And, as you point out, limitations are a reality of ANY insurance/risk sharing health care payment system, whether public or private. Only the wealthy can assure themselves of unlimited options. . . at least up to their ability to pay. No system removes that advantage.

The 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope (photo from the article). Related: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D
Training drone pilots (with attack video) h/t, Neptunus
Photographers’ Rights. h/t, Insty
Rick Moran: Why You couldn’t pay me to be…

Listen, I pay my taxes - you pay “your fair share”, remember ? And if you do really claim to have paid MILLIONS in taxes, why are you bitching about it ? I thought you had no problem doing so.

You paid it because you would have faced jail time otherwise - you never did it out of your own free will - and if you want to help people, because your heart bleeds do it on your own time - with your own money - you dont need a federal bureaucracy to do that for you.

Dont force your morality on others - we all help people the way we see it fit - we dont advertise to the whole wide world like you do. And we are more effective than any effing Government program would ever come close to - and no we dont do it for getting votes, nor do we use the threat of co-ercion.

If you are dumb enough to allow yourself to be raped, that’s your problem - dont ask people to pity you or expect them to stay silent just like you.

Liberals consistently betray their fundamental intolerance to any idea that exposes the hollowness of their bleeding hearts.

Nicolas Kristof said it best - Bleeding Heart Tightwads

First of all, your screed is tiresome. Constant invective doesn’t further the debate, but since I am occasionally guilty of the same offense, I’ll move on.

I could dissect your response point-by-point, but it would be a waste of time- I’m not going to convince you. I only want to make these points for anybody else that is reading the exchange:

1. You have no proof that the “vast” majority of the complaintants don’t pay taxes. Even the retirees at the TH meetings are paying taxes on their retirement income (unless they are Roths). That myth fits into your paradigm, or image of these citizens, so you swallow it whole. Most of the people I work with (yes, working taxpayers) object to the government taking any further control over our lives. The govt. has proven many times that they screw up everything they try to run. I could give you a list, if you wish.

2. It is naive to believe that only $250K earners and up will have their taxes increased. You believe that because… because Obama promised that (rolling on the floor laughing)? You have the resources to absorb a tax increase. If you did not, you would not be so magnanimous with your tax basis.

3. “GOP idiocy”? You mean “American citizen idiocy”, right? Its not just the GOP, my friend.

The standard GOP dodge is to accuse anyone who wants to raise taxes of being a lazy, liberal thief. That’s why I made the point that I pay plenty.

The vast majority of people who complain thusly either don’t pay any actual tax, or do not face a tax increase. As it stands now only people making a quarter mill or more will face an increase.

In fact, right now I pay less than I did in the Clinton era. What we-re talking about here is jacking the rates back up to Clinton levels. During which many people did very well. (You recall: peace, prosperity, a balanced budget. You know: Democrats.)

This will affect a minuscule percentage of the American population. Those it affects can afford it.

So the question is: why are medicare retirees screaming at townhall meetings about taxes they don’t pay?

Setting that question aside, I understand very well how hard it is for the middle class to get even a 2% increase. Been there. Done it. Most of my life. But the ‘taxes’ that hit the middle class hardest are not income tax but social security and medicare. Those taxes are murder on the middle class and essentially irrelevant to wealthier taxpayers.

But middle class taxpayers will also in most cases be favorably upside down on SS and medicare — they will get back far more than they put in.

And of course one f the reasons we’re trying to reform health care is precisely to avoid having to raise medicare deductions again and again, even as your health care premiums go up and up. (Doubling in the next 10 years is one projection.)

Summarizing: people who don’t pay net taxes, but do suck at the federal teat, are the ones screaming loudest about a reform effort and a tax rate hike that would only help them and hurt me.

In other words: the usual GOP idiocy.

Yah! Six million over 15 years big deal.

However, I would point out that it is very easy for someone so wealthy to be so generous with their earnings. You never have to worry about paying the mortgage, paying for a good school for your kids, buying a new car when your current one goes over the 20K miles mark. You probably go out to fine dinners whenever it strikes your fancy. You have more left over at the end of the month than we do. Good for you (sincerely- unlike you, I do NOT want your taxes to go up. You pay your share).

Most of us can’t do any of that. My wife and I are much better off than most, but she can’t stop working or we can’t afford our current lifestyle (and she should stop working, because she is sick). My kids went to public school- I wanted to send them to a private school, but I simply couldn’t afford it. My car (a Mercedes diesel) has 150K miles, and will be my car for at least another 3 or 4 years. We go out to fine restaurants occasionally, but we have to plan for it.

Increasing my taxes, even a couple of percentage points, affects me- it hurts me. And when I look at the fraud, waste and abuse of every government-run agency, it infuriates me. I know that the government is taking more of my money to waste on projects that are mismanaged.

I acknowledge your sincere liberal belief in giving more of your money to the less fortunate, but I think your philosophy would be considerable different if it affected you more on a personal level.

In the last 15 years I’ve paid in excess of 6 million in federal taxes.

Let me know when you get close to paying as much as I have. I pay YOUR taxes. And I’m volunteering to pay more for the benefit of people who are in need.

Call me a thief? Who’s paying the defense budget? You? Riiiight.

Moron: we already steal your money to keep grandma alive.

CZ: If your fearless leader commits the same crime, does that make it right?

michael reynolds Said:?8:20 pm 081009

Since I am lucky to be in the top couple of percent on income let me make this very clear: I am willing to be taxed to provide health insurance to the poor. I consider it my duty to my fellow American citizens.

CZ: How thoughtful. Get back to us all with the results of your more than generous personal contributions. You can afford it. Go ahead, you can lie. Again. If you wish. I guess.