Is it OK for foreigners to participate in the forums?

[phill4paul]

Thanks. I'm aware that English is trying to use gender neutral pronouns. I always use "they" when I want to refer to a person without referring to their gender but I didn't know that calling the US "she" would offend people.

Fun fact: Persian is a gender neutral language. We do not have masculine or feminine nouns or pronouns. If English were a neutral language too, learning it would've become much easier for people like me.

I could tell you were a woke individual from a woke culture. Your choice of a user name does not denote a specific gender. Had I known 12yrs. ago what today's culture demands I would probably have chosen "american4ex-congressperson."

[Superfluous Man]

Are Americans against public healthcare?

Most Americans support public healthcare, as evidenced by the people they keep electing to public office. Very few politicians who oppose spending taxpayer money on healthcare can get elected to any office where they could vote on that issue, and those that do find that they need to make all sorts of compromises to assure people that they won't actually vote to decrease healthcare spending until after some other things that are never going to happen get accomplished.

[Swordsmyth]

Thanks. I'm aware that English is trying to use gender neutral pronouns. I always use "they" when I want to refer to a person without referring to their gender but I didn't know that calling the US "she" would offend people.

Fun fact: Persian is a gender neutral language. We do not have masculine or feminine nouns or pronouns. If English were a neutral language too, learning it would've become much easier for people like me.

Phill4paul is joking, he is one of the last people on earth who would cooperate with the "gender neutral" garbage.

[fisharmor]

education in public schools and universities is free and we pay a lot less for healthcare than the US (which happens to have one of the world's leading medical infrastructure but it overcharges her citizens).

There are two different problems to discuss on both of these topics. For both education (and that includes LOWER education as well) and healthcare, there is the topic of prices in general, and the topic of how to increase access to the goods and services that are more expensive.

On the first topic, overall prices, the general axiom that most of us here recognize (there's nothing to believe in here - we're talking an axiom that is self-evident) is that, in the absence of state interference, increased market demand leads to competition, which leads to both innovation and lower prices.

When there is demand for a good or service, and new actors are free to enter the market at will, there will be a tendency to try to drive prices lower because that is the easiest way, in a totally free market, to capture customers. Lower prices can be achieved either through a competitor simply being willing to live with less, or through that competitor innovating his way into lower prices and keeping his profit margins.

Right now, in America anyway, medicine is a bigger problem than education, because the cost of education here has been driven down to practically nothing. Oh, it still costs a ton of money to get a degree, but the education is literally free. All you need is a device that can connect to the internet and YouTube. You can get an entire year of access to YouTube on a phone that also does other things, for less money than a one-semester junior college course costs. So the answer to "Education is free in Iran" is that education is also free in America. We just did it differently... and as a result, more and more parents are getting more and more comfortable with keeping their children out of public schools by choice. Most kids can get the same amount of education in one hour that public schools take almost 7 hours to teach.

I say medicine is a bigger problem because medicine here (and also, I suspect, in Iran) is a cartel system. It is not a free market. We are constantly having court cases here on things that are as frivolous as SHOES, because, as the faulty reasoning goes, you can't make a claim that your shoe is better for someone's feet without acting in the capacity of a physician. I won't say that education is free from government interference (because there's a lot of it), but medicine is much worse - and as a result, much more expensive.

There has been a thing called 'medical tourism' in the US for over a decade now - because it is well known at this point that if you need an expensive but routine procedure done, you can get a free trip to Costa Rica out of it, because the cost of air travel, hotel, dining, and the entire vacation, PLUS the surgery, is still less than what the surgery would cost in the US - and the service in the foreign physician offices is way better, too.

Part of that might be due to exchange rates, and part might be due to the local economy in the other country being depressed, but most of the reason for that is because those foreign physicians are in a freer market than in the US and have to hustle for their money.

[fisharmor]

But on the topic of how to increase access to expensive services... you know, the word "charity" has been much maligned in the recent past here, but I suspect that was engineered to make it more likely for people to accept substandard state services over charity.

