[Alberta's Child]

People can go out an buy a new chinese made wardrobe, and chinese DVD players, and chinese furniture. But they can't afford to pay for health insurance.

You have got to be kidding me.

If people were willing to accept the same quality in health care that they are willing to accept in the manufactured products you've listed, health insurance would be cheaper than dirt in this country.

And if a Chinese manufacturer of DVD players faced a multi-million dollar "malpractice" lawsuit every time it sold a defective product, nobody would be able to afford DVD players.

[oceanview]

we can debate the medical care question another time.

my main point was: Americans standard of living as measured by material goods more reflects their ability to afford items whose true cost has been masked by the effects of globalism, in contrast to the cost of the US healthcare system, which has not been masked, and is thus unaffordable to most americans without government or employer provided assistance.

If we had hospitals costing $5 per day, doctors making $2/hr. and nurses making 50 cents an hour, providing our healthcare, the cost of the health insurance would look like the cost of that DVD player.

Not that I am complaining mind you, I've always said that at least when manufacturing went offshore, Americans got some benefit in the form of these lower priced manufactured goods. But I do not see any benefit coming back to me when my credit card company goes to India. My interest rate is the same, my cash back bonus is the same, and my customer service is much worse and they are selling my personal information on the streets of Bangalore.