United Kingdom

Phil, you sure can type quick, I admire that, almost as fast as Craig.
1] the only thing my momma taught me is that if you want something you go out and cut lawns , deliver papers, cover any job you can handle, to make money to pay for that team uniform or new bike or fishing pole.
As far as attacking anyone it certainly isn't you ,but give me a cry baby who doesn't want to work,and expects the world to take care of them,YOUAREKIDDINGRIGHT.
2] Since you are dependent on corps for your very living and survival,you blame them for all the evils that befall you. WAKE UP . Start your own business while the govt still allows it. Why the F are you alowing some one else to make important money making decisions for you?
3] You are going on again about this health care thing like it is the fault of business. YOUR wife would be making a lot more taxable salary if her health care wasn't figured in. IN other words she would be bringing home a lot more money ,But no coverage.
It is kind of nice that an employer would go to the trouble to offer health insurance at a better price [WAGES] than an individual ,as myself , has to pay.
4] I never said taking care of the sick and injured was Marxist. It is way beyond that it is our God given OBLIGATION. What you don,t see is this is not about any of this s..t. This is about Govt control and lies and making you feel a lot better and in the end s..t ,,,I don,t know what to do now.
If Ryckymycky Didn't expect so much help from the govt I wouldn't even have to say that. If our govt keeps taxing these"EVIL" corps out of business you and your wife won't have jobs. Start your own business ,, than YOU can write the rules.
5] The national debt is somewhere between 10 and12 TRILLION dollars, because of all the lies distortion and mayhem, we are facing a pay back rate of 800 billion a year in financing. That is the equivalent of a $150 credit card debt, paying back $15 a month with a $10 account FEE forevever.
Do you really want to make JC pay back the kind of debt you are asking me to accept. BASICALLY OUTRIGHT SLAVERY TAXES.
You miss the very point of this,wether it is communism or socialism or unionisim. SOMEBODY HAS TO PAY FOR IT.
Funny thing is all 3 directions that Marxist theory lead us to ,are actually beautifull in theory.. Right up to to point where Govt takes over.

It is sad that you said it best, You are right . Our govt has done a very good job of erasing the concept of communities. Not to scare you but in this little B. M. community If you or Rat or any one else really needed help,,,, I would't be suprised if everyone didn't figure out a way to help,bene concert,fund raiser,who knows ,count me in.
Phil,,,, Thanx for listening to me rant.

On second thought, Phil is absolutley right.
I am going to drop my health coverage tomorrow. Why the hell should I shell out $15000 a year for health coverage.
Nancy Pelosi said the congressional bill would make sure 96% of Americans will be covered,why doubt her?
I am urging every American to cancell your health coverage. Demand higher wages instead.
You want to see greedy insurance companies go out of business.
JUST SAY NO MORE.
1 TRILLION DOLLARS OVER 10 years fo 8% of the population, What happens when the #s swell to 88% of the population to = 96%
MMMM Lets do some math. x =8, (96)divided = 12 , times1 trillion $ = 12 trillion dollars over ten years.
Yes we can double the national debt in ten years. WOW [that was for Crip]
Honey sweet huh

Well, surely you can see that it's coming, whether you like the idea or not.

Now OUR job, as good Americans, is to keep the nazia out of it, to do our very best to keep everything on the up & up, & to keep the gov't from controlling every area of our lives in the name of our health.

I didn't say it was an easy task.

Now you know why I trust people like you to own a weapon.

Just don't brag about shooting a 6 point buck ,from your kitchen window.
You would break a lot of hunters, hearts.

LOL

I've never shot a buck. I have gotten 2 does that way, though.

With work being so tough to find right now, though, I don't even see much sense in spending the $ to get the necessary insurance & biz licenses & tax # & all to start up a legal co in my line of work. It'd be a waste of money right now, Glen.

I need to find a new line of work, I suppose. In the meantime, I also still need to be insured for my health, if something goes south on me.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm becoming obsolete as a carpenter/handyman in these economic & sue-icidal times. I just had a customer tell me they can't use me for anything requiring a ladder anymore, cuz I don't have an insured co! That cost me a $1,200 painting job, but there are remarkably few of them around that pay that well.

That same customer, who I've had for the last 7 years, has also had me put up & take down their Xmas decorations, to the tune of nearly $1,000 a year. I've lost that, now, too, but I simply cannot justify the costs at this time.

