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The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Four

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You miss the real problem with Trump. People thought that, well, he's a smart guy and he's just showboating to get elected. But once he was in there, he'd become a responsible manager and do the right thing for the people.

Instead, it soon became obvious that there was nothing beyond the showboating. He's a total fake, and, even worse, incompetent. But the Republicans didn't look any better. For 7 years, they demagogued Obamacare with false claims and attempted to repeal it. But when it came time to put up or shut up, all that was left was a massive tax cut for rich people, and to hell with the people who lost their insurance coverage and maybe died as a result.

You cannot imagine how many thousands of lives were saved because the repeal/replace scam failed.

In Australia, everyone has Medicare, which coexists with private insurance. Why not have that here, Medicare for All?
 
He really can't do much worse than obomba.


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Obama actually fulfilled many of his election promises.

Trump has been a loser from Day One. Even his executive order banning Muslims failed.
 
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Gene Steinberg said:
You miss the real problem with Trump. People thought that, well, he's a smart guy and he's just showboating to get elected. But once he was in there, he'd become a responsible manager and do the right thing for the people.

Instead, it soon became obvious that there was nothing beyond the showboating. He's a total fake, and, even worse, incompetent. But the Republicans didn't look any better. For 7 years, they demagogued Obamacare with false claims and attempted to repeal it. But when it came time to put up or shut up, all that was left was a massive tax cut for rich people, and to hell with the people who lost their insurance coverage and maybe died as a result.

You cannot imagine how many thousands of lives were saved because the repeal/replace scam failed.

In Australia, everyone has Medicare, which coexists with private insurance. Why not have that here, Medicare for All?
Click to expand...

Going on the last comment about Medicare: which do agree is a good program which was brought in by a Labor Government (mix of the British and Norway's setup ) but comparing the US to Australian regarding (population and immigration issue not as many illegals are they covered by Obama scheme?) which most folks pay a levy each year part of the tax return system and other choice was health insurance scheme like New Zealand which everyone pays through their working life. Also safeguards for any folks ill or disabled under your work insurance (which the media has focused on lately (" superannuation dummy schemes insurance policies by some are being sold to workers which they are worthless when claimed in genuine cases"). "Insurance fraud is excessive they suggest down under from white collar not blue collar claimers". No doubt a scheme which benefits the (Veterans and their families should be a separate system) nation which is fair and honest for all the citizens so US President Trump will have to give and take as he is the President for all US citizens.
 
The U.S. is the only major country on Earth without the guarantee of some form of universal health care. Costs are twice as high as all other countries, and the outcomes are not nearly as favorable. If you have a lot of money, you can get the best health care. That's true, even though Trump's alleged physician, or the one you've seen on TV, is obviously a wack job.

Regular people, however, aren't treated so well.

Trump isn't capable of dealing with this problem, because he has no personal reference or understanding of it.

There are solutions that do not require ripping up what is actually a Republican-designed health care law and starting over. It's quite possible to fix the issues and pave the way towards a true national health care system that no longer rewards crooked private insurance companies.
 
Gene Steinberg said:
In Australia, everyone has Medicare, which coexists with private insurance. Why not have that here, Medicare for All?
Click to expand...

Its a pretty simple solution too

Medicare gives Australian residents access to health care. It is partly funded by taxpayers who pay a Medicare levy of 2% of their taxable income.

Your Medicare levy is reduced if your taxable income is below a certain threshold. In some cases you may not have to pay the levy at all.

If you don’t have private hospital health insurance, you may have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) in addition to the Medicare levy. This depends on your income for MLS purposes.

If you do have an appropriate level of private hospital health insurance, you won't have to pay the MLS, and depending on your income you may be eligible for the private health insurance rebate. This rebate is an amount the government contributes towards the cost of your private hospital health insurance premiums.

The Medicare levy and MLS and any reductions are calculated from information provided in your tax return.

Medicare levy

We spend 1.8% of our GDP on military, where as the US spends 3.5%.

So even with a 2% levy on US income tax, you might need to scale back military spending to make up the shortfall. But i think it's not only doable, It should be the first priority of any Govt.
 
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Mike,
US is a Superpower and 3.5% is a bit short (not including "black budget" which all nations have). Agree some type of middle ground system and in the end its a Republic not a Parliamentary System. The comparisons are different and large corporations have more say in the US. Like Professor Niall Ferguson suggests "it's a Liberal Empire" which can't make up its mind to be all out traditional Empire or not. Also don't forget Australia like UK NHS came about after many years not overnight and reckon US will bring some type of modification of medicare when all parties decide in few more elections. Also must take in outside factors China, Russia and North Korea which threaten its military assets overseas some suggest they are overstretch similarities to the British Empire at the end of the 19th-mid 20th Century which affect domestic policy at home. For the US to stay a Superpower it has to transfer assets from one to another or raise taxes? Bean counters don't look at the emotional side of politics rather national security and what's threatening the nation as a whole. It in cross-roads US President Trump has to decide go down the path of traditional Empires fold up the flag and pull back on globalisation or prepare for all out (Cold /Hot) war with China, Russia in the future? While stamping its authority on the World stage.
 
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I hadn't factored in black budgets, that's a good point. I took the 3.5% from here.

20150625_Defense_GDP_Fo1.jpg


I went with GDP because the differences in population between the US and Australia and the actual budget costs in dollars would have been cumbersome to compare.

Australia spent $121.4 billion on health in 2009–10, which accounted for 9.4% of total spending on all goods and services in the economy (known as gross domestic product or GDP).
Click to expand...

So between Australia's health and military budget that's 11.2% of GDP

Assuming the US imposes the save levy as Australia, It's total cost would be roughly 12.9% GDP, so scaling back the military budget a bit could bring its GDP ratio for health and military back to the same levels as Australia.

I would add one caveat though and its a point i am sure Mr Trump would agree with. Australia doesn't need to spend its money on a nuclear arsenal because it knows it's friend the US Provides that deterrent for us. If we ever found ourselves in a situation where we absolutely needed a nuke or two, Our friend the US would provide them. So we get a free ride in that respect.

But given we have enough nukes to crack the one planet wide open 3 times over, i reckon we could trim some budgetary fat there. Enough nukes to destroy the planet twice over should be plenty lol.

More detail on Australia's health spending here

How much do we spend on health? (AIHW)
 
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Some more interesting numbers. At a time where the middle class has been cheated big time by rich people, the rich get richer.

Here are the 500 richest people:

Bloomberg Billionaires Index

A recent survey showed a total of 1,810 people worth more than a billion dollars.

Is that what you want from our society? Imagine if they were all restricted to a billion dollars, each, maximum, and the rest of the cash was given as tax refunds to the poor and the middle class in the countries in which they reside.

There would be no poverty. No hunger. The least of us would be able to eke out a living without having to work 3 jobs and destroy their futures.

We need ET pronto to straighten us out.
 
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He is doing better than obomba and far better than hitlery could have done.


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