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We hates the Europe
Author: TriSec    Date: 09/18/2010 10:52:57

Good Morning!

Well, if it's an early Saturday blog, that can only mean one thing; I'm off to donate platelets again! I don't know about your neck of the woods, but around the City of Boston there is a critical need for all blood products (and when isn't there, in all honesty?) There's been a large number of blood drive signs that have sprung up, so if you've never donated before, why not give it a try? Blood is an easy donation that will take about one hour of your time. Surely you can afford it to possibly save a life? As for me, I'll be heading out to our local Red Cross to get connected to an apheresis machine for around 90 minutes or so. I find this better than blood donation; I get to watch a video, and since I get back the plasma, I don't have any volume loss and it's a quick recovery. Go on, give them a call!



So let's get on to the news at hand. I can't fathom the right wing anymore. You know this has been going on for years; every time something happens that they disapprove of, it's an immediate comparison to Europe, and "we don't want to be like them". But they have never been able to articulate "Why not?" The closest I've ever been to Europe is Halifax, NS...but fortunately we have the internets. Let's do a little comparison, starting with something near and dear to all Americans...
vacation time.


Figure A presents the average number of paid vacation days (by minimum length of job tenure) for workers in the United States. All workers employed for a year or more receive, on average, 8.9 days of vacation. After 10 years of employment workers receive just over three weeks of vacation. Vacation leave approaches four weeks after 25 years of service.

http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/images/snapfiga.gif


Figure B shows the statutory minimum annual paid vacation days in other advanced countries. It takes a quarter century of service in the United States to achieve mandated minimum vacation allotments in other countries. In fact, there is no mandated vacation time in the United States. U.S. laws and employers should recognize the connection between workers' needs to "recharge their batteries" and connect with family and friends outside of the normal routine of work—needs that may have truly positive implications for productivity and the bottom line.

http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/images/snapfigb.gif




Note the bottom chart again. That's the number of days that employers are required to give their employees in the various countries. That's right; employers in the US are not required to give *any* vacation time if they don't want to.

But then where do you go with that vacation time? Europeans are blessed with a massive passenger rail infrastructure that should be the envy of the rest of the world. Even in London, you can get on a train and be in Paris in about 2 1/2 hours. That's 228 miles; about the same as BOS-NYC. Our train can't do it in less than 4 hours. Even here in the rail-spoiled Northeast Corridor, some places you simply can't get to by train. The once-marquee route of the 20th Century Limited (NYC-Chicago) that was done in 16 hours in the steam era, is now a once-a-day train that takes more than 24 hours to plod along the same route. Yep, I don't want to be like Europe.

And then there's "Socialized Medicine", or as we like to call it on our side, Universal Healthcare. (Another case of bad naming on the left?)

"Socialized Medicine" saved my life.

Remember when I said the closest to Europe I've ever been was Halifax, NS? I've been there many times, but one I remember dearly was over the Canada Day holiday week in 1987. My scout troop was invited to attend the second Nova Scotia Jamboree at Dollar Lake outside of Halifax. (Scotiajamb). About a week before the trip, my brother came down with the Chicken Pox, back in the dark ages before we had a vaccine. I did see my doctor, and he suspected I had been exposed, but there was really nothing he could do for me. So I went to Canada anyway.

By the 3rd day of the trip, I had spike a fever, and was busting out all over. I dutifully trooped down to the medical tent and was admitted to the camp infirmary.

The fourth day of the trip is lost to me. I was apparently in a febrile near-coma. According to the doctors, my temperature reached 104 degrees on the fourth night, and they had called their hospital in Halifax to put a helicopter on standby. If my temp had gone up another half-degree, they were ready to airlift me to town.

But it didn't....and by day 6 I was still not much better, but no longer contagious, so they released me back to my campsite. I survived, apparently none the worse for wear.

For the most part, big-city medicine in Canada and Europe works like this; You get sick, you call your doctor, you get an appointment, and you go see him. Unlike the US, you don't pay him a penny; not even a copay. Yeah, I so don't want to be like Europe.


I could go on, but just these few tidbits clearly indicate that the American system is vastly superior to Europe, right?



 

4 comments (Latest Comment: 09/18/2010 21:21:09 by BobR)
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