THE recent health care/insurance discussion---for it is not (yet) a debate---has raised a number of at least potentially interesting issues. One is the concept of “for profit.” It is usually expressed this way. “Europeans (and other evolutionary advanced species) find it shocking that we Americans allow doctors to make a profit from the suffering and misfortune of others. For example, they actually charge someone to set a broken arm.” After all this is a matter of life and death, or even life or death, is it not? How dare we allow the vulgar desire for money to enter into such spiritual matters? Have we no shame?
At first this sounds, if not convincing, then at least something to be analyzed and considered. Allow me to analyze it, indirectly. What (else) does a human need to be alive? Clearly he needs food. So why, in the name of Karl Marx, do we allow farmers and food merchants to make a living over this? So food is a legal right in Holland. And as people need to get to supermarkets, why is the transportation to get there left to immoral exploiters who want to make a profit from needs of others? Cab rides to the Shop Rite should be free, and mandated by law. Certainly they are in France, as we all know.
And people, in order to be healthy, need social interaction. Why should they have to pay for dogs to cheer up them when they are depressed? Dogs should be free, as they are in England, of course. And dog food is freely given by the government in Norway, as we all know. We all need clothes, don’t we? What kind of national disgrace are we allowing by permitting filthy capitalists to profit from our dire needs? Surely the Swedes are disgusted with us, because warm clothing is free to all citizens in that society, right?
And what about shoes? What about soap? What about vacations, so that we can relax mentally, as this is part of health too, is it not? It is no wonder the Germans laugh at us, because there everyone gets paid to go to the Caribbean, twice a year.
The whole issue looks a bit different now, does it not? I thought that you might want to know, and I did not profit from it.
But I could profit from this, if you were to subscribe the A&E” where wise guy remarks like this are published every month. And a subscription is yours for only $30.
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