RC,
” The middle class is dwindling, the lower class and the upper class are growing. (Haggis and Shap, I don't care if you agree or not,” I go away for two days and you think I won’t call you on that?
That statement is mostly incorrect, despite what you may think. The movement from the lowest economic classes (mostly immigrants) to higher economic classes in the U.S. has been confirmed almost every year since the government began tracking those statistics.
Furthermore, economic migration from
all economic classes (lower income, middle income, etc.) upwards has been consistent since at least 1947.
I do, however, agree with you that
"...the upper class are growing." Every year more Americans than the year before move into the top tax brackets based on reported income.
Although I suspect that what you
meant to say was that the upper class is getting richer; while true, it still does not preclude the fact that annually more people are meeting the definition of "rich."
If the lowest economic class is, as you claim, growing, that’s a phenomenon more attributable to greater immigration, both legal and illegal, than, as you seem to infer, from people sliding back into poverty.
I don't deny that some people might slide back into lower economic straits, but that's usually temporary (loss of a job, uninsured loss of property etc.)
The greater majority of available evidence demonstrates that upward economic migration in the U.S. is the standard rather than the rule.
Absent any reliable statistical evidence to the contrary that the rich are getting richer and that the poor are getting poorer, then your hunch is that; a hunch.
EJA, Re: Lawsuit caps.
” I consider that the doctor who prescribes treatment that is unnecessary and/or at an exorbitant cost because he knows that insurance will pay for it is just as guilty of insurance fraud.” Evidence that lawsuit caps produce results;
“HoustonChronicle.com - Sept. 21, 2004: Texas' largest medical liability insurer cuts rates”
“ Drop is second since jury award cap was imposed
Associated Press
AUSTIN - Texas' largest medical liability insurance provider said Monday it will cut its rates by 5 percent starting in January.
The drop by the Texas Medical Liability Trust, or TMLT, comes on top of a 12 percent decrease the company implemented last January, after a new law and state constitutional amendment allowed a cap on jury awards and limited insurance companies' liability.
"If you think about it, that's a 17 percent reduction in rates in just a year, and I think what's more important than that, that's over $34 million of savings to TMLT's Texas physicians in a single year," TMLT president and CEO W. Thomas Cotten said during a Capitol news conference.” Finally, why is access to free or subsidized health care considered some kind of right?
I pay several hundred dollars every 5-10,000 miles on my 1999 Toyota Avalon for “routine” maintenance.
I don't expect my insurance company to step in and pay 75% of my bill.
Why should we expect to have every doctor’s visit and lab test paid? Why don’t we have health insurance for catastrophic health emergencies and pay the “routine” cost out of our own pockets, the same as we do for our cars, appliances or other “routine” or non-catastrophic medical costs?
And yes, I have had and not had medical insurance; I agree it can be scary when you don't have that "safety net."
And I still don't see the government getting into that business.
And now the government not only wants to regulate, it wants to compete in the industry. Actually, it wants to take over the industry.