Minimum insurance costs over $80 a month. Add in the additional insurance cost of using your own truck, plus taxes, plus biz licenses & accounting, & I simply cannot justify the costs at this point. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, Glen. All of those costs only cover me for small jobs, too. I'd hafta boost them all to get the larger ones that I've done in the past few years, like the $35,000 bathroom I did for one lady, or the $14,000 deck for another guy. But I only get those kinds of jobs occasionally, not nearly regularly enough to keep up those payments required by the state to maintain a biz license & legit co. Ppl are holding off on the small stuff cuz everyone is afraid right now to spend anything, even on their homes.

So, I'm gonna hafta prolly go to work for someone else to keep money coming in with any regularity. Can you say "pump number nine is on?" Cuz that's all I'm seeing here in the way of "opportunity." Even that solar panel co I checked into is running their crew on a part-time basis! I woulda thought they would be doing well, but they are not. I couldn't get on with them, cuz they just laid a few guys off.

I'm getting a lil scared....

OH Man ,You have tremendous talents that go way beyond just playing great guitar. I would't even know what to advise because of area ,economic conditions, and all the local laws. On top of that I am not walking in your shoes, so I am sure there are other factors that make it so freakin tough.
I am a great Plumber and electrician, But when you mention carpentry MY hats off to you , I can't put 2 boards together without making them look ugly.
I would give you some advice , but I can't ,you are a very intelligent person being run over by daunting task of finding financial freedom from some one elses B.S.
Tommorow is Thanksgiving, One of the things I give thanks for is knowing that America is full of great people and families pulling together As yours. GOD BLESS.
I know you are a rugged individualist and You can do any thing you set your mind to,,, YOU WILL FIND A WAY,,,, If you don't listen to the first ASS that comes along and say's "YOU CAN"T DO THAT"
If you can play guitar that good ,,,,, Aint nothin you can't do.

Hello Matt,
Great words, and I am happy to hear someone not slagging off our life sustaining NHS... it keeps the UK healthy and happy, as simple as that I think, and I for one owe my very life to it on two separate ocasions.

It was funny that back in the summer my friend's uncle who was born here but always lived in the States and couldn't afford enough insurance, caught a plane across to use the good old NHS... actually he got the arse here because doctors couldn't find a lot wrong with him except that he has been a chain smoker all his life and his lungs no longer put any oxygen into his blood.
But we sat in the garden and he slagged off our NHS and I just bit my tongue.
Then he got up in a strop and took to steps up the garden steps and fell back smashing his head on concrete!
At first I thought he was dead, but he breathed so we called 999 and within 15 minutes a medic car arrived, and he called an ambulance... the ambulance medic thought he might have a bleeding brain so as a precaution he called in a helicopter which landed in the garden and flew Uncle straight up to the top brain hospital in London where he had a week of intensive treatment.

He hadn't lived here for thirty years and didn't qualify as a British citizen for treatment, but he was treated as an emergency guest of the UK.
And anyone else visiting this country would get the same treatment from our much maligned NHS.

So it might be an easy target, but you wait till you are down on your luck and really need it... then you will shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark D Phillips.......................

Thanks Mark.

Everyone thinks this type of massive change could be a bad thing? Erm....
Glad our friends uncle got sorted.

It's slow but it works. ($20 to enter a door to the Docs), doesn't work for many reasons for me.

Keep well Mark.

Hello Matt,
Great words, and I am happy to hear someone not slagging off our life sustaining NHS... it keeps the UK healthy and happy, as simple as that I think, and I for one owe my very life to it on two separate ocasions.

It was funny that back in the summer my friend's uncle who was born here but always lived in the States and couldn't afford enough insurance, caught a plane across to use the good old NHS... actually he got the arse here because doctors couldn't find a lot wrong with him except that he has been a chain smoker all his life and his lungs no longer put any oxygen into his blood.
But we sat in the garden and he slagged off our NHS and I just bit my tongue.
Then he got up in a strop and took to steps up the garden steps and fell back smashing his head on concrete!
At first I thought he was dead, but he breathed so we called 999 and within 15 minutes a medic car arrived, and he called an ambulance... the ambulance medic thought he might have a bleeding brain so as a precaution he called in a helicopter which landed in the garden and flew Uncle straight up to the top brain hospital in London where he had a week of intensive treatment.

He hadn't lived here for thirty years and didn't qualify as a British citizen for treatment, but he was treated as an emergency guest of the UK.
And anyone else visiting this country would get the same treatment from our much maligned NHS.

So it might be an easy target, but you wait till you are down on your luck and really need it... then you will shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark D Phillips.......................

Hello Chippy,
I don't think the uncle ever did really get sorted out... he had seen various doctors in the states who probably told him much what the docs here did.

