I woke up this morning and as I was waiting for the coffee to brew, I dialed up the Huffington Post and read the following headline:

Number of Americans lacking medical coverage now exceeds the population of Spain.

Ouch! How fucked up is that? It’s just so depressing. Why? How was it allowed to get this bad?

Yep, there are currently 59 million of us without healthcare here in thee greatest country on earth, whereas the EU insures 100% of its population, cradle to grave, by law, including dentistry! Every major industrialized economy in the world has universal health care… except for us. We’re the exception. I don’t think this is exactly the brand of “American exceptionalism” Sarah Palin is talking about all the time, but it’s sure the way it looks from where my ass is sitting.

What we’re getting in 2014—if the Republicans can’t repeal it in the meantime—is a step in the right direction, but it’s not great. What would have been great is a single payer system, but that would have also been too easy!

In Europe for their tax dollars, they get universal health coverage. We here in America get a bunch of weapons and give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires who don’t need ‘em. Why? Because Fox News said we should. Let’s face the cold and clammy facts: we’re a country of idiots, run by a class of amoral scoundrels and criminals.

Why there isn’t rioting in the streets over the turn for the (much) worse the quality of life has taken in America is a mystery. How is it possible that it’s gotten this bad without major social unrest? Beats me.

And then to make me even more depwessed, I read this article, “America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane: A look at our empire in decline through the eyes of the European media.”

Der Spiegel has run an interesting feature called “A Superpower in Decline,” which attempts to explain to a German audience such odd phenomena as the rise of the Tea Party, without the hedging or attempts at “balance” found in mainstream U.S. media. On the Tea Parties:

Full of Hatred: “The Tea Party, that group of white, older voters who claim that they want their country back, is angry. Fox News host Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic who likens Obama to Adolf Hitler, is angry. Beck doesn’t quite know what he wants to be—maybe a politician, maybe president, maybe a preacher—and he doesn’t know what he wants to do, either, or least he hasn’t come up with any specific ideas or plans. But he is full of hatred.”

The piece continues with the sobering assessment that America’s actual unemployment rate isn’t really 10 percent, but close to 20 percent when we factor in the number of people who have stopped looking for work.

Sound like a country you know? The thing I keep obsessing over is “How much longer can the “smarts” and the “dumbs” co-exist in America?” We really don’t want the same things, you know? Sooner or later something’s got to give and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Read more of America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane (Alternet)
 

 
Thank you Steven Otero!

I understand that these in your face camera ambushes can be skewed by looking for dunces to ask questions of, because naturally people who are smart and have things to do, don’t have time to stop and answer some random interviewer’s questions. I know I wouldn’t I hate being put upon while walking down the street for any reason.
BUT having said that, these are very simple general questions that any moron should know. It’s sad, shameful, extremely depressing and down right frightening!!! If this is a sampling of the average American then we are beyond help. YIKES!!(my favorite answer to a question: four, for how many sides does a triangle have? though one came in second).

Yeah. Its wild man, I can’t believe it. Before Sicko and before I was in a job where I rubbed shoulders with many people from the US, I simply assumed the US must have healthcare. I’m Australian. Over the last couple of years I’ve had some health issues… nothing huge, but you know, I’ve been to the doctor about 6 or 7 times beyond what I would usually, been to the dentist a couple of extra times. I’ve had my wisdom teeth out, I’ve had exploratory surgery in a private hospital, I’ve taken a few different drugs for a little while. How much did that all cost? $50 for the wisdom teeth through the public dental system (would have been $2000 privately done), $0 for the doctors appointments (through public, $60 a meeting if you go to a private doctor), maybe about $100-200 for about 8 month-long series of non-trivial medication and $0 for the exploratory surgery. I don’t have ‘health cover’ in the sense that I bought a ‘policy’, its just the health cover I get simply from my parents happening to have shagged, conceived and popped me out all within the geographic confines of Australia. Public healthcare has longer waiting lists and lower qualified and higher workload doctors. You can get ‘private’ health which sorta lets you jump queues in a sense and go to ‘private’ hospitals… but theres always the cheapass public route, which isn’t too bad really.

The US (Until about 4-5 years ago, now we are richer…. but of course we are the ‘lucky country’) was much richer than Australia, so I simply assumed you must have had public healthcare… I mean everyone else has it, and you guys have (had!) shitloads more cash! I don’t get it. You actually save money by keeping the populace healthy and productive, and having the resources somewhat centrally regulated and distributed…. For me, its a no-brainer. Everyone has health, no-one knows what quality health they are gonna have later on before they are born, so you all chuck in through your taxes equally, and if you cop a bit of the short straw healthwise at some point, you reasonably get a larger bite of the public health pie. Its not a pie most people would like a bite of, but its nice to know that its cooling off on the window-sill just in case.

Yeah—this was easy. Go to a Tea Party rally and ask the same questions.  Americans are being dumbed down on purpose, we know it.  As long as we can self-medicate and have big t-v’s and bling bling we’re good.

