Location: At the dude ranch / above the sea Gender:
Posted:
Dec 10, 2025 - 7:02am
black321 wrote:
More broadly, the US spent $6T-$8T directly on wars/conflicts since 9/11, contributing to just over 20% of the national debt....while the annual DoD budget has grown to about $1T.
China, those commie bastards, meanwhile have invested trillions in their infrastructure, while largely avoiding international conflicts (same cant be said for domestic) and only modestly increasing their annual defense budget.
Sunk cost fallacy: you put all that government money into war things, itâs a shame not to use them. And suspend voting.
This shouldnât be in the Dem forum. Republicans control the House, Senate, SCOTUS, and someone is controlling the senile president
More broadly, the US spent $6T-$8T directly on wars/conflicts since 9/11, contributing to just over 20% of the national debt....while the annual DoD budget has grown to about $1T.
China, those commie bastards, meanwhile have invested trillions in their infrastructure, while largely avoiding international conflicts (same cant be said for domestic) and only modestly increasing their annual defense budget.
2 weeks ago we were having dinner with a group of friends, and one of them was missing. His wife was explaining that he'd had a bike accident, and that he'd dislocated his jaw, cracked some ribs, misc scrapes and bruises. When someone nearby said they had called for an ambulance, he told them to call back and cancel...he wasn't going to pay for it.
Makes sense.... except this guy just sold his shore house for $3.6M, lives on a family compound with 3 houses (parents, sister, them) that together are worth at least $10M, and has another house in CO. The family owns half of the industrial space in our county, and cash flow is not a concern. All of that said... he didn't want to pay for ride to the hospital. He waited for his wife to give him a ride (30 mins later).
This is a good demonstration of the problems of the American mindset - "you don't get rich by giving to all those people providing services". I encounter this a lot - we work with some very high net worth individuals. Some are fine, but many have an attitude of "this is my money, you're not entitled to it", even though they came to us asking us to do work. I had one guy tell me we charge him too much and we should go earn some money somewhere else, and less than 5 minutes later he added several service items for us to take care of. It's a complete disconnect.
I do pretty good, but I'll never be that kind of wealthy. I have too many worthy targets to spend on. Some of them are my personal projects, many are charitable items or places that overlap heavily between the two. But it just doesn't do much to sit on a giant pile of gold unless you are a dragon. No one really likes dragons.
...
When I tell people that Americans go bankrupt from medical problems, or that they will run away from an ambulance to avoid the bill, they just look at me with confusion and sadness. We are the only people that put up with this crap, and we don't have to.
2 weeks ago we were having dinner with a group of friends, and one of them was missing. His wife was explaining that he'd had a bike accident, and that he'd dislocated his jaw, cracked some ribs, misc scrapes and bruises. When someone nearby said they had called for an ambulance, he told them to call back and cancel...he wasn't going to pay for it.
Makes sense.... except this guy just sold his shore house for $3.6M, lives on a family compound with 3 houses (parents, sister, them) that together are worth at least $10M, and has another house in CO. The family owns half of the industrial space in our county, and cash flow is not a concern. All of that said... he didn't want to pay for ride to the hospital. He waited for his wife to give him a ride (30 mins later).
The bold is one of the big problems with the American system. A person I met involved with billing for a US health practice explained that the providers set their prices at levels high enough to be sure that they get the maximum amount any insurance is willing to pay. So patients who are least able to afford it are charged the brunt of these artificially inflated costs.
Medicare for all will address a lot of this.
Spending some time in a '3rd world' country is really eye opening. A clinic visit, labs, consult, prescription meds, and follow up visit, all together well under $100 (I think it was in the $60-70 range). A friend had a broken ankle on a Saturday night. They had to call in a doc from the next town (15 minutes) to read the x-ray, inflatable cast, meds until the swelling went down, real cast, crutches, follow ups, cast removal and final x-rays - $200. Another friend - badly cut ankle while surfing, ambulance ride to the clinic, stitches, meds.... NOTHING - he has the local health insurance plan and makes like $400/month so they didn't charge him anything.
When I tell people that Americans go bankrupt from medical problems, or that they will run away from an ambulance to avoid the bill, they just look at me with confusion and sadness. We are the only people that put up with this crap, and we don't have to.
Happy holidays!
Health care is not a choice or free to any society
The US healthcare system has obvious issues, distorted by a grossly complex and opaque administration and systems. It is more costly and has less favorable outcomes than many developed nations.
A great example is with Rx and how manufacturers, insurers and PBMs basically have the sickest patients subsidize lower overall premiums. eg, the rebