I couldn't agree more about government competency. I used to be in the civil
service. There was a theory that one of the pre-requisites for each
promotion from middle management on up was a partial lobotomy!
Suzie
PS. Sorry for going off topic with all this. Just felt like adding to the
'controversy'.
----- Original Message -----
From: Banbury, Terrence <Terrence.Banbury@dnr.state.oh.us>
To: <Spitfires@autox.team.net>; 'Suzie' <suzie_bear@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 3:28 PM
Subject: RE: gas prices - YIKES! Off Topic
With all due respect,...I would not want government supplied health care.
P.S. I work in a government agency. The ratio of competent to incompetent
is phenomenal. There are competent people involved, but the problems are at
the management level...and that is where the politically-motivated and
incompetent rise to.
> ----------
> From: Suzie[SMTP:suzie_bear@hotmail.com]
> Reply To: Suzie
> Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 3:08 AM
> To: Spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: gas prices - YIKES!
>
>
> I don't know that I can quite agree with the idea that the standard of
> living is much higher here in the UK.
>
> Yes we do have free medical care - when you can get in. A news item last
> night was that a nearby hospital is closed to all new patients because
> they're full. The flu epidemic this winter, among other things, has filled
> all beds so that elective and more urgent surgeries have been endlessly
> postponed. To see a dentist in this area you're looking at a 2-3 month
> waiting list for an appointment.
>
> It's only 5 years ago we got a washing machine, before then I was doing
> all
> my wash by hand, we have no central heating & no double glazing. Perhaps
> in
> our family we're not very representative but this is how I was brought up.
> There are still houses in this country with outside privies, (though we do
> actually have an indoor one!)
>
> I take care of my dad who'd disabled and no matter how often I asked I
> never
> got any help from the social services with him, during my time away from
> here he's taken care of by neighbours & meals-on-wheels. He had to buy his
> own stair-lift and disablilty electric buggy and also pay for several
> thousands of pounds of adaptations to the house from his own pocket as he
> was considered to have too much in savings - so much for acting
> responsibly
> during his work years.
>
> None of my family, or any close friends have ever bought a brand new car -
> they're simply far too expensive, nor do people in my circle generally
> have
> foreign holidays as so many people seem to do (my trips to the US haven't
> exactly been in the category of 'holiday'). And in yesterday's budget the
> government has just hiked tax on petrol again to bring us to 80p a litre,
> (&
> 25p on a pack of cigs, bringing them to over £4 for those of us who still
> indulge). The UK has the highest petrol prices in europe. As most people
> seem to realise, that cost then gets transferred onto the costs of
> everything else due to the high transport costs.
>
> You can look at most things, food, clothes, electronics, furniture etc and
> if you see US & UK prices next to each other they look the same - in
> figures - till you factor in the exchange rate and see that UK prices are
> from 1.6 to 2 times the cost of the equivalents in the US.
>
> Sorry about this non-lbc rant, spending so much time in the US recently
> just
> made me more aware of the differences. Like Laura I'm also on a fixed
> income, only currently mine is nil. That makes me even more aware of the
> cost of everything, and of the lack of jobs in this area too.
>
> Suzie
>
>
> Laura wrote:
>
>
> >
> > Having lived in Europe for 7 1/2 years, and having a major part of my
> > friends from Europe, I dan tell you that, gas prices aside, the cost of
> > living may be higher in cities like Rome and Paris and London, it is not
> > higher in the smaller towns and suberbs. And overall, the quality of
> life,
> > the standard of living is much higher than ours. Credi me! (And at least
> > they're honest about the corruption in their governments! We try to make
> > excuses!)
> >
> > Besides, just because their government tax the bejeebers out of gas-does
> > that make it right for us? I think not.
> >
> > Here, in California, I cannot remember the last time we had .97 cent
> gas!
> > Not in 5 years.
> >
> > Laura
>
>
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