Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States.

[DimesDan]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

The British pay less for prescription drugs per unit than Americans. When you're a big buying group you can negotiate a lower price. Higher drug prices is what Americans get for not having socialized medicine.

What has that got to do with what I just said or what T'Girl asked.

Don't you pay for your prescriptions indirectly through your taxes?

The unemployed don't. Which is the point. Everyone is protected (by everyone else).

And it is bloody brilliant.

 

[JWPlatt]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

As if America could fight three wars simultaneously.

As if that would be an achievement.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

No thanks, I rather like the fact I don't need to worry about paying for my prescription.

Don't you pay for your prescriptions indirectly through your taxes?

But we pay through the nose for health insurance. Then have to pay again when we go to the doctor or get a prescription.

Pretty sure, even with higher taxes, the socialized medicine people come out better, financially.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

The British pay less for prescription drugs per unit than Americans. When you're a big buying group you can negotiate a lower price. Higher drug prices is what Americans get for not having socialized medicine.

What has that got to do with what I just said or what T'Girl asked.

I thought it was obvious, but OK I'll spell it out.

No thanks, I rather like the fact I don't need to worry about paying for my prescription.

Don't you pay for your prescriptions indirectly through your taxes?

She's evidently saying by way of a rhetorical question that you're paying for your medicine anyway, suggesting that there is no net advantage to single payer. I was just making sure that the point gets made, au contraire, there is most definitely a net advantage to single payer when it comes to paying for drugs. And supplement that with what BillJ just said and with what hux said too.

 

[DimesDan]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

The British pay less for prescription drugs per unit than Americans. When you're a big buying group you can negotiate a lower price. Higher drug prices is what Americans get for not having socialized medicine.

What has that got to do with what I just said or what T'Girl asked.

I thought it was obvious, but OK I'll spell it out.

Well it wasn't I'm afraid.

No thanks, I rather like the fact I don't need to worry about paying for my prescription.

Don't you pay for your prescriptions indirectly through your taxes?

She's saying that you're paying for your medicine anyway, suggesting that there is no net advantage to single payer. I was just making sure that the point gets made, au contraire, there is most definitely a net advantage to single payer when it comes to paying for drugs. And supplement that with what BillJ just said.

She asked that we pay for medication through are taxation system, there is nothing there about single payer or a net advantage or not.

What you said now makes sense, thank you.

But to answer what T'girl asked, yes, the taxation system is used to add money to the welfare state including the NHS. That means, if you can't pay or like myself have a chronic life long condition, you shouldn't need to pay "at the point you receive it" and worry being able to afford medication when you are unwell or having a massive medical bill when a stay in hosptial is needed.

 

[Mudd]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Canada, Mexico and Cuba would make some sense.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

There's been a lot of talk about a 'North American Union' which would supposedly consist of the USA, Canada and Mexico. But that's just paranoid conspiracy stuff, spouted by the likes of Hal Turner. None of those three countries - yes, not even the US - actually WANTS an NAU, and I wouldn't want it either.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

There's been a lot of talk about a 'North American Union' which would supposedly consist of the USA, Canada and Mexico. But that's just paranoid conspiracy stuff, spouted by the likes of Hal Turner. None of those three countries - yes, not even the US - actually WANTS an NAU, and I wouldn't want it either.

Speaking as somebody who lives in a supranational Union (the EU) I can't help but ask: Why not?

I'm not saying they should be part of the US. All three countries could be part of a supranational union.

 

[martok2112]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

I don't believe in the supernational.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Canada, Mexico and Cuba would make some sense.

I'm amused by the idea of making Spanish an official language.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

There's been a lot of talk about a 'North American Union' which would supposedly consist of the USA, Canada and Mexico. But that's just paranoid conspiracy stuff, spouted by the likes of Hal Turner. None of those three countries - yes, not even the US - actually WANTS an NAU, and I wouldn't want it either.

Speaking as somebody who lives in a supranational Union (the EU) I can't help but ask: Why not?

I'm not saying they should be part of the US. All three countries could be part of a supranational union.

