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Originally Posted by well named
I think our education system is fairly good on average, but pretty variable and underfunded in many areas. My wife is a college professor. I think we could do better and it would be a good thing for us economically, over the longer term.
This is simply wrong. We spend more per pupil than most - it is not a funding issue. As for college, let's not get into the rate of growth in tuition vis a vi inflation and costs for other goods. The amount we spend here is not the issue.
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We don't have universal healthcare, although expanding the number of people with health insurance was really the primary goal of the ACA and it was relatively successful in that regard. But, saying that we don't have universal healthcare is not the same as saying that we do not offer quality healthcare full stop, although by many metrics the healthcare system in the US functions worse than many European countries (and in a few areas, or for wealthier people, it probably functions better). In any case, actual universal access to some minimum level of healthcare is a worthy goal.
The only metric worthy of discussion is quality of care. Let us not forget that we do have universal coverage for those below the poverty line. We do not let people die in the streets, something your position seems to forget. That said, it really is the middle class that is getting screwed here - they don't qualify for subsidies, so they have care they can't afford to use, and of course the wealthy have all the access they could want. Not to mention that older people are highly subsidized and yet have more wealth than younger generations.
Also, our quality of care is remarkably better. Our cancer survivor rates are some of the best in world - topping Canada, the UK, and Finland. These are the most complex cases that do demonstrate our innovation in taking care of patients. The study chezlaw linked to the other day gave the UK high marks in "calling patients to remind them of their appointments". Sigh.
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Your sentence about Facebook, Google, and Tesla seems to be free association; it has nothing to do with education or healthcare. My main point was that emulating certain policy ideas from European countries, or adapting them for our own use, does not entail being culturally European. Whether or not we adopt or adapt such ideas should be a function of whether or not they would make us better off, rather than being some aesthetic judgement about European culture.
It doesn't have anything to do with healthcare (although our companies do provide insurance for thousands of employees), but it absolutely does have to do with our education system and ingenuity. To dismiss American innovation is to miss the point.