Boat + 1,324 RG January 27, 2021 8 minutes ago, Eyes Wide Open said: One must say this party of Democrats truly are beginning it feel the heat coming there way. There reaction is to push back hard,very hard cut no quarter. Rand Pauls vote on the floor was humiliating for the party. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/26/rand-paul-impeachment-462655 Dead on arrival’: Trump conviction unlikely after GOP votes to nix trial Nearly every Senate Republican declared Tuesday that putting a former president on trial for impeachment is unconstitutional, indicating that the House’s case against Donald Trump is almost certain to fail. 24 HOURS LATER. US issues terror alert over anti-government extremists The US Department of Homeland Security declared a nationwide terrorism alert Wednesday, citing the potential threat from domestic anti-government extremists opposed to Joe Biden as president. https://news.yahoo.com/us-issues-terror-alert-over-171250871.html If the Dems have a majority in the House it doesn’t matter what the Republicans think. In the Senate I believe it takes 17 Republicans to vote with the Dems. I think they have 5. So Trump wasn’t going to be convicted anyway. Nothing new here, no breaking news. Settle down there wide 👁. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 27, 2021 Issue two. Where are these riots at? How many? How severe? I did a quick Google and saw no evidence of any. "However, violent riots have continued in recent days and we remain concerned that individuals frustrated with the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition... could continue to mobilize a broad range of ideologically-motivated actors to incite or commit violence." So if I said little Dutch men were coming to plug holes with their fingers, would you post it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eyes Wide Open + 3,555 January 27, 2021 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Boat said: If the Dems have a majority in the House it doesn’t matter what the Republicans think. In the Senate I believe it takes 17 Republicans to vote with the Dems. I think they have 5. So Trump wasn’t going to be convicted anyway. Nothing new here, no breaking news. Settle down there wide 👁. Your depth of thought is very shallow, seeing armed soldiers in the nation's capital due to insurrection cries will be tolerated only for so long. Soon the fringes of society will get involved and we will have events. This is a bit like Trump not crying fire when covid hit, had he done so there would have been riots and panic. Today as we speak this vaccine is now being fought over by different factions in this country, teachers from across this nation are acting like children and demanding, Meanwhile the nations most at risk people are being over looked cast aside. When common sense leaves the building and chaos ensues only the weak pay the price...nothing but anger will come from this. Edited January 27, 2021 by Eyes Wide Open Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 27, 2021 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Boat said: I’ll give you a real life example. My retired brother was a contractor. So he finds this siding job to pick up a few bucks. I watched the scaffolding shift, he lost his balance, fell 4’ hit the top of a fence and fell another 4’. He ended up with 7 cracked ribs, a punctured lung and 3 weeks in the hospital. They saved his life for $80,000 he’ll never be able to pay back. He doesn’t attempt to work anymore unless it’s painting, installing cabinets etc. Safer jobs. But if you had to make proof of payment for 10’s of thousands to get treated, most of America would die. This is what many want until it happens to their family. But who pays for that bill, who should. That injury will still happen if you have private or government insurance or no insurance. Is it then smart to end preventive checkups and go to the emergency room for future problems? It’s the same doctors and same medical system. In the end it doesn’t matter because everybody pays when someone can’t pay and that’s most of America. What happen to him if he cannot pay back financially? If you don't mind. Quote A 1985 federal law requires emergency departments to stabilize and treat anyone entering their doors, regardless of their ability to pay. I don't really understand the :"But if you had to make proof of payment for 10’s of thousands to get treated, most of America would die. This is what many want until it happens to their family. ". No one wants it but what backs your statement against the law I quoted? I don't really have experience in US healthcare in desperate situation so everything is from my research out of curiosity and preparation. In VN, if you have a traffic accident and family cannot bring money to hospital on time, they won't do the surgery, which is cruel. ACA give hospital money for "uncompensated care" about 40billions a year with the hope that hospital will make less transfer cost to premium insurance members. But surely it failed as the premiums are still going up. When the premiums went too high for employer to absorb, the deductible went