[jbooth]

It's not silly. All countries with no government or almost no government are hellholes. Whereas, since the fall of the soviet union, most countries with more government than the US are pretty nice.

So, it's not silly to say 'try somalia if you want zero government'. It is silly to say 'try north korea if you want more government', especially since north korea provides fewer government services than western states.

[shirederby]

If you don't want to subsidize health, go live in Somolia.

Opposition to government-subsidized healthcare is not anarchism.

So yes, it is silly, to put it nicely.

[jbooth]

Can you give me an example of a country without government subsidized healthcare you'd like to live in?

[orangecat]

Would you classify the US during the 1990s as a hellhole? The federal government was spending 30% less per capita than it does today, adjusted for inflation.

So, it's not silly to say 'try somalia if you want zero government'.

It's very silly, because it implies that the alternative to spending $3.8 trillion a year is to dismantle core government services.

[jbooth]

And all of that difference is either defense spending or entitlements that caught up to us because of the baby boomer population bump. Not 'services' as most people would understand you meaning them.

Domestic discretionary spending has actually been falling relative to inflation the last 12 years. (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/feb/...)