<So, nothing ever happens to you?

My mother recently severely burned her right hand inthe kitchen, manipulating paraffine; now she depends on others for tasks she took here entire life for granted. And we are thankful for living in Belgium where the health care is considered the best in the world. She doesn't need to stay at the hospital but gets the visit of a nurse every day to change her bandage. I went through major jaw surgery after a lengthy orthondontic treatment, 2 years
ago. Here, again, I'm thankful for living in Belgium.

Years ago, an American friend of my parents sold his entire pension before retiring from his US firm, in order to save his business. He failed, had absolutely nothing left and instead of retiring, my father offered him a job as a secretary in a Belgo-American club. He got ill and died several years ago, alone and in a very small apartment.

If you work in Belgium, you cannot sell your pension because you can't get it until it's time.

Nobody can pretend never to need the help of doctors, nurses; nobody can pretend being able to expect every potential problem and be properly insured in every case. And about the immigrants: one good reason to welcome them is that they constitute the future workforce: their jobs will help finance the retirement of the shrinking number of Europeans; otherwise, we're faced with an evergrowing older population.



Of course things happen to me. That shouldn't give me a mortgage on my neighbor's life. It is probably worth a study on its own to find out how the Robin Hood Principle has become so ingrained in people that they are no longer capable of thinking in any other way. Are there really no other options for people helping each other besides dumping their wealth into the government and letting them dole it out when you need it in an emergency?

I went through surgery recently too. I paid a fraction of the costs, due to my wife's insurance where she works, for which she pays through the nose from her salary. Not one nickel of government funding was required. It can work just fine.

In America now, the private insurance programs that used to cover the elderly are gone, enthusiastically tossed out by the insurance companies when the government took over with Medicare. It is now actually almost impossible for an elderly person to reject Medicare in favor of private coverage. You are also required to use Medicare if you want your Social Security payments. This is the eventual place we will all end up, and I'm sure a lot of people will be more than enthusiastic about it.

The American who sold his pension was making a free choice about his future. It turned out badly, but it could just as easily have saved his business, made him rich, and added another uptick to the economy. The fact that your government considers its people too stupid or helpless to be allowed to make such a choice in their lives is kind of sad.

As for your immigrants, good luck. It is an interesting question whether their work will make up for the free medical care and other social goodies they will get. It's an open question in our country too, and the answer you get often depends on who you ask.

Animals in zoos live much longer, healthier lives than animals in the wild. They have the best medical care, the best food, good shelter, and are protected from enemies. Most animals in modern, roomy zoos even seem to be quite happy and contented when I see them. They didn't choose to live in zoos, but I sometimes wonder if they were smart enough to make such a choice, how many would willingly walk into the enclosures, and how many would rather take their chances on the veldt. I think a lot of them would walk in.

It's a choice people make with every vote, and sometimes with their feet. Freedom isn't easy, and it sure isn't painless. But I think it's a better way for people to live in the long run.