I'm of the last generation of people to grow up with charities advertising - I remember the March of Dimes, the Shriners, the Ronald McDonald foundation, even the United Negro College Fund all advertising, asking for donations.
They don't anymore.

The point being, this was an already solved problem prior to the state getting involved. All the state has done is increase prices and make it MORE likely that people actually need charity.

[oyarde]

This whole economic part wouldn't make sense immediately. You gonna need to do a lot of reading and in time you will get it. Btw the economic message is that last message I got. Foreign policy brought me in just like you and economic message came much later.

I am totally opposite . It was always the economics for me .Gradually , with sadness I had to accept I cannot just on a whim invade and pillage other countries and I should get a real job .

[Iranian]

Every one of them has a smaller population than the socialist mecca of California.

And just look at the mess Ca. is in with its ability to fleece the rest of the nation.

Yeah. Scandinavian countries are small, but Germany, many EU countries or even your neighbor Canada are not that small. What about them?

What about small local communities having the monies paid to the federal government in the peoples wallets?

Humanity will provide for its lesser able if humanity isn't taxed to pay federal oversight.

Not always. If that were true, there wouldn't have been so many homeless people in rich states like California or New York.

That oil belongs to us.

Come and get it.

This whole economic part wouldn't make sense immediately. You gonna need to do a lot of reading and in time you will get it. Btw the economic message is that last message I got. Foreign policy brought me in just like you and economic message came much later.

Yeah. I'm familiar with the general ideas behind capitalism and I understand why it performs so well as a system, but it increases the gap between the poor and the rich (which is, ironically, one of the reasons why capitalism performs so well).

I could tell you were a woke individual from a woke culture. Your choice of a user name does not denote a specific gender. Had I known 12yrs. ago what today's culture demands I would probably have chosen "american4ex-congressperson."

Not really. But still, the whole concept of gender in grammar is useless and unnecessary because it does not add much information to a sentence.

Most Americans support public healthcare, as evidenced by the people they keep electing to public office. Very few politicians who oppose spending taxpayer money on healthcare can get elected to any office where they could vote on that issue, and those that do find that they need to make all sorts of compromises to assure people that they won't actually vote to decrease healthcare spending until after some other things that are never going to happen get accomplished.

Thanks! Finally someone who believes public healthcare is not a sham!

[Superfluous Man]

Thanks! Finally someone who believes public healthcare is not a sham!

You misunderstood me. Taxpayer funded healthcare is definitely a sham. But most Americans are all for that sham. Your question wasn't about what I think, but about what Americans think.

[oyarde]

Yeah. Scandinavian countries are small, but Germany, many EU countries or even your neighbor Canada are not that small. What about them?



Not always. If that were true, there wouldn't have been so many homeless people in rich states like California or New York.



Come and get it.



Yeah. I'm familiar with the general ideas behind capitalism and I understand why it performs so well as a system, but it increases the gap between the poor and the rich (which is, ironically, one of the reasons why capitalism performs so well).



Not really. But still, the whole concept of gender in grammar is useless and unnecessary because it does not add much information to a sentence.



Thanks! Finally someone who believes public healthcare is not a sham!

It is not possible for Federal tax monied health care to not be a sham in America . The current known amount of fraud in medicare and medicaid is staggering .I imagine the VA is the only tax funded health system in america that has verification.

[Iranian]

There are two different problems to discuss on both of these topics. For both education (and that includes LOWER education as well) and healthcare, there is the topic of prices in general, and the topic of how to increase access to the goods and services that are more expensive.

On the first topic, overall prices, the general axiom that most of us here recognize (there's nothing to believe in here - we're talking an axiom that is self-evident) is that, in the absence of state interference, increased market demand leads to competition, which leads to both innovation and lower prices.

When there is demand for a good or service, and new actors are free to enter the market at will, there will be a tendency to try to drive prices lower because that is the easiest way, in a totally free market, to capture customers. Lower prices can be achieved either through a competitor simply being willing to live with less, or through that competitor innovating his way into lower prices and keeping his profit margins.

