I have a clear conscience. How can you say a country is rich when it is this heavily in debt? Would you classify yourself as rich if you owed 4 to 5 times your annual income, and were going into debt at 1 and half times your income every year?
A lot of ways to tackle the health care issue. Including treating it like auto insurance and allow more open competition, providing individuals the same tax benefits as companies for purchasing it, lowering training requirements for medical personnel, government subsidizing facilities or personnel etc. etc. etc.
No idea how other countries are doing it, for the US to do it we have to radically revise either the federal spending, the federal income or (most likely) both. Stimulating the economy to produce more jobs would certainly be a help. Lot’s of factors, and it won’t be simple. As you said, we keep believing we’re the world’s policeman, country re-builder and peacemaker-- that costs.
As I’ve said before— I know I’ll personally have to pay more as well as have my benefits reduced. Despite all the lovely promises from my government. Not fair, but life never is. We can’t keep going this way. And frankly, I’m not paying for anything if we just keep piling the debt on, nothing noble about forcing folks in the future to pay for stuff we’re using now.