Daniel Hannan in the US - Part 3

[harperonline]

I only wish our British government would listen to one of its own too. :-(.

I am going to come over to the U.S and kidnap Ron Paul and bring him over here to the U.K so he and Dan can take over the U.K. system.

[rumble58]

daniel hannan is a liberal, a classical not social liberal.

[Twoblindmen2009]

they are gonna turn the whole world into a 3rd world no govement will ever be able to repay the hugh loans,their govement have takeing out in their name ,we would be lucky to repay the interest on it every year,the internationl bankers are gonna cause a world wide depresion

[Serafinos]

Mr Hannon -- GETS IT!

What more do some need to WAKE UP and smell the truth here in America!

We are being attacked from within!

God bless America & all that love, serve & defend her with truth & honor!

Thank you, Mr Hannan!

[MyrnaMcGhie]

I love Daniel Hannan....we need him in America.

[Zen0xious]

I agree that socialists systems drag the people down to the lowest common denominator, but not in the case of the NHS. It would be horrible to have a similar system to the US in the UK.

[KenMacMillan]

I wish this was on national T.V.

[zuzieqz]

I could listen to this dude all day...

[Chainedorlo]

To be honest, I wouldn't look to the constitution to argue against bureaucracy,democratic socialism, and anti-militarism

[niemand2099]

Sigh. it's so true.

[vatoencabronado]

I love the outrage that Republicans have now that they are not the majority. When they were running the show, the policies were not substantively different.

Their speeches about liberals and their taking on of libertarian ideas are to stir up the masses, and get them back in power. That is all the parties care about... who is in charge to dole out the cash to their friends.

[esper999]

The Republican party is not fiscally conservative. Don't confuse voters with the party

[vatoencabronado]

I'm not confusing anything. Republicans have always claimed to be fiscally conservative until they are in power, and then they hand out money to their constituents, the defense contractors, the private military corporations, logistics and engineering firms, etc. The voters hope for some sort of change, this time trying to get it from the Dems, but they'll not get it.

[vatoencabronado]

I'm curious why someone voted this comment down, did I make up something that was not factual, or did I hit a little too close to the mark?...just curious...

[MyrnaMcGhie]

You're right -- liberalism is rubbing off on R's and it is disgraceful. There aren't any true conservatives in congress anymore.

[quornholio]

Sadly, you're right, but only halfway: The Democrat supporters of Barack Obama are nakedly power hungry and are actually making George W. Bush look like a decent president, something I hitherto thought impossible.

[vatoencabronado]

I don't know, I"m not seeing much of a difference in how power hungry they are, but Obama's camp has been much more adept at marketing their goals than Bush, which can be more dangerous, I suppose.

[shkopos]

@quornholio Agreed

[nogl0001]

the super market example is excellent.

[xaviqaz]

Other small european countries are introducing co-payments and voucher systems. Even the swedish. Even german government only owns 25% of hospitals now. I can tell you that "single payer" socialized/rationed health systems will become a rarity in Europe in a few decades, as more people is unhappy and low birth rates and fast aging continues.

[musclegrab]

Amen. I've never thought about the health care system in this way. We all will be screwed when no one can make choices.

The fact that people can choose makes everyone strive to outperform the competition.

This is kind of clearly communicated thought that we are lacking in the US. Mr Hannan is ultimately improvisational standup politician/comedian.

We need to train more people like him or getting that cloning thing working.

[teltelamont]

HANNAN FOR PRESIDENT!

[Kriztoferz]

Hands off he's ours...... or nearly ours - he does spend time in Europe

[blogegog]

I absolutely love this guy. I wish we had a few of him on our side of the Atlantic.

"That's for you to decide. That was settled at Yorktown."

HAH! Happy Independence Day, America!

[LukePhillipsWINS]

US heathcare is a joke. massive corporations massive costs, massive proffits... all western nations eg Canada,UK,France all have a free healthcare models and they are all much better. Saying it is communist just because it is government run is plain stuipd, by that logic the police and the fire department are evil and communist...

[imre1000]

So... if you want to be a bludger - go to the UK or France.

If you want to work and pay your own way - go to the USA.

[LukePhillipsWINS]

work and pay your own way, and if you cant pay die

[afthefragile]

Its the same everywhere. You're forgetting the 40% tax people are paying for the "free" healthcare system!

