Most all first world countries have a form of socialized medicine. The last time I posted on this subject it did not get much response. I feel that now Congress is working on a national health plan it would be a good time to bring it up again.
Since the decline of the economy that became the norm after World War 2 we need to rethink the whole picture. The rise of the middle class as it is called is really a rise of the lower class. As the country moved away from family farms and working for someone else in an industry the economic structure changed.
When people lived on family farms from forty to several hundred acres they were more self sufficient. Of course they did not produce everything they needed but most. Any over production of crops could be sold as a cash generator to handle expenses and taxes.
As the industrial age came about more and more people moved to cities to work at these jobs. The original factories were terrible and dangerous to work at. Long hours and no benefits. The owners got really rich and the workers made wages and died young.
From what I can gather consumer credit got it's start in the 1920's. This let the manufacturer create a new market for the products that they built and sold. As the people for the most part could not come up with the money to purchase them. The 1920's was a more modern period than most of us would think. A great rise in technology. Homes in urban areas had indoor plumbing, electricity, central heating and appliances similar to today. Everything was fine and dandy until the Stock Market crash of 1929. As a lot of lower class people had money invested they lost out big time. The companies that they worked for could no longer sell their products. Everything came to a halt. For the most part the mega rich came through fine.
For the period of the thirties till World War 2 the United States got socialized. Gold was taken from the public and most people relied upon the Federal Government for aid. Tons and tons of programs. Some positive results were public works programs which modernized the infrastructure of the United States and stimulated the economy as well.
World War 2 came along and the factories were very busy producing war material. The majority of able men and women were enlisted into the military service. While people on the home front got all the work they could handle and more. Watching a lot of old films on TV it did not seem the home life was impacted a great deal. Or perhaps that was a propaganda thing. The United States did not have all the destruction that the other countries had. Whole cities destroyed etc.
The war is over and you have all these people returning home. A good film to watch about the is The Best Years Of Our Lives. It demonstrates what a lot of people went through after returning from war. The factories shift from war to consumer products again. With all this fresh technology from the war and some things that they had but did not push. like television. There were televisions in the early 1930's.
So factories and businesses starting coming up with pensions, health insurance, stock options and other incentives to keep employees. A person could start a job and work there for thirty years and retire. People did not live as long as they do now. So retirement benefits and Social Security Benefits did not end up paying out as much.
Through the seventies and eighties the economy was cooling off as the production exceeded the demand. Also the fact that imports were dominating the market offering a better product for a lower price in many instances. In the late eighties and nineties technology and service industries propped things up again. As there was a shift from producing manufactured goods.
Fast forward to today. The landscape is dotted with gas stations on every corner. Medical facilities and retail stores full of the same Chinese junk. Nearly all of the clothing and shoes are imported. Five grocery stores in a mile radius. With all this competition for the same dollar employers are not able to offer all the bennies that our fathers, mothers and grandparents enjoyed. There is no longer dad has a job and mom stays at home thing. Your job is for now and probably not thirty years.
That is why a decent socialized medical plan is needed. Rent is going through the roof as investors are buying houses to rent. The last of the retirement with company compensation generation is getting old and spending money to help their younger generations.
As a nation we need to start to work on a universal medical plan that is available to everyone at no or a low cost. Also we need some sort of regulation on housing as the rich are taking advantage of the situation and getting much richer. The medical plan should include necessary service. A dental and eye program should be in force as well. The government offers these services to a lot of people now. So why not expand it.
Look at Medicare. It now covers 80% of costs forcing older people to purchase a supplemental plan. I think it was designed to cover everything originally. After recently checking personally for medical plans it is a nightmare. And that should be fixed. The European countries have seemed to be able to work something out. Why can't the United States.