Given what's happened to Greece, I can't see any group of nations in their right minds all wanting to form a supranational union patterned after the EU with the US. Greece maintained national sovereignty. However, they surrendered the ability to control their currency to serve their own national interest, and the way the Euro was valued worked against Greece national interest in the face of their shrinking economy and ballooning debt. Right now, the EU is a case study in how not to run a supranational union, especially if the goal is to combine disparate economies for the greater good. The idea of a greater good should be based on the proposition of win/win, not win/lose. Just sayin'.

Canada, Mexico and Cuba would make some sense.

I'm amused by the idea of making Spanish an official language.

It would be especially hilarious since English isn't one.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Given what's happened to Greece, I can't see any group of nations in their right minds all wanting to form a supranational union patterned after the EU with the US. Greece maintained national sovereignty. However, they surrendered the ability to control their currency to serve their own national interest, and the way the Euro was valued worked against Greece national interest in the face of their shrinking economy and ballooning debt. Right now, the EU is a case study in how not to run a supranational union, especially if the goal is to combine disparate economies for the greater good. The idea of a greater good should be based on the proposition of win/win, not win/lose. Just sayin'.

Sorry, but reducing the EU to what happened with Greece is pretty asinine.
It has brought Europe freedom of movement (work and live in other EU countries, no border controls), economic growth, peace and integration for decades. In a continent that kept trying its best to destroy itself for ages. There's been cooperation in just about every policy field.

The EU's goal also isn't just "to combine disparate economies for a greater good". Even taking into account the fact that European integration has done the European economies a whole lot of good for decades it's pretty ridiculous to reduce the scope of European integration to economic matters.

The EU has been a wonderful example of win/win for decades. Does it also have problems? Sure.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

There's been a lot of talk about a 'North American Union' which would supposedly consist of the USA, Canada and Mexico. But that's just paranoid conspiracy stuff, spouted by the likes of Hal Turner. None of those three countries - yes, not even the US - actually WANTS an NAU, and I wouldn't want it either.

Speaking as somebody who lives in a supranational Union (the EU) I can't help but ask: Why not?

I'm not saying they should be part of the US. All three countries could be part of a supranational union.

Given what's happened to Greece, I can't see any group of nations in their right minds all wanting to form a supranational union patterned after the EU with the US. Greece maintained national sovereignty. However, they surrendered the ability to control their currency to serve their own national interest, and the way the Euro was valued worked against Greece national interest in the face of their shrinking economy and ballooning debt. Right now, the EU is a case study in how not to run a supranational union, especially if the goal is to combine disparate economies for the greater good. The idea of a greater good should be based on the proposition of win/win, not win/lose. Just sayin'.

Emilia already covered the European aspect of this, but I have to say this is a really lazy argument. You could more easily make a case for the dissolution of the US if we just want to cherry-pick single bad incidents. Hell, the Civil War killed over half a million people and we're still dealing with a lot of the ideological fallout from it. Seems like the American experiment is a big fat failure and we should just dissolve the Union, huh? Clearly we can't handle running this disparate collection of states.

 

[stardream]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

There's been a lot of talk about a 'North American Union' which would supposedly consist of the USA, Canada and Mexico. But that's just paranoid conspiracy stuff, spouted by the likes of Hal Turner. None of those three countries - yes, not even the US - actually WANTS an NAU, and I wouldn't want it either.

There were those who believed that Manifest Destiny should include all of the Western Hemisphere.

We couldn't have a SuperUnion. We'd get bogged down arguing over the color of the money...and how to spell things.

Although I could get on board with becoming an official bi-lingual country (which we are in everything but name anyway) and would Canada become 'tri-lingual'?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

I've had some ridiculous questions about the nonexistantness of a name for the Union which should be more accurately listed as the United State collectively bound on the Continent of North America as well as the State of Hawaii which is not resting on the continent of North America too.

Honestly, shouldn't the US be called the United States of North America and Polynesia?

Point being is that as more noob States who join up with the core group who are not situated on one of two continents daring to refer to themselves as America, who can they continue to think of themselves as living on a continent that they are not living on just because they belong to a political entity that was founded on the continent of North America.

