Heathcare in the USA is terrible!

I think you probably meant that health care coverage in the USA is terrible. The healthcare is great...it is just that 43 million Americans (a number that is growing and includes millions of children) cannot afford it.Politically, it is popular to claim that the poor are poor because they are lazy or deserve it. Thus, one can "save" money by not insuring them via national healthcare and demonize the poor at the same time. Children are not a particularly strong lobby, especially poor ones, so fiscal conservatives can get their lobbies to only push for their interests in profit to the exclusion of anything that might sound like "welfare" or "tax increase" that might aid those who cannot afford healthcare. The insurance industry does not make a profit insuring poor people either and they are a very strong lobby in the US. And if you think the religious would come to their defence, you would be wrong. They (the hard right at least) take the hypocritical view that women should be forced to carry a fetus to term regardless of the circumstances but once that kid is born, if it is poor, who gives a crap if it stays healthy?

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If you get ill in the USA and don't have enough money or insurance, the state leaves you to die. How can the USA call itself the greatest country in the world with this going on?

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The US can call itself whatever it wants. That does not mean anyone has to believe it.

Actually, there is a trend (though slight so far) for people to go uninsured in Germany because of the high cost for the working poorUninsured in Germany: A Growing Trend | News and current affairs from Germany and around the world | DW | 06.10.2004Of course, they are opting more out of choice than those in the US and it is only 180,000 people out of 80 million or so as opposed to the 43 million uninsured in the US. But it has the government worried in Germany.

Oh, I don't know. Despite the best efforts of the religious right, the trends in science are towards better understanding of nature by scientific progress. This is true in a lot of fields. I certainly don't stay in science for the pay and if I thought science was in a rut, I would do something else.I hope that through science, new disruptive technologies in energy and health will break the strangle hold the current lobbies have and maybe improve the lives of people. I hope that some of my research contributes to these new technologies..but I doubt it In terms of other trends, the unbelievable rise of pseudo moralism coupled with extreme hypocrisy is really bad. Unfortunately, it is not confined to the US.

However, if they need preventative care or suffer a serious injury, they will be financially ruined...what a great system. And just blaming the parents for the lack of health care of children is the same old conservative argument that people are poor because they want to be/to lazy to be otherwise. The fact is, no other industrialized country has as many uninsured children (or people in general) as the US, no other industrialized country forces its citizens to face a decision of risking financial ruin because too high insurance premiums even if they have a job which would force them into poverty. You were never able to address any of the points I brought up with the statistics by the largest pediatrics society of America (who you basically called biased incompentent statistics cheats) and I see you are still unable to substantiate your points. At least you are consistent.

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Actually it is true that the tech sector does have some cool trends. Unfortunately social and legal trends are having impact on those tech sectors, curtialing their achievements and sometimes twisting them into bad things. Then again that is nothing new I suppose.

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It depends on the view you take of things. The US is definitely freely giving up its edge in science and technology to appease the ignorance of the majority of its population who rather watch the psychic channel. But places like Singapore, China, and India are quickly sensing the opportunities (in health related fields, biotech and computer science in particular) and the science will proceed. I take the long view that I don't really care where the science progresses or the discoveries are made. Just that it happens. If the US wants to turn the clock back and become a nation of knuckle walking drooling maniacs..so be it. Others will jump in to take advantage of a newly cleared niche in science and tech..this is already happening.

Hey EZscience, great to see you posting again!

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I know it would appear like that from over in Europe, but there is still a large core of serious scientific endeavor in the US that is aghast at all the recent developments. The current ridiculous parodies of science you hear about are just political ploys being used by power-hungry politicians to manipulate those blinded by religious dogma and completely ignorant of science. Unfortunately, there are far too many of them. Supposed challenges to evolutionary theory, ID in the schools, it's all about appeasing ignorance for sake of getting voted into positions of power.

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I should clarify, I am American. I live in Germany but only the last 4 years. I am moving back to the US next year. I was there during the Clinton attempts to create a national health care system.there may be a core of scientists that are aghast by the rampand stupidity of the American electorate but I still believe this is strongly affecting the US scientific standing and ability to conduct research. First, the weaker the US education system becomes, particularly in the sciences, the smaller the pool of talented homegrown scientists the US will produce. Most international comparisons of scientific literacy and education place the US very far from the top of the list. Second, a consequence of the anti-science rhetoric is that funding for science (non-military) is either flat or reduced, at a time when competitors such as Singapore, China, and India are pumping in lots of cash. Third, when politics trumps science, you see things like the FDA's blatantly lying about the effects of the morning after pill to appease the conservatives. This will long term stifle private sector investment in science if people working in the most promising areas (stem cell research for example) don't think they will ever be able to market their discoveries and get a return on their investment. Finally, because of many of these problems, and the brain dead visa process, the US, which relies incredibly on foreign researchers, is now facing declining interest from foreign scientists. They are being attracted back to their home countries or places that compete with the US. The long term effects of all of these problems will be a decline in US science which will be a catastrophe for the economy not to mention the general intellectual well being of the country.In 20 years, when another bird flu strain comes along, it may be India we turn to for a solution to the problem..not to US scientists at this rate. They will be forced to say, goddidit and pray and hope they don't get sick while the rest of the world devlopes vaccines...hmmm now that I think about it...Tamiflu is developed by Roche..and they are a Swiss company...maybe 20 years is too long an estimate?

I know where you are coming from. I'm only recently back for a short EVC stint myself...published 6 papers this year and am in various stages on 7 more...getting sick of writing.

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Somehow we need to reawaken the public respect for science and scientists that the American public had back int he 50's. Now it seems science and all its public benefits are taken for granted by a very uninformed and uneducated general public. I am at a loss to understand why more people can't see that reliance on religious doctrine running counter to science is a slippery path backwards into the dark ages.

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What I find really odd having lived in and visited various european countries is the amazing interest laypeople have in science here compared to the US. Scientific shows, documentaries, etc occupy a large segment of both the television schedule and the books that are sold. So from an early age, the kids are hooked on science.People are also very interested in healthcare, how it is provided, its quality and what is being done to them when in the hospital. I have unfortunately been in the hospital more often than I would like in Germany (had a bike accident) and managed to screw my eye up on another occasion. The detailed explanations by the doctors ..even for routine checkups is fantastic...in the US I often knew more than the doctors I went to. Bottom line, I can get into fairly interesting scientific conversations with laypeople in Germany that I could never imagine in the US outside of a university setting.Why do people lack this interest in the US? I am not sure. Scientists tend to be demonized in the media compared to europe and people are more fixed on getting rich quickly in the US than in europe..and getting rich quick with little effort is certianly not common in science. But cultural issues aside, I think it is the complete lack of emphasis on quality education in the US and particularly in science that is part of the problem. It is considered hard or that those who understand it or work in science are elitist. We also live in a technical world where you can live comfortably in complete ignorance...but both from a cultural standpoint and an economic one, this is a disaster for the US...it mandates that we become technology dependent on foreigners and foreign countries. The easy road of following mythology to the detriment of science will long term ruin the US economically if it does not wake up.