Our local doctor gave him a whole give up smoking kit of smoke free cigarettes and patches etc and all at tax payer's expense, and he dumped the lot in the bin saying he would stick with the real thing and that his lungs were fine!
After that my friend pretty much despaired of his uncle and couldn't wait for him to go back across the pond... two days later while still grumbling he smashed his head hard, but you know all about that!

I am just astounded that any modern democracy would not want its poorest (and in many cases hardest working) sector of the population to have proper health care!
Mark...............

Mark what you don't seem to understand is THEY ARE ALLREADY COVERED.
It is allready figured into insurance cost and tax cost and on and on.
Why the heck is response time so slow there, you must be talking about a rural area. Dont brag about your system when it really aint that good. If you need help we still have the best nurses and doctors any where , TRUTH.

Hi Glen,
And thanks for putting me straight; for some reason I had got the mistaken impression that there were a lot of people in the USA who maybe for reasons of lack of intelligence, lack of initiative, or just plain bad luck, fell outside the net for obtaining decent medical treatment; but thanks, now I know I can rest easy again!

You are right, the paramedic car, the ambulance, and then the helicopter were all a bit slow arriving to take our yankee cousin to the best London head hospital, though yes it was from deepest Sussex... perhaps they guessed he hadn't been paying his insurance back home! But at least they did come, and he had a week up there of scans and tests, and he was still treated completely free of charge.

I guess I am bragging a bit Glen; but I am proud to live in a country that treats everyone as an equal... even medical refugees from across the pond: if that is communism? Well I can live with it OK!
Cheers to all across the wet bit,
Mark....................

Mark there is a sign on the wall in the Hospital near me. Its written in big bold letters. I cannot remember the exact wording? Basically it states that it is the right of the patient to receive free care to a point, and this is the Grey area of making them well enough to leave. What it does not say is extended care of course. (This was a participating hospital in whatever?) Sans would know I suspect....

Anyway yes there is free care but when you are well enough to leave they need the bed. It's simple and after that unless you fall on the ground again you won't be treated by a doctor. This related to ER only of course.

You have every right to be proud of that system, Canadians too.

Folks call it what they like sometimes and often from pure ignorance and to justify this system will currently live by over here.

In both instances both here and there someone who trips over a brick will get treated. The one in England will get regular checkups. I doubt the same is true here.
I stand to be corrected on a couple of cases

I guess I am bragging a bit Glen; but I am proud to live in a country that treats everyone as an equal... even medical refugees from across the pond: if that is communism? Well I can live with it OK!
Cheers to all across the wet bit,
Mark....................

Sorry Mark, I guess the Atlantic is to big for the truth to cross. This is not about national healthcare at all . This is about govt control. Unlike the UK we still have our guns. We are not like you guys at all. We are fierce and independent and very dangerous when you get our buggahs up. You would all be speaking German if it weren't for us.
We still have our guns ,do you?
I am glad your system works so well, I am just afraid you had to give up your independence ,to compromise for what I just don't think is so important.
Give me GUNS over Healthcare anyday. Give me life and liberty or give me death.
Remember,,, WE ARE FIERCE AND WE ARE AMERICANS.
We have only begun to seek the truth,justice and the American way.

Can you not have a conversation with someone from another country without insulting them, Glen? As I recall, there were many cases where American military was saved by allied help. Get your history straight, man! You could just as easilly say that we'd be speaking Japanese or Spanish or French, or still be a British colony without the help of other countries. (Oh, wait! We DO speak Spanish now! Help, Great Britain!)

Guns have little if anything to do with health care. How do you relate the two? By saying that there are such & such numbers of deaths & dismemberments & maimings in this country due to the misuse of guns? That about the only way I can relate it.

Gov't control? Do you really believe that you are any more free than others are? Try to smoke in a public park. Try to have a beer in your front yard, yes, YOUR OWN YARD! Grow up & smell the cordite, man.

It's all a matter of degree. They have many more freedoms in certain areas than you, & if you don't see that, you know nothing about their society, & cannot make an educated comparison, or claim to be the best or most free.

The ownership of guns in this country has, in fact, reduced many of our freedoms, whether you are willing to believe it or not, because of the necessary steps that law enforcement has to go through to offset the possibility that any one of us, at any given time, can be in possession of a gun.

For all of your strong feelings about your country, it surprizes me that you would think that others don't feel that nationalism for their own. Your lack of simple respect, your lack of manners, & your lack of willingness to learn from other ppl embarasses me. I hope that the world at large doesn't think that we all are like you, & relate to me like they must to you when you speak like this.