Are You Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago?

[ODShowtime]

I'm worse off. My wages have been frozen for two years (thanks to peice of shit Tom Ridge) while every single thing I buy has risen in price. The goddamn PA turnpike just double in price this month. DOUBLED.

I am glad I have my initial 2 years of exp. now. Too bad I had to take it in the ass with a pay freeze while I got it.

I have a feeling things are gonna get a lot worse in this country even when I do get a huge pay raise with a new job...

[John Ashcroft]

WACF, where did you hear 40%? It's absolutely not true, and to tell you the honest truth, every single American has access to health care.

Anyway let's see, the last 4 years...

Left Boeing for a better job with O.U.

Built a brand new house on 2 beautifully wooded acres.

Bought a 2002 Toyota Tacoma.

Bought a 17' ski boat (Four Winns).

Got a son who's 4/12, so technically he was born beyond the 4 year point, but still raising my kids for the last 4 years has been my greatest source of happiness altogether.

So yeah, live's been good so far.

Oh, and for the record, 5 years ago I left the military. I enjoyed the Air Force for sure, but let's just say I've significantly increased my income from those days. Not to mention, 8 hour work days, 40 hour weeks, no moving (unless by my choice), no extended deployments to the fucking Middle East, and one whole hell of alot less bullshit.

And not one soup-kitchen line! Imagine that!

[WACF]

I heard the %40 on a radio talk show....you mean to tell me they make stuff up??? LOL

I thought %40 sounded pretty low.
The discussion was based on whether or not we want to change our health care system.
The dude interviewed stated that we would be like the U.S., if left up to each individual...many would choose car loans or mortgages instead of putting health insurance as a priority.
Easy to say when you do not live there.

I am curious though...how affordable is health insurance?
Can you choose your coverage?
For unionized people is it a negotiated part of their collective agreement?
Is it all that costly to go to a clinic or doctor's office?

Our last election seemed to stir up a lot of talk about our system.

[DLR'sCock]

Nope, I couldn't find a programming job since most of them were off-shored over the last 4 years. I was taking classes from the beginning of 1999 troughout 2002, and when I was ready to look, the jobs were gone. Now that after investing over ten thousand dollars in school, I have to find a new career direction. Ihappen to know many many people who were laid off, or couldn't find work in the IT field. I have some ideas and leads, we'll see....but no...


Also, our country(using my tax money) killed over 15,000 Iraqi civillians, so in some way I am indirectly responsible, and I feel horrible about that....


Are those dead soldiers(from all sides) and civillians(from all sides) any better of than they were 4 years ago????

[WACF]

Probably not the best spot to discuss the health care questions I suppose...I didn't mean to hijack the topic!

[DLR'sCock]

Originally posted by WACF
I heard the %40 on a radio talk show....you mean to tell me they make stuff up??? LOL

I thought %40 sounded pretty low.
The discussion was based on whether or not we want to change our health care system.
The dude interviewed stated that we would be like the U.S., if left up to each individual...many would choose car loans or mortgages instead of putting health insurance as a priority.
Easy to say when you do not live there.

I am curious though...how affordable is health insurance?
Can you choose your coverage?
For unionized people is it a negotiated part of their collective agreement?
Is it all that costly to go to a clinic or doctor's office?

Our last election seemed to stir up a lot of talk about our system.

Well, there are 43 million working Americans without Health Insurance...

[ODShowtime]

Also, the Black Crowes and STP both broke up. Damn you Bush!

[Dr Volospion]

I should be better off...new job and all, but the UK tax fucks me everytime I try and earn some decent money. Bastards.

[lms]

Lack of communication from above. WACF is discussing health insurance...Ashcroft is discussing health care. Two totally different issues with a tremendous impact on each other.

Yes...Americans have ample access to health care. There are doctors, clinics and hospitals galore. Not all Americans have health insurance, (and if you factor out the number of families on state funded insurance plans, I believe that number to be much higher than 40 %). Insurance simply is not affordable anymore. It sounds like financially, most of you are doing well with two homes, several vehicles... but keep us working class folks in mind. An income of $25,000.00 a year does not allow you to pay $1500 bucks a month for health insurance. Try getting into a doctor without insurance. They wont take you. Try getting into a doctor if you dont have the money to pay your deductible up front. They wont see you.

Anyone want to discuss the general quality of health care these days?
Dont get me started.

