Angela Merkel says Germany can no longer rely on Donald Trump's America: 'We Europeans must take our

I urge all posters to read the actual NATO charter. We were not under attack by Belgrade during Clinton nor by Libya under Obama. But two times we abused NATO.

 

Let's see if Germany can support a universal health care system AND pay for its own security at the same time.

 

Hardly, you refer to the air war only. Had Hitler decided to invade England instead of Russia, you'd be eating Bratwurst and wearing leiderhosen.

 

Frankly when talking of Hitler vs the world, it is instructive to pull up a map and see just how tiny Germany really is.

We ganged up on Adolph. He made a whopper of a mistake thinking he could invade so much of Europe and get away with doing it. The man as i see him was mad.

 

I am probably almost as old as you. And I have the advantage of having lived in many places, and experienced many systems of healthcare. I have always been very lucky, and always had insurance, universal insurance in Belgium, England, and France, and "cadillac plans" in the US (including CA). I also worked with a LOT of people who were struggling without insurance and were VERY HAPPY to become eligible for Medicaid (Medical since I worked in CA) and/or Medicare. I worked as an MSW/case manager with a population of people with developmental disabilities and my caseload was between 85 and 105 youths, children and adults.

I KNOW that the only reason American health insurance is so expensive has nothing to do with quality of care, but with the greed of the private healthcare industry. It also has to do with the cost of medical school, therefore it is obvious that the for profit colleges and the for profit student loan industry (including Betty Devos!) are at least in part responsible for the cost of medical care.

I believe the only reason the for profit insurance is not covering people over 65 is because they KNOW there is no profit in it! Therefore, there is a choice, let those people die (yes, you and I), or let the government take care of them, which it does VERY WELL.

Have you ever realised that, you (and my husband) have 80% of your medical expenses covered by GOVERNMENT insurance (Medicare) for the mere cost of $105 per month. . .but if you want the other 20% covered (as my husband does), you have the CHOICE (if you can afford it) to go to the private insurance, who will be happy to cover the 20% for (in the case of my husband a mere $235 per month! Now, over a period of 2 years, my husband and 2 major strokes, and colon surgery, so we do take the $235 supplemental insurance. . .because we can afford it

Let's look at that! What if, you wanted to make an investment, and someone offered you to cover a "mortgage" of $120,000 for $105 dollars per month, but you would have to put down $30,000 of that amount. Then you go to another mortgage broker to get those $30,000, and he offers to give them to you for a mere. . . . . .$235 per month!

Which would make the most business sense? The "medicare" coverage of 80% for $105 per month? Or the "for profit insurance" coverage of 20% for $235 per month?
And the opponents of government insurance are screaming that Medicare is NOT EFFICIENT?

The reason healthcare insurance is so expensive is not because of the government. . .or at least not because government offers insurance like medicare and medicaid. . .it is because the private healthcare insurances are FIXING prices at a high level INSTEAD of REALLY competing! And the government is responsible (because of lobbyists) because they are closing their eyes and even ENCOURAGING that price fixing. . .which is in fact AGAINST the law!

The reason universal healthcare insurance is cheaper and WORKS so well all over Europe is that the government provides (for a price. . .but MUCH lower than private insurance, as we can see with medicare!) BASIC insurance. . .and still allows for FAIR and TRUE competition of private insurers. A concrete exemple. My husband and I are now covered by universal care insurance in Belgium. My husband is 77 years old, he pays $20 per month to the government for basic insurance, and $75 per month to a "mutuelle" or private insurance of his choice. He is registered with the equivalent of a "cadillac plan," which means that, if hospitalised, he will stay in a private room, and his docteurs will be able to double or even triple the "base" rate for reimbursement set by the government. And, obviously, there is NO pre-existing condition penalty!

 

Because you think that Hitler didn't have the intention, or didn't try to submit England?
You are so out of touch with reality.
By the way. . .English is eating Bratwurst, and so are you. . . ..even if you don't call it that

 

Exactly. I expect many of them will NEVER honor their spending commitments. When the free-ride is over, they are likely gone.

Sure, and as long as we will let them free-load, why shouldn't they

Well good!

While most of them are at less than 1/2 of their commitment, we generally run right around twice, ours, so there's that.

They better pay up!

 

They already agreed to pay up by 2014 under the agreements made with the Obama admin respectfully. No need to for Obama to pat himself on his back and insult NATO, he is a real gentleman.

 

I did say that the US was paying over the 2%. . .but, face it. . .not 4%
And, most countries already pay more than 1%

So in both cases, you are wrong.

And. . .they have until the target date of 2024 to dish out the 2% of GDP.
Maybe the US should just stop paying more than its 2%. . . but you see, that SIMPLE solution would not be agreeable to Trump. . .or to the defence industry, who are the main profiteurs from additional spending on defence!

 

Well, while I do not profess to be among the top experts on health care, I apply market principles and experience to make my pronouncements.

I do not know what doctors or hospitals earnings are in Belgium. I would encourage you to remain there for what you get from them.

I blame government for this fundamental reason. We all know we need homes. So what if you could insure to get one?

The deal is the Feds will pick up the tab for our new home at a fixed monthly fee. Say for the $235 figure you use for private costs. This is more than from the Feds.

What happens to the costs of homes? Does that seem enough to prop up housing markets?

But now let's say that given events, suddenly the Feds pay at least $250,000 on your home for you. You had heart surgery so they paid it for you. What happens to the prices of heart surgery? What does that do to housing prices?

Health is not a right. Nor is food, nor is autos, nor are your phone bills nor costs for TV. We can make cases for all of that and even much more.

