Korean Job Discussion Forums

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Just finished watching this film and I must say I was impressed. It's a sad state when the U.S. is the only Western nation (according to the film) to not have universal health care.

I actually felt like moving to France when I saw Moore talking to the American Expats there.

articulate_ink · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 7:17 pm Post subject:

I watched it recently and... it was tough going. The plight of the 9/11 rescue workers tore me up. I'm glad Moore made this film.

Some thoughts about the film and about other comments on this thread:

The problem with discussing the US's social problems today is that the discourse quickly deteriorates into someone (generally from the political right) saying 'that's unAmerican!' or 'that's anti-American' as soon as you challenge the status quo. Now the Republicans are even calling dissent treason. This isn't just absurd, it's frightening.

Someone brought up a good point about the American unemployment rate: it's determined by measuring the number of unemployment claims. When people drop off the rolls, they're out of the system and not counted. I've read numerous studies suggesting the unemployment rate in the US is twice as high as what is officially reported.

Americans do not believe that money spent on infrastructure, health care, transportation, schools, etc is an investment. We have been conditioned to see government spending as inherently wasteful (yes, in the US, a lot of it is) and all taxation as oppressive. Look at that bridge that just collapsed in Minneapolis. This is where that mindset gets us.

I caught one inaccuracy in SICKO. In the first segment, the one about the girl whose parents wanted her to have cochlear implants in both ears, and were incensed when the insurance company denied them, I groaned. It's standard to implant only one ear. The procedure essentially destroys the cochlea. The thought behind this is to preserve the other one for whatever new technology comes down the pike. Cochlear implant technology has improved (I'm still against it when it's done to small children, but that's nother story) but it doesn't change the destructively invasive nature of the procedure. This was not mentioned in the documentary.

On the other hand, Moore's style is to exaggerate to make a point. Fine by me. More Americans need to be speaking out about these issues.

Last thing -- he could have gone farther, because the film didn't talk about the connection between the health care industry and the financial industry. One reason people are wiped out by health care bills in the US is that the consumer credit system is stacked against the consumer. Once there's a black mark (such as for bills you can't afford) on your credit rating, financial services like mortgages and car loans become a lot more expensive, deposits for things like utilities and cell phone service become necessary, and so forth. Once that system is working against you, it's almost impossible to extricate yourself from it.

The cure for what's going on in the US is a Second Republic, IMHO, but that's not likely to happen in my lifetime.