What is the Tipping point?

How many States delocalized from the continent of North America have to belong to the Republic before collectively they the people can no longer faithfully refer to their total homeland as "America" or "'Merica, Hell yeah!"?

Canada could start calling itself The Country Canada of America, or Mexico could start calling itself the Country Mexico of America if the United States of America did make linguistic sense.

I only started thinking like this wondering if Countries not in Europe, maybe Kenya would try to join the EU... Oh. In the NFL Teams trade players. Imagine if the US, the EU, the EAC, the ACPG, the UoSAN and others, traded under performing countries between each other like NFL Team managers horsetrade players?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Given what's happened to Greece, I can't see any group of nations in their right minds all wanting to form a supranational union patterned after the EU with the US. Greece maintained national sovereignty. However, they surrendered the ability to control their currency to serve their own national interest, and the way the Euro was valued worked against Greece national interest in the face of their shrinking economy and ballooning debt. Right now, the EU is a case study in how not to run a supranational union, especially if the goal is to combine disparate economies for the greater good. The idea of a greater good should be based on the proposition of win/win, not win/lose. Just sayin'.

Sorry, but reducing the EU to what happened with Greece is pretty asinine.
It has brought Europe freedom of movement (work and live in other EU countries, no border controls), economic growth, peace and integration for decades. In a continent that kept trying its best to destroy itself for ages. There's been cooperation in just about every policy field.

Your "just sayin'" doesn't make your post look any less stupid. The EU's goal also isn't just "to combine disparate economies for a greater good". Even taking into account the fact that European integration has done the European economies a whole lot of good for decades it's pretty ridiculous to reduce the scope of European integration to economic matters.

Meh.

It's not about reducing what happened to the EU to what happened (sorry, is happening) to Greece.

It's about putting the decision to an individual sovereign nation about whether it wants to take the risk to have its economy gutted if the economies of other countries in the union create conditions unfavorable to it that it's surrendered power to rectify by joining the union.

Anyone joining with the US would realize that, as the little guy, they'd be most likely to get the downside of any economic arrangement. So, why should they enter into the agreement in the first place?

If the countries over here did make a hypothetical union of sovereign nations of some kind with open borders, I can't see any of the countries surrendering their currencies.

Emilia already covered the European aspect of this, but I have to say this is a really lazy argument. You could more easily make a case for the dissolution of the US if we just want to cherry-pick single bad incidents. Hell, the Civil War killed over half a million people and we're still dealing with a lot of the ideological fallout from it. Seems like the American experiment is a big fat failure and we should just dissolve the Union, huh? Clearly we can't handle running this disparate collection of states.

That's a non sequitur.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Surely, logically the States created after the conclusion of the Civil War should be alien to the troubles that started the Civil War.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Emilia already covered the European aspect of this, but I have to say this is a really lazy argument. You could more easily make a case for the dissolution of the US if we just want to cherry-pick single bad incidents. Hell, the Civil War killed over half a million people and we're still dealing with a lot of the ideological fallout from it. Seems like the American experiment is a big fat failure and we should just dissolve the Union, huh? Clearly we can't handle running this disparate collection of states.

That's a non sequitur.

Not at all. You cherry-picked a single crisis as evidence that the EU project is a failure (or at least an experiment no one should replicate.)

Based on the US' past and present troubles, evidently a federalized country composed of many disparate states is a failure, too. No one else should do that. Federalism is a failure.

It's exactly the same argument and it's nonsense.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

The US consistently survives Florida being Florida.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: Name 3 countries you'd consider inviting to join the United States

Yeah, I didn't say that the EU was a failure. That's taking what I wrote too far.

Thinking about this, one thing that we would need, in my opinion to make a supranational union of any kind feasible in North America, would be for people to think of everyone in the union as Americans. Right now, a lot of people think in terms of us versus them. It wouldn't do to have an economic and/or political union and not have people feel united as a common people, and trying to form a union before the people had the feeling of being a common people wouldn't be getting off on the best foot.