Old Nick wrote in message . ..

This shows a considerable lack of thought about the fact that
_everybody gets old and or sick one day.

And there's part of the problem. We all seem to think that the
medical system has all the answers and that we won't ever have to die.
I read somewhere that 80% of a person's lifetime medical expenses are
incurred in the last six months of life. We get old, get really
seriously ill, and because we have the pharmaceuticals and the fancy
machinery to keep us alive, the system is quite happy to use them.
More and more machines are being developed, and more and more drugs,
and the makers can charge whatever they want as long as they have
exclusive patent rights. If we want to stay alive we have to pay it.
Add to that the problems brought on by our sedentary, overfed
lifestyles and badly imbalanced diets. Most kids are now overweight to
some degree, caused by sitting at a computer or TV and sucking up soft
drinks and chips. A two-litre bottle of Coke has 46 teaspoons of sugar
in it, and a slushie has way more. Per capita sugar consumption in the
US has risen from something like 25 pounds per year 100 years ago to
well over 300 pounds now. Sugar gets converted to fat almost instantly
when taken in such volumes, and fatigues the pancreas. Is it any
wonder that obesity, diabetes and heart disease are costing us?
Now, here in Canada, our taxes are rising because of the
nationalized health care plan. We supposedly have it good, but it can
take several years to get a hip replacement, maybe a year or more for
a simple MRI. Goverments simply don't run things any more efficiently
than the private sector, and in most cases not nearly as well. It's
fine to have cheap insurance, but if the services aren't available,
where's the benefit?
Our Canadian birthrate is way down, with most population growth
coming from immigration. How many of the kids or immigrants are going
to put up with higher and higher taxes just to keep us old fogies
alive? I can see them saying, "You gave us that huge national debt.
We're going to be paying that off for the next 200 years. You had your
fun. You're 75 years old and have cancer. It was nice knowing you.
Roll up your left sleeve, please. This will only take a minute."

Dan