up. So it doesn't help anything but feeding the greed in hospital administration insurance and pharmacy who always want to make the bill bigger. It ends up an increasing in "tax" with middle class. Edited January 27, 2021 by SUZNV 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 (edited) 37 minutes ago, SUZNV said: What happen to him if he cannot pay back financially? If you don't mind. I don't really understand the :"But if you had to make proof of payment for 10’s of thousands to get treated, most of America would die. This is what many want until it happens to their family. ". No one wants it but what backs your statement against the law I quoted? I don't really have experience in US healthcare in desperate situation so everything is from my research out of curiosity and preparation. In VN, if you have a traffic accident and family cannot bring money to hospital on time, they won't do the surgery, which is cruel. ACA give hospital money for "uncompensated care" about 40billions a year with the hope that hospital will make less transfer cost to premium insurance members. But surely it failed as the premiums are still going up. When the premiums went too high for employer to absorb, the deductible went up. So it doesn't help anything but feeding the greed in hospital administration insurance and pharmacy who always want to make the bill bigger. It ends up an increasing in "tax" with middle class. Nothing happened except bill collectors call. Of course to no avail because there is no money. They receive SS but that barely covers necessities. In the US there is no cruel yet. You get treated even if your an illegal. So our problem grows faster than yours. The idea of government doing the paperwork would make all healthcare a nonprofit and save money but that’s called socialism. But no other solution is offered by the right. So on we go. Even government healthcare won’t solve the problem of sustainable healthcare. It will take cutting options like no quadruple heart bypass but you’ll get a stint. Hope you make it. No money for hips and knees but we’ll give you a wheelchair. Generics you can have but high priced drugs, suffer. Like a hybrid cruel. In the US no politician has the balls to suggest cost cutting. Edited January 28, 2021 by Boat Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Boat said: Nothing happened except bill collectors call. Of course to no avail because there is no money. They receive SS but that barely covers necessities. In the US there is no cruel yet. You get treated even if your an illegal. So our problem grows faster than yours. The idea of government doing the paperwork would make all healthcare a nonprofit and save money but that’s called socialism. But no other solution is offered by the right. So on we go. Thanks! Sounds not to bad for me, just like someone save my life and I am constantly reminded that I am forever in his debt and ask me to pay whenever I can. I understand that you were under impression that without Obama Care, many American will die because there is no treatment in emergency without proof of payment? Have you ever wondered why socialism didn't success anywhere? Because government could never spend correctly. If they cannot manage well and lead to crony capitalism with current system , then no hope that they can have socialism successfully. Socialism successful or not depend on the honesty of the politicians and it requires to sustain the honesty. All socialisms/ communism countries later on turn to Crony Capitalism. And the reason US became top 1 and can treated illegal is many previous US generations didn't believe in Socialism. The cruelty I mentioned above from a ex-socialism country that now still called themselves market economy toward socialism. Healthcare used to be non-profit, school used to be non-profit. We both have the same problem now but in case I am not counted: "your country's problem" grows faster than "mines" is because "mines" cannot be anymore worse. Do you really believe someone among these career public servants wish to turn crony capitalism healthcare industry into non-profit organization? Deep down who don't wish for a nanny state that can satisfy me the basic need at let me save money. But even a country was built on a land full of valuable resources, socialism will still fail, despite whatever people promised you. The chance for me to win lottery and being worry free is higher then living the rest of my life in any so called socialism country. Yes, I understand the difference between socialism and communism. It is just the way they can get to power. One believe the rising have to be via revolution of working class and the other are more subtle with gradually transition by dividing into many "inequality" movements and at the right time transit to socialism . But to have the absolute control of distributing resource to satisfy people's need (or greed), the party will need absolute power. If you disagree with them or call them liars, they will remove you for the greater good, for unity among people. Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV 2 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dan Warnick + 6,100 January 28, 2021 47 minutes ago, SUZNV said: Thanks! Sounds not to bad for me, just like someone save my life and I am constantly reminded that I am forever in his debt and ask me to pay whenever I can. I understand that you were under impression that without Obama Care, many American will die because there is no treatment in emergency without proof of payment? Have you ever wondered why socialism didn't success anywhere? Because government could never spend correctly. If they cannot manage well and lead to crony capitalism with current system , then no hope that they can have socialism successfully. Socialism successful or not depend on the honesty of the politicians and it requires to sustain the honesty. All socialisms/ communism countries later on turn to Crony Capitalism. And the reason US became top 1 and can treated illegal is many previous US generations didn't believe in Socialism. The cruelty I mentioned above from a ex-socialism country that now still called themselves market economy toward socialism. Healthcare used to be non-profit, school used to be non-profit. We both have the same problem now but in case I am not counted: "your country's problem" grows faster than "mines" is because "mines" cannot be anymore worse. Do you really believe someone among these career public servants wish to turn crony capitalism healthcare industry into non-profit organization? Deep down who don't wish for a nanny state that can satisfy me the basic need at let me save money. But even a country was built on a land full of valuable resources, socialism will still fail, despite whatever people promised you. The chance for me to win lottery and being worry free is higher then living the rest of my life in any so called socialism country. Yes, I understand the difference between socialism and communism. It is just the way they can get to power. One believe the rising have to be via revolution of working class and the other are more subtle with gradually transition by dividing into many "inequality" movements and at the right time transit to socialism . But to have the absolute control of distributing resource to satisfy people's need (or greed), the party will need absolute power. If you disagree with them or call them liars, they will remove you for the greater good, for unity among people. This is from someone who has lived it. Pay attention, folks. Do not put much trust in our current set of politicians, on either side of the aisle. The only good ones I've seen are cast to the edges, or out of their party altogether. Or they get out of their own accord (Trey Gowdy). 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hotone + 412 January 28, 2021 (edited) On 1/25/2021 at 5:28 AM, El Nikko said: Well I'm not trying to argue for either as the best way but once these state run things get politcised then it generally always happening and eventually they become unsustainable. I'm fine with the NHS in principle but I am not ok with throwing tons of money at it and giving them cart blanch in how they spend it. Anything that is paid for by the state should have an army of auditors and regulators scutinising every transaction....but that won't ever happen in the UK. Most people have forgotten but I would do a little googling over the PFI (privately funded initiative) which started under Bliar and carried on ever since...these scumbags (politicians included) have drained tax payers money into their own pockets and noone...especially not the left say a word about it. In short hospitals are trapped in very long contracts now and they are forced to buy things that are very cheap if sources normally from specific companies who charge obscene amounts of money. This also happens with schools as well by the way. Private health care is far better from my experience BUT you have to pay for it and who can afford that right now? Actually, while you might find it hard to believe now is a great time to get some NHS treatment, many departments are absolutely desperate for patients. I have problems with my neck vertebrae which have compressed the nerves and have been seen as quick as when I was with BUPA years ago...absolutely unbelievable! Get in there now while you can lol. So yes I'm fine with our NHS but I want to see value for money because we do pay for it....or rather our kids and grandchildren will at the rate we're going. @SUZNV @Boat I believe that Boris is an advocate for Britain to become a 'Singapore on the Thames', post- Brexit. How about adopting their healthcare system? 