Okay. Brace yourselves. I feel an essay coming on.

As my time in America comes to an end, I am still appalled at the contempt the conservative media commentators have for their audiences. Alan Jones has nothing on this lot, let me tell you.

Apparently, an American child is not guaranteed a secondary school education and this shows – unfortunately. The general public is so ill-informed about the world in general that they are easily swayed by the red neck rubbish that is fed to them by these bumptious idiots.

Mind you, if you dare to contradict anything they say, they pipe up with “Freedom of Speech” and label you “un-American.” It’s very sad really. Apparently the American version of freedom of speech includes never having to acknowledge another point of view or admit that you are wrong …

Firstly, let’s deal with ‘Socialism.’ The airwaves are full of rhetoric condemning this ism.

Ahem, Hear ye, Hear ye …

Socialism is the making of economic decisions based on what benefits society as a whole.

Capitalism is the making of economic decisions based on what benefits the owners of capital. Capital = Money.

Socialism does not mean communism. That is a different kettle of fish altogether. Most democratic nations are Socialist Democracies – there are no purely capitalist nations on the planet.

Are you still with me? Good.

At the moment there is a HUGE debate about the possible provision of a government run form of health insurance in the USA. The right wing are against this.

However, these are also the people who wanted unions to make concessions in the run up to the demise of GMH et al. What’s the link? I’m glad you asked, because not one of these commentators has addressed this.

In America, the large corporations include health insurance in their salary packages. This is something that started as a dodge to get around war-time caps on salaries – but that’s another issue.

The companies pay their workers’ premiums – not only while these people are working for them, but after they retire as well. If you are retired due to a disability, your company-provided health insurance remains. If you retire due to old age, the same thing happens. So companies pay HUGE amounts insuring people who no longer work for them and often the families of these people as well.

If the company goes broke, you lose your insurance. If you have stopped working due to a disability that was covered by your spouse’s insurance and you get divorced, you lose your coverage – and you can’t get covered by anyone else because you have a pre-existing condition.

This situation places an enormous strain on companies and formed a large part of the liabilities that were discussed during the debates on restructuring the motor industry. The right-wing media goons demanded that unions surrender the right to this coverage without actually explaining the wider implications of such an action to their audiences (ironically the audience tends to consist of the people who would be disadvantaged the most by these actions). They felt that it was unreasonable of the unions to try to hold onto this benefit for their former members.

However, the unions were very much aware that these retired sick and/or elderly members would not be able to afford coverage on their own and would be terribly vulnerable without it. They stuck to their guns. Yippee.

Health insurance is incredibly expensive here – often in the five figure range. Probably because it is usually paid for at the company level where monies paid can be claimed as expenses, and because there is no competition for the sector. This puts it out of the reach of most individuals.

Those people who don’t have insurance because they don’t work for a company that provides it, often don’t seek medical treatment. This means that medical conditions that can be reversed, if treated at an early stage, are instead left to continue on their natural course. So, people who may have been able to live long, healthy and productive lives, instead have their working lives cut short and their quality of life destroyed. In addition, their families are often bankrupted by the medical costs incurred while taking care of their loved ones.

This is where the socialism aspect of this issue comes in. If the government provides a form of health insurance at the federal level it will benefit American society as a whole at several levels.

Firstly, it would provide the competition that is missing in the sector and allow market forces to lower the cost of insurance across the board. (A fundamental tenet of capitalism by the way.)

Secondly, it would take a huge burden off companies, allowing them to deal with the here and now and to build their businesses – instead of taking care of superannuated former employees. That would make them more efficient participants in the capitalist system and stop them behaving as Socialist States all of their own.

Thirdly, it would mean that people would seek medical help at the earliest possible opportunity instead of waiting until it was too late to do anything about it. So, someone with gingivitis would get it treated and prevent the inevitable heart attack from happening. (Yes, gum disease causes heart attacks.) Someone with a cough from smoking might not develop full blown emphysema and someone with too much weight on their bones and a bad diet might not progress to Type 2 Diabetes and all that entails.

Similarly, their family members would not have to give up work or education opportunities to take care of them. In addition, these spouses and children would not suffer financially while they struggle to pay for the much more expensive medical treatment that their relative’s advanced condition would require.

So the benefits to society as a whole are many. The patient would remain a productive member of the workforce for a lot longer and their contribution to the capitalist system would increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product – gotta be happy with that.

They would also be paying taxes for a lot longer, enabling the provision of better public services for their compatriots.

Their relatives would be able to work and pay taxes, or finish school and go onto higher paying jobs than they would have been able to secure otherwise.

The cost of health insurance would fall and new insurance products would become available as the insurance industry received an enormous boot up its complacent backside.

Also, hospital emergency rooms could be left to deal with true emergencies instead of the aftermath of long-ticking health time-bombs.

The only thing that would be left to happen would be requiring pundits to acknowledge that theirs isn’t the only opinion and to actually provide a factual basis for their arguments. Umm, hang on, I think the Easter Bunny is at the door …