Observations from the couch on the GEC

With a remote in one hand and a mouse in the other coupled with the dexterity required to manipulate such devices one may; just may that is, be able to get something of a balanced diet of partisan reporting. Fox will occasionally take a swipe at the hand that feeds it but to counter this they produce a man like Glenn Beck who claims that because the word ‘social’ appears in the term ‘social healthcare’ then that’s socialism; a mere step away from communism.[1] Glenn Beck needs to remember that when we spend time with friends it’s called socialising with the emphasis on social. Ronald Reagan used exactly the same tactics in the fifties but why?[2] A healthy population really isn’t a threat to national security or a substantial drain on the public purse; in fact a healthy population actually benefits a society in productivity and avoiding self induced diseases. America spends more public money on health care than any other developed country but remain the unhealthiest.[3] A profit driven and largely unregulated healthcare system is just like any other ‘free market’ industry; they provide what the market demands to maximise profit and to do anything less is unethical and fails to properly represent its shareholders. But some industries need to be treated in a manner befitting its status and national interest.

It is reasonable and responsible to accept that certain industries and services need to be socialised and non-democratic, the military is perhaps the best example of this; it needs to be based on socialist principals otherwise discipline and the ability to give and take orders is impossible. Our education system needs to be run by the state for equity and universal outcomes; not forgetting it’s a human right just like healthcare. There is the police and allied emergency services, the good folk who look after national treasures from forests to museums and basic infrastructure like public roads, libraries and other cultural and critical services too numerous to mention. So why are the Americans afraid of ‘universal health care’? The simple explanation is money and funding being channelled in both directions. Why spend public money on a cure for polio or tuberculosis; it’s no longer a problem in the developed world but we seem to find treating impotency and developing a pill to lose weight more important than helping those less fortunate.

The rest of the developed world realises the importance of certain socialised industries funded by the public purse and fortunately so does America with the exception of healthcare which can be likened to cherry picking and while demand remains solid for Viagra, America will continue to be bullied by various multinationals. It is fair to say that the developed world got that way because of a ‘free market economy’ and for the most part the wealth has been unevenly distributed and carefully guarded but there is room for the occasional entrepreneur who dreams up ideas like Virgin, Microsoft, Google, eBay and Amazon; which for the most part operate in a volatile market that is speculative and intangible but they have some values.

A final thought; the only truth that came out of the ‘Global Economic Crisis’ is that for a ‘Free Market Capitalist Economy’ to survive and continue, totally relies on a ‘Socialist Framework’! In every country affected it is the tax payer who is funding the recovery from the corner store to multinational organisations like ‘Citi Bank’.

Rusty
(Russell Blore)
[1] Glenn Beck, Fox News.
[2] Michael Moore, Sicko.
[3] World Book, cia.org.