RochesterFalcon Wrote:Western Europe is strong. And, in many ways and places, it is socialist. Many of its nations have longer average life spans than ours. Most of its nations have lower child mortality rates. Western European workers tend to take much longer vacations than we do -- yet its industries are often more productive than ours and their societies offer more social mobility than ours.
Productivity? Maybe Germany. I respect German industrialization, although the E/W merger has had an effect more lasting than most would have guessed.
But the rest of W Europe? No way. Americans, for all their faults, definitely out-produce France, Italy, Spain and even Britian.
Quote:That last point deserves emphasis. Productivity and social mobility -- these are the holy grails for those who insist on lower income taxes and less regulation. Yet, while the American economy has the lowest incomes tax rates and (potentially) the least amount of regulation in the industrialized world, we do *not* lead this world in productivity or social mobility.
Social mobility? I remain skeptical. Perhaps because the European social structure is flatter than the US, you don't have to move far up/down b/c there is not very much up and down. I also suggest that the immigration lines to get into the US as compared w/ Europe would contend otherwise. Regardless, this is sort of an ambiguous term that is tough to discuss.
Quote:But, if people continue to insist that a single payer Canadian style national health care system is socialist, well, draw they can draw their own conclusions about me.
Still, whatever those conclusions, I'm no radical. I'd suggest America is the true radical -- for persisting in allowing health care inequities that are tolerated in almost no other industrialized country.
I don't think the Canadian system is all that special. It has it's flaws and failures too, woefully underreported. But let's assume it is better.
It's virtually impossible to separate the Canadian system from the US. Here are 2 examples:
1. How many pharmacy companies are in Canada? Some, like Oncolytics...but most major producers are abroad, many in the US. So, the pharmaceuticals that are so readily available in Canada perhaps only exist because of a market like the US.
2. How many Canadian jobs exist
period because of US companies located in Canada? How many GM workers are there in Windsor? The Canadian economy, including its tax base, is directly tied to the US. It is not clear that their system would work when spread over the 'other' 50 states. (And that's not a total cheap shot, as the Wash Post ran an article 3 years ago about Canadians identifying more w/ the US than a distinct Canada.)
In fact, it's difficult to isolate any of the world economies, which makes studying Cuba and the Eastern Block nations so interesting.
As for the US healthcare, it's plagued with all sorts of social ills, including abuses by the folks who are subsidized. I'm not sure this 'entitlement' mentality (openly advocated by Conyers, Jesse Jackson and many others who frustratingly appear on the left of the spectrum) would allow any system to survive. So I don't know that the US system deserves this much criticism.
BTW, the Cuba article did have a statement about one brain surgeon wanting to get into the tourist industry. That sort of low morale _will_ eventually effect the Cuban health-care system.
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