Uplifting News
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not free; tax funded
Which is great! Taxes should be invested in citizens’ needs.
There is “free as in beer” and “free as in speech” — this is “free as in theme park rides.”
You already paid.
Free as in "free at the point of service".
Of course it is paid for somehow.
But as far a a someone going into a hospital to get a cast, medicine, birth... It's free
That’s true. Unfortunately, calling it free is often used by people who want to paint it as infeasible, and is used as an excuse to cut funding—even when data shows it’s an investment with human and monetary rewards.
Conservative America is driven so hard by the fear of somebody poorer than you getting something you're not.
America wants things to be free when it’s for themselves, but not to pay a dime to benefit anyone else
As far as everyone except oligarchs are concerned, it means everyone can access it without getting financially fucked over into debt. And that's excellent news.
incorrect slightly- while most boomer and right wing assholes know it means free at point of service and tax funded they act like it means “free for welfare queens and illegals” because they think daddy capitalist is watching them lick boots.
I like to compare it to someone sitting in math class, the lesson is on square numbers and they go "a square is a shape though". Everyone who actually paid attention knows the relation between the concepts and doesn't need to compensate ignorance with smug pedantry.
Hey, are you saying we get free police
You get free police beatings. And if you're stopped they will empty the money out of your wallet as "civil asset forfeiture". So not exactly a cost but not exactly free.
Only in one place, don’t paint everyone like the USA.
Yes I mean nothing is free if we try to be strict about it. The word would have no meaning. I think we all understand “sold at zero price” but there are always people in the crowd who want to pop up and say “it’s not free! someone pays!” Typically their next move is to start breaking down who pays and why it’s unfair. I have no patience for them.
I dont have patience for those people either, but in general a lot of people feel taxes are the state taking away money. Where i live this is true for large corpo's and rich folk ('the state should not waste money on things people can pay for by themselves' is how they tend to put it here), but also by people with low wages tend to complain about how the state robs them. Reminding them how things they use are funded by the taxes they pay (roads, hospitals, police, education) can help them; because here they tend to fall for the retoric of the parties serving the rich and they sometimes truly believe the country would be nicer if they paid less taxes (not understanding they would have much more trouble paying for things like education and healthcare). For that reason I much prefer 'tax-funded healthcare/public transport/education', as calling it free is like giving a weapon to the group of people and corporations trying to lower their tax burden (and getting out of their responsibilities as the heavy lifters of funding public services).
Even setting aside the deceptive propaganda around this, “they” meaning right wing voters of modest means, still have two problems with tax funded services of any kind. The government may not be “taking money away” as in making it vanish, but they are taking away the choice of how that money should be spent. Conservatives see a moral hazard here where their taxes will pay for the poor lifestyle choices of others - and actually they are right, just not the way they think they are. It’s not abortions for slutty brown women they should worry about but metabolic syndrome brought on by their own white neighbors horrible diets that will burden the system most.
Their other problem is they don’t want to benefit from this kind of public good themselves. They see it as “taking charity” and although white people accept plenty of advantages, they like to stay proud about it. It doesn’t help to say “look, you’re getting something here.” So there just isn’t any way of making them comfortable with the setup, even when it isn’t being grossly distorted to them.
The whole “I don’t take no charity” is a very old American value and part of a complex system we have for giving people ways to feel superior to others. We don’t have a formal class system in this society but we service the same instincts in a hundred other small ways. Farm subsidies? Of course! Do you know how important farmers are? Healthcare supports? What… so I can pay for abortions for some illegal immigrant who couldn’t keep her legs closed?
We’re terminally stupid here and everything is about feels I don’t see how we’ll ever get past all this.
I see a moral choice where my taxes will pay for the poor political choices of conservatives in poorer red states, but they also deserve free healthcare
There are so many health services that can be delivered en masse at very little cost. I once lived in a “3rd world” country with state sponsored healthcare. They had an army of nurses in shop storefronts delivering vaccines and basic meds for common illnesses. Just walk in. Nothing fancy - one of them literally reused hypodermic needles after sterilizing them with a bunsen burner. But how fancy does it actually need to be?
That's a thing in the US too, by the way. You can walk into a pharmacy or some grocery stores and get cheap/free vaccines for the current flu strain as well as the standard immunizations for a bunch of common diseases.
Most people don't take advantage of it.
True that’s how I get my flu shots and such. It’s often extremely modest accommodations. Once my feet were resting on a pile of discarded coat hangers and other detritus from the drugstore’s retail floor.
It’s unfortunate that vaccinations somehow became political because it’s a great example of public health efforts for all being cheap with huge benefits
I agree, as a Canadian even if not perfect I couldn't imagine having a pay system or even what the US calls healthcare. That's the point of taxation, we get roads that are drivable, healthcare that is affordable and stuff like food standards, clean drinking water, education. The billionaires are trying to say everyone else doesn't need such things so they can get a bigger nibble of the pie when they already have truckloads.
also money is fictional so i consider it "free" if it helps the people actually.