Who is your favorite U.S. President and why? No arguing please

@4meAndyou I expect these aren't your choices! :)

@Abstraction Well, I did vote for Obama, which was the beginning of really blatant Marxism in our country. I will always hate myself for that.

He was and is a professional political agitator who just happened to win office with his charm and because it was time...for someone of his race to win. That being said, he hates this country and hates white people.

I feel as though I got sucked in to that vortex. I don't know how I could possibly explain to my son or to anyone who roots through my stuff after I die, the Obama collectables hidden underneath the Trump collectables.

FDR was a great man, too. For a Marxist.

Lincoln did not believe in equality for slaves, which is true but surprising.

@4meAndyou My wife just had major surgery for a brain tumour on Dec 1. Thankfully it was completely successful. Even without health insurance it cost us nothing. Zero. There were no bills for hospital, surgery team (11 of them) anaesthetist, drugs... What would that have cost us in the USA? Yet we still have captitalism, free enterprise, millionaires, free speech, elections and a high standard of living in our country. It's just health care similar to what Obama was proposing. Technically it's not really marxism or socialism. If so then all of Europe is marxist. If it is marxism I'm very glad of it.

@Abstraction I am so sorry to hear that your wife suffered such a traumatic event. You do know that I am happy to pray for those who are ill, and/or send strong good vibes to aid in healing. It will be my honor to pray for her now. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Her brain tumor surgery and all that is involved with that, would probably have cost $2 to $300,000.00.

I am not sure where you are living now, (Australia?), but I do know that Canada's public health care, as an example of what can go wrong, is in process of crumbling. The United States has free health care for Vets and for the indigent and for those who simply can't earn enough to support their families. and we have always had that. That is our welfare system, and once families qualify for welfare, they also qualify for state aided health insurance, which is usually very good.

Right now, we are overwhelmed with indigent illegal immigrants, who are crushing our health care and welfare systems. It's so bad that our own military veterans have to share care facilities with the illegals and our own heroes can't get an appointment.

Obama care died a natural death when one insurance company after another began to charge steeply increasing rates to cover those who selected it.

There is government health insurance available for those who qualify for it, but it is largely unadvertised.

@4meAndyou We have immigrant problem also affecting our housing availability. Only in our case it's poor planning by our government.

It's interesting that you seem to consider Obama the failure rather than the health insurance companies who sabotaged the healthcare system which was like the healthcare systems that deliver better healthcare than the USA in many other countries (see below). An American psychiatrist stated that they get [i]daily calls[/i] from health insurance to stop payments for patients - do you have evidence that they are still suicidal? When they cut payments they are faced with the choice to see people for nothing to save their lives. So let's examine how the healthcare system stacks up:

[b][u]Cost effectiveness[/u][/b]: The most expensive health system in the world is USA @$12,300 per person. More nearly double the second place and 3, 4, 5 or more times the cost of most other countries. The drug companies and insurance companies are making massive profits. So private enterprise is not effective.
But is it EFFECTIVE?

[b]Quality of health services[/b]: Legatum Prosperity Index* healthcare indicators rank USA #69 in the world. Objective indicators. The indicators for this are: [i]"The Health pillar measures the extent to which people are healthy and have access to the necessary services to maintain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, illness and risk factors, and mortality rates."[/i] I think they are quite good measures for a healthcare system, what do you think? https://www.prosperity.com/rankings (the second green one is healthcare).
Now the[u] quality of medical services[/u], if you can pay, is VERY good in the USA. But in terms of serving the needs of the population, private enterprise fails the great country of USA. Why? Private enterprise aim for profits.

[b]Canada[/b]: I don't know about Canada's current healthcare situation but I've been hearing from Fox News and Republican Politicians for 15-20 years that it's falling apart when I know it wasn't. Well Canada are ranked #32, Australia #21. Singapore is #1. If Canada has problems they are still way better than the USA in serving their population. The majority of these countries ranked above USA are NOT socialist or marxist. They deliver more cost effective healthcare to all. As I just experienced. I humbly suggest that the commercial interests of drug companies and health insurers may sometimes be linked to misinformation and evidence exists that their business practices take a dreadful toll on good Americans who deserve better.

* Used by governments around the world on critical indicators for planning.

@Abstraction It is definitely all about the money, here. Doctors will close their practices to Medicare patients and refuse to accept any more of them, for example, because they don't like the way Medicare only pays a fraction of what the doctors want to charge. Most Americans with Medicare need to have a second insurance plan. Some Medicare patients can't even find a doctor who will take them on.

Big Pharma is out of control. They spend a huge amount of money on television commercials advertising their drugs, which may or may not be safe. They have famously overcharged diabetics who need insulin every day, so that those people regularly take trips up the Canada, if they can, to buy cheap insulin. Fortunately, the government does take an interest in that, and is trying to get the Big Pharma Monster under control.

@4meAndyou When I was doing my development studies I worked out that if a country could balance three things they were likely to be prosperous with strong economy, the poor would be ok, free speech would happen...
* [u]The markets[/u]. (ie, corporates, companies, small business, etc). Strong markets is good economy. But if they dominate, they don't pay their way and you get inequality - which ironically hurts the economy too. Government serves the corporates.
* [u]The government.[/u] Government that listens to the people and enables strong economy is great - balance of human rights and everyone wins together. If it dominates, human rights are eroded. Freedoms disappear and the economy suffers.
* [u]Civil society[/u]. (ie, people had a say.) I don't recall finding any country where the will of the people was TOO much.

@Abstraction That's amazing, and obvious now that I read what you've written. Human rights and freedom and the economy are linked...dominant markets hurt the economy.