MB Civic

I had not realized the strength and depth of the pathology affecting a large chunk of the US population. The irrational fear of anything thought to be ‘unamerican’ so assiduously cultivated by the Republicans over the years has resulted in mass dementia. The government funded healthcare systems prevalent in Europe may not be perfect but they demonstrably deliver a better service to more people for less money (10% vs 17% of GDP) than is the case in the US. OK – if you are reasonably well off, and generally healthy and live on the Eastern Seaboard of the US and you suddenly come down with cancer you will probably do better than you would with the NHS in the UK but if you are poor and have a chronic disease such as diabetes or cystic fibrosis or MS then you are infinitely better off under the NHS than you would be in the US. My own experience of the NHS is that their A&E (ER) is 2nd to none. When I had peritonitis on a trip back from Africa they saved my life. I feel pretty insulted about the nonsense being talked by the likes of Ms Palin and her ilk but I suppose that I shouldn’t as their views are so far from what one thinks of as normal human views that one might as well get angry with a chimpanzee for throwing a banana at you. That is what they do.

What all of you on MB Civic need to realize is that reason no longer rules in the US. Most people lack the attention span for reasoned debate and are not encouraged by popular culture to do anything about it.

The healthcare debate is a horrible spectacle and quite scary to an outsider for what is says about America. And I thought that AL Qaeda and the Taliban were the problem…

The article below is from today’s FT. worth reading.

Al B

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a627422-88f5-11de-b50f-00144feabdc0.html