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Comment by Brockenstein | Hacker News Reader

Lots of Americans agree with you. The problem is those that don't are:

1. Willing to gamble they'll never get sick 2. Don't want "their" tax dollars paying for other people's medical bills, other peoples anything for that matter. More aircraft carriers please! 3. Don't think there's a problem with the system because it hasn't destroyed them yet. 4. America is #1, best health care in the world, and any contrary information is ignored.

Unfortunately for a lot of people if a problem doesn't impact them directly, it's not a problem or doesn't really exist and anyone else can eff off. In a very real way it's not just anti-socialist, it's just anti-social.

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I think it really does come down to a disconnect of ideals, how much to support others by giving up some of your own?

For instance, I truthfully told my boss I wouldn't mind my tax rate increasing if it meant everyone got medical coverage. He almost lost it, like he was ready to kill me, he was so angry. The fact that he would lose even more of his money, the rage, it was ferocious.

I really saw first hand the "I got mine, fuck y'all" mentality. I didn't think it was real until then. I always thought that was sound-bite fox news talking point and the argument was over how much one should sacrifice for others. I stand corrected.

Or maybe you don't get capitalism. It's not about selfishness or not wanting to lose money, it's about pushing others to work harder. Think of UBI as the other extreme, discouraging people to work for their own good when we'll have automation. Right now though, we need productivity, and we achieve that through capitalism.

Money is a zero sum game, otherwise we could just print as much as we could. We're only as rich as others around us work hard for us. Granted, we live in a crony capitalist society so it's not working that well. For example, healthcare in the US is notorious for failing to spend money wisely.

It's very hard for people to envision what would happen, outside of "i'd have to pay more money". except... a lot of society would change overall:

* predatory lending would drop (people not having to go to payday lenders to get money for medicine, for example)

* fewer sick days from people (either for themselves or their kids)

* FAR FAR FAR more mobility in the labor force, as so many people feel locked in to their job because "insurance". Employer-provided insurance is one of the biggest things holding down our innovation and progress in society, IMO. I know dozens of talented people who are afraid to move jobs, move cities, or make any change at all because "current job = health insurance". They'll never be able to go work for newer small company X, because "insurance". Big companies may bitch about costs, but employer-provided insurance is a huge moat - financially and emotionally - that keeps the status quo humming to the detriment of many on the lower end.

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