Yeah, and what is there to defend all those countries from, other than ourselves? Cripes, we spend more on our military than all the other nations in the world combined, and we still have an army too small to actually conquer someone, like the old-style empires used to do. The Brits knew how to run an empire. Never invade anyone unless the accountants down at the treasury can prove that the peasants you're "enlightening" can actually pay for the "security" and "good government" you're going to inflict on them. Then you educate their elites in Western philosophy so they eventually decide to boot you the hell out and run the country themselves. Worked for the Americans, the Indians, the Aussies, and a number of African nations.mindstalk wrote:The US (as a country, not just government) spends about 3% of GDP on the military (maybe bigger these days) and 15% on health care. Other First World countries spend 1-3% on defense and 10% on health care. They also have longer life expectancies, and somewhat smaller GDP per capita (though that gets tricky). The idea that other countries can afford universal health care only because we're defending them is bunk.
Something like 70% of the American citizenry would support a plan for national health insurance and cost cutting measures. Unfortunately, the medical industry that sucks up 15% of our GNP like a giant, bloody-mouthed lamprey is spending a small slice of their profits to buy politicians and badger TV networks so the subject never gets a fair public discussion.
Anyway, I hope Poe can get better without any complications. Try to hang on until the next election. With the dollar losing value, the real estate bubble imploding, and the economy generally sludging up, a lot more people are going to be losing their coverage. National health may suddenly look like a good deal right about the time the Democrats actually get a real majority instead of the sham one they've had the last year or so.
