>>It's easier to "start" selling your wares. You still have to develop a customer base to be successful.

That's what I was saying all along. You see, in socialism (at least in SFRY), you could have an easy start by simply renting a stall at the marketplace and you could sell pretty much anything (except weapons, drugs, gold and a few other controlled things), and you'd at least have your wares exposed to a number of eyes within hours. Much more exposed than by having a website - there were people passing by.

"Building customer base"... of course that's the hard part here.

>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared
>>
>>Interesting entry, but hardly a comprehensive comparison. The discussion section is interesting.

Still, how come Canada has a system where nobody is left behind, yet it costs about half the amount per capita? Are they that much smarter?

>>Of course. At the same time the patients have a choice of whether or not to use the HMO. If they feel their care is not up to par then they may choose another option.

How would they know? Spend days reading the fine print, then get seriously ill just to test the quality? Then can't qualify for most of the others because of a preexisting condition?

>>>In the case of health, look up the "information assymetry" part in the Wikipedia articles I linked above. It's actually the socialized health care systems that achieve lower costs, simply because of their competence in the negotiations and buying power.
>>
>>Those articles are hardly the definitive word on costs.

I don't see how the definitive word can change the fact that the cost per capita is almost double than that in Japan (where almost everything is expensive anyway), and more than double than anywhere else, while still having more than 30 million people uncovered.

>>>And don't forget that the market forces have already priced out about 17% of Americans out of the system market.
>>
>>Personal choice has a lot to do with that 17%. How can you be priced out of medicare?

Out of medicare? By not being old enough.

Out of medicaid? Just like I was priced out of many things back home - by earning just $0.50 above the cap, and not stooping down to forgery. The bar is set quite low, and rarely adjusted for inflation,so it's quite easy to earn just enough not to be poor enough, and quite not enough to be scared by prices of medical services.

Last summer we went home, three of us, paid about $1300 each for airfare, and had a bunch of dental work done for about $1200 total. Yes, at a private dentist - who still has to compete with a bunch of other private dentists and the social-security&health-funded system - just because there was no waiting and he had an office downtown. Later we recalculated, and found out this was a perfect saving: we'd have to fork out about $9000 for that much of dental work here.

>>>Speaking of police, I still don't understand why there are so many different kinds of police - ATF, sheriff's office, city police, state police, feds, university police... someone posted a list here recently, and it was about two dozen of them operating in the same area.
>>
>>There are many different types of criminals. ;)

So what if an ATF cop is near when he's nearby when a crime happens which is not his job?

>>>>You do not have to participate in your employers HMO. You have a choice.

Didn't know that then. Also, I figure if I didn't take what they were paying for, I'd have to pay all by myself elsewhere, wouldn't I?

>>>Had that only once and it was either sign in or not - and that was just on my first job here. And when I needed some of it, they didn't reimburse me a single dime. Actually yes, one prescription I paid $10 instead of $30, and that was all. For the rest, I had to pay everything because of this or that thing in the small print.
>>
>>I assume you were forced at gunpoint to take the job.

Sort of. The job was our ticket here, and while I was waiting for INS to get the visas processed, we were bombed by NATO, and my customers' customers were going out of business because of the bombing and the rest. So, I didn't have much choice - keep going down over there, or give it a try here, no third option.

>>>May as well be. But it also removed a lot of checks and balances which made Enron/Anderson possible.
>>
>>The benefits of Reagan's economic policies vastly outweight the ills of a few thieves. A determined thief will always find a way to steal.

I've heard that a determined thief had his ways repaved since Reagan, with far fewer traffic cops and roadblocks. Which is what, essentially, had previously made the Enron-Anderson relationship a big no-no.

In many areas I've found this idea that "introducing middlemen (middlepersons?) would make things cheaper" in the law. Just yesterday I heard that Virginian wine producers can't sell to restaurants. They must sell to wholesale. That's the law. Likewise, when we were buying this house, it seems there's no way to buy directly - both seller and buyer must have an agent.

>>Happy 4th of July!

My feet still hurt :). We walked five miles (2.5 each way) to get a good view of the fireworks. And we were back at about the same time as those with cars :).

>The rising numbers of millionaires are not alone. All economic levels benefit from the expanding economy.

How do you know? Are their spending habits tracked? Are they investing in production? Or are you just reading what you like into this? If this is so good for everyone, then why is the median income dropping?

>There's an old saying "the first million is always the hardest." It is very true. Many investment opportunities open up at higher economic levels. Once you hit those levels it becomes easier and easier to expand your fortune.

Money makes money, I know.

>As more people attain millionaire status they will begin to accelerate their earnings, thus contribute to the "gap". Again, I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing. The "gap" may be wider but the overall economy benefits from the investments of the wealthy.

I don't see them investing here, it's not as profitable as investing in third world countries. The number of new jobs here for the last five years is still far less than the natural increase of the workforce.

>>>The Geneva convention also lists a bunch of things an occupying force must and another of things it must not do. Nothing to do with the opposing forces and whether they are regular or not, just civilian matters.
>
>The civilian matters have nothing to do with the detention and interrogation of terrorists.

Right, I said this is a separate matter, note the "also lists", and "nothing to do with". Bremmer's administration was doing all the stuff which is explicitly forbidden by Geneva convention, and doing pretty much none of what is explicitly stated as an obligation of the occupator.

>>>Are you saying Brownie and his roommate were great?
>
>I think Brown is an idiot for his comments immediately following Katrina, however, he was the fall guy for a complete breakdown at all levels of government. The video footage of meetings before Katrina hit show that he was very concerned about, evacuees, the levees and the emergency response that was going to be needed at all levels.

And there are his emails where he's deeply concerned about how will he look on TV in his attire.

>There is plenty of blame to share between the mayor's ineptitude, the governor's inability to make a simple request for federal aid

Don't trust your sources on this one. I've seen her request, published in several places, while the whole mess was still underway. Why does the administration still play this card is beyond me. Briefly, she did send the request, and she did that on time. I figure that since she didn't explicitly agree for the federal authorities to take command of everything, it was ignored, and advertised as nonexistent.

>and homeland security's inability to take action in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

>>>>The Wall Street Journal at least? ;)
>>>
>>>My son-in-law is subscribed and professionally interested, so I get their content through his interpretations. Makes for nice discussions :).
>
>There's hope yet...

Yes, I hope he gets a job before he stops believing in their mantras :).