1. I have read web articles about doctor shortages in Canada and England by simply googling "criticism of government provided healthcare".
Again, I have agreed that there are problems in other countries but are they comparable with the fact that someone in the U.S. loses their home? is charged 60 grand to have a finger reattached? is denied services despite the fact they responded to the 911 disaster? The answer is no!
This is not new information, Dave. I first learned of the decline when I read "The Birth Dearth" by Ben Wattenberg of the Heritage Foundation back around 1990.
I would like to read this book. Its premise, "Europe will die in 200 years because Europeans are not having enough children." seems incredibly far reaching, not considering a multitude of factors. The Heritage Foundation? Who are they?
Dave,
The "lose your home" argument seems quite flawed to me. Let's say that a couple is sitting on, say, $300,000 in equity in their house. They suffer some catastrophic illness, and that is their only large financial resource they have to pay for medical expenses.
Another couple rents their house, but have $300,000 in various investments. So the amount of financial resources is the same.
Would you say the folks who have their money invested in a house should not have to pay, but the one's with the money in stocks, bonds, and such should have to pay?
Or is your argument that no one should have to pay their bills?
Regarding the statement you made about the
Birth Dearth: I learned about the problem in general from the book. I learned about the problem in Italy from PBS! This is not some weird idea only believed by right wing nuts.
Do the math. Let's say a country had 200 million people of childbearing age. and a birthrate of 2.0 children per couple. The birthrate is an overall figure. Some folks have 4 kids, some have none, but it averages out to 2.0.
In this country this group of 100 million
couples would produce 200 million kids. They would have replaced themselves. The population, over time, would remain pretty stable.
In another country with an equal group of childbearing-age people and a birthrate of 1.3 per couple, they would produce 130 million kids...a drop of 70 million in that demographic group.
In the following generation with the same birthrate, the 65 million couples would produce only 84.5 million kids. That is a drop of 58% in only two generations...say 60 years or so.
Keep this up or 5 generations or so., and its bye bye to your country!! Its all in the math.
Remember, right now there are 15 countries in Europe with birthrates BELOW 1.3 per couple.
Hmmmm. I wonder how one says "lebensraum" in Chinese?
Tom Maddux
Tom Maddux