👇 This is a talk by Dr. Bill Hasseltine, whom I have a lot of respect for, some time ago at Brookings. Edited January 28, 2021 by Hotone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WOC + 6 PI January 28, 2021 (edited) As you know if you follow these threads their is a vast amount of alleged illicit activities and possible fraud that surrounds the Nov. 3rd presidential election. The election results are in question. Were all the legal votes counted? was each vote counted as one vote? were any illegal votes counted? these are a few questions that still remain unanswered. Federally elected officials (US Senators, Representatives, VP, Pres, Supreme Court Justices, etc) are sworn (oath of Office) to defend and uphold the Constitution. With the "stink" of corruption surrounding the election don't you think some official would take that oath seriously and demand those questions be answered? If our elected officials refuse to do their sworn duty to defend and uphold the Constitution by requiring an investigation into the possible illegal or unconstitutional activities involved with this election, then those same elected officials forfeit the right to govern the citizens who elected them. Partisan politics aside, if we do not have faith as citizens in a free, fair and honest election we lose the foundation on which this democracy was built and thereby lost our nation under God. I think the US Government forfeits the right and authority to govern the citizens of the US when they refused to uphold and defend the Constitution. Edited January 28, 2021 by WOC not finished 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 2 hours ago, SUZNV said: Thanks! Sounds not to bad for me, just like someone save my life and I am constantly reminded that I am forever in his debt and ask me to pay whenever I can. I understand that you were under impression that without Obama Care, many American will die because there is no treatment in emergency without proof of payment? Have you ever wondered why socialism didn't success anywhere? Because government could never spend correctly. If they cannot manage well and lead to crony capitalism with current system , then no hope that they can have socialism successfully. Socialism successful or not depend on the honesty of the politicians and it requires to sustain the honesty. All socialisms/ communism countries later on turn to Crony Capitalism. And the reason US became top 1 and can treated illegal is many previous US generations didn't believe in Socialism. The cruelty I mentioned above from a ex-socialism country that now still called themselves market economy toward socialism. Healthcare used to be non-profit, school used to be non-profit. We both have the same problem now but in case I am not counted: "your country's problem" grows faster than "mines" is because "mines" cannot be anymore worse. Do you really believe someone among these career public servants wish to turn crony capitalism healthcare industry into non-profit organization? Deep down who don't wish for a nanny state that can satisfy me the basic need at let me save money. But even a country was built on a land full of valuable resources, socialism will still fail, despite whatever people promised you. The chance for me to win lottery and being worry free is higher then living the rest of my life in any so called socialism country. Yes, I understand the difference between socialism and communism. It is just the way they can get to power. One believe the rising have to be via revolution of working class and the other are more subtle with gradually transition by dividing into many "inequality" movements and at the right time transit to socialism . But to have the absolute control of distributing resource to satisfy people's need (or greed), the party will need absolute power. If you disagree with them or call them liars, they will remove you for the greater good, for unity among people. All Obamacare did was force business to offer healthcare if they had 50 employees or more. The main good of it is those 20 million now can get preventive checkups and hopefully keep them out of the emergency room. One of these days a billionaire like Jeff Bezos will take over let’s say pharmaceutical drugs. He could eliminate pharmacy’s and all their infrastructure. That’s a lot of cost. Unlike the government he could force drug makers to give him a much better price because of the massive volumes. He could also get into medical equipment, buy in volume and become a distributer. Maybe he then starts buying hospitals using his drugs and equipment and attracts health customers because he is now the cheapest. Maybe then he buys the companies that make the drugs and drives down the costs even farther. That would not be socialism but doctors, nurses, and the rest would not get paid near as much because he now controls healthcare. The entire time the company may not make a dime except stock prices. He did that with Amazon. I’m not say that’s possible or impossible. Do you like that better than government that can’t control prices? This would create 10’s of thousands of lost jobs but be much more efficient for the population as a whole. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 20 minutes ago, WOC said: As you know if you follow these threads their is a vast amount of questionable activities and unanswered questions that surround the Nov. 3rd presidential election. Federally elected officials (US Senators, Representatives, VP, Pres, Supreme Court Justices, etc) are sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution. With the uncertainty surrounding the election don't you think someone that took that oath of office would be somewhat I think the US Government lost the right and authority to govern the citizens of the US when they refused to uphold and defend the Constitution. Your on drugs and typing from Russia or China. Lol 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WOC + 6 PI January 28, 2021 Unfortunately, I do not post much and hit the a button that submitted an unfinished post. I later edited the original and re-posted, I guess I will live with the shame of that disjointed post forever. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 13 minutes ago, WOC said: Unfortunately, I do not post much and hit the a button that submitted an unfinished post. I later edited the original and re-posted, I guess I will live with the shame of that disjointed post forever. No shame, happens to all of us. Tell me this. Red being Republican states run by red politicians counted the votes. In a few instances they recounted the votes. A few Republican lawyers gathered evidence and tried 60+ times to get a court trial. Many of these Judges were red. Every Blue, meaning Democrat, and red judge rejected the red Trump lawyers. What does that have to do with the constitution. It seems more like a publicity stunt to piss off red voters. And it worked. But I think Trump and his lawyers pissed off a lot of loyal Trump supporters for doing their job. Just my opinion. This story will continue in court. Now with billions at stake. Should be a fun show. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Boat said: All Obamacare did was force business to offer healthcare if they had 50 employees or more. The main good of it is those 20 million now can get preventive checkups and hopefully keep them out of the emergency room. One of these days a billionaire like Jeff Bezos will take over let’s say pharmaceutical drugs. He could eliminate pharmacy’s and all their infrastructure. That’s a lot of cost. Unlike the government he could force drug makers to give him a much better price because of the massive volumes. He could also get into medical equipment, buy in volume and become a distributer. Maybe he then starts buying hospitals using his drugs and equipment and attracts health customers because he is now the cheapest. Maybe then he buys the companies that make the drugs and drives down the costs even farther. That would not be socialism but doctors, nurses, and the rest would not get paid near as much because he now controls healthcare. The entire time the company may not make a dime except stock prices. He did that with Amazon. I’m not say that’s possible or impossible. Do you like that better than government that can’t control prices? This would create 10’s of thousands of lost jobs but be much more efficient for the population as a whole. Besides force business to offer healthcare, Obamacare forced everyone to buy insurance (normally young and healthy one). Actually business can provide insurance with minimum premium which still pass lots of the cost to the employees or they can choose to buy cheaper plan with higher deductible. So Obama Care only expanded market and profit for insurance by regulations and subsidies. His approach didn't keep the bill down but lock everyone in waiting for their premium & deductible increase very year so pharmacy, insurance and hospital networks can make more money. Election will have consequence for sure. It can be cheaper if Obama make preventive check up for free to all without insurance than to force them to buy insurance plan or facing penalty. I am lost, how does that affect Amazon stock price without making a dim? First these pharmacy companies or medical equipment giant as well although it is not as big as Amazon and they make good revenue with the current system so their companies stock are expensive as well. Even Amazon worth only 1.7 trillions while the healthcare spending worth $3.8 trillions. Jeff won't be able to sell say large portion of his stock without pushing amazon stock down which may turn other investors in panic mode and dump stock. As for Amazon even it can afford it, it can make so much money in offering services, why would they invest something like that just for not making money? Huge risk low return. Secondly prescription and medical equipment have a stable network of customers already and they can charge good price form patients or subsidies, they wouldn't need to do whole sale to Amazon with cheaper price for the same market. Amazon cannot deliver prescription drug or medical equipment for on their networks (individual customers, us). And for most of the case, most of life threaten complication will need talent specialists. You cannot make cheaper salary for quality to attract talent. Finally Amazon wouldn't risk a target of antitrust for being monopoly even with good intention. Jeff is not exactly friendly with the working class either, he is keeping union out of Amazon business. And if they are patriot corporations, they would have pay tax to the US for their international markets. Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 Anyhow it was fun taking on healthcare and let’s keep it going. Nuts and bolts of issues is much more entertaining than insulting. Later we can get into healthcare costs driven by law suits million dollar awards that drive astronomical insurance costs for healthcare workers. Which of course we all have to pay. 