On Oct 28, 2008, at 7:30 AM, John Williams wrote: > Government spending uses taxpayer dollars. That is why government > spending should be kept to the bare minimum.
You (and countless others) have put forward this claim again and again. It all depends on how you define "bare minimum", which is usefully (for those making this unsupported claim) vague. I happen to think that a safety net that prevents people who are unlucky enough (e.g. through illness or accident) to have expenses that are massively out of scale with their income from becoming destitute. Others' definition of "bare minimum" might not include such a "redistribution of wealth". I understand the need personally, having had a child who died from brain cancer, the medical costs of which would have wiped out most or all of our wealth. Were it not for a generous manager at Hewlett- Packard, who suggested that my wife go on a leave of absence (rather then letting her resign her position), thus continuing our company- sponsored medical insurance, we would have been left with no home and no savings. I was self-employed at the time. If that hadn't wiped us out, then my own brain cancer, eight years later, probably would have. This time, it was COBRA -- an act the United States government that uses the power of tax incentives to ensure that companies' insurance plans include provisions so that employees can continue their benefits after a "qualifying event" -- that stood between us and financial ruin. Having been laid off by Sun Microsystems (largely because of cognitive effects of the cancer), I was able to continue to buy the same insurance that I had when I was employed (the top-of-the-line package: my experience with Kevin made certain of that), which was a Damn Good Thing™, considering that I was taking about $9,000/month in chemo and other drugs after. For the many who were never employed by Hewlett-Packard or Sun, I believe that a government-run safety net is a social good to which I am happy to contribute. Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
