The house, [the republicans], voted the money to run the government, just no money for Obama care. It is the fool Obama who got his knickers in a knot, & decided to pull the government spending, not the house. Didn't they tell you folk that in those lefty propaganda sheets you all read.

Bazz of course we will need a new energy source some time, [how about methane clathrate in the long term], but we don't need any of the current mix of alternates, now or ever. They are a total loss technologically, & will never be useful on a large scale. Rhrosty's algae farms may be a hope, particularly if CO2 does bring on an ice age, but is a long way away, as is peak oil actually. Either are pricey, but we'll manage.

I agree we should be roaring into gas, not selling it at a dollar a cubic meter as we now do. It is the gas from fracking that is the only prop holding the US industry up right now, [despite Obama's interference], & we should be profiting from our gas. Unfortunately our labour costs now make that impossible. I guess we'll have to have another "recession we had to have", before we can get back on track.

Yes it should be running our road transport, & would have been if not for huge government taxes on it. While we have government expected to pay for everything for everyone, I can't see much else but down for Oz. I wonder how our welfare society will react to the Chinese take over, which must result. If I'm still here, it will be fun to watch.

If some of our ladies would get their noses out of those fool lefty propaganda rags, they just might have some ideas of what is going on in Europe. Of course they wont, & the crunch will come as yet another surprise for them.

Hang on girls, It's going to be a wild ride. I hope you enjoy rollercoasters, & yes we will shout "We told you so".

Dear Hasbeen,

<<I wonder how our welfare society will react to the Chinese take over, which must result. If I'm still here, it will be fun to watch.>>

Not if Australia has nukes, biological weapons and the means to deliver them anywhere in Asia. Why can't we learn from Israel?
China should know very well that any Chinese boots on Australian soil automatically imply Beijing on fire and the rest of China dying of pox, then there will be no invasion (...but poor old Hasbeen will have no fun).

Moreover, having our own nukes would mean that we no longer have to be dependent on the USA and subject to their whims.

Dear Hasbeen,

You really need to broaden your own reading
and possibly with that will come - your outlook.
Afterall, you are entitled to an informed opinion and
the facts, and not simply just what passes down
the colon of the MSM.

Give it a try.

Yuytsu said;
doctors will be able to charge more because their income would now be assured by legislation,

Your reasoning is inverted.
They would not have to charge more to cover the losses !
Their current high charges are covering those who default payment.
Mrs Clinton once had suggested the US should look at copying our
medical system. Nothing came of it as it was considered too socalist.

The Americans have become rather insane on subjects such as this.

Foxy sweetie, I have not read a newspaper for years. I buy the Saturday Gold Coast Bulletin once every few weeks to wrap the scraps. I buy it because it is the thickest, but I never read a single word of it. I'd have to go to the computer to find my glasses to be able to.

I do occasionally watch the Queensland University of Technology student produced news, on the local community access TV station, as although often naive & somewhat lefty in perspective, it is reasonably honest.

I did by accident, catch a commercial station late night news the other night, after the motorsport, & thought it somewhat less mature than the kids from the uni. produce.

As you would understand, the activism contained in everything the ABC does, forced me to stop watching any of their stuff quite a while back.

So sorry sweetie, mine comes from the net.

Dear Bazz,

Only the most poor cannot pay their medical bills (and even then, their outstanding bills wouldn't be extremely high in America because they would have been kicked out of hospital sooner than later) - everyone else would first have to part with their cash, home and car and even with their pants in order to pay their bill.

I am not convinced that those outstanding payments are significant in amount, but even then, while I do not object to the state paying the medical bills of the poor, why also impose medical insurance on those who are not poor, who have their own money to pay their medical bills with and on those who do not want to be treated by doctors in the first place?

Regardless of the significance of this price-down factor, which I think is minor, the increased demand for medical doctors would be a major factor in pushing prices up, because many who otherwise would not have turned to doctors, or not as often, or would have turned to alternative medicine instead, or who would take better care of their health, would now see the doctors more because it's seemingly free.

Another factor contributing to increased medical costs is the extra costs of administration, including the reduced time doctors have to actually do medicine rather than accounting.