Angel - Crikey, where did all you Republicans come from. I want to disagree with you about a full flushing of the bureaucracy. Most civil servants are just decent hard working folks that are as frustrated with the system as you are. The problem is at the top and I firmly believe that your party’s obsession with small government is the problem.

Ariza - based on then number of teenage mothers that I see at the malls when Dr. O’C drags me there, I think the baby bonus has been, to use the technical term, a clusterfuck.

NATUI - I think Sweden does have the answer, but I’m a socialist. Sweden works pretty good, despite what Bill Orally might try to tell you.

Agnes - ‘xactly.

Headbang - you said it better than I did. Don’t even get me started on privatization. What a stupid damn idea that was. All you have to do to convince yourself that privatization doesn’t work is get on a train in Britain. Rather, try to get on a train in Britain.

Gypsy - that’s some dedication! Brings new meaning to the term “yellow dog Democrat”.

A few random points.

I recently lived in New York, where I also had to pay a CITY income tax. That put me up to 37% gross tax. Plus 9% of my gross on health insurance–yes, for us old blokes, it’s that expensive. Not hard to get up to British/Swedish/Australian levels, soon.

If I owned property there, I would need also to pay a small fortune each month in property tax, simply to fund schools and (one level of) police.

A friend of mine owned a house in Dobb’s Ferry, NY. Nice house, but hardly a McMansion. It set him back forty-five thousand bucks a year in property tax. He wanted to sell the house to a local policeman, but the property tax alone would take up two thirds of his pre-tax salary. My friend moved to Melbourne.

When the AFMO’Cs buy a house in Australia, AFM will be pleasantly surprised that Oz property tax actually reflects the modest amount it takes to keep their neighbourhood plumbed, parks mown, garbage collected, and a road delivered to their front door.

As NATUI said, even if the cost of maintaining yourself as a resident in the US is comparable with elsewhere in the civilised world, the level of civilization is not. I agree that the British NHS is crappy, but have you tried a US emergency room lately? I would take Flinders Medical Centre any day over almost any hospital in NYC.

A major problem with US government is that there’s simply too much of it. For example, how many police forces do you have in an average American jurisdiction? FBI, state, county, local (which really does all the work, and enjoys no economies of scale) and special authorities?

How many police forces do you have in South Australia, AFM? Lemme tellya. One. It enforces state, federal and local laws. Efficient, fair and accountable.

Australia in the 90’s succumbed to a wave of US-led ideological thinking. Electricity and gas authorities, railways and public transport were put in private hands. The undisputed result? Costs went up and services went down. The only real success in privatisation was the Australia Post, I believe, who have pioneered the Post Office as business-service approach adopted around the world.

The only way universal social benefits programmes really work is if the middle class participates. They will demand a level of service and fairness that makes the whole system work.

By the way, I wish I were a girl. Then I could become a single mother and rort the system, popping out babies and spending my welfare checks on caviar and Krug. That’s what they do, right?

Health care system? What health care system?!

Agness last blog post..Coverage - The Bird And The Bee

If that is not bad enough, it is for an inferior level of service, I might add. Because if I have to go to the doctor for something that isn’t “covered,” I have to pay even more out of pocket on top of the percentage of our salary we already give the insurance company. I am not stating that Sweden has the answer, but surely the US can do better than it is now.

NATUIs last blog post..Supplementing the Family Income

I honestly hope Obama wins. I think I’ll vote for him. I want someone to blame for everything for the next four years. Wrong nail polish? It’s that evil Obama’s fault!

Toasty and Jessica, I agree with you. We’re considered an upper middle class family, and we take it up the butt in every aspect. Higher tax bracket, no earned income credit, not even that nice little incentive refund, and no consideration for anything. The school system? We have to pay for EVERYTHING while everyone around us gets it all for free. Our daughter wanted to take part in a program for future medical professionals over the summer. The cost for us was $5k. Below our income level? Yep, free. The truth is, we couldn’t afford that anymore than the next family in this current financial climate. But we didn’t get a choice. I’m sorry, but what makes it any more fair for someone else’s kid to have the opportunity even if they can’t afford it, but not mine because the government “thinks” I can? I don’t know of anyone who could hand over $5,000 right now for their kid to do something like that.

Yes, the Bush administration has been horrible. I agree with that every step of the way. But the truth is, we had better not just focus on cleaning out the top, guys. We’d better start there and work our way down. We need a whole new government, and we need it fast.

FYI I am an American who used to live in Australia. I was in Sydney. Where are you guys?

Mission fuckin’ accomplished.

Ray, just give Bill O time, it’s only July. The War on Christmas doesn’t really start until late August.