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Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills

theguardian.com

141–143 of 143 posts

Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills

#141
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you even know where the parent poster is living? Since healthcare in _my_ "socialist" (from a USA point of view) country certainly isn't generally paid for by taxes but by insurance fees. (Exception: the unemployed are covered by social security, which is an insurance system partially backed from the tax pool) The only "socialist" part here is that they make it hard to avoid the system (that is, leech off from oth…

Money is fungible. Generally, the higher level of services is paid for by the higher level of overall taxation - you can call it fees or whatever, it doesn't change the fact that on average, you are left with less disposable income. This might be fine as a societal choice, but just don't think it's free.

It's no free, but it's shared on everybody in a way that we don't feel it's a burden, and everybody gets access to decent healthcare without having to worry about it.

"the higher level of services is paid for by the higher level of overall taxation"

Not necessarily. You can also try to reduce the cost of the service. Healthcare in most European countries costs less than in the US for the same service (for instance medical acts prices can be largely controlled by the state).

Honestly, I don't know much about economics. However I think it's fair to say that in that particular field, what may be great on paper may not work in practice. The theoretical models are so remote from real life that I'm not sure they provide much value. So it essentially boils down to ideology.

If one has to be dogmatic, I would privilege "free" healthcare and education to private property and free market.

Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills

#142

Uruguayan here. About the populist act: the presidential palace itself was not used as a homeless shelter, just the barbecue (has a roof) (that is kind of "luxurious" for the poor standards of living down here) If you're planning to move, please note that we have a state that charges you 23% of taxes on ALL products and services, plus a 20% to 35% of taxes over your earnings. And what you get for free if you're middl…

Uruguayan here, totally agree.

Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills

#143
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Visit and nothing else" is a great idea. Living there isn't.

Have you been? What's your firs hand experience? I spent over 2 years in Central and South America, many months in a few countries. I didn't get to spend very long in Uruguay, but it seemed great to me.

Not "been" - I was born and raised, and lived the first 30 years of my life there.

For my first-hand experience, and why I left, read my comments here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6886261 , especially my second one.

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