Why no rioting in the streets?  My view from up North is that most Americans have no idea what is going on.  Unabashed bias in the media and schools run by crackpots leave the vast majority in the dark.  Not that different really, from the Soviets, Mao’s China, or modern day North Korea.

I’m a recent expatriate from America.  I was born there and grew up there but I just couldn’t take the direction the country was going in anymore.  I agree with you that things are going to come to a head between the “dumbs” and the “smarts”.  I just worry that by then, the “smarts” will be so impoverished and powerless that they wont be able to do much.  Educated people often over-rationalize the behavior of fundamentalist lunatics until it is too late.

The collapse of America is pretty heartbreaking to watch especially if you grew up there and understand how far things have drifted from the founding fathers’ original intentions.

It is not stupidity that is delaying health care in the US, it is the force of millions if not billions waged against it.
The only way to deal with this is to deal with it on this level.
Forget about those who know no different, they are easily swayed to your side also.

I think half the problem is your ‘founding fathers’ ancestor worship cult. They did good in their time. Now its your turn to innovate, stop digging them back up.

woah @Fitz:  Definitely not part of any “founding fathers worship cult”.  I simply point out that the country has moved considerably far away from the enlightenment views that inspired it.  It’s a simple point.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how Americans who are unhappy with the direction the country is going can “innovate” their way into moving America in a better direction.

I just think a lot of the rhetoric in the US ends up back at the ‘constitution’ or the ‘founding fathers’... you know, like they knew about the internet or emancipation or what to do with it and planned in advance…. Nup, you’ve got to innovate and move with the times, and this backwards temporal language is equally as (in)valid as asking “What would Jesus do?”.

I think the first way for the US to innovate is to get rid of the electoral colleges and implement some kind of proportional voting so you can hold your elected members at least to some kind of minimal account. I think its basically that the US electoral system is screwed up. Theres no hope for a third party to get in, and hence no hope for any governmental reform. Once you’ve bribed both sides, your special interest is in like flynn. On the other hand with proportional voting, you can’t get these situations where you have senators in the senate for 60 years+!!! Its unheard of in any other democracy. Here in Australia we’ve had swings back and forth that would boggle the US voters mind, we currently have 14%+ green left socialist vote, and in the 90s we had a 10% far right anti-immigration component to our government, theres also about 1-2% for the philosophical equivalent of the nazi party. Then theres family first, a basically evangelical christian party… anti-gay, anti-everything thats any fun and they have 4% of the vote, a senator and a member of parliament. Theres nothing that sways a governments policy decisions like the fire thats burning their arse telling them they are gonna be voted out quick smart if they don’t do something.

So how should US people innovate? Modernise your electoral system so you can vote people out realistically rather than just looking at 3-4 swing states to determine the whole countries’ next 4 years. Your electoral system is not reflexive enough to keep up with the times. You’ll find that the European systems ARE, as are the Australian and British systems… but with the drawback that occasionally you have to deal with right-wing bastards every so often for 4 years…. but on that note…. Thatcher supported the British National Health Service as an inalienable citizens’ right, and she and Reagan were tied at the hip ideologically speaking. The right-wing isn’t so bad when they’ve got to keep their arse away from the fire.

Thats my take. MAJOR POINT : You (the US) aren’t capable of voting these fuckers out due to your electoral system, they know it, so they are basically ignoring you and feeding you rhetoric *shrug*

P.T. Barnum said it best.

I think the dumbification of the US is deliberate. The rich are systematically eliminating the middle class and a very efficient way to do this is by wrecking the education system. The wealthy have found a great way to do this, namely by feeding the superstitions of boneheaded xtians. “Global warming? It’s a good thing; rapture’s on its way!” Evolution? “Maybe YOUR grandmother was a monkey, but not mine!” It really ticks me off!

The right just loves to criticize the public education system because a a dumb, uninformed public is what it needs to survive. Teachers? “Overpaid.” Teachers’ unions? “Lesbian satanists.” Public education? “Socialist.” No prayer in school? “Atheistic and/or satanic.”

Not a week goes by without a news article lamenting the decline of American educational standards. And how do we combat this problem? By slashing the education budget, giving all that money to billionaires, and eliminating freedom of speech for teachers!

I don’t blame the rich for doing this. After all, it is in their (short term) best interests. But what about all those stupid, poor rednecks who like to strangle their own throats? I really wish they would eat even more McDonald’s fast food and die already.

ha, I agree with Mr Parfrey.

What was it that P.T. Barnum said?
If I am to use guesswork it’s often misquoted,even Derren Brown misquoted it when being interviewed by Richard Dawkins.
Is the quote even attributed to him.
Lazy journalism breeds lazy journalism.
Submit the word I see below:
school19

It’s spelled “the”, not “thee”. It may occasionally be pronounced “thee”, but it is still spelled “the”. “thee” is an archaic second person pronoun.

or an obscure garage rock reference

Canadian here. And I hate my Health care.

