Oy vey, if only Parliament had listened to William Pitt, oy vey!

Oi vey! (polish decent, many of us spell it oi)

The Declaration of Independence was signed by representatives from the colony governments. Not the people directly. But we are just having arguments that Americans have had a bunch of times and now just argue degree. I like guns. I'm allowed to have one now, so that makes it pretty hard to take it away later.

No kidding. I don't have any insurance and my doctor sees me... and he's an expensive ass doctor. I don't even have Medicade or anything.

It's not about seeing you for a check up. It's like receiving cancer treatments (which cost tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars) but no one will treat you because it's not an emergency and when it becomes one, it's too late to treat it.

Yes.  Our healthcare system is too focused on cost rather than actual treatment.  In the best healthcare systems in the world, like France, you get treatment when you need it regardless of if you can pay for it.  Doctors are even rewarded if there patients do better on average than other doctors patients, whereas here doctors are discouraged from taking patients that can't pay.

And in actuality the average person does not need as much medical treatment in a country like France.  You know why?  Because their conditions and problems are treated BEFORE they become an emergency and when they are a lot easier to treat.

Its like the difference between paying $20 to put a lock on your door versus having to pay $2000 to replace the stuff someone stole out of your house.  Prevention in medicine makes a huge difference, but our current healthcare system discourages people from going to the doctor.

And not only that, if you ARE diagnosed with something, then your healthcare provider can drop you because they don't want to pay for your condition.  This gives people EVEN LESS incentive to go to the doctor for small problems that will eventually turn into big problems because they are worried their insurance company might drop them.

The healthcare system in America is awful in terms of its priorities, and insurance companies only make the system worse.

An ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure. One might think that the current fiscal crisis would cause people to remember that.

Too Long, Didn't Read.

I think a consumption tax (i.e. a national sales tax and no income tax) would be a great way to go, since richer people buy more stuff, thus pay more taxes.

I would leave some things the way they are (i.e. groceries are not taxed), but most other things, such as ipods or most "non essential things" should be taxed.

There are a couple issues I see:

1) States will stil need to get money somehow and I don't know if people would want to get a national sales tax + a state sales tax.

2) Where does the tax start? Raw Materials? If you were a car maker, would you get taxed on the steel that you buy to make the cars? And the rubber for the tires? and the glass for the windows? And then would the consumer get taxed AGAIN when they buy the car? There's a large potential for stuff getting double/triple/multi taxed before it reaches the consumer level.

Rich people may purchase more in real terms, but people who earn less spend a greater portion of their income on consumer goods. It would be regressive. You could include a rebate to mitigate this, but I am unsure if that would be the best course of action.

true, it would be regressive, but as it is even now, things like groceries and other "needs" aren't taxed.

Our income tax as it is now is also really complicated and lots of rich people tend to get out of it by writing off oodles of deductions anyways.

While I agree with this for the most part, I think there are better ways to deal with it then socialized medicine. Regulations for one.

I want my country to protect me, not take care of me.