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Hotone said: @SUZNV @Boat I believe that Boris is an advocate for Britain to become a 'Singapore on the Thames', post- Brexit. How about adopting their healthcare system? Small population countries are much easier to manage and more room for transparency, and the gap wouldn't be too much. It is hard ofr political to be rich by lobbying as well, not enough room and too much transparency to do that. And especially Singapore with only resource is their people (no gold mine, no oil etc.). It is like very much different in managing a 30 millions worth company with managing 300 millions worth company. Singapore only spend 4.4% in healthcare while US it is 17%, all due to the US healthcare price. It costs US too much because of management and no government attempted to fix the cost instead of increasing the spending. Trump managed to cut some prescriptions down in insulin but it has been reversed by Biden. And Singapore have the compulsory conscription with make youngster look after their health more. Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 7 minutes ago, SUZNV said: Besides force business to offer healthcare, Obamacare forced everyone to buy insurance (normally young and healthy one). Actually business can provide insurance with minimum premium which still pass lots of the cost to the employees or they can choose to buy cheaper plan with higher deductible. So Obama Care only expanded market and profit for insurance by regulations and subsidies. His approach didn't keep the bill down but lock everyone in waiting for their premium & deductible increase very year so pharmacy, insurance and hospital networks can make more money. Election will have consequence for sure. It can be cheaper if Obama make preventive check up for free to all without insurance than to force them to buy insurance plan or facing penalty. I am lost, how does that affect Amazon stock price without making a dim? First these pharmacy companies or medical equipment giant as well although it is not as big as Amazon and they make good revenue with the current system so their companies stock are expensive as well. Even Amazon worth only 1.7 trillions while the healthcare spending worth $3.8 trillions. Jeff won't be able to sell say large portion of his stock without pushing amazon stock down which may turn other investors in panic mode and dump stock. As for Amazon even it can afford it, it can make so much money in offering services, why would they invest something like that just for not making money? Huge risk low return. Secondly prescription and medical equipment have a stable network of customers already and they can charge good price form patients or subsidies, they wouldn't need to do whole sale to Amazon with cheaper price for the same market. Amazon cannot deliver prescription drug or medical equipment for on their networks (individual customers, us). And for most of the case, most of life threaten complication will need talent specialists. You cannot make cheaper salary for quality to attract talent. Finally Amazon wouldn't risk a target of antitrust for being monopoly even with good intention. Jeff is not exactly friendly with the working class either, he is keeping union out of Amazon business. And if they are patriot corporations, they would have pay tax to the US for their international markets. Jeff spends 1 billion a year on his space program. How many can say that. He owns a large newspaper. He just set aside 10 billion to help the world. But it’s not like he can’t spend money. I don’t follow Amazon so I don’t know what the profit level is now or if there is a dividen. I just remember it was years of increasing debt to grow fast. Lastly Jeff would risk antitrust. Like a badge of glory he got so big. Lol That 20 million who are on Obamacare include the young and healthy workers. The average single worker spends 10,000 per year. Obamacare covers 8,000 on a bad accident and the government picks up the rest I think. But at least the government is getting something if your healthy. Amazon kept borrowing, using stock money from investors for incredible speed in growth. Like Musk is doing with cars, space, digging tunnels etc. That’s how both became the richest in the world. Leveraging stock. Remember mom and pop stores? Then Walmart. Now it’s Amazon. Get rid of infrastructure and jobs and do it more efficiently at a lower price while buying in huge volumes to get lower prices. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
