Not for me, thanks. My taxes are high enough and I dont want to go to the government clinic for my health care. I am not a Socialist, and I do not think that a Socialst economic policy is best for economic opportunity and jobs growth.
I think we are a bit off topic?
I agree with AA MechTX.
The fact is that you pay more than people in Europe.
When you factor in medical costs, education (you'll find out about that in a few years when the kids start college), and retirement, nevermind the other things like Holidays, vacations etc we are paying more and getting less. The reason why is because instead of paying taxes to cover medical costs, pension benifits (401Ks) and college educations we are paying for those same things through private for profit corporations and often borrowing interest bearing money (that we have to pay up front fees for) in order to do that. Think of how your $100,000 mortgage really costs you nearly triple that by the time you pay it off. In the end we pay a lot more for the same things and we have less time to enjoy our lives because of it.
Under the Canadian system, the your taxes will go up, and the company will have no incentive to put the savings into your wages, and no incentive to offer better coverage because they're going to be taxed...
I've spent two of the last five weeks in France. One of the guys I work with earns less than a topped out AMT, and pays 45% tax. He has no feeling in his left arm due to a pinched nerve, and his free doctor can't start treating that until they confirm the cause with a MRI, that due to rationing, he's been waiting two weeks for.
In the US, he'd have had his MRI already and received treatment within a day or two. Here, he has no choice but to wait... He can't work, and can't drive. But he'll get his free MRI...
Hate the free market for what it is, but it's still better than socialism. Eoleson
What incentive does the company have to put savings into our wages now?
As for your French friend you left out the fact that he's probably recieving full pay not only for his two week wait (people who have benifits wait here as well, one of the guys at JFK had to wait a period of months for knee surgury, another a similar wait for back surgery, they both had to report to work and work in pain to ensure they had enough sick time for their recovery) but for the whole process. In the end he will be back to work , cured, with no loss of pay and no mountain of bills to pay either, he may also get a few weeks in the Maldives, paid for , to recuperate.
The fact is that I believe in competition. In Europe Capitalism and Socialism coexist but they also compete. Because both systems exist within the one society the people benifit. If Socialism stifles productivity then the people eventually suffer and Capitalism gains leverage which motivates the Socialist side to be more productive, if Capitalism steers too much of the wealth to to Capitalist to the detriment of everyone else the Socialist make sure that everyone knows about and the Capitalist have to curtail their greed. Europeans enjoy longer lives, better health, shorter work weeks and more Holiday(Vacation) time than their American counterparts because by putting the two systems in competition they get the best of both.
We have no balancing forces in our Two Capitalist party dominated society. Structures that were put in place to curtial Capitaist economic oppression during the 30s have been systematically dismantled as we were conditioned and accepted all the anti-socialist propaganda we were fed from the first day we walked into school to every time we turn on the TV or read a publication put out by our Capitalist dominated media.
The RLA is a perfect example of how protections for workers have been dismantled while enhancing the power of Capitalists. In exchange for limits to our ability to resort to self help we were given the right of status quo. In good times we could not arbitrarily take advantage and make huge gains but in bad times the companies couldnt do the opposite and take things away. Our Capitalist dominated court system allowed companies to skirt around the status quo provision and extract huge concessions while still denying us the ability to self help. This would never happen Europe, it would also never happen between two Capitalist entities (there is no doubt that the strggles the airlines faced was due to soaring fuel prices, that said why did the courts demand that labor bear the burden of reduced compensation which was imposed due to public good?) .
Our negotiations are in a setting that puts workers at a distinct disadvantage, especially if they adhere to the rules. If workers are to make gains they have to test the limits of those rules because the rules no longer even pretend to be fair. The rules confine negotiations to a process under the complete control of the government and its Capitalist handlers. If workers continue to work as if they have a favorable deal in place then there is no motivation for the company to alter the status quo, in fact it invites attempts by the company to extract more from the workers and to continue doing so until the workers react in a negative way.