9 months to see a knee specialist.

And average of 5 - 8 hour waits in Emergency rooms.

Sorry my friends the truth hurts. I would look at Sewdish or the French system where a healthy combination of both Public and Private is utilized.

RE: Adam Parfrey (”<i>P.T. Barnum said it best.</i>”

Anton LaVey said, with the population explosion, it’s more like tenfold that now.

America has always been run by businesses and commerce, probably since its inception. With a brief period in the 1930’s, when the economic situation made the average person question the contract between people and government, we sort of embraced a system that somewhat resembled socialism.
But it also gave loads of economic stimulus to private corporations, who were expected to create jobs. Since that time there’s been a continuous chipping away from anything that resembles that system and there’s also been an ongoing and relentless war against anything that could help working people. Attacks on unions and organized labor, worker safety regulations, you name it.
And private corporations get record numbers every year in tax exemptions, which they used to have to prove that they created jobs, hired locally, adhered to terms, etc., but seldom are anymore.

European countries are older and have seen what a decaying empire looks like, what despotism looks like, etc. America seems to have been founded by relatively modern robber barons. Despite the cartoony image that was shoved down our throats in grade school about the founding fathers having these high-minded libertarian principles, it was all about tobacco farming entrepreneurs, fur trading, cotton growing, slave trading (with a side of indigenous genocide). In that regard, the fucktarded Fox News watching Republicans have it right when they belch ‘entrepreneur’ every other word. One of the final blows in the US, in my opinion, has been the recent supreme court ruling granting corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts in elections. To me, that’s the death blow of democracy in America. Sadly, few here know about it or even what it means.
For some reason, most European countries have been successful in putting the rights of ordinary people before (or at least closer to the top) the rights of corporations. We need to figure out a way to unite - at least ideologically - with people worldwide to throw off the shackles of corporate hegemony.
(goes out humming The Internationale….)

Love the commentary, but I dislike your continued mean-spirited use of pictures of obese people to make your point.

anthonyx, how lovely for you that you have healthcare to hate.

if you were in the u.s. without healthcare coverage, you simply wouldn’t see a specialist for your knee.  in fact, you wouldn’t see any doctor at all, unless your problem became so acute and un-ignorable that you ended up in the e.r., where you’d rack up bills in the tens of thousands of dollars, most of which would likely be passed on to the public through a localized system of funding for patients who can’t cover their medical costs (costs that would likely be avoided if people had access to care when health problems arose, rather than when a crisis point is reached.) 

if this came to pass, you’d be at an e.r. in a public hospital, maybe one associated with a university, where a 5-8 hour wait is something only to be dreamed of.  my last few visits to an e.r. in the united states have resulted in wait times between 12 and 20 hours. so you might understand why many americans are envious of your healthcare “troubles.”

its already over in the u.s. you know it and i know it. everything that was once good there has already disapeared. nobody noticed the money and jobs left until it was too late. all thats left is a greedy oligarchy that is going to wring out every last dime and leave youwith nothing but memories of the good ol’ days. just hope somebody can stop or reduce the militarism of the u.s. death spasms or we could end up with another 500 year dark age like when rome fell.

Wow AnthonyX, you truly are clueless about how good you have it. Count yourself as exceedingly lucky. Count me as jealous.

Ha.  They totally got me with the “country that starts with U”.

Uruguay? Uganda? Oh wait, I get it…

Another Canadian here, who thinks it’s sad that some people in this country are buying into the anti-healthcare propoganda that is puked up across our border.Is the Canadian health care system perfect? No. Can it use improvement? yes. So what? That doesn’t mean we want to go down the American road on this one.

My family of three pays $121/month for healthcare. I go to the doctor OF MY CHOICE whenever I want. No charge. I can request tests and get them. No charge. I had my child in a brilliant children’s hospital surrounded by experts. No charge. My brother needed an emergency stent. He was in the operating room within six hours of diagnosis in the emergency room. No charge. My mother-in-law has chronic abdominal problems due to an old car accident that flairs up once a year and lands her in the hospital. While she could be released in a day under normal circumstances, they usually let her stay a week to relieve the burdon of care from her 86 year old husband. No charge.

Yes, sometimes there are wait times above what anyone would think is reasonable, but not all the time by any stretch of the imagination.Most canadians know how important these hard fought healthcare battles were and are in this country and the majority DO support the system. They just want it to get better.

Isn’t that the way to go?

The majority keep lapping up the exceptionalism propaganda - yes the US is exceptional but not from a positive perspective. More like how you can have a really good thing going and totally stuff it up.

I live in Australia and worked in the US last year - okay to visit but I’d never live there. More than happy with my socialist health system topped up with some private care (I have the option and choice). Grew up in the UK and also lived in New Zealand and people don’t go bankrupt from ill health as they do in the US.