The United States is the richest damn country on the planet. We can afford it. 

Republicans constantly complain that we can’t afford health care coverage for all, or dozens of other programs that we, the people, could use to make our lives better. Yet somehow they always find money for the things they want…

One estimate says that if we had a national health care program, it would cost $600 billion. Wow! That’s a lot of money! “We could never afford that!” say Republicans.  (Oh, in a completely unrelated matter, here’s an article about how Republicans today passed a bill giving the military $700 billion this year.)

We apparently have an infinite budget when it comes to defending Americans against foreign attacks, but a minor one for protecting us against illness and disease.

Another study shows that if we just raised taxes on the super-wealthy back to levels we had under President Eisenhower, we’d gain $276 billion a year right there.

The fact is that we have the money — we’re like a family that has said, “Sorry, kids, we can’t afford to get your teeth fixed because we have spent all our money on these 30 cars we don’t need and gave the rest to your rich uncle.”