Originally Posted by
Fearandloathing
Canada went through it in the late 1990's and early 2000's. It was painful and a lot of people got hurt. A lot of businesses dependent on federal contracts disappeared, lots of civil servants were fired or given early retirement and they found a whole bunch of new ways to tax us, including a 6% hit at the gas pumps on top of a 7% federal sales tax [a tax upon a tax].
But we virtually eliminated waste, the medical care delivery system went from reactive/surgery based to preventative [see below] and the entire welfare system was revamped almost eliminating fraud.
And, it is the reason Canada's economy has been outpacing that of the US for the last eleven years.
Example: I had an auto crash. The EMT's suspected I might have fainted. In the ER they found an irregularity in my heart. I am over 40, an ex smoker and a diabetic - at risk. They had me in front of a Cardiologist in under two weeks. They have monitored me twice, stress tested me, and done an echo-cardiogram. Why? As my doc said: "cost. it is far cheaper to find a problem now that we can treat without cutting you open later." The cost of the tests combined are one tenth of what open heart would be. The reason Canada does less than one third the open hearts per capita than the US.
Cut, for god's sake cut.