>IMHO a lot of the unhappiness comes down to deeply seated beliefs involving a clash between good and bad/capitalism and socialism. But that "socialist" label is heavily loaded. Perhaps we should say "public insurance" to emphasize that many publicly funded programs are effectively insurance policies whose premiums come from taxes.

Funny you should say that. I read an op-ed yesterday (by Froma Harrop, I think) where she pointed out that social security doesn't need fixing and it's not a Ponzi scheme, it's insurance. Once you view it in that light, you look at the economics differently.

Tamar