81–90 of 399 posts
So the house you purchased and the van you upgraded to are not yours, disposing of your body costs more than a car, visiting family means you have to stay in a hotel, the basic survival needs of your wife and four children are not guaranteed and you want to visit Disneyland and meet celebrities before you die? Capitalism is beautiful.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Capitalism? America is the largest welfare state in history. Total government expenditures are nearly the size of China's GDP. What we have is corporatism, plunder by a combination of bureaucrats + government protected corporations (see: Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Exxon, Pfizer, etc). I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.
in that case, it can be argued that the soviet union was not real Communism either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Capitalism? America is the largest welfare state in history. Total government expenditures are nearly the size of China's GDP. What we have is corporatism, plunder by a combination of bureaucrats + government protected corporations (see: Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Exxon, Pfizer, etc). I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.
in that case, it can be argued that the soviet union was not real Communism either.
And your comparison isn't accurate at all. There are obvious and often massive differences between America's economic models of 1825, 1910, 1960, and 2014. 2014 isn't in any respect similar to the 1825 or 1910 versions. To argue that America in 2014 is highly Capitalistic, is to argue that Capitalism is compatible with a government system taking 40% of the economy through taxation, massive wealth redistribution, government interference in essentially every sector, nationalization (quasi or total) of core economic segments, welfare programs sprawling to hundreds of billions in cost, tens of thousands of regulations covering every field, and on and on - basically it's like saying that Capitalism can be anything. It can't, it's a specific type of model.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Capitalism? America is the largest welfare state in history. Total government expenditures are nearly the size of China's GDP. What we have is corporatism, plunder by a combination of bureaucrats + government protected corporations (see: Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Exxon, Pfizer, etc). I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.
You can't separate the state out like that and pretend it's not a player. Capitalism is what gives rise to corporatism. Oh, and welfare state is not a bad word. Some of the most prosperous and equitable countries in the world are welfare states[0]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model
While this is up at the top - http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/melanoma
Jonathan here. Being woke up by my wife crying because the donations just aren't stopping is both heart-breaking and comforting. For those of you who haven't seen the 'Bucket List' post, here's what it says at the very top: As I try to deal with the reality that is my impending death I can't help but wonder how many things I might have been able to accomplish given just a little more time. When I was diagnosed, I had…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are over 7 billion people on the planet. A day doesn't go by without a story like this. We just don't hear about most of them. Someday a person like this will simply go to his doctor, get a prescription, and go on to live a normal life. Rather than dwelling on sadness, maybe we should ask if there isn't something we can do, as a group, to make that day arrive sooner. What would it take to cure, or at least trea…
Without sounding unfeeling, do we really want to add to the overcrowding and population explosion problem that much? Earth is full. Our population has doubled in the short time I've been alive. Doesn't that scare the shit out of anyone else? Imagine what would happen if you suddenly cured all forms of cancer. People would live even longer. Population would shoot up. Lack of housing, lack of jobs. More pensioners... e…
I feel nothing but sympathy for Jonathan. I can barely imagine the pain he and his family would be going through :( What are the medical costs for someone with terminal cancer in the USA? I assume they're pretty astronomical, so I can understand why he'd ask for help (I'm donating myself). In terms of his house and the like, I was always led to believe that life insurance was specifically for cases like his? Is life…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
5) He hasn't offered a sensible and complete policy - what counts as saving lives? Cancer treatment? What about transplant surgery? What about amputations? What about medicines that prevent many conditions from becoming serious? Or lets make things really fun - what about mental illness? How about a person who's solving overpopulation in some way who suddenly contracts cancer? Where does one draw the line and who get…
There is no solution I can see, and that's worrying. While we're all running around curing diseases, solving global warming etc, the thing that will kill off our species is our own "success".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
in that case, it can be argued that the soviet union was not real Communism either.
It wasn't and many people do argue that whenever the subject comes up.