Hospitals aren't required to store patient information forever. I believe that they can destroy data after 7 years in the UK. So while it may be illegal for the company to charge him so much for the information, when there's a price limit for that sort of thing, he should be glad they kept it at all.

Not to mention leaving the White House just before the bubble burst.

Nothing's stopping people from reading the news online from a trusted source, such as the BBC, rather than watching the trash that passes for news television these days (BBC world service and to a lesser degree CBC excepted, of course). The truth is, the average person is very easy to persuade with ads and misinformation. While good public education can foster critical thinking, at the end of the day people deserve some of the blame if they stay ignorant, when most of them have the means to become informed, through the internet.

Something similar has happened in Canada. Previously, minorities used to vote for the Liberals or the NDP. However, now they are starting to vote Conservative instead. The truth is, most immigrants are actually very conservative, compared to the population of Canada at least, and so as long as the right-wing makes sure to not be racist in any way, they should be able to get the minority and immigrant vote.

The thing is, I don't see why it's a bad thing that fewer Germans have gone to university. In the United States, clearly people are getting degrees just so HR can check off a box when scanning through stacks of resumes. I strongly doubt that Germans have a shortage of engineers, scientists, and whatnot. So why try to maximize the number of people that go to university? It's a poor policy because 4 years of wasted productivity, for the people that are getting a degree they don't need, adds up to massive losses in total production for a country.

First of all, it doesn't make much sense to talk of the "Canadian system." While the federal government does provide some funding and services, most healthcare in Canada is run by the provinces, so quality varies significantly between them. Secondly, the tax burden is nowhere near 70% in Canada. If you earn over $150000, you might pay 50% of your salary in taxes, but more than that is unheard of. If you have a good accountant and create a corporation you own to funnel your earnings through, and to own your property, you can pay below 20%, depending on the situation (there are many tax breaks for the first 200 000 in revenue a small company generates, you can depreciate your house, car, etc. and use that as an expense, and so forth). An average, middle-class person probably pays 25-35% in taxes.

Besides, while I dislike how Harper is trying to turn Canada more into the US, I voted for him mainly due to how good Jim Flaherty, our Minister of Finance, is. Seriously, he has managed to make Canada mostly sidestep the recession, and minimized the damage in spite of how 85% of our trade is with the US, and our dollar is strong right now.

Actually, most equipment, such as Scantron, etc, does. While it's possible to do it optically, it can be done much faster by using electrical conductivity. That said, when, instead of correctly spotting 100 marks on a multiple choice answer sheet, you only need to do a few points, optical sensors probably make more sense.

Considering your government's balance sheet, you really think the Brits would want you back? Seems like taking on 15 trillion of debt is not very different from putting a bullet in your head, economically speaking.

To be fair, in other countries banks do a far better job at self-regulation. For example, here in Canada, not a single bank went under during the last recession, even though in many ways they had fewer regulations than their American counterparts. For example, Canadian banks, as far as I know, have no reserve requirements, while the Americans do. But they still kept plenty of cash on hand so they wouldn't end up going broke. So I'd say the real problem is the short-term-profits and long-term-losses style of management that results in never looking beyond next quarter's stock price. That said, I am in favor of increased regulation, but I do not think that lack of regulation is the only problem you have in the states.

I'd say that it takes a fair bit more than 200k to get to the "prove a point" phase? Why? I make more than that as an actuary and from investments, but with it I make sure that I never have to clean, cook, do the laundry, buy groceries, change a light bulb, fix something, or do basically any manual labor. That isn't cheap in a first world country. The way I see it is, while I could retire and earn a middle-class income from 2 apartments and a house I rent out, I can instead work 7.5 hours 5 times a week and have the rest of my time be real free time, as opposed to spending most of that time doing mundane tasks required to keep a household going.

Some people derive happiness from striving to get more of something, from improving their life, or themselves. Why does Carlos Slim still go around buying and turning companies around? Considering how he's probably the world's richest man, he obviously has no need to do so, so therefore he does it because he enjoys it. Basically, one can derive happiness from the journey, as opposed to just the destination.

No. By thinking rationally, you can figure out what the appropriate reaction is to other people and other stimuli, and thus reach better results. Of course, that requires being a good actor, but if you fake emotions often you'll get tons of practice.

Well, how did you expect a 2-hour movie made on a low budget to cover every character in detail and provide them with proper character development? There's only time for so much, and while some of the action could be cut, that would provide room to develop at most 1 more character.

Seriously? Starship Troopers is one of my favorite movies. It combines violence, witty dialogue, and wonderful satire.