North Dakota Celebrates 90 Years of Socialism Today

I think he's being funny but socialism worked out well in the Soviet Union and other countries like that too.  We might as well become like them ...

As for the socialist type entities in our state and nation.  They've been around forever but when you let socialism (government) get too big, that's when you have problems.  So Chet, keep the humor at a minimum...heh, heh...

Insane.  Go to Canada, Europe or Cuba for your healthcare.  Leave me alone, Chet.

Bank of ND waived my fees for getting my student loans because I am from ND. They save me over $400 a year.

svnmag if you keep posting webb address's with nothing else you are going to upset stevepike. He doesn't like that and will start a thread called svnmag.

Just looking out for you steve


Dewey

The "Health Care" Jab torqued me off.

I think the point Chet is making is "labeling" as an advocacy or argument tactic doesn’t often provide a fair representation of an issue. Words like "socialism" are too often bantered about to frame a negative image and deflect or misdirect a debate so real facts and issues can be avoided.. For example, I spent 27 years in a "socialist" "nanny state" where the government provided my income, health care, and controlled where I went and what I did. The government even went so far as to order how I dressed. The military is funny that way. But when I think of "socialism" the U.S. Army doesn’t pop into my head.

I have been trying to figure out this health care debate and haven’t been able to. There seems to be so much labeling and framing to avoid the facts that it is very confusing to me. Frank Luntz wrote a memo to the GOP (that was leaked and is online) about using the standard buzzwords like "rationing" "bureaucrat", "big government" to try and frame the debate.

On the Obama side there is a huge expansion of government which I don’t get how that can be paid for given we already have over 50 trillion in unfunded liabilities for medicare and social security???????? But, some of the stats I’ve heard or read is that when the Clinton’s tried to reform health care the Country spent 900 billion a year on health care. Now we spend 2.5 trillion a year and have more uninsured people and the costs are steeply rising. We apparently have the most expensive health care system in the world but that only gives us the 37 best system by comparison to other countries Even if the VA medical system and medicare are much more efficiently run than private medical insurance, as the dems have been saying, I still don’t see how we can afford it?????

On the GOP side my suspicion is that the opposition to health care reform with a public option has at its core a worry about creating a big block of democratic voters in the future. They are worried that if a lot more people get health care from the government it will be impossible to not support a government run system. It might even effect "tax cuts" the GOP likes to run on. The GOP doesn’t run against medicare now because they would get killed even though ideologically it isn’t sometime they agree with. So they are going to fight this tooth and nail because they’ll have no choice but support it in the future if it gets in place. I think this is why the GOP is supporting our current system that saw the health insurance COE’s making 30-40 million a year. I saw a story about Aneta where the CEO made $65 million in the past two years. At the same time they kicked 8 million people off insurance because they had filed claims.  After which their stock price soared.

What’s better for us, a CEO between you and your doctor who’s bonus depends on his companies stock price, and the stock price goes up when care is denied. Or a medicare type system? That seems to be the trillion dollar question.

I to have been part of the system in the military for over 20yrs and it's not socialism....I volunteered.

Most people are not going to get a choice but be forced into the government coffers because companies will opt out of having health care as a benefit.

The VA and Tricare are not run efficiently or any different than a big insurance company. When I was stationed at Ft. Benning they had a name for our hospital..."Martin Army Butcher Shop". A lot of people came out of there in worse shape than they went in, I was fortunate and never had to deal with major health issues while there. Don't get me wrong there are some good doctors there but there are a lot of "Docs" there just working off their ROTC commitment and waiting to get back to private practice. Also have you been to the VA in Fargo? They try to cut corners and just provide "just enough" to get by. I had my ear drum blown out in Iraq and the doctor in Fargo said I lost my hearing because I hunt a lot????

I volunteered for the military so I put up with their shinanagans....Like telling me who I can see as a dentist (because he's the only one that will accept DOD Dental insurance) and he's not even a dentist but an oral surgeon (yes I know he went through dental school...i.e. dentist). He doesn't even have a practice in my town just does oral surgery once a week.

The thing is we can't afford it, most of the uninsured are that way because they want to be (Free Will...it's what America was founded on) and putting the illegals into the equation shouldn't even be there.

This is all about control of everything we do. They have the banks, GM, and now they want the health care industry.

I would agree though things need to change in the industry like Tort law reform, making non-profit insurance companies be truly non-profit, the ability to carry your health insurance with you when you move from state to state and making prevention a key element to any doctors visit.

I have served for 20+ years in the Army and my reward will be my pension and my health care through the Fed. I have earned it and that chaps my arse that they just want to hand it out (be it welfare or health care) to the non-contributors of this country who continue to suck at the governments teat.