The simple fact is some person had to work for the cash. We get the benefit for their work. When they will all work hard to pay our bills for us, sure ... some of us gain.

But that system stinks. It is simply not honest.

 

I would love to learn why all those NATO countries purchase American made weapons. I think France would want to know all about this.

 

Indeed, he proved an American president is willing to bow to leaders of other countries. And he spoke so well of Islam. My gosh, he sounded as if he wanted to be a Muslim.

 

Germany doesn't want to pay its fair share for NATO because, if it did, it would no longer be able to maintain all those "free" services to its citizens.

I support Trump's stance on this, but his tone and methods of communicating that stance will not lead Europe to fall in line. It'll more likely push them to trade with China even more.

 

The US removed the police, army and justice department in Iraq, creating a massive power vacuum in the middle of the middle east all based on forged evidence about WMDs. ISIL emerged out of that power vacuum the US deliberately created. Thanks for that. They branched out to Syria, and as of that millions of people fled the place. A heck of a lot of them ended up in Germany.

How about the US helps out paying for the mess they created for the Germans, before the US demands the Germans need to help out the US creating bigger messes?

 

Correction...
Belgium police rounded up the Jews because the nazi's demanded they did that or else they got rounded up themselves.

 

Well, what did you think of, not only the bowing, but the curtsy of Trump to the Saudi King? And what did you think of Trump being so kind and "understanding" with the same Saudi King, a known offender of human rights violations, but being so rude and bullying US allies?

Do you need another proof that, all that matters to Trump is MONEY?

 

Correct, the Nazis wanted to round up the jews and the member of the underground. . .and the Belgian police had a choice to let the SS police do it. . .which often led to torture and deportation to death camps, or to round them up themselves, which made the Jews and the underground combattants "prisoners" under the BELGIAN LEGAL SYSTEM instead of the SS system.

As I said before, this was one way for a country under occupation to help lower the level of brutality and death among jewish people and underground resistance.

And that doesn't mean that some Belgian citizens didn't cooperate with the Nazi occupations, obviously some did. . .and many paid with their life after the war, including people who didn't commit any crime except for writing nazi propaganda for newspapers and discours for the nazi leadership in Belgium.

 

I agree. .and I would say that, it would be best for American people if Trump would lower his spending on defence by 1 or 2% instead of continuing to increase it, and use that 1 or 2% of GDP to help AMERICANS with their healthcare program and their infrastructure!

However, what counts for Trump is giving as much money to big corporations, especially the defence industry. . .NOT to help Americans!

By the way. . .spending more money on healthcare (especially single payer healthcare) and on infrastructure would provide AT LEAST as many jobs in the USA as throwing more money to the defence industry!

 

ISIS emerged out of the power vacuum that Obama created when he pulled out of Iraq.

Yeah, Hillary and Obama's grand adventure in Libya followed by the Syrian mess, that frankly, I'm unclear on how much involvement we had. Clearly we seemed to be arming some of these groups, with the aim of deposing Assad, and so soon after the disaster in Iraq followed by the disaster in Libya, you have to ask yourself, "just what were they thinking". And Germany eagerly sucking up all these folks thinking they would turn into a cheap compliant workforce... well OOOPS!

They aren't free-loading enough already? And have you seen the trade imbalance we are running with Germany? Very bad![/QUOTE]

 

negative.
By saying the police had a choice is making it seem a Belgium officer could like say no to a direct order by a nazi and call in sick. That is not "really" taken into account that Belgium wasn't a free country at that point but in full control of foreign nazi rule.

 

I said the US did it... so... you're not disputing this. GWB started it for no reason besides inventing ones.

Feeding clothing and housing a million people is costing the Germans a heck of a lot. Not to mention they pay Turkey something like 3 billion to keep millions of refugees in their country. That the US got a trade imbalance with the Germans, is the fault of the US for not being able to compete with Germany. The US economy is just in a horrible state.

 

Apparently you watch a TV program that photo-edits things. I saw what you say you saw but did not notice any bowing or curtsy by Trump.

Human rights, which I personally value very much, which by the way is why I left the Democratic party, is high on my list of rights.

The Saudi Leaders are party to an ideology that I am told by a person who e mails me follows not a religion, but an ideology. Trump was pleasant to those he met.

Many humans believe money solves problems. We work for that aim. We save for that aim. We collect funds for our children for needs, over that same aim.

Money represents service to others that satisfies others. We find we pay bills with money.

I am trying to learn the evil of money. Maybe you know what it is.

 

Robert, I couldn't let this go - what you wrote above - "The Saudi Leaders are party to an ideology that I am told by a person who e mails me follows not a religion, but an ideology." - Seriously??????? Is "the person who emails you" insane, or just an enabler? You actually buy that bullsh*t? The Saudis practice the most foul and violent form of Islam - similar to Christians burning people at the stake.

KSA is the home of Islam, as your hero Trump himself said. KSA is also the home (and exporter of) the most violent, virulent form of Islam - Wahhabism. This is the Islamic sect adhered to by Al Qeada & ISIS and these are the people Trump warmly embraces - violent autocratic authoritarian regimes. It is despicable Trump values these despots more than America's allies in NATO & Europe....

 

We will recover from the Obama era!

 

Other than your insult aimed at a man living in Florida who once was their chief highway engineer, I believe, I know what Saudi Arabia is all about.

Edit. The man does not e mail me, but he emails Carolyn who also lives in Florida and she forwards what he says to me.

I have been tempted to post his comments here on the forum but sought his permission in writing.

Once I asked of an Iranian former teacher, what about Islam? Is it a violent religion I asked him? He told me it definitely is. And he converted to Catholicism. That must have been hard.