French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his beautiful wife
With a podium flown in from France and his fingers firmly entwined with those of his smiling wife, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made a splash even before he opened his mouth for a no-holds-barred speech at Colombia University.
"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor," Sarkozy said, referring to the US health care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama last week.
From the European perspective, he said, "when we look at the American debate on reforming health care, it's difficult to believe".
"The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them... is something astonishing to us."
Then to hearty applause, he added: "If you come to France and something happens to you, you won't be asked for your credit card before you're rushed to the hospital."
Rightardia comment: Nicolas Sarkozy is a center right French politician. In Europe the right wing has not always opposed health care. Conservative governments established health care in Germany in the 19th Century and the Tories the UK in the 20th.
We think the problem in the US is that the GOP has become increasingly fascist and ideological. The GOP bitterly resists any reforms that affect corporations. The words corporatism and fascism are synonyms.
FDR understood the fascism of Germany and Italy well. FDR said:
That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group."
The GOP also likes to perpetuate the myth that corporations cannot thrive with regulation. Then why does the European Union's economy today rival that of the US. Most of the European countries have social reforms that go well beyond what our government provides to Americans.
Denmark was rated the happiest country in the world by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). All Danes get six weeks of vacation a year, free medical care and free college. If a women has a child, she gets a year off with pay to raise the child.
American need to wake up. We are not the greatest country in the world and all the right wing offers with its corporate serfdom is low wages, reduced benefits and a low probability of retiring with a corporate pension. Many corporations no longer even offer a pension. Corporations prefer the 401K and Roth IRAs that are really just employee savings plans.
Source: Associated Press
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-world/sarkozy-l...
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