According to this New York Times editorial, if the United States elects to pursue universal health care, costs to be the public could rise above $1 trillion over ten years. That's a lot of money, yes. But I don't hear any balanced-budget hand-wringing about the war in Iraq, which will have cost taxpayers $694 billion dollars since its launch in late 2001.
No one starts talking about politically unpalatable tax hikes to pay for our extremely expensive, unpopular military projects. Should we tax soda to pay for the war? Do we really have to roll back those tax cuts for the rich? Will the Republicans get cranky?
Nope. No one in the mainstream media is balking at the high financial cost of war. It's the status quo -- the cost of doing business in this time and place. Yet universal health care, which ought to be one of the first expenses accounted for in a national budget, is treated like a newfangled burden on our nation. An endless political headache.
War funding is often rammed through by a prevailing sense of fear for our national security. Sadly enough, given how many people have died or had their lives destroyed by the private insurance system, health care funding could sail through on a tide of similar feelings. But few people seem ready to acknowledge just how horrible the private system has become. I wonder why.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
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2 comments:
I was reading one of Emma Goldman's writings recently, in which she talked about how much money was being spent on the military and mostly for the higher ranks. Sad to see that nothing has really changed in 100 years.
Great blog and great post. I have been visiting for awhile, and finally decided to say hello.
Anyway, the situation in which you write just drives me crazy also. The sky is gonna fall if we spend money on health care, meanwhile we waste tons of money on war. Can't people see how absurd this is?
I was just at a righty's blog and they were whining about how health care rationing is coming to America. Where the hell have these people been? F*&*%$ idiots!
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