The Best Reason Now To Be An Expat In Argentina...

[ajoknoblauch]

You should sell these pithy one liners to fortune cookie companies.

I mean, Ron Paul is sorta likeable, but he's totally nuts. His son Rand, on the other hand, is not likeable.

 

[steveinbsas]

Sorry Steve, I think you got lost on your way to Red State. I'm more than happy to point you in the proper direction: ---> http://www.redstate.com/

Now, I'm not sure if I'm falling for bait from a troll or if you are so filled with hate for Obama (a man I don't like because I'm a socialist, and he isn't) that it blinds you to the fact that Argentina has universal healthcare (medicare for all) and are therefore oblivious and stupid. This is the system we should have in the United States, and should Obamacare fail (something that can't be determined as it's not even 2014 yet) the silver lining is that the next step will be universal health care via medicare which is something my dreams are made of.

Now, tale what I say with a grain of salt as I'm sure you believe I am, and the millions like me are just a bunch of walking parasites to your wealth (takers, not makers/47% right?) since we have preexisting conditions (yet work full time jobs and still don't make ends meet, but try none the less) but the types of laws the ACA implements, and the systems of state medicare like Argentina's makes sure that we don't all drop dead just because we're not wealthy and have diseases/illnesses that we had no choice in having.

I realize it is an affront to your quality of life that I, a mere pleb, deserve to have my illnesses treated thanks to my/yours/all of us BA Expats' taxes so I would like to take this time to thank you for being such an excellent human being by creating wealth/jobs/working so hard to acquire all the hard earned money you have and apologize also for being forced by the state (with threat of jail) to give part of your earnings to my wellbeing.

I am also sorry I have illnesses, conditions, and get sick. I should have chose to be have healthy genes and a stellar immune system, and I really should work 90 hours a week instead of 45 to afford my medications and treatments.

There are many private health care companies in Argentina, a country you claim has universal coverage (medicare for all). If Argentines were happy with the health care provided by their government, these companies would not exist. No one is forced to pay for the coverage they provide, including me. I don't mind at all that the taxes I pay in Argentina provide some health care for others. I do mind that some of the taxes I pay enrich those in power. Medicare in the USA is "funded" by taxes paid by everyone who works, but the benefits only apply to those over 65. As it is,Medicare rejects (disapproves) more "procedures" than any private health insurance company. Imagine the chaos that would follow if the US had Medicare for all. (We may actually see it in ten years).

I no longer pay taxes in the USA so you don't have to thank me for anything (though the taxes I paid helped build those roads and bridges). I now happily live on about twelve thousand dollars a year and none of it is subject to taxation in the USA. I do have affordable private insurance in Argentina. I am not opposed to Obamacare because it costs me a dime. It doesn't. I am not subject to it. The reason it exists is not to provide health care. It is to redistribute wealth.

The rich aren't the ones who will pay a significantly greater portion of their wealth or their income (there is a difference) for health insurance. This time, the middle income folks will see a significant increase in the percentage of their income going to insurance costs so that "lower income" people and/or the previously uninsured will have coverage (even though the latter chose not to purchase it). It was argued that one of the reasons health care cost so much was that the uninsured went to emergency rooms whenever they had a problem and that Obamacare would resolve this. It won't.

The greatest flaw of Obamacare is the pre-existing condition "exemption" combined with the low "tax" for not having acceptable insurance. Under the new law, an individual can pay an absurdly low "tax" if they don't "enroll" in an acceptable plan. If they get sick they can then enroll and (in theory) get the "health care they need" but this is not insurance. It will, however, insure that Omamacare will add hundreds of billions to the deficit. It ,along with all the other "social programs" in the USA will not be sustainable.

I don't hate Obama but I despise liars. Last night, one of the major news networks (NBC) began to report (at least some of) the truth.

I seriously doubt you have read enough of my posts to know that I never call anyone names here, including oblivious and stupid.

If I ever do, you will be the first to know...I assure you.

PS: When Obamacare is fully implemented you may not be able to work more than 29 hours per week at your job. If your health insurance cost more in an acceptable plan, you may also need to rely on the government for food...and if your job is eliminated you will have to rely on the government for income (first unemployment compensation and then (perhaps) "disability" income) .

Is that what you really want?

It's exactly what those in power want.

 

[samiamm]

Maximizing her sophisticated literacy skills, Sami explores the world:

http://i.imgur.com/cjOO7Yw.jpg

I really really really do not like your books and use them only for my bathroom where they belong perfectly .

 

[camberiu]

I mean, Ron Paul is sorta likeable, but he's totally nuts. His son Rand, on the other hand, is not likeable.

Totally nuts. The sane one is the guy who has a kill list and spies on his own people and endorses torture.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I really really really do not like your books and use them only for my bathroom where they belong perfectly .

I honestly don't care whether or not Sami can read, so long as she's buying rather than stealing the books.

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Root of the problem? Think we have to look in the mirror. From a commentary:

"Americans reach for a drug for any and everything – for problems real and imagined. It’s why we consume more pills than any nation on earth and why TV ads are relentlessly selling us Xarelto, Abilify, Stelara, Prodaxa, and dozens of other drugs we never ever guessed we supposedly needed.
Americans are only about five percent of the world’s population yet we take 80% of the world’s painkillers and a whopping 99% of the world’s Vicodin. We have four million kids on Ritalin, 22-million women on antidepressants, over 30-million adults on sleeping pills, 32 million on Statins, 45 million on another drug I can’t even begin to pronounce. The list goes on and on."