Another problem with public healthcare is the exploitation of it. The AnE is littered with people coming in with small wounds and illnesses so they can get a free treatment rather than being tough and sitting it out!

This makes it harder to deal with the genuine people coming in with big injuries.

Half my family is doctors, i know how bad the health system is here n its getting worse!

[sureseam]

The conundrum here is that the USA spends twice the percentage of GDP on healthcare than (for example) the UK and achieves lower levels of infant mortality and life expectancy and so forth.

Fine - do lecture the UK about the need to go to a private healthcare system - but the American system is frankly unaffordable now that New Labour has wrecked the finances of the nation.

[xaviqaz]

Prior to Johnson and Nixon reforms, USA spent 5% of GDP on healthcare and 60% of overall spending was out-of-pocket (15% now). About infant mortality two things: 1) American birth rates are 50% higher than in European Union 2) Immigration numbers in America are unimaginable in Europe, maybe except for Spain and Italy in last years.

[afthefragile]

The healthcare in UK is a joke. Its running at a massive loss, they whole system is screwed up.

Yes you get free healthcare but is it really free when you're paying 40% of your income as taxes?!

[LukePhillipsWINS]

still 100x better then in the US.

[afthefragile]

Wouldn't say 100x better.

Over here its free but for most patients the waiting lists go on for months before they can get their treatment. Main problem with public healthcare. There aren't enough beds to accommodate all patients, not enough doctors, staff and resources to look after and heal them.

Which is why most people here get private insurance and who can afford it, get private healthcare cuz its faster, more efficient and much better service.

[LukePhillipsWINS]

well uk healthcare is rated must higher then us healthcare by the world health organisation. if you can afford it in the UK you can go private. But not everone in the UK or the US can afford that. better that people have less then some people get nothing

[afthefragile]

Maybe more people could afford it if they weren't paying off almost half their income as taxes, the government wasn't taxing the shit out of private healthcare systems and the private healthcare didn't have to be competing against a government monopoly.

Yes, the healthcare is better in UK than in US but its still not as good as it should ideally be.

Free healthcare leads to exploitation of it and that is the biggest problem with it. The state is paying for people's fuck ups.

[Anteater1234567]

Indeed. For an exemplary healthcare system, Singapore is a good place to look. The sixth best according to WHO, but costing far less than either system per capita.

[NicosMind]

Did you get that from the Daniel Hannan book :P Yet since ive read it ive been quoting ideas from it like they were my own lol. But nah a lot of people have heard me mention Daniel and his book so i do him good justice.

Btw people if youre American, British or French his book is a good read. Also get yourself a book from Mises. Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is easy to understand by anyone. Written for the Intellectual Layman as they say but i think its good for the majority of us.

[Anteater1234567]

I didn't actually- I saw a reference to it on the Adam Smith Institute's blog, and looked up the statistics from there.

[xaviqaz]

Countries like Switzerland and Netherlands have universal health systems that are mostly private. The swiss public administrations only pay for 24% of healthcare costs, while in America they pay for 45% (and increasing). And in Netherlands private insurances cover 1/3 of costs, the same as in America. So you can have a mostly private system where people takes responsability for costs, at the same time it is affordable. Of course, universality demands a stricter control of immigration.

[xaviqaz]

What WHO says is nonsense. They say we spaniards have the 7th best healthcare. We have amazing long waiting lists, blatant inefficiency, nobody takes responsability for mistakes, and the public monopoly makes private choices unaffordable for 90% of people. And they put Italy in the 2nd world´s place! Don´t make me laugh xD

[4rcane]

"oh boy, thats good" background

[LukePhillipsWINS]

sorry but isnt american healthcare ranked at 34 in the world? British health may be "commie" but at least its in the top 10.

[swiftysmithuk]

Ranked by who?

[LukePhillipsWINS]

The World Health Organization US is ranked 37

[rambo26]

The rankings heavily favour "equality" and "fairness". Who cares about such a flawed ranking?

[gbrady3434]

I wish I could have been there to shake Daniel's hand.

[delatroy]

He does a great job of tailoring his speeches to his audience.

[drudow]

"The fruits of life are conservative." How true.

[saezd]

the facts of life.

[drudow]

Haha, thank you.