[conmee]

The BCE also downed a space shuttle, corked Sammy Sosa's bat, has run a discredit campaign against Barry Bonds and other premier athletes, cancelled Friends, Frasier, Sex and The City, and if they get their way, the Sopranos are on the outs too!!!!

They also tried to unleashed AIDS into the prOn industry awhile back via South America, concocted SARS which only fooked up our friends in Toronto, raised the price of crude oil, caused some of the worst winter weather in Detroit last year, broke up the Lakers, framed Kobe for rape, put a brain implant into Scott Peterson's gorde which made him kill Laci, and the list goes on and on....

And you can bet that Rick James was on the BCE's list of Most Wanted as well... and look what happened to that bastard....


;>

Icon.

[conmee]

Who has Internet access on $25k per year? That's part of a health insurance payment right there... dammit, and you better not be broadbandin' it either!!!! lmao

Icon.

[lms]

Right now I am at work using their internet, and I am not saying that is my income, just a general figure. Yes, lots of families live for a year, on less than you pay for a fucking car. And unfortunately, no, it is not a select few. At home, I have DSL. Am I complaining about not having health insurance? Not particularly, just stating facts. Lots of folks dont. If I had insurance, I could not afford to pay the doctor...now I have the money to pay him, and he just wont see me. Either way, we are very healthy people and could care less. If you do go to the doctor, he will find something wrong, even if there isn't.

The funny thing about my insurance situation is that when I was self employed, my insurance was cheaper, and I could deduct half of the cost. I returned to work for the "benefits package" and my insurance suddenly became unaffordable-and half as good as it was before. Lets hear it for self employment. I am not bitching about that either. Just acknowledging that there are people getting screwed, and it is the people who can least afford it.

Further, do I blame Bush, no, nor do I credit him. The world is run by the assholes that win lawsuits for actually getting a hot cup of coffee when they order one.

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by lms


Further, do I blame Bush, no, nor do I credit him. The world is run by the assholes that win lawsuits for actually getting a hot cup of coffee when they order one.

VERY well said. Except that it probably was Bush's fault somehow.

[conmee]

I was fookin' with you lms, just joking, hence the lmao. lol.

The recipe for success is fairly simple... go to school, get decent grades, don't do drugs, play sports if you're good enough, and get an MD, MBA, PhD and work for the man... lol... I've got $137K in student loans, so I didn't grow up like the Bushies either... studied hard and paying my way (now, and for the foreseeable future... $800/mo for loans).

I was self-employed for awhile there too... never made so much money as I did then, and the tax write-offs and health insurance were indeed better/less expensive...

The entire pharmaceutical-medical-insurance-legal-industrial complex is a far more insidious beast than the BCE ever could hope to become. There is so much special-interest money and division among all the folks in positions of power/authority/influence, that the so-called little guy, and those folks who can't stomach undergrad, let alone grad school, will suffer simply because no one is standing up for them... at least not anyone with any say so, and certainly none of the cretins in Congress or the President or Presidential candidate(s). So what's to be done? Unless there's an entire house-cleaning around the economics of health care and all the implications of malpractice insurance, and pharmaceutical companies passing on R&D costs and FDA approval costs (years of man-hours, and forests worth of paperwork) and lawyers looking to 'stick it to the system' and on and on, there will be no getting our heads and hearts and arms around the problem.... and a simple change in the Presidency or majority in Congress won't change a thing... the problem is huge and near-crisis, but this country lacks the leadership necessary to make real change in this regard.

The tax system also suffers from the same problems... a flat tax, where everyone has a single sheet return (for instance, Gross Income X 17% = Your Tax) with no loopholes for people or businesses, and no multi-thousand page tomes on tax law, would level the playing field for everyone... but then what to do with all those accounting companies and tax lawyers who build careers out of navigating those treacherous waters? They've got a lot of money invested, and they'll use it to keep the system in place... it's all economics and survival of the fittest in a capitalist economy.

This country is run by special-interest groups, and that's why until their is a special-interest group for the little guy that has money to throw around in this economy and political arena, they will be pandered to, but not truly represented.... but then again, in this country, if you lack resources (i.e. money), you don't have a chance in hell of putting together a special-interest group that matters... gotta have some chips if you want to sit down at poker table called capitalism.

Um, I mean, Icon.... lol

[Warham]

Stop making me depressed guys.