Right now, in America anyway, medicine is a bigger problem than education, because the cost of education here has been driven down to practically nothing. Oh, it still costs a ton of money to get a degree, but the education is literally free. All you need is a device that can connect to the internet and YouTube. You can get an entire year of access to YouTube on a phone that also does other things, for less money than a one-semester junior college course costs. So the answer to "Education is free in Iran" is that education is also free in America. We just did it differently... and as a result, more and more parents are getting more and more comfortable with keeping their children out of public schools by choice. Most kids can get the same amount of education in one hour that public schools take almost 7 hours to teach.

I say medicine is a bigger problem because medicine here (and also, I suspect, in Iran) is a cartel system. It is not a free market. We are constantly having court cases here on things that are as frivolous as SHOES, because, as the faulty reasoning goes, you can't make a claim that your shoe is better for someone's feet without acting in the capacity of a physician. I won't say that education is free from government interference (because there's a lot of it), but medicine is much worse - and as a result, much more expensive.

There has been a thing called 'medical tourism' in the US for over a decade now - because it is well known at this point that if you need an expensive but routine procedure done, you can get a free trip to Costa Rica out of it, because the cost of air travel, hotel, dining, and the entire vacation, PLUS the surgery, is still less than what the surgery would cost in the US - and the service in the foreign physician offices is way better, too.

Part of that might be due to exchange rates, and part might be due to the local economy in the other country being depressed, but most of the reason for that is because those foreign physicians are in a freer market than in the US and have to hustle for their money.

I don't think an axiomatic system is a good choice for discussing humanities and I say that as someone with a background in pure mathematics. Assuming abundance of resources and in the absence of monopoly and conglomerates, your proposition that increased market leads to competition and hence, innovation and lower prices stands valid. But we don't have unlimited resources on the earth. And when there are companies that are as powerful as the government, they can impose their policies on the public and increased market may eventually lead to higher prices for lower quality products.

Actually, many people inside the US or outside the US think that one of the reasons that the US finds herself committed to certain foreign policies is exactly because of that. Because there are companies and people from certain backgrounds who possess huge wealth and power that have formed a Deep State or a Shadow Government inside the US. And no matter who gets elected, certain US policies will never change.

Education in Iran is not completely free. It is free only if you choose to study at a public university (and the top universities in Iran are public universities, unlike the US where the best universities are usually private institutions). There are also semi-governmental and private schools and universities in Iran. Actually, I strongly believe in the US education system. It's the best system in the world in my opinion. And it offers a lot of opportunities to scientists who want to dedicate their time to science only. But although it's doing incredibly well and it attracts the most talented people from all over the world, it offers not much to the ordinary American citizens.

Yes, I'm well aware of medical tourism in the US. One of my penpals from Idaho had to fly to Croatia for fixing his teeth. I think the reason that the US medical system performs so poorly is because companies involved in medicine and pharmaceutics have powerful links in the system and they're simply milking you guys. It's not because of the exchange rates. They overcharge you because they can. As simple as that.

[Superfluous Man]

But we don't have unlimited resources on the earth.

Practically speaking, within the time frame of human existence, we do. We have accessible economic resources that are not bounded by some strict limit, but rather that increase by the application of human labor, and that increase more and more via ingenuity, and this happens most effectively in free markets. The world economy isn't a zero-sum game where one person getting more means there's less left over for someone else.

[timosman]

Practically speaking, within the time frame of human existence, we do. We have accessible economic resources that are not bounded by some strict limit, but rather that increase by the application of human labor, and that increase more and more via ingenuity, and this happens most effectively in free markets. The world economy isn't a zero-sum game where one person getting more means there's less left over for someone else.

The only unlimited resource we have is human stupidity.

[Iranian]

Practically speaking, within the time frame of human existence, we do. We have accessible economic resources that are not bounded by some strict limit, but rather that increase by the application of human labor, and that increase more and more via ingenuity, and this happens most effectively in free markets. The world economy isn't a zero-sum game where one person getting more means there's less left over for someone else.

