How f**k up are some conservatives?

[Saz]

[spacemonkey]

[phosphide]

[phosphide]

[NAB]

[exploited]

I'm really not sure phosphide thinks we should go through the trouble of dredging a harbour not deep enough to float a ship.

[jimmyz]

[NAB]

[CheckrbrdStrangler]

[quote="John Galt"]
we spend far more on healthcare than we do on defense. defense spending is roughly 15% of the budget. social security, medicare, medicaid, etc make up over half. add in another 10% for welfare. the rest is interest and debt and then everything else[/quote]

The moment you drop in Social Security and welfare, you're no longer talking about healthcare, you're talking about healthcare PLUS the other items. Stop moving the goalposts.

Other countries spending more of their own GDP on defense doesn't compare to what we spend on defense, even if another country spent double their GDP on defense, because what we spend is double what everyone else combined spends, or possibly more than double.

And it still doesn't change the fact that people in other countries spend LESS of their own wealth when they pay for healthcare through their taxes and enjoy universal access to it.

Health insurance company PROFIT does NOTHING to enhance the quality of the actual HEALTH CARE accessed by Americans.
In fact, it is argued that insurance company profit negatively affects the overall quality AND availability for a LOT of consumers, many of whom have died for lack of access despite having paid their premiums on time.

[Spider]

No, spending as a % of GDP is the only appropriate way to compare across different GDP's. It's why we have per capita measurements for things, PPP, etc etc.

Just throwing out an absolute number like it means something is pointless.