397
United States 51,704

CIA:

Norway 55,900
United States 50,700

Higher, yes.

But where does "double" come from?

Originally posted by Eladar
Per capita? So I take it you mean by a certain way of looking at it.

How does it compare in GDP?

I suppose in your view Luxembourg (ranked #71 in the world in terms of GDP, IMF 2012) is a dirt poor country, while China (ranked #2) is rich. I bet many Chinese would dread having to live in a country like Luxembourg (ranked #1 in GDP per capita)! Meanwhile, Luxembourg could transform from dirt poor to being part of the wealthiest country in the world if the EU would form a nation state.

Or maybe GDP is not a sensible measure of wealth.

Originally posted by sh76
How do you figure double?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

World Bank

Norway 65,640
United States 49,965


IMF:

Norway 54,397
United States 51,704

CIA:

Norway 55,900
United States 50,700

Higher, yes.

But where does "double" come from?

It comes from the nominal GDP.

Originally posted by joe beyser
So you skimmed the entire thing in 10 seconds and have made such a judgement on its content?. You are full of Mesican strawberries my friend. How is the healthcare in Lapland? Do you think they will let me take my m35a2 there?

Well, at least I can safely judge the writer of the article is woefully ignorant (or willfully deceitful, which is probably worse), which makes me less inclined to be interested in the opinion of the author.

You would need an employment contract for at least 2 years to be eligible for public health care in Finland (Finnish Lapland included). I don't hear Finns complain about the health care system too much (i.e. never); I'm fairly healthy so I don't have much first hand experience with it. I would suspect you can take your vehicle with you (my boss imported his car from the US, where he lived for some time), but you'd have to be prepared to pay significantly more taxes in order to use it.