09-01-2018, 11:45 AM
Lemon Drop wrote:
Medicare is in some ways a "socialist" program in that it is government -run; we all pay taxes to support a program that supports everyone over the age of 65 (rich and poor alike) and you can't "opt out" of paying for it. Where it differs is that the providers of the healthcare services do not work for the government, they are private, but they are reimbursed by the gov't at rates the gov't determines. So we have a socialized payment system operating within a free market system.
A more "socialist" system is Social Security. The capitalist version is the 401K.
Quite correct.
One of the few times I agree with Lemon, that is what happens when she comments on a subjects she understands...
cbelt3 wrote:
"A government exists to provide goods and services to its citizens"...
Talk about getting something 180 degrees wrong.
A primary function of a government is to protect its citizens, to provide them a system of justice, infrastructure, coinage. I may have missed something , but that it is it for the reason people agree to be governed.
Then we decide how we want to produce the goods and services we need, anywhere from purely by private means, to a dull government control of means of production, but that is not the reason of government existence.. I do not need a government to buy a loaf of bread or a pair of shoes...