surrept33 + 609 st January 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, Boat said: That 20 million who are on Obamacare include the young and healthy workers. The average single worker spends 10,000 per year. Obamacare covers 8,000 on a bad accident and the government picks up the rest I think. But at least the government is getting something if your healthy. Amazon kept borrowing, using stock money from investors for incredible speed in growth. Like Musk is doing with cars, space, digging tunnels etc. That’s how both became the richest in the world. Leveraging stock. Remember mom and pop stores? Then Walmart. Now it’s Amazon. Get rid of infrastructure and jobs and do it more efficiently at a lower price while buying in huge volumes to get lower prices. Yup. Amazon almost went bankrupt during the .com bubble. But the board of amazon believed in Bezos's long term vision, and they got extremely lucky when AOL went under, and they bought up all of the internet fiber trunks (for dirt cheap) in Northern Virginia that used to be part of the DoD's ARPANet/NSFNet, and then were privatized by Worldcom/AOL and friends in the late '90s. After those companies went under, this became the first Amazon Web Services data center. Then for years, Amazon reinvested every $ made on e-commerce on AWS, which then became by far their highest margin business, as it effectively served as a tax on companies wanting to get on the internet @ scale (in cost effective ways). Amazon had a ~7 year head start on the cloud, something Bezos says "never happens ever in business". Tesla almost went bankrupt in 2008 (and the company wasn't even started by Musk). It wouldn't have survived without government subsidies. To Tesla's credit, they probably pushed forward the commercialization of electric cars by a decade or more however. 1 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
surrept33 + 609 st January 28, 2021 35 minutes ago, SUZNV said: Small population countries are much easier to manage and more room for transparency, and the gap wouldn't be too much. It is hard ofr political to be rich by lobbying as well, not enough room and too much transparency to do that. And especially Singapore with only resource is their people (no gold mine, no oil etc.). It is like very much different in managing a 30 millions worth company with managing 300 millions worth company. Singapore only spend 4.4% in healthcare while US it is 17%, all due to the US healthcare price. It costs US too much because of management and no government attempted to fix the cost instead of increasing the spending. Trump managed to cut some prescriptions down in insulin but it has been reversed by Biden. And Singapore have the compulsory conscription with make youngster look after their health more. A lot of the 17% of GDP is due to overhead. For example, we have two competing EMR (electronic medical records) systems consortiums. They don't even talk to each other. We have a *lot* of middle men in our health care system, which I guess theoretically creates GDP and jobs, but surely there is a more productive solutions (but good luck with the institutional inertia, which includes everyone from insurance companies to lawyers who make big $ on malpractice tort, it was a miracle to get the PP/ACA passed in the first place. I know both a lot of people on the right and left dislike it, but it was a massive *compromise*. 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, Boat said: That 20 million who are on Obamacare include the young and healthy workers. The average single worker spends 10,000 per year. Obamacare covers 8,000 on a bad accident and the government picks up the rest I think. But at least the government is getting something if your healthy. Amazon kept borrowing, using stock money from investors for incredible speed in growth. Like Musk is doing with cars, space, digging tunnels etc. That’s how both became the richest in the world. Leveraging stock. Remember mom and pop stores? Then Walmart. Now it’s Amazon. Get rid of infrastructure and jobs and do it more efficiently at a lower price while buying in huge volumes to get lower prices. And that's the problem, they are forced to buy insurance when they chose not to after they pay tax and the premium keep increasing, and they are unlikely to have trouble with health (that's why life insurance are cheap for them). Fat revenue for insurance. The only reason Amazon can grow is for revenue and more services to people and business, expanding the market. They have customers which are hospitals, insurance, pharmacy hosting on their AWS platforms. They are one of the pioneers who started Industry 4.0 which unlimited market. AI, Big Data... only can be growth widely is because of cloud technology. Unlike shopping or cloud, health care (pharmacy, hospital, insurances )don't really need to reach out more people for more revenue because everyone need them. So they focus in expending revenue by increasing prices, even if they can reduce the cost by technology. And we are hoping Amazon will keep borrowing to invest in healthcare industries to keep the prices down for the sake of people, not for competition or expanding the market? Amazon is for revenue, not a non-profit organization. They borrow for invest to make money. Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG January 28, 2021 14 hours ago, Boat said: So if I said little Dutch men were coming to plug holes with their fingers, would you post it? Not only that, but the media would have at least 150 camera crews out there on that dike to film those little Dutchmen! 