Also, the profit motive seems to be more of an incentive for private companies and their employees to offer better service than does the promise of retirement benefits for the lowly civil service workers in the government.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

That's a damn big waffle. Would it be a Kerry brand waffle by chance?

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1984 300TD

Gene pool? That would be chlorinating the less than middle class.

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1984 300TD

Au contraire.

People can change their priorities from plasma TV's and crack pipes to saving and efficiently husbanding their resources rather than entering the dependent class and gaming the welfare system. There is always a choice and there is always opportunity. People give-up too readily. Ever been broke? I have (I lost everything and nearly declare bankruptcy -- perhaps I should have, but that's another story for another time). I worked my ass off at menial labor (caught chickens, worked in a rendering plant, cut survey line with a machete and brush hook, etc). I am not a wealthy man and never will be unless somebody else buys me a winning lottery ticket (damned if I'll buy one). I fully recognize that I could lose everything through no fault of my own. I work to mitigate that unfortunate possibility and to provide for a secure retirement. It's my muscles, my spine, my brain and my ass.

B

I'm ~broke now. I'm an artist, working as a cabinetmaker for not enough money.
I don't understand the first part of your post. When you worked your ass off at menial labor, did you have an expensive tv and crack pipe while working the system? If not, why assume everyone under middle class is?

Bottom line, if you make health care coverage the responsibility of the individual, you make it available to those with money, and not available to those without money.

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1984 300TD

Yup, that's the idea. Why should I have to work to pay your way? Just examples: Should I also give you a couple of my cars? How about half a boat? My wife is kinda nice, you want her too? I like what you havem I don't want to work for it, so just give me yours?

Everyone has choices. Some make good ones. Some choose to do something "they love", say, plucking feathers from pheasants shot by hunters, and then cry about not having money. And then I am supposed to subsidize that? I think not.

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Thank You!
Fred
2009 ML350
2004 SL600
2004 SL500
1996 SL600
2002 SLK32
2005 CLK320 cabrio
2003 ML350
1997 C280 Sport

Heh.. Sure! You offering?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Hehehe

Short answer = NO!

I should have qualified that you can't have her even if you want her! That applies to the other rhetorical questions as well.

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Thank You!
Fred
2009 ML350
2004 SL600
2004 SL500
1996 SL600
2002 SLK32
2005 CLK320 cabrio
2003 ML350
1997 C280 Sport

You do realize that by buying insurance, you already do that, right?

I just think that civilization should at least try and progress beyond life equaling X amount of money.

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1984 300TD

If the government would allow companies to offer and people to purchase health insurance policies that only cover what they want, the price of insurance would drop dramatically and more people would be able to afford it.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

We are already subsidising folks who have no insurance. They go to the emergency room when too sick to work any more and it costs five times as much as a doctors office visit. They can't pay so all of us with insurance pay twice as much for ours.

If everybody has it the cost must be the same and folks would be healthier and more productive.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

If you read her plan, she is targeting people who making $75,000 a year or more, do you think they are the ones going to the ER for free care?

Do you think the insurance industry will reduce premiums?

Honestly, I feel like I'm 21 going on 79. Too many people are bitter, hardened, selfish, and judgmental. It's quite sad. I don't know where all of these negative emotions come from, but it's really unpleasant. These harsh feelings pop up again and again on various message boards in threads about health care and the economy.

I remember a Latin teacher I had in Grade 9, although she wasn't bitter or hardened, she was certainly selfish and judgmental. She didn't believe in 'slow learners' nor did she believe in 'dyslexia'. Ignorant and stupid and poor and lazy were all synonymous to her. She was a Seven Sisters alumna, this fact is something all students learned on the first day of Latin I. She would always talk about the other kids who were 'too stupid or lazy to take Latin'. Sometimes she would talk about her successful lawyer husband for half the class, he was the ideal husband, I'm sure she had half the boys hoping they could marry a man like her husband. Life was very simple for her, very black and white. Once her classroom door closed her students became kings and queens, the other students who opted for Spanish became morons. Putting these kids down was her main joy him life. She emboldened us with a sense of undeserved pride.

When I was in grade 11 she gave birth to a child who had quite a few health issues. Soon after that she moved to Washington,DC. About a year ago I found out that her child is autistic and she has had to stop working. She pays $6,000+ per month for her childs care. Her marriage has failed under the strain. Some of my former classmates were really shocked by this, no one can believe this happened to Mrs S. of all people. Some of you remind me of Mrs S. I'm agnostic, but after reading Alan Dershowitz's book I think often of the phrase "there but for the grace of god go I", it's quite à propos.

On TV Land a few weeks ago I was watching a sitcom from the 1980s, the one with John Stamos. In the show the little girl snaps her finger and says she has a plan, "BA, MBA, BMW". I think some of us should realize everything is not always so black and white.

Things don't always go according to your plan even if you have one.

Its a good thing not to get too smug.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

While I don't have any problem with everyone having access to quality healthcare I don't see any of the answers currently being offered as workable. Insurance companies are all extremely wealthy. How did they get this way? While Doctors and the medical community make good to excellent wages, and I don't have a problem with that, it would seem that the Insurance Companies make far, far more. Forcing everyone to "buy" insurance from any of these companies will simply result in higher costs for all of us. Legislated extortion is a nice way to put it. Like I said, I don't have an answer but forcing people to give what already looks like a crooked industry more money is like letting the fox into the hen house. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K