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Post by robert on Aug 8, 2015 12:52:55 GMT
Did anyone catch them? And, what were your thoughts on them? I found them appalling on many levels. Some parts were entertaining, but I couldn't take any of it seriously.
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Post by jayme on Aug 8, 2015 13:10:50 GMT
I don't have cable, so I couldn't watch it. I've seen a couple of excerpts on fb of a brain surgeon making a pretty accurate Washington joke, and Trump being horrible. That's about it.
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Post by robert on Aug 8, 2015 13:16:39 GMT
Well those are the highlights...Trump was a mess...Ben Carson came off as squeamish but accurate (though I disagree with his tax policies).
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Post by Kye on Aug 8, 2015 13:55:10 GMT
American politics always seems like bread and circuses to me. Not that Canadian politics aren't heading in the same direction...
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Post by JoeP on Aug 8, 2015 14:21:42 GMT
I hear that Trump made a remark about the interviewer probably being on her period. And he's been disinvited from a conservative event as a result.
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Post by Moose on Aug 8, 2015 15:11:58 GMT
Does anyone take Trump seriously as a viable candidate? Surely not? I mean, wouldn't that just finish the GOP entirely? Man makes Palin seems sophisticated.
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Post by juju on Aug 8, 2015 18:17:23 GMT
Trump is great! Trump for Republican candidate! Wouldn't that ensure they didn't get in?
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Post by jayme on Aug 8, 2015 19:37:24 GMT
Actually, what we need is for Trump to lose in the primaries. Then he will run as a third party candidate (he has already said he will do this if he loses) and split the republican vote.
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Post by tangent on Aug 8, 2015 20:07:01 GMT
This farce just gets better and better. Long live American politics, so much better than the boring UK
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Post by robert on Aug 9, 2015 0:42:32 GMT
Actually, what we need is for Trump to lose in the primaries. Then he will run as a third party candidate (he has already said he will do this if he loses) and split the republican vote. Good chance this may happen. I can't see the GOP nominating him, even if he is leading in the polls. I am a Sanders supporter by the way.
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Post by robert on Aug 9, 2015 0:43:08 GMT
This farce just gets better and better. Long live American politics, so much better than the boring UK Is it boring there? Maybe to us this is boring and yours is more exciting.
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Post by juju on Aug 9, 2015 8:41:29 GMT
I think the Labour leadership contest is getting quite exciting.
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Post by robert on Aug 9, 2015 13:43:25 GMT
I think the Labour leadership contest is getting quite exciting. Would like to see it unfold. I don't know a great deal about UK politics.
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Post by jayme on Aug 9, 2015 15:03:49 GMT
Actually, what we need is for Trump to lose in the primaries. Then he will run as a third party candidate (he has already said he will do this if he loses) and split the republican vote. Good chance this may happen. I can't see the GOP nominating him, even if he is leading in the polls. I am a Sanders supporter by the way. e/m Me, too. Go Bernie! I actually re-registered to vote online yesterday so that I'll be able to vote for Bernie in the democratic primary. Before that, I was registered to vote, but not with a particular party.
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Post by Moose on Aug 9, 2015 22:26:44 GMT
I seem to be hearing a lot about him lately - mostly on facebook. Is he likely to get the ticket? What about Hilary? Having waited all this time I bet she'd be right pissed off to miss out
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Post by jayme on Aug 9, 2015 23:17:21 GMT
I hope he gets the ticket. He is like the voice of reason amidst all of the crazy. He doesn't have the baggage that Hilary has, but he also doesn't have anything like Hilary's money machine backing him. I think the only other thing that might hurt him is that he's socialist, and there are still way too many idiots out there that think socialism is communism. Also, he doesn't have the slick, tv coached image that people are used to seeing in a candidate. (Personally, I think his Einstein hair is dreamy...)
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Post by Moose on Aug 10, 2015 0:01:47 GMT
Americans - sorry some Americans - do seem to have a weird horror of the word 'socialism.' I guess it stems back to the fifties but it's never entirely gone away and you're right, that might hurt him. Interestingly, a socialist candidate is gaining support for the Labour party leadership here in the UK as well right now.
(run for your lives! the end of the world is come!)
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Post by jayme on Aug 10, 2015 1:32:35 GMT
I blame the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
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Post by robert on Aug 10, 2015 3:07:52 GMT
I blame the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I blame Budweiser...
