Germany; just why do we want to emulate them?

'Recent figures show that early this year unemployment reached more than five million people, or 12.6 percent, the highest numbers since the years before World War II.'

I do wish the folks in this country who love the European way of life, the culture, the liberal ideals, the social programs, take a long hard look at the utopia that is Europe. No thanks, keep your socialism and great wine, I will be fine without it.

Just think of what a economic disaster they would have on their hands if the US took it's troops home and they had to start spending more than 3 or 4 percent of their budgets on defense?
They would collapse, or the free medical care and fifty paid days off would have to go by the way. Canada is quite close to this trend. The Canadian government does not have to spend much on defense with the US next door.

Why doesn't the US slash it's defense spending and give everyone free healthcare?

The same reason that 8 million Iraqis voted on January 30th and 800,000 Lebanese citizens marched in the streets demanding democracy. Without a strong American military, and the will to use it for the better good, folks like Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot get the idea that they can kill as many millions as they want without anyone telling them no.

The US military is far from perfect, it is made up of people, and people are not perfected yet. Do they make mistakes? Yup. Does the military have some people who break the rules and give our country a black eye for the world to see? Yup. Does the US military still make the world a much safer place? You bet it does.

As for the free healthcare, I would not be fond of waiting months for life saving treatment. Look at the lines of Canadians in our border states spending their own money to get cancer treatment and surgery because they could die waiting for a their paperwork to get through the giant bureaucracy.

'A letter from the Moncton Hospital to a New Brunswick heart patient in need of an electrocardiogram said the appointment would be in three months. It added: "If the person named on this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies."