Summations Only

Nobody watches because they turst the news to tell them the important stuff, in a direct democracy you would have to at least look at the bill before you vote yes or no.p.s. we have a 24/7 stream of the parliament discussion room nobody watches either. But when we have a referendum at least most of the voters read the full law, sure some just read the pamphlets that the parties put out and vote the way they tell them too but surprisingly loads actually do read the full wording of the law they got via mail. I usually don't need to go trough the full text to find why they are really changing something its usually somewhere in the middle, and it deals with stealing money or placing their relatives to positions that get paid allot.The last time they wanted to change a law about the public channel most of the changes the parties where advocating where superficial, the major change was that it would no longer be clarified as public even though it was publicly funded plus the funding of commercials. Not a big deal except if its not public they can assign wages how ever they want they dont have to follow government guidelines. And the new law got shut down.The same way you Americans would get background checks for weapons sales, 90% of you want this law, how many representatives actually represent your wishes on this?How many of you want a public option in healthcare what do your representatives say? ....

Only one justice found it necessary to define the fine as a tax. Four other justices found ACA constitutional without such shenanigans.

Ah yes, the doctrine of American Exceptionalism: that America is so uniquely incapable that if we tried to do what everyone else manages to do, we'd somehow fuck it up completely. If conservatives have only taught us one thing, and they have, it's that all true patriots believe passionately in our supreme national incompetence. In the words of our hallowed anthem, "Oh say, does the Star-Spangled Banner still flap o'er the land of the dumb and the home of the crap?" And is not our very national motto "Not As Good As Belgium"?

How is it not a tax? Sorry, but paranoid conspiracy theories are not helping you.In a for profit system there is obvious incentive for insurance companies and hospitals to increase their profits even if that means shutting the bottom 10% of wage earners out of the system. Those are just the facts. A for-profit system is not meant to provide universal coverage, nor affordable coverage. It is meant to maximize profits.If Americans want to continue to pay twice what other countries pay per capita, and still not cover everyone, then the for-profit system is for them. Small countries? Japan pays half of what we do, and they have about 130 million residents, about half of what we do. I would hardly call that small. Every other 1st world nation has found a system that works, and that system is single payer. Then. Make. It. Better. The ACA is healthcare reform.

Conservatives run on a platform of making government not work. Go figure.

It is a tax... now. When the ACA came out, there was a penalty for not having insurance. People were all: "Congress can't fine us for not buying something, that's unconstitutional." Then the government was like: "oh, yeah... uh... no this is a tax, yeah... so it is constitutional".Whatever, its still a fine. People are still being forced to participate through threat of punishment. And yet, this is The People making these rules That's because I'm not using them. Paranoid conspiracy theories are not helping you.And non-profit hospitals do exist. Great, so the ACA is going to continue resulting in me paying twice what other countries pay per capita. Hooray. Hey, that adds up! But yeah, I think if we were dealing with a country that had half of our population, and they all lived in an area the size of Montana, then it would be easier to lower the cost of healthcare. Too, if you spread all those Japanese people out over 26 times the square miles (size of US vs. size of Japan), then I think their healthcare costs would go up.And that's just one factor. So yeah, "look this is working in Japan" does not tell me that it will work here. Single payer might be the best way to go, I dunno. I think there's too many factors involved to say that something that worked in another country will work here. I'd rather just be left alone.

How many other governments had to shut down but still were getting paid?

Taxation is not punishment. False. They still carry a profit from one quarter to the next. They often sink this money into lavish salaries and buildings. You think?The fact of the matter is that we pay WAY more than ANY OTHER 1st WORLD NATION. Period. In which country has it not worked? Then I would suggest moving out of a country that has 300 million other people.

If you're trying to imply that the problem is not, as you at first suggested, that the country is large, but rather that the Republican Party is full of malign assholes, then I heartily concur.

Nope that's not what's driving your health costs up. ITs your love of capitalism and trying to make it fit a socialist idea. Its like oil and water do sent mix.You can either say fuck the poor let them die, or use a socialist ideology and all chip in so all can get treatment. You cant have it both ways.The way my country did it was everyone has to pay for basic coverage, its cheap cause everyone chips in and it covers you for every necessity and partially covers you for non necessary stuff, you get generic drugs where applicable and whatnot. So no one is left out. Then you can have your pick of the litter on what insurance you get how much you want them to cover, you can go all wild and get one that gets you a private room when your in a hospital, and golden fillings, and whatnot.But the thing is we also have publicly owned hospitals well most of them are and we don't let private practices charge what they want for parts that are covered by basic healthcare, but for stuff that is covered by other insurances they can charge what they want and negotiate it with them.Sure we have our problems loads of money is disappearing because the ministers of health are usually doctors and dont know shit about economy so they are just throwing money at the problem hoping it will go away. well not any more as our country is going broke because of incompetence.We also had problems of waiting lines but they seemed to fix that but that's what happens if you treat everyone even the poor and the population is getting old.Although personally i would only know about emergency rooms the last time i sprained my ankle i hopped in to show the receptionist my card and tell her the problem a nurse saw m e hopping and ran for a bed they put me on to the bed and rolled me to the doctor i waited about 10 minutes for him to see me he sent me for an x ray i got rolled there waited 10 minutes for them take me in for the picture i must have waited some 15 minutes for them to give me my x ray picture and roll me back to the doctor that said nope your fine nothing i can see, he bandaged my leg up and made me hop my way out LOL. I wanted to say wtf man can someone at least roll me to the exit it still hurts like hell but i was quiet and hopped.

The idea that for-profit entities try to make profits is a paranoid conspiracy theory now? I thought it was a truism. That's not actually what makes it easier. You think there's an inverse correlation between healthcare costs and ... population density? How did you hit on that as an excuse rather than some other metric such as the number of stars on the national flag? And if it was just an other country, your caution might be justified.

Just curious. What do you think of seat belt laws and car insurance laws?So, today I went out to the construction site again to do some inspections. I was sad to find that about half the guys I've been getting acquainted with have been laid off. The construction company that we hired have laid off half their experienced work force and replaced them with new workers for the next month until construction shuts down completely due to winter conditions.Of course, it doesn't really surprise me. I've been observing this pattern for years. Construction companies will do everything they can to save costs. Anyway, I talked to the guys there and asked them why these guys got laid off. They all said because of Obamacare. They don't know exactly how Obamacare made their company lay off half the experienced workers and hire temporary workers for the next month before shutting down completely. But they are convinced it's because of Obamacare.This is another thing I've observed over the years. Underpaid and Unskilled workers have very short memory. The same pattern happens every year whether there's a republican president or there's a democratic president. The big boss in their company would blame the boogie man (usually a liberal president or liberal idea) and everyone just accepts it.In this particular case, Obamacare is being blamed for these workers not getting full time work and getting laid off early to be replaced by new and inexperienced workers, nevermind that this happens every year regardless of whether there is an Obamacare or not.Last year, it was just because of Obama. When Bush was in power, it was because of the union or Kerry.The point is conservatives love to use liberals and liberal ideas as the boogie man for societal problems.I know every fiber of your being hates Obama and Obamacare. Have you tried thinking through this objectively and try to see the real reason behind why you hate Obama and Obamacare so much?My old philosophy professor taught me that one of the ways to figure out if our opinion is biased or not is by trying to make an argument for the other side. And I mean try to honest to god make an effort to argue for the other side, not just make up a ridiculous strawman.CS, would you like to do this with me? I will try my best to argue against the affordable care act and you will try your best to argue for it. Deal?Of course, you will have to be patient with me. We are fast approaching winter shutdown of constructions, so engineers like myself are working nonstop trying to get as much shit done as possible. I've been working 12-13 hours a day, not including commuting time (add 1 hour each way).

Well, they are capable of being avoided altogether if you really want to. I know people who's hours are being cut to 29 per week as that is the maximum they can work before their employer has to provide them with insurance, iirc. I know a guy who is trying to go from an hourly wage for 40 hours per week to a salaried position at 29 hours per week for whatever pay it has to be to equal what he makes at his current wage over 40 hours. Then he'll put in the same amount of time for the same pay, but it'll look like he's only working 29 hours and his employer won't have to pay for his insurance (they're telling him that they can't afford it and are looking at options). My cousin is starting up a business. He bought a steel building that has to be built. The company that sold him the building said they would charge him $44,000 to construct it. He shopped around for other prices, including some unions. The cost the unions bid was $66,000 - $77,000. He told me that there's no way he could afford that much. Now, our other friend who works for the union is telling him to be careful because if the union finds out that he goes non-union, then they'll probably picket his new business. The town it's in has a lot of union workers and that could really ruin his business.We asked: "Well, can't he just build it himself?" Isn't a man allowed to build his own building on his own property without the union bullying him? They said that that would probably be okay. Then I said, well what if I helped him out for free? We're family. Can't a guy and his family build a building? Hmm, probably still okay. (Geez, I can't believe we have to get permission for this). We went further: what if we have a non-family friend that helps for free. "Hmm, that's probably pushing it, they said".That's just retardiculous, in my arrogant opinion. There's no reason to lie to me about my own feelings, there's no way that could work. I don't hate either one. Have you tried thinking through why you see any lack of support as hatred? No, I've tried that before and it doesn't work.

*cough* Canada *cough*

Well I know this is not true because unions do not bid on construction projects. Want to try again? Unions do not care about or picket projects this size. No one gives a rats ass if the company that makes the building assembles it or if he hires another builder or if he does it himself. Just to pretend this is reality, have the company that sold him the building build it. Anything else would be plain stupid. That way everything is warrantied by the original seller. They cannot claim the builder is responsible and vice versa This is all more bullshit. People build their own buildings and houses every day. The problem you have is not with unions it is with local building codes and financing when you do a self build.So all your anecdotes are pure bullshit with no basis in reality.