At dinner tonight (I Live in Germany) with five families the talk of the US health care was quite

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. Standard of living, that's the real issue and none of our leaders are even taking about it

except in the most general, and usually patronizing, way. The "disappearing middle class" is about as close as any of them ever get to raising the issue,

If you tote up all the taxes we pay here, we are paying just a little less than Europeans and we get noting for it. Back when I had an income, I lived in LA proper. After tax take home was about 60% of gross, then after counting sales taxes and various fees I had the privilege of paying just about 51% of my total income to live in this Nirvana of crumbling streets, a criminally negligent school system, and a completely dysfunctional bureaucracy. No health care (that's extra), no justice, and worst of all (to me) absolutely no consequences for rampant graft.

We work like stupid mules, overworked and abused until we're no longer as productive, chasing that carrot to our deaths.