David Cross - Why America Sucks at Everything

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https://youtu.be/aNghg1Y-WIc

David Cross -- Political satire, alternative comedy, black comedy, sketch comedy, and surreal humor.

Never let YouTube do your thinking for you.

Are we supposed to care about this? Does he need a degree to participate in political activism?

Most of what he says is wrong or slanted.

Americans have the best health care, because we pour so much money into it.

The best doctors in the world come to America, because they can earn much more money here.

UK NHS doctor pay is so low, you won't believe it.

"specialty doctor you’ll earn a basic salary of £41,158 to £76,751"
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explor ... ay-doctors

That is only $57, 200 to $106,684 for a specialty doctor.

1/2 of filing Americans pay no federal taxes

Plus, Americans can write-off their mortgage interest up to $750,000, SALT (state, local property taxes) or IRA, 401k contributions.

So, Americans overall pay substantially less taxes than any other "developed country".

Because people in Canada, UK, Europe don't have great deductions.

Getting back to the message. I think Cross is correct on most of his points. Why is the richest nation on the planet failing to take care of it's citizens during a deadly pandemic? That's an easy one. Those in power are beholden to corporate interests, and don't give a flying f**k about the people.

Obama had the opportunity to pass a universal health care bill early in his presidency, but he chose to roll over for big pharm and the insurance industry. -- even though the Dems had a super majority in Congress. Seventy percent of Americans are in favor of single-payer healthcare. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't politicians supposed to listen to the people's wishes and serve them? I guess not

That's what you get when you live in an oligarchy. Just roll over, take it up the ass, and play the game you've been programmed to play. Pick a team, support that team, ignore all the bad s**t your team does, and call out the bad s**t the other team does. Meanwhile, the billionaire class benefits regardless of which team has power.

Last edited by magz on 15 Mar 2021, 2:04 am, edited 1 time in total.: Personal poke removed

It very much depends on how you define "best" when talking about healthcare.
The US may be able to offer the best quality, but the prices are so inflated that a large part of the population can't afford basic treatment.
So, for those people, healthcare like in some minor European country is better. The provided service might be not as great, but it's better than the one you can't afford.
The British healthcare system isn't what it used to be, thanks to increasing efforts to privatize things beginning in the 90s. It is free, but underfinanced. That's however not a structural problem, but willfull neglect by the British government.
But that also explains the relatively low pay for British doctors.
In general: the US is great and works well for rich people. But if you're in the 99%, there's places where life is easier.

Whether you care or not is unimportant.  Knowing his professional background is important in determining how much of your thinking he (and YouTube) should be allowed to do for you.

1. Poor Americans get free government heath care.

2. Americans over 65 years old, get subsidized health care.

3. Lower middle class Americans making up to ( $51,040 + 12,400) = $63,440 can get subsidized health care.

4. Most working Americans can get employer provided health care insurance.

5. All Americans can buy an ACA marketplace health insurance policy. An ACA policy will limit yearly out of pocket cost. In 2021, for those making over $63,440, the yearly capped out of pocket total cost is $8,550.

It isn't clear who cannot get health care, and why?

Some policies in an ACA marketplace entity have VERY high deductibles.

veterans are ineligible for coverage under PPACA. the VA is chronically understaffed and underfunded and more than a year's waiting list in many areas, many new vets without a disability rating % are thus locked out of any health care if they are working class. and butthead pols in the south spitefully made it impossible for a good number of pofolk to qualify for PPACA due to the gap between medicaid coverage and their income. the regime of local rating means that only those young and perfectly healthy have any hope at reasonable insurance premiums, the rest get soaked. we're good at making cadillacs for the rich but lousy at making chevys for everybody else. and why can't we have high-speed rail like japan and germany and france? why are there still large rural pockets without usable internet service? why does our mediocre DTV system fail utterly in rural areas? why do we have such crappy AM radio signal quality? [compared to europe]

Who did all my thinking for me?

What's your opinion on this subject on hand; Fnord? Was there any information you believe Cross presented dishonestly or inaccurately?

While Mr. Cross' opinions are derived from facts, they are still the subjective opinions of a man who makes his living as an entertainer.  At best, this qualifies him as an amateur philosopher; at worst, a George Carlin wannabe.  Either way, the entertainment value of the video far exceeds its usefulness.

Regardless, he has not said anything that has not already been said in some way since this country was formed.

I don't believe America "sucks at everything."

I believe, these days, politicians suck at common sense. On both sides of the political spectrum.

Trump moved the goal posts in the wrong direction. He came close to totally blowing it for us internationally.