😀😀 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, surrept33 said: A lot of the 17% of GDP is due to overhead. For example, we have two competing EMR (electronic medical records) systems consortiums. They don't even talk to each other. We have a *lot* of middle men in our health care system, which I guess theoretically creates GDP and jobs, but surely there is a more productive solutions (but good luck with the institutional inertia, which includes everyone from insurance companies to lawyers who make big $ on malpractice tort, it was a miracle to get the PP/ACA passed in the first place. I know both a lot of people on the right and left dislike it, but it was a massive *compromise*. Tesla with current revenue, it took 1600 year for stock investor to get back investment. In the unhealthy economy, stock market is more about speculation than investing on R&D productivity and dividends or long future. Any Tesla investors know that more and more competitor are joining: NIO, even Apple with Hyundai. The key competition in the EV future is with AI. All are bound with the limitation of lithium battery unless one can get out of that obstacle. So it just like tulips mania. Even I like Musk more than many other billionaires. It creates GDP and job but mostly without real competition with transparence pricing, so even when they keep the cost down , they still won't make the price cheaper. Healthcare industry in any country if it is not carefully controlled and more transparency would in the definition in crony capitalism which are unhealthy and will grow like cancer. Do you think that 17% will go up or down in the future? The problem is not how to improve it but who will. ACA IMO, instead of regulate healthcare sector for more transparency, it regulated people and business and throwing subsidies, which is feeding the cancer to grow and currently we have a bigger mess. If truly for the people, government would regulate healthcare providers and when there was no more fat, then they will put there money in something else more profitable. Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUZNV + 1,197 January 28, 2021 (edited) Here is the spending for healthcare chart breakdown, it is expending so far and who knows how much more after Covid19. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spending-healthcare-changed-time/#item-usspendingovertime_2 It is outpacing GDP growth for long so US haven't move in the right direction for healthcare vs economy. Look at in the link, we can see the different in quantity and price from what Trump Gov archived in pharmacy: Biden removed it so lets come back to this after 4 years. Growth in price and utilization of pharmaceuticals has varied over the past two decades Edited January 28, 2021 by SUZNV Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boat + 1,324 RG January 28, 2021 Also, a pulmonologist I work with pays $6,000- $7,000 a year, an ophthalmologists less than $7,000, emergency room physicians: $11,000-$12,000 a year, anesthesiologists: $12,000-$14,000 a year, surgeons (including orthopedics) $20,000-$22,000 a year and Ob/Gyn about $30,000- $35,000 (obstetrics always has the highest malpractice premiums). A quick google on some insurance for medical occupations. This is not inclusive and different areas can have vastly different prices for insurance. The point is that lawsuits for malpractice has driven insurance to unsustainable levels. So is it socialism to set a maximum claim for malpractice at $500,000? Yes a life or injury in theory is worth much more than that but for the good of the country this is one way to drive costs down. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
surrept33 + 609 st January 28, 2021 3 hours ago, SUZNV said: And that's the problem, they are forced to buy insurance when they chose not to after they pay tax and the premium keep increasing, and they are unlikely to have trouble with health (that's why life insurance are cheap for them). Fat revenue for insurance. The only reason Amazon can grow is for revenue and more services to people and business, expanding the market. They have customers which are hospitals, insurance, pharmacy hosting on their AWS platforms. They are one of the pioneers who started Industry 4.0 which unlimited market. AI, Big Data... only can be growth widely is because of cloud technology. Unlike shopping or cloud, health care (pharmacy, hospital, insurances )don't really need to reach out more people for more revenue because everyone need them. So they focus in expending revenue by increasing prices, even if they can reduce the cost by technology. And we are hoping Amazon will keep borrowing to invest in healthcare industries to keep the prices down for the sake of people, not for competition or expanding the market? Amazon is for revenue, not a non-profit organization. They borrow for invest to make money. The cloud won't be a savior in this case unless either the EU's GDPR gets adopted in the US because of HIPA laws. This is a way to think about Amaazon's business model. which is really about building (digital infrastructure at scale): https://stratechery.com/2016/the-amazon-tax/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites