The Medicare voucher program

[Hlleonard]

Actually, as I understand it, the housing collapse was caused by the likes of Barney Franks and Chris Dodd who changed fannie and freddy loan terms. 5% or even 0 down, and serious relaxation of credit worthiness. Seriously under qualified buyers got into tons of toxic loans, and those loans got sold around till nobody would buy them anymore. So the housing collapse had little to do with DE regulation, and much to do with vote pandering by congresspeople.

BTW, the Obama administration is still (very quietly) pushing the lending practices that got the collapse rolling to begin with.

I didn't know trade unions were gone. Don't they make up a large portion of Democrat financial support and voter base? If they are dead, then the party they support has not done a very good job for them have they? Also, there are those who believe unions have inflated wages/benefits to the point where companies move manufacturing operations out of the country to remain competitive.

When I started at he company I'm at, there were 40+ manufacturing facilities in the US, but our competitors were already mostly off shore. Now we have maybe 10 facilities in the US, and most of those are for product distribution.

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I guess I'm not sure what government interference is, I believe the lowering of the standards for receiving home loans was what I was referring to and if the two gentlemen you mentioned did that all by themselves and they were not part of our government in control of such things, then i stand corrected... As I have stated before, I'm not a fan of our president and any of our politicians might at any time be scheming to do things we might not approve of... Mr. Horse, I doubt anybody, including you, believe unions are the force they once were and if trade unions were responsible for jobs flooding out of our country then you must believe middle class wages in general were also responsible and if middle class wages have to be reduced to levels of countries where the jobs have gone then our economy will never recover from the direction is seems to be taking... We have the country we have because of the middle class, the upper class and lower class are found all over this planet, when the masses can no longer afford the products and services they produce we might be finished as a world leader.

[RoadToad]

But using it for your everyday prescriptions, check-ups and other minor things is not "financial risk". It's basically paying someone else to pay for your everyday needs.

If we went to a more catastrophic insurance model where people were not using it to pay for things every day, then it could be considered spreading financial risk.

Hold on there. For one thing, those "everyday prescriptions" are not a "minor thing" for a lot of people, certainly not for me. I take two medications for seizures, and a couple for blood pressure as well. And there are LOTS of people whose "everyday prescriptions" are keeping them alive, not something I would call a "minor thing."

Secondly, you're just not an actuary! It IS spreading financial risk, or it wouldn't work, and the insurance companies would go out of business.

As for paying for check-ups, I explained in another thread how insurance companies have found that, if they pay for check-ups, people will actually go out and get the check-ups more regularly, so illnesses are detected earlier, and in the long run, health care costs are reduced. If you think about it, it makes sense. A check-up is relatively inexpensive, compared to the extra cost of treating a serious disease that is detected late.

[Mean Morone]

Yeah I know Osha very well. I worked contrustion for many years and saw some of the stupidest government nonsense you could ever think of from them. An OSHA rep came to a job site and asked the superintendent how he was going to do the railing on the stairs. The super said he would take down the temp. railing and put up the permanent railing. The government dude said he couldn't do that. The super asked how in the world you can put one up without taking down the other. He said it wasn't his problem. Knucklehead government dude!!! The super waited until the Osha dude left and finished the job the way he has always done it. Yes we need more of our money being spent on knuckleheads like that.

[Hlleonard]

Yeah I know Osha very well. I worked contrustion for many years and saw some of the stupidest government nonsense you could ever think of from them. An OSHA rep came to a job site and asked the superintendent how he was going to do the railing on the stairs. The super said he would take down the temp. railing and put up the permanent railing. The government dude said he couldn't do that. The super asked how in the world you can put one up without taking down the other. He said it wasn't his problem. Knucklehead government dude!!! The super waited until the Osha dude left and finished the job the way he has always done it. Yes we need more of our money being spent on knuckleheads like that.

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Nothing is 100% on target so I guess you believe the work place would be better off without the osha program...... The epa probably makes dumb decisions also so I suppose you believe we would be a better country without them... It is untold how many serious injuries have been prevented by osha requirements which causes machine guards to be in place and working properly, requiring proper safety equipment to be provided to employees who work in a hazardous work area...If you happen to be someone who works for a living, government regulations are your friend and mine whether or not you want to admit it.

[Mean Morone]

Only in government can common sense be not so common. Government enforcement of common sense costs us billions. I agree that this could be the scariest sentence ever spoken, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help". I think our founders had it right. Limited Government. Glad our founders and Bill Clinton are on my side.