Quote Originally Posted by PanzerJager
The last major democratic new initiative was Hillary's socialized healthcare system. That was shot down by public opinion, not the Republicans.
That and the balanced budget... both shot down by Republicans, one after Clinton was out of office.

And it is a lie that it was shot down by public opinion itself. There was a major redirect effort by the right wing, and they used "gays in the military" as their major distraction tool to sidetrack issues that actually mattered. And there was the use of "socialized healthcare" to label it. That's not what it was. It was striving for universal coverage. You have to hand it to the Republicans though, they are great at tagging derisive nicknames to anything from the Democrats.

I would embrace socialized healthcare compared to what I've seen and experienced in our own bloated mess (and some limited experience with socialized healthcare.) It is rapidly becoming unaffordable--no surprise since it carries a double digit inflation rate. Companies are trying to eliminate it altogether from benefits and have been for a number of years.

Even Frist recognizes that the problem is spinning out of control.

It is the height of hypocrisy that the Schiavo conservatives are so opposed to extending healthcare to the uninsured. I see healthcare as being like basic education--something that we as a nation should try to provide. It is part of *my* christian values.

The private accounts plan would be great if there was indication that the U.S. economy would be in good long term health...(rather than trading sideways) and if it wasn't so expensive to get started. Trouble is, U.S. markets can and do stay in ruts for extended periods of time. It is not something you can afford to do when already running a massive deficit, Dubya dipped into the till too much already. The other problem is that if not very well considered and regulated, most investors would get fleeced, leaving no retiriment funds for them. With the problems in both corporate governance/reporting and in mutual fund regulation, I don't see how this is going to be anything but an expensive disaster. Dubya is not a good planner (see post war Iraq and our growing casualty count), and his numbers don't ever work out. Better for Dubya to leave SS alone, rather than touch it. He lacks the basic math skills and honesty for the job.