Perhaps Americans do "reach for a drug for any[sic] and everything -- for problems real and imagined." But the reality, for economic reasons and otherwise, is that most of the problems are real.

Is your solution to get rid of all medications? Let people "make do" with their various conditions and with their pain? Shut everything down and stop all new drug research? That it's a caprice, an indulgence, a product of a spoiled culture?

Let's just go back to letting people suffer and die like they ought to, eh? What ever happened to, "Be a man and take it," right? (Hey, maybe we could even go back to beating the kids, and maybe even segregation.)

And of course none of that even takes into consideration the fact that medications are only 10% of the cost of healthcare in the US (http://www.cms.gov/R.../highlights.pdf), and that many medications actually reduce the cost of healthcare by preventing or minimizing more costly procedures and services and reducing absenteeism in the workplace.

I presume before writing your comment that you threw out all your aspirin, acetaminophen, cold remedies and the like, and emptied out your medicine chest (as you were looking it it's mirror).

 

[AmigoArtistico]

The question I've had since I arrived here (it's rhetorical, please don't feel compelled to answer it), is, "If a country as screwed up as Argentina can manage to provide a reasonable level of healthcare to all of its citizens, why can't the richest country in the world manage it? (And why do so many of its citizens say that it's impossible, too expensive, or that it would somehow be "unfair" -- unfair for their fellow citizens to receive adequate health care?)

 

[sleslie23]

The question I've had since I arrived here (it's rhetorical, please don't feel compelled to answer it), is, "If a country as screwed up as Argentina can manage to provide a reasonable level of healthcare to all of its citizens, why can't the richest country in the world manage it? (And why do so many of its citizens say that it's impossible, too expensive, or that it would somehow be "unfair" -- unfair for their fellow citizens to receive adequate health care?)

You don't become the "wealthiest" country in the world by giving shit away for free.

 

[ARbound]

Let's see....

-Kill lists and the self proclaimed authority to kill any American (or anyone) at his discretion at any time, anywhere. check.
-Maintaining the practice of torture, check.
-Tapping people's communication without warrant, check
-Keeping a gulag like prison in Guantanamo, check
-Using the IRS to harass political opponents, check.
-Supporting laws that would criminalize criticism of the secret courts and warrantless tappings, check.
- Seizing private records from the press without court orders, check.
-Maintaining a clandestine (and illegal) program for sending weapons to Mexican drug dealers. Check.
-Having his staff deliberately and knowingly lie to congress about the NSA tappings. Check.

Sounds like a dictator to me, irrelevant of being elected or not.

1st point is almost true, it would be more accurate to say this sort of immoral and I argue illegal practice has existed possibly
under every President, Democrat or Republic or Whig/Federalist/etc. in some regard. The difference now is we're finally
talking about it.

Next two are continuations of former presidential actions.

GITMO is being kept open via opposition to its closure from mainly Republicans but some Dems too.

IRS thing is a typical FOX Benghazigate non-story.

More stuff continued from former Presidents.

Conspiracy theory via Fast and Furious

NSA staffers lied, yes, and they should face jail sentences for perjury but this again is something
started/continued by previous Presidents.

I do think many of these thinks that aren't hyperbolic/bullshit are terrible crimes and undermines democracy
and should result in peoples imprisonment but you just don't have the will power for it among the populace.

Now, as someone who isn't a Democrat I because of my civil-libertarian/socialist views I have to make sure you're not
contradicting yourself. Do you call Bush a dictator? Do you think he is a war criminal? Do you believe he is guilty of many
if not all these things you atribute to Obama? You must keep your standard across political boundaries here, because some
one is a democrat and supports the NSA doesn't mean I don't go easy on them either, my hope is you're doing the same.

 

[ARbound]

The question I've had since I arrived here (it's rhetorical, please don't feel compelled to answer it), is, "If a country as screwed up as Argentina can manage to provide a reasonable level of healthcare to all of its citizens, why can't the richest country in the world manage it? (And why do so many of its citizens say that it's impossible, too expensive, or that it would somehow be "unfair" -- unfair for their fellow citizens to receive adequate health care?)

It's easy, Argentines care about their fellow man, while in America we're too fucking busy being paranoid that the "guberment is gonna take r AR-15s
that Jesus died to keep a right from us!!1!!". All cyncism aside, it's easy to believe a lie when one party, and a part of the other say it can't be done while being on the payroll of companies that would suffer if universal healthcare was law. Also, I think it's somewhat a regional thing. Massachusetts and Vermont ensure/make sure that everyone has healthcare while states like Texas or Mississippi want to pray illness away and teach creationism. You can't be surprised when certain states have large percentages of people believing that praying is going to cure people or hurricanes are punishment from God are not going to support either Obamacare or universal medicare when they think it's a waste of money or don't share the sense of brotherhood that other states have.

Like I always say, so many of the problems we have today in the United States is due to the hillbilly and flyover states. Some want to leave, I say kick them out.