Big A.D. do you have any stats on how much of the current Aust. healthcare system is paid through debt or other promises to pay e.g. tenure, pensions for doctors. Not having a dig, genuinely interested, because we always hear how US public services are funded through debt and are unsustainable, was wondering how the Aust system fares. Mike
Big fat DISAGREE A.D. Here is something I saw today that seems relevent to this forum: Classroom logic to explain Left v Right Policies An economics teacher at a local school made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Gillard/Brown socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The teacher then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on the Gillard/Brown plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all). After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the teacher told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, and gives to those who do nothing, no-one will try or want to succeed. It could NOT be any simpler than that. Remember,there IS a test coming up.The next election. These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: 1. You can not legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Margaret Thatcher nailed a few things. I've never liked her much, but she was on target here: She certainly knew the press though! These pictures give you an idea of civil unrest when economics is a chopping block. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l51fXC3SsQ0[/youtube]