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Post by robert on Aug 10, 2015 3:08:44 GMT
Americans - sorry some Americans - do seem to have a weird horror of the word 'socialism.' I guess it stems back to the fifties but it's never entirely gone away and you're right, that might hurt him. Interestingly, a socialist candidate is gaining support for the Labour party leadership here in the UK as well right now. (run for your lives! the end of the world is come!) The funny thing is, we are socialist in many respects. All public works are a form of socialism...ha
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Post by tangent on Aug 10, 2015 13:40:42 GMT
Your government builds roads, bridges, railways, airports and tunnels. You run state schools, you have a pension scheme and you have Medicare and Medicaid. (Incidentally, the US spends more on Medicare and Medicaid per total head of population that the UK does on the NHS.) So maybe the US is more socialist than the UK.
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Post by Sarah W. on Aug 10, 2015 16:13:00 GMT
Can you give me a source for that, Steve? I'm not doubting you - I want to read more about it. I'm becoming increasingly envious of the NHS and wishing we had that here, though I don't know if our largeness and spread-out-ed-ness would make it impossible.
I didn't watch the GOP debate. I haven't seen a candidate I really like yet in any party, though Sanders probably comes the closest.
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Post by tangent on Aug 10, 2015 21:52:50 GMT
As far as I can tell, the following sources are comparable: "NHS net expenditure [in England and Wales] has increased from £64.173 billion in 2003/04 to £113.300bn in 2014/15." (source)
"Medicare spending grew 3.4% to $585.7 billion in 2013, or 20 percent of total NHE. Medicaid spending grew 6.1% to $449.4 billion in 2013, or 15 percent of total NHE." (source) Therefore: UK government spending on NHS in 2014/2015 = £113.3 billion = $3157 per person (equivalent)
US government spending on Medicare and Medicaid in 2013 = $1,034 trillion = $3242 per person (likely to be $3394 per person in 2014 based on current trends) I'm becoming increasingly envious of the NHS and wishing we had that here, though I don't know if our largeness and spread-out-ed-ness would make it impossible. Each European country has its own health service but to some extent they share resources. During the epidemic of swine flu, the NHS shipped a handful of patients to Norway because we didn't have sufficient equipment (more accurately, they were flown by helicopter). Moreover, I could choose to have a consultation or an operation in Slovakia and the NHS would pay for it. Slovakia would charge me for the service and I would reclaim the money from the NHS. I guess the US could operate state-wide health services on a similar basis.
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Post by jayme on Aug 10, 2015 22:56:18 GMT
All we would have to do is expand Medicaid to everyone, and we could afford this by raising taxes. We can easily afford to pay those taxes because of the money we'll save by not paying insurance premiums. Insurance companies aren't charities; they exist to make a profit, after all.
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Post by tangent on Aug 10, 2015 22:58:37 GMT
Does Medicaid provide the same quality of service that insurance companies provide?
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Post by robert on Aug 11, 2015 1:50:04 GMT
Can you give me a source for that, Steve? I'm not doubting you - I want to read more about it. I'm becoming increasingly envious of the NHS and wishing we had that here, though I don't know if our largeness and spread-out-ed-ness would make it impossible. I didn't watch the GOP debate. I haven't seen a candidate I really like yet in any party, though Sanders probably comes the closest. I am a HUGE Sanders' supporter...
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Post by robert on Aug 11, 2015 1:50:56 GMT
As far as I can tell, the following sources are comparable: "NHS net expenditure [in England and Wales] has increased from £64.173 billion in 2003/04 to £113.300bn in 2014/15." (source)
"Medicare spending grew 3.4% to $585.7 billion in 2013, or 20 percent of total NHE. Medicaid spending grew 6.1% to $449.4 billion in 2013, or 15 percent of total NHE." (source) Therefore: UK government spending on NHS in 2014/2015 = £113.3 billion = $3157 per person (equivalent)
US government spending on Medicare and Medicaid in 2013 = $1,034 trillion = $3242 per person (likely to be $3394 per person in 2014 based on current trends) I'm becoming increasingly envious of the NHS and wishing we had that here, though I don't know if our largeness and spread-out-ed-ness would make it impossible. Each European country has its own health service but to some extent they share resources. During the epidemic of swine flu, the NHS shipped a handful of patients to Norway because we didn't have sufficient equipment (more accurately, they were flown by helicopter). Moreover, I could choose to have a consultation or an operation in Slovakia and the NHS would pay for it. Slovakia would charge me for the service and I would reclaim the money from the NHS. I guess the US could operate state-wide health services on a similar basis. Why is it that we in the US spend more on healthcare than other countries?
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Post by robert on Aug 11, 2015 1:51:59 GMT
Does Medicaid provide the same quality of service that insurance companies provide? Depends on the insurance company. If you can afford a really good plan, you get better care.
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Post by tangent on Aug 11, 2015 17:54:33 GMT
Why is it that we in the US spend more on healthcare than other countries? You tell me. Some would say, because it's run for profit but I think structural organisation has more to do with it.
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Post by robert on Aug 12, 2015 12:24:39 GMT
Do you mean structured around making profit?
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