Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans

Re:Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans by curiousgeorgio on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @04:33AM (#10498437)

There's a role for government to play in ensuring public safety and transparency, in addition to providing national defense and perhaps a few fundamental infrastructure services. To function effectively in those areas, we don't need them trying to manage the finances of everyone, nor picking and choosing who should or shouldn't be deserving of tax breaks, subsidies, or any of the other countless benefit programs.

When people are out of work or large classes of people are struggling to get by, it's because we haven't provided a suitable environment in which people can thrive (and yes, most people can and will thrive through their own action in a healthy environment), not because the government has somehow failed to give people enough prosperity.

If it were a traditional business (without the ability to print money or use military force), the U.S. government would frankly be one of the most disastrous companies ever imagined - not just bankrupt (many times over), but mismanaged, fraudulent, and corrupt. A huge portion of our paychecks go to support this company today. And we want more of it?

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Re:Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans by creshal on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @04:38AM (#10498449)

Are you listening, or are you posting copypasta?

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Re:Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans by curiousgeorgio on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @04:52AM (#10498500)

A constructive argument might be more appropriate than simply trying to deliver an insult in your comment.

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Re:Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans by creshal on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @04:58AM (#10498520)

I'm just confused, because you didn't address anything in my comment, you're just spewing right-wing propaganda. We tried "small government", it failed horribly and lead to widespread misery and avoidable deaths. How do you plan to make a "small government" without repeating past mistakes?

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Re:Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans by curiousgeorgio on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @05:19AM (#10498575)

I did address your reference to the industrial revolution indirectly, but perhaps I didn't make myself clear. The industrial revolution had numerous positive outcomes including more jobs, increased productivity, and a strong economy. Yes, it also uncovered some serious problems, many of which were addressed by the government (e.g., child labor laws, better working conditions, etc). In my opinion, those are valid areas of government involvement (hence my point about government ensuring public safety), but that's a far cry from the kind of government intervention we're seeing today.

If we failed anything with small government as you say, those things were growing pains that we would have experienced with a government of any scale. I guess what I'm saying is that it's unfair to blame "small government" for the problems exposed during the industrial revolution.

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