Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Find The Error!

Michael Moore speaks about his new movie, Sicko. Can you spot the error?

Concerning health care in foreign countries Moore remarked recently, “It was depressing because, as Americans, we kept thinking: we come from the richest country on earth, so why don’t we have free health care, too?”

17 comments:

Francois Tremblay said...

Nothing is free. (^___^)

Aaron Kinney said...

Not even free healthcare?!?!?!?!?!

Francois Tremblay said...

Nope! TANSTAAFL

jomama said...

The gun in the room is rarely
mentioned let alone who will cough
up now
.

Anonymous said...

If it is affordable, health care should be free. There are no errors here.

Anonymous said...

I've just clicked on 'Contributing Seditionists/Aaron Kinney', and it says there that you work for the government! You hypocrite!!!

Aaron Kinney said...

Anonymous,

You are misinformed. I work for a private insurance company.

I put "Government" as my occupation in my blogger profile sarcastically.

Aaron Kinney said...

On further reflection, I should probably change that. It seems that some people might take my occupation listing literally.

Aaron Kinney said...

Re: Anonymous July 1, 6:27pm,

If it is affordable, health care should be free. There are no errors here.

First off, Francois Tremblay noted in the first comment that nothing is free.

Secondly, "affordable" does not mean free. For example, the $5 copay in my dental plan is affordable, but it is not free.

Third, even if one does not pay directly for health care services upon their obtaining them, these services must be paid for by someone.

Since universal healthcare involves taxing the public to finance it, then everyone would indeed be paying for it, even if they dont pay anything directly for a hospital visit.

On the other hand, even IF the medical workers and companies did everything "free of charge" for the customers, it would still not be "free." In this scenario, it would be paid for by the medical workers and companies themselves, albeit mostly in the form of time and effort.

All goods or services rendered must be paid for somehow, by someone. Provide any example of a good or service given and I will tell you how it was paid for. Theres no such thing as a free lunch.

Anonymous said...

Nothing is free? Not even the air we breathe? That's depressing. I meant 'affordable' by society as a whole, but I understand your points.
I think that what Michael Moore meant was that some of the tax that goes into the government coffers should be used to pay for health care so that ordinary people, who can't afford private cover, will be covered.

Aaron Kinney said...

Anonymous,

Nothing is free? Not even the air we breathe? That's depressing.

Air isnt free - you have to spend energy to breathe it. I dunno if its depressing though. You appreciate shit more when you have to work for it.

I meant 'affordable' by society as a whole, but I understand your points.

Thank you. Wouldnt healthcare be more affordable if providers had to compete for their customers?

I think that what Michael Moore meant was that some of the tax that goes into the government coffers should be used to pay for health care so that ordinary people, who can't afford private cover, will be covered.

Michael Moore knows that, to be sure. But he doesnt really mean it. He is oversimplifying, and somewhat deliberately in my opinion.

Moore has a good heart and he means well, but his solution is not a solution at all. He is irrationally distrustful of free markets because the protectionism in the labor pool in his hometown of Flint made it unable to compete globally, so everyone got unemployed (they were all manufacturing jobs).

Anonymous said...

The answer is: You are the richest country in the world because you don't have this kind of things that require to work to get them, for free.
Also you have high quality helth services because is not free.
What does "free" means if we know that nothing is really free? It means that someone is going to make effort with not retribution. It means slavery again in any or several parts of the process of producing it, something this guy would find so romantic.

Aaron Kinney said...

Jose Benegas,

While your grammer takes a bit of deciphering, I think your point is clear, and I certainly agree with it.

Free stuff is an illusion and it forces others to pay for it: a kind of slavery to a romanticized ideal that simply doesnt exist in real life.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry about my grammer, I speak spanish as first language.

Aaron Kinney said...

No problem Jose. Lord knows Ive made plenty of grammar mistakes in my own blog posts and comments.

But yea, I still knew what you meant :)

Anonymous said...

Great, thanks! I accept FREE english lessons (I am learning from Moore :) )

Anonymous said...

You people are idiots and egomaniacs. The error is that America is NOT the richest country in the world. Luxembourg is. We are number nine on the GDP list.