Well said Ric. I have never understood how anyone could argue against a Welfare System that supports unemployed or disabled people and also provides a completely free Health care which are some of the things we have here in Australia. It is paid for out of taxes, if you do not earn much you pay no tax but you still have medicine, operations and so on. I think this is a good use of taxes and there is nothing to stop me using the free system- it isn't a second rate thing, however There is a private system too if you want to subscribe. We do not have to pay for healthcare in hospitals at all, and we have subsidised doctor's visits and medicines from home too. We also have govt pensions or the elderly and disabled.
We have an Unemployment support system which, when the Textile Footwear and Clothing industries died in my town in the 80s and 90s due to Chinese imports, was able to support the people without jobs. It did not cut out after a few weeks, and there was training and support provided for those workers. This seems so much better than making them homeless and adding to the vagrants living on the street.
Odin -one reason why the US is in trouble is that the value of the American dollar is falling rapidly in world markets. This fall is out of the control of thre US govt. Because the US dollar does not buy so much the price of goods and imports in the marketplace rise (this includes oil). The indebtedness of the Americans to China has taken a huge blow since the Chinese no longer prefer to trade in US Dollars. The Euro, Canadian dollars and even our Aussie dollar are all favoured currencies now. When I went to the US in the 90s the Aussie dollar bought me 57c. Now I would get about 94-5!!! It is now difficult for the US to trade out of this mess because they have not got the items, such as large cars, that people want any more, also now, when the US should be trading out of the crisis, money is poured into the war in Iraq, the election and propping up the status quo.
Ric is right too about the insular feeling in the US. Aussies, Canadians and Europeans are travellers and find out a lot about other places. I loved a lot about the US (though I never got used to idea that a person next to me could have a gun in their bag). Two of my children lived there for 3 years each so I used to visit, and I am sad to see what is happening. I hope we do not see a return to isolationist policies in the future, but I think that is the way things will go.
