Drlee wrote:Actually the evidence disagrees with you. Many of the happiest nations in the world are more socialist than we in the US are. Please note though that if we did away with all of our "socialist" programs, like Medicare, Social Security, unemployment insurance and state subsidized schools, this country would be a miserable place to live.
Keynes was not a socialist. State conscription of consumers is not socialism, if it were then the Kingdom of Prussia was socialist, fascism is socialism and the US gov is socialist. Sorry but socialism is a goofy religion set up to enslave everyone to the state and not just for national security purposes but just for the stupid sake of it because of a particular belief system with particular goofy beliefs.
The value of a government filtered offering is as variable as any civilian offering. State pensions generally offer a very poor return compared with private pensions for example. National Healthcare tends to be cheaper because the government can stamp down on the wages of health practitioners the way a civilian organisation can't but tend to be lower quality particularly in terms of waiting times.
Prices adjust anyway so for example single payer healthcare doesn't narrow the gap between rich and poor because if a poor person knows someone else is paying for his healthcare then he doesn't factor that into his pay demand for his work and he is happy with less. If the rich person knows he must pay a great deal of tax, he will demand and get more money to cover that extra expense.
A simplified example of price adjustment: Say healthcare costs $5k per person per annum for an average provision. In a fully private healthcare system a janitor will expect to get $15k because he knows he must pay $5k for his health and he needs $10k for his other needs, the computer programmer on the other hand expects to get $50k because of the value of his work. On switching to a fully government filtered provision on the single payer model now the janitor only needs $10k so his wage demand will tend to drift to that level while the programmer wants an extra $5k to cover the extra tax he must pay towards the janitor's health provision... In real terms the janitor is still taking $15k and the programmer is still taking $50k only it now looks like the janitor is getting $10k and the programmer is getting $55k.
There is no material benefit for civilians in government filtered provision over non-government or private provision, such things exist for the benefit of the government as way to ensure dependence and loyalty amongst their subjects.