RM> I also believe that we really can't afford good
RM> quality universal healthcare. People live long enough now that
RM> they usually go through $500,000 worth of healthcare or so in their
RM> lives and we don't pay enough in taxes to cover that.

AI>If we want it we have to pay for it. If we don't want it.. well..
  >we also have to pay for it.

Sounds a lot like divorce...    B)

AI>I read quite a while back about a country in Europe. I forget what country it
  >was now but they were paying about 74% of their income in taxes, and they
  >wouldn't have it any other way. All of the needs of every person was covered
  >regardless of who they were.

Would be Sweden or Switzerland or the Nederlands or something.
They are big on socialism. I believe ABBA stopped performing
because the taxes in Sweden never stop going up and up.
Eventually they were paying *OVER* 100%. Working at a loss...

AI>I think I'm becoming quite a socialist (don't worry, a democratic
  >socialist.. :) ) these days. I wouldn't mind seeing education become
  >something we could simply sign up for. That would also be expensive,
  >but what would be better than an educated population?

Happy medium would be guaranteed loans for education at reasonable
rates so that those who do take advantage, and get higher paying
jobs due to better education, can pay it back. Most socially responsible
would be to offer free education in areas that they know we need people
but with a contract that says the gov't can tell you where to work for
the first 5 years or something so they can service specific areas.

Totally Free education seems to always get abused. I have relatives
who's parents believed in letting them stay in school as long as they
liked..  Once the kids were in their 30's and working on their 4th
degree they sort of changed their minds.
School can be a lot more fun than actually working for a living..

RM> They have to rely on a constantly increasing population to pay the
RM> bills and that is neither healthy for the country nor sustainable..

AI>Absolutely, we have to pay for it ourselves, now. It's not good to have
  >all the fun and pass the bill on to our children. They won't be able
  >to cover their own wants/needs/desires if they are paying off our old
  >debt.

The problem is we already got shafted on that.. The huge fund for
pensions that is supposed to have been built up is not there.
The gov't spent it. So now that more people are retiring than
joining the work force it's all unravelling. I read that in the
past there were about 11 working people for every retired one.
As the Boomers all retire that figure will drop to 2 workers for
every retired one.

TTYL
---
 * SLMR Rob  * I know I'm paranoid - But am I paranoid ENOUGH *
 * PDQWK 2.52 #17


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