are y'all better off than you were 4 years ago ?

[rebelcowboysnb]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/09/business/japan-imf-global-stability/index.html


http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/...getting-worse-us-must-avoid-fiscal-cliff?lite


http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...r-u-dot-s-dot-to-steer-away-from-fiscal-cliff

 

[DennisK]

I think one major reason for our decline ( and I do strongly believe that we are not better off) is due to the micro managed control that government has on our day to day lives. This has been going on for a very long time, and I doubt that whoever becomes president next year will make much of a difference.
I remember during the early 50’s Art Linkletter had a kind of variety show where, during one episode, he asked his audience if there was anyone who was a law abiding citizen. One man declared himself as being such; so Art had him accompanied by a legal expert whereupon he would return for the next episode with the legal expert’s report on his activities. The poor man couldn't make it through one day without breaking a law! Our laws do not have sunset clauses, and it makes my head spin when I think of how many more laws we have created since then. We are all law breakers. We all have reason to look over our shoulders whenever we attempt to do something – especially something new – something creative. What do you suppose that does to us culturally? It is not good enough to simply ask myself if what I want to do will hurt anyone, for there will undoubtedly be transgressions totally unrelated to harm. The safest route for us is the one well trod. Take the less traveled road, and you instantly have a host of enemies, and a pocket full of contrived dangers. Those dangers, those enemies grow in numbers day to day, year to year, and we have been at it for a very long time.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

What laws to you feel are holding you back from improving your life?

 

[DennisK]

What laws to you feel are holding you back from improving your life?

My goodness, where do I start … my most current entanglement, which is only a small example:
I live in a trailer on 113 acres which is about 37 miles from the nearest town. I own this property outright. Next to this trailer is a foundation that I built along with a septic system I invested in. Before I started building my house, I paid for the county’s impact fees and a building permit which was granted before I began. The foundation passed inspection, but before I was able to continue my project, the county pulled the permit! So here I sit living in a trailer which is also against the law. One of my neighbors built multiple 10 by 12 buildings, each used as part of a normal house’s rooms. Another neighbor is building what he calls a pavilion to avoid county intervention. Then there is another neighbor whose family has been in this area for over 100 years. His inheritance is a one acre parcel that the county refused to allow him to build on; so he also lives in a trailer. This place is a rural slum compliments of county laws.
This is only one example. Need I get into starting a business? The problem with your question, Chickensrdinos, is that we are counting beans while sitting in a train that is hurling toward oblivion.

 

[DennisK]

Stacking deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

[jbirds2012]

The medical industry. Thanks to the legal industry you can't afford to get medical help without insurance. And thanks to greed in the insurance industry, many people can't afford insurance. So people who just can't afford insurance take their chances, and when they need health care, often just go to the local E.R. When they can't pay, the hospital has to pass the loss on as higher rates, which get billed to those that DO have insurance, those insurance companies pay more out and need more profit so they raise their rate, and so on, and so on, and so on.... Obamacare may be seriously flawed, but at least it is an attempt to fix this situation.

hmmm, my mom told me that her doctor gave her a prescription back in 02 and when she went to fill it, it cost $750. 00 for 3 days and she needed 21 days worth. i told her that if a Dr ever prescribed me such a prescription and i must pay that price, would you please hand me my 45. i suggested that she get a second opinion. she did and took her chances and lived. i have always thought she was kinda nutty when it came to Dr's. then years later a friend of mine's wife was told the same thing, and they bought it !!! i wonder if Dr's prey on older folks ??? i think Pharisaical company's are the devil themselves. i think there are some special interest folks involved in polictics, but im just a hillbily redneck country girl, so what would i know.

 

[ScottnLydia]

hmmm, my mom told me that her doctor gave her a prescription back in 02 and when she went to fill it, it cost $750. 00 for 3 days and she needed 21 days worth. i told her that if a Dr ever prescribed me such a prescription and i must pay that price, would you please hand me my 45. i suggested that she get a second opinion. she did and took her chances and lived. i have always thought she was kinda nutty when it came to Dr's. then years later a friend of mine's wife was told the same thing, and they bought it !!! i wonder if Dr's prey on older folks ??? i think Pharisaical company's are the devil themselves. i think there are some special interest folks involved in polictics, but im just a hillbily redneck country girl, so what would i know.

That's my point exactly! There has been such a windstorm of fear over the 'threat' of socialized medicine like they have in England and Canada. I think all the bad press and fear-talk is being whipped up by those that would stand to lose all those big bucks!!! I feel that medical treatment is a RIGHT, NOT A PRIVELEGE! I spent many years working as a paramedic, both in the field and in ERs in a major city. I was one that cared. Sometimes I'd see things that just broke my heart! Elderly people starving because they couldn't buy food when they bought their medicine, or the opposite, going without necessary meds to buy food.

To be honest, I have nothing against a company or an individual making a profit, it's good, it's the American way. But when the profits get to obscene levels for a few individuals, at the cost of human lives? I don't think God looks kindly on that.

I don't have any answers, everybody around me seems to have a different opinion. I just don't think it feels right that one person gets good health care because they have a lot of money to spend on it, whil another person gets treated like crap because they have the misfortune of being poor! People "booed" Ebenezer Scrooge when he said "...if they're going to die, then let them do so, and decrease the surplus population!" Seems like that's being said a lot behind closed doors these days!

Just being poor doesn't make you a bad person, and shouldn't be a death sentence.

~S

 

[DennisK]

I have always heard horror stories about socialized medicine in the UK and in Canada, but I saw on the news today, that the young girl that was shot in the head by the Taliban has been sent to England for medical care. It seems to me that the UK’s medical expertise isn’t as bad as I was led to believe.

 

[RHRanch]

I have always heard horror stories about socialized medicine in the UK and in Canada, but I saw on the news today, that the young girl that was shot in the head by the Taliban has been sent to England for medical care. It seems to me that the UK’s medical expertise isn’t as bad as I was led to believe.

Well you know, the naysayers can always find the people that have had bad experiences or problems and make it seem like thats the norm, but if you talk to a lot of people who live in these countries (not the ones with an axe to grind on the media), you will find that most of them like having socialized medicine, and want changes to it, but not the privitization of healthcare. I have a british aquaintance who finds the hysteria over "obamacare" hillarious because he views our system as barbaric and uncivillized - he thinks we need to catch up with the rest of the first world countries.

 

[RunningRabbit]

Hm. Am I better off?

Nope. Not at all. Four years ago I had a full time job with benefits. Economic troubles had my former employer slashing jobs left and right. Ended up only being able to find seasonal work, since 400 people would apply for a single job in my town...full-tiime, part-time, it doesn't really matter anymore, as long as someone has a job. Past two years, I got a better education and my CDL B. Have all the endorsements, save for hazmat, but am still having a sad time trying to find employment. Down to one vehicle too, since a 16 year old girl plowed into my work car. Complete loss. Which left me with the one that has trans. problems and is on its last leg. Darn thing can barely push forty without the tranny acting up.

Currently on assistance, trying to keep afloat. Hoping my investment into button quail will help ease the financial strain. I have the room, I got the time, and local parents are interested in them for their kids 4-H projects. I am waiting to hear back from a possible job offer, though. So maybe by the end of this week, I can say that my life is on the right path to being okay.

Silver lining! These past few years have taught me how to go back to basics. My food comes from a garden, my eggs will come from the chickens I'm going to start on after my buttons are hatched, and I have a grandpa with an arsenal of rifles, bows, and muzzle loaders that can help put meat on the table. I got an indoor garden started as well. So fresh veggies all year round for me!
Plus, I can say I now know how to hold on to money and get by without breaking my wallet.