[QUOTE]How convenient for you. I can find sources that directly oppose what you are claiming and have facts to back them up and all you can do is claim you can't link because your source was a verbal conversation with someone. That pretty much tells the story right there.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

I saw a comment elsewhere which made the point that there's a difference between a health insurance system and a healthcare system.

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

The problem here, and not just for the US is that the population is aging. Actually it will be a much bigger problem for the EU. That means there will be fewer tax payers to pay into these large government programs requiring the taxes of those that are still paying to go up to cover those that have retired. Now I am not one to complain about paying my fair share in taxes, I am not one of these selfish conservatives, but at the same time you can't get blood from a turnip.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Interesting that you should mention that. We've recently had a running policy debate on that here. But some recent projections have shown that it's not going to be a problem (here). There was an attempt in one of our newspapers to start a baby-boomer v gen's x,y,z etc. but it pretty much petered out when the statistics showed that - for us at least - the previous projections were out of date and that, for various reasons, the great fears of a population unable to sustain itself are misplaced. But that's just here, in Australia of course. It will definitely be different for other nations.

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

Here we will not be in as bad a shape as some EU nations, but projections are that right now there are 4 workers for each retiree and in a couple of years as the boomers continue to retire that number goes down to 2.6 workers. We have an influx of immigrants that will offset these numbers somewhat, if we can just get them legally and paying into the system. In the Eu as I understand it the aging population is a real worry.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu