This posting is more about America than any one else, though most everyone else gets mentioned, en passant, at least. It has come to my attention (as a computer professional) that America has the most expensive internet service on the planet, and that (in general) Americans enjoy the least amount of service for that money.
It has also come to my attention that a similar situation [note: “similar” does not mean “identical”] situation exists with American health care: we pay, pay, pay for wait, wait, wait, and are often told “oops, your insurance won’t pay for that, therefore you don’t really need it.”
One of the arguments on Capital Hill against “socialized health care” ( back around 2009, that meant giving everyone the same health care that Congress gets) was that it would make for slow service, look at England (they said). Fact is England’s health care is so far ahead of what the typical American gets right now, and costs much less. (For example: I spent 5 years trying to convince doctor after doctor that kidney stones hurt, believe it or not. Finally did get the surgery, though it took some serious persistence. I have heard many, many first-hand stories of such trials-and-tribulations working through the american medical system.)
So, my point, after all that, is simply to ask three questions for your to think about:
Why is the self-proclaimed richest nation in the world content with occupying the 15th slot for Best Health Care System on the planet? (Yes: 15th. You can verify that.)
Secondly, I would ask why the country that invented the internet is content with paying the most for the slowest, least reliable service among all the (so-called) industrialized nations?
Finally, are these two situations symptoms of something else? Or, to put it another way, pieces of the same problem?
Just something to think about…