Not really. Even within the time frame of a particular generation, we don't. That's one of the reasons that inflation exists and it's one of the main motivations for endless wars since the beginning of mankind.

[tod evans]

Yeah. Scandinavian countries are small, but Germany, many EU countries or even your neighbor Canada are not that small. What about them?

Start here;

[fisharmor]

I think the reason that the US medical system performs so poorly is because companies involved in medicine and pharmaceutics have powerful links in the system and they're simply milking you guys.

Oh, absolutely. That's the cartel I was mentioning earlier.
The pharmaceutical companies can do it because the only way to produce drugs here is with the blessing of the state.
The physicians do it because the only way to practice medicine (all the way down to making shoes), is with the blessing of the state.

[pcosmar]

. I think the reason that the US medical system performs so poorly is because companies involved in medicine and pharmaceutics have powerful links in the system and they're simply milking you guys. It's not because of the exchange rates. They overcharge you because they can. As simple as that.

Other side of the world,, but on the same page.

It is as simple as that.

[pcosmar]

Not really. Even within the time frame of a particular generation, we don't. That's one of the reasons that inflation exists and it's one of the main motivations for endless wars since the beginning of mankind.

I believe there is another reason,, but that gets into Faith..

There is Evil in this world.. it has no national boundaries.

[r3volution 3.0]

Hi everyone,
I just registered here. I live in Iran and I'm not well-informed about American internal affairs, but I have read some of Ron Paul's interviews and I have to say that I find myself agreeing with many of his ideas regarding the US-Iran relations. Even though I can't support anyone, but I follow some politicians like Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul. I checked some of the threads on here and I thought maybe joining you guys would be a good idea.

So, is it OK for me to join here? Or is it an American-exclusive website?

Ron Paul Forums isn't reserved for Americans, but you will find that several of our regular members are hostile to you because you're not an American, and especially because you're an Iranian (our current idiot President is told to say on television that Iranians are bad...). In any event, I can appreciate that you like Ron Paul's statements on foreign policy, especially vis a vis Iran, but the essence of libertarianism (the political ideology which Ron Paul espouses) is laissez faire: the unfettered free market. Libertarianism is primarily a school of economic thought, intended to guide domestic policy. Libertarians also tend to be anti-war (which in the US means being against invading other countries, since that is what our government tends to do). Assuming you aren't familiar with this kind of economic thought, I suggest you read the following:

https://fee.org/media/14946/economicsinonelesson.pdf

Cheers

P.S.

Thanks. I'm aware that English is trying to use gender neutral pronouns. I always use "they" when I want to refer to a person without referring to their gender but I didn't know that calling the US "she" would offend people.

Civilized Anglophones disregard recent, goofy attempts to butcher the language.

For example, I was recently reading something relating to classical Greece.

The author actually corrected Aristotle (!) with [brackets] to insert a feminine pronoun.

Such a person should be taken out into a field and shot in his head.

...just kidding, of course, but he shouldn't be published by anyone, ever, under any circumstances.

...because he is a barbarian.

[Republicanguy]

I am Nigerian, so I guess its OK to be a foreigner. Plus we have had quite a few indians on the forum. Not red indians but red dot indians

A nigerian or Nigerian immigrant? You believe liberty will work in Nigeria?

[Chester Copperpot]

I am Nigerian, so I guess its OK to be a foreigner. Plus we have had quite a few indians on the forum. Not red indians but red dot indians

youre Nigerian?

[Superfluous Man]

Plus we have had quite a few indians on the forum. Not red indians but red dot indians

Are any of them regular posters (not counting any of the reincarnations of Fire11)? I did not know. But I'm glad to hear it.

[Stratovarious]

The only unlimited resource we have is human stupidity.

And the Federal Reserve....

