Raise the Hammer

Dr.Downtown, the only areas of the economy where there are shortages is where government has a monopoly.

My point, is that if you want to get rid of shortages, you need to increase supply and decrease demand. The only way to do that is to let the market work.

Compare toll roads to public highways and you will see this effect clearly. Toll roads run smoothly with little to no traffic congestion, whereas public highways always have traffic congestion.

Your example of the USA as an argument against private health care is confusing, especially since the American government spends the same amount as a percentage of GDP ( approx 7% of GDP) as does Canada. The only reason why their overall figure is higher is because they don't limit private expenditures.

The great thing about living in the USA, however, is that if you want an MRI for your child, you don't have to wait weeks while time is a precious commodity.

Consumers are allowed to decide what they will spend their money on, not the government.

As to your point that there are fifty million people living in the USA without health insurance, this obviously isn't affecting them too adversely, because life expectancy in the USA is about the same as in Canada (78.06 USA vs 80.2 CAN)

As a point of comparison, Germany spends more on public health care and more overall than Canada, and yet has a shorter life expectancy than Canada.

The main point I was trying to make was that shortages are the result of government price controls (which is what free health care is) and that only way to get rid of shortages is to price according to the true cost of the service being consumed.

If you dispute this argument, stop resorting to calling people "idiots" and start using some numbers to back up your assertions. If you can't do this, then you'll be ignored.