The NHS is rediculous - Page 11

WillowTheWhisp · 05-06-2007, 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

I consider my earnings to be my property, not that of the State. The Left is obsessed with equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity. Some people are smarter than others. They invent things. Take risks when they start a business. Use their God given talents well and invest their assets wisely. I have never bought into the class/wealth envy game. Remarkable really when you consider where I was raised.

You are fortunate in your ability to be able to work for those earnings. Not everyone is so fortunate. You refer to equal opportunity. Do you honestly believe that people from unequal backgrounds have equal opportunity? The child born into a background of poverty does not even have an equal opportunity of education to the child of a middle class family. This in turn directs them to lower income occupations or unemployment. How can people invest their assets wisely if they have never had the opportunity to aquire assets?

bullseyebarb · 05-06-2007, 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

And if you get sick, the hospitals are damn good.

Yes, if you are a visitor with foreign currency to spend. Likewise if you are part of the Cuban elite or military. Not so for the ordinary Cuban citizen, though. First hand accounts abound. I am amazed that you don't know this. One of my English relatives flies to Cuba at least twice a year. He always takes supplies for Cuban friends there. Even simple things like aspirin are often unavailable except on the black market.

Stanaccy · 05-06-2007, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

Yes, if you are a visitor with foreign currency to spend. Likewise if you are part of the Cuban elite or military. Not so for the ordinary Cuban citizen, though. First hand accounts abound. I am amazed that you don't know this. One of my English relatives flies to Cuba at least twice a year. He always takes supplies for Cuban friends there. Even simple things like aspirin are often unavailable except on the black market.

So if it is so bad how come their life expectancy is the same as the US???

bullseyebarb · 05-06-2007, 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

You are fortunate in your ability to be able to work for those earnings. Not everyone is so fortunate. You refer to equal opportunity. Do you honestly believe that people from unequal backgrounds have equal opportunity? The child born into a background of poverty does not even have an equal opportunity of education to the child of a middle class family. This in turn directs them to lower income occupations or unemployment. How can people invest their assets wisely if they have never had the opportunity to aquire assets?

Poverty need not be a handicap, unless you make it one. That's the great thing about America. People rise on their merits and determination. It happens all the time.

bullseyebarb · 05-06-2007, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanaccy

So if it is so bad how come their life expectancy is the same as the US???

You assume that the figures put forth by the Cuban dictatorship are accurate. I don't.

WillowTheWhisp · 05-06-2007, 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

Poverty need not be a handicap, unless you make it one. That's the great thing about America. People rise on their merits and determination. It happens all the time.

So a disabled kid born in a ghetto is as likely to get a University education as the son of a doctor or lawyer?

Stanaccy · 05-06-2007, 21:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

You assume that the figures put forth by the Cuban dictatorship are accurate. I don't.

Actually it's WHO figures.Also if I am asked to choose between Cuban government figures and rabid right wing reactionaries there isn't really any choice.Oh and with regards to the "everyone has access to healthcare"An investigation by a British journalist into whether there was any truth in Michael Moore's film.Sicko? The truth about the US healthcare system - Independent Online Edition > Americas

garinda · 06-06-2007, 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

Poverty need not be a handicap, unless you make it one. That's the great thing about America. People rise on their merits and determination. It happens all the time.

Yes, America's richest list, and Washington's corridors of power, are awash with people who are the descendants of cotton pickin' slaves...not.

Eric · 06-06-2007, 00:37

G. W. Bush ... living proof that people rise on their merits and determination.

steeljack · 06-06-2007, 01:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

Yes, America's richest list, and Washington's corridors of power, are awash with people who are the descendants of cotton pickin' slaves...not.

Well I think its been a while since Oprah was shucking corn or washing the clothes for dem white folks

garinda · 06-06-2007, 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeljack

Well I think its been a while since Oprah was shucking corn or washing the clothes for dem white folks

Twenty two Dixie dancin' years, since the Color Purple.

My, doesen't that cotton pickin' time just dog gone there fly, Massa?

WillowTheWhisp · 06-06-2007, 09:01

For some people to be at the top there always have to be a lot more people underneath.

Ianto.W. · 06-06-2007, 10:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

For some people to be at the top there always have to be a lot more people underneath.

True willow, for every winner there is a field of loosers.

garinda · 06-06-2007, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

For some people to be at the top there always have to be a lot more people underneath.

That sounds like one of Adolf Hitler's philosophies.

Karl Marx might disagree.

WillowTheWhisp · 06-06-2007, 11:22

It's not a pholosophy - it's an observation of why the 'everybody has a equal chance' idea doesn't work unless people at the top are willing to climb down a little to meet people from the bottom who are trying to climb up - now that bit could be a philosophy.