[Sammy]

I am Nigerian, so I guess its OK to be a foreigner. Plus we have had quite a few indians on the forum. Not red indians but red dot indians

Nigerian American? Or just Nigerian?

[Sammy]

Are Americans against public healthcare? Why? I think that's something we should discuss in another thread.

I oppose almost everything the Government does. The Government should only protect our rights & they should protect our border.
Healthcare would be much better if the Government would get out. It should be cheap but not free!

[juleswin]

Nigerian American? Or just Nigerian?

youre Nigerian?

I am Nigerian and an American citizen. See, when I got my US citizenship, they did not object to me still holding unto my Nigerian citizenship(I asked). So now, I still maintain a Nigerian passport so I won't need a visa when I am trying to visit my parents and a US passport so I can travel to Europe without a visa. See, most people think its about welfare but its really about freedom of movement

A Nigerian or Nigerian immigrant? You believe liberty will work in Nigeria?

Its possible but wouldn't put my money on it happening any time soon. You got to crawl first before you can walk.

[dannno]

@Iranian

There are paid shills here posing as fervent patriots. They will give you a hard time in an effort to shut you up, and the moderator will not make them behave and obey forum guidelines. I apologize in advance for them.

Ron Paul Forums isn't reserved for Americans, but you will find that several of our regular members are hostile to you because you're not an American, and especially because you're an Iranian (our current idiot President is told to say on television that Iranians are bad...).

These two posters consistently post intellectually dishonest information.

I don't think there is a single poster here who has any problem with Iranians.

Donald Trump loves Iranians. He just isn't a huge fan of the regime.

Many of us here understand that you cannot have unlimited immigration and a huge welfare state. The two posters above do not understand that concept.

Additionally, as you can see we are very anti-socialist here.

If you have a free market system, then the people who migrate to your country will tend to favor free market systems.

Since we have a socialist system combined with a wealth generating capitalist system, a lot of migrants come for the socialism. It turns out that the migrants who come here vote for Democrats at nearly double the rate of natives.

Some of us here would support an open immigration system, or something close to that, if we didn't have a huge welfare state. But we refuse to under these current conditions, because relatively open/illegal immigration is leading us to a less free society.

[Republicanguy]

Right and the republican party has been welcoming to all, including native people in the US?

The republican party represents the white christian order of America, who don't like the idea of a Hispanic America, that was one of the reasons why he was elected, there is truth to that. Now everywhere tends to like their own culture and even race, religion.

That is the unfortunate truth at times.

I suspect if Asia or Africa experienced what happens in more western countries, there would be the similar mindset. But when one is desperate to get somewhere, obviously they face problems, due to criminals, who may also be from where ever the migrants are from.

[tod evans]

Right and the republican party has been welcoming to all, including native people in the US?

The republican party represents the white christian order of America, who don't like the idea of a Hispanic America, that was one of the reasons why he was elected, there is truth to that. Now everywhere tends to like their own culture and even race, religion.

That is the unfortunate truth at times.

I suspect if Asia or Africa experienced what happens in more western countries, there would be the similar mindset. But when one is desperate to get somewhere, obviously they face problems, due to criminals, who may also be from where ever the migrants are from.

What government agency provides you with a 'puter and connection?

I'm pretty sure it's not one that has actually hired you so that pretty much leaves the taxpaying Limeys footing the bill for you to post as one of their countrymen while living on the dole.

You know if you put as much effort into learning to drive as you do posting you could probably get a job delivering pizza or hauling trash....

[Sammy]

Right and the republican party has been welcoming to all, including native people in the US?

The republican party represents the white christian order of America, who don't like the idea of a Hispanic America, that was one of the reasons why he was elected, there is truth to that. Now everywhere tends to like their own culture and even race, religion.

That is the unfortunate truth at times.

I suspect if Asia or Africa experienced what happens in more western countries, there would be the similar mindset. But when one is desperate to get somewhere, obviously they face problems, due to criminals, who may also be from where ever the migrants are from.

You have serious problems my Friend.It's time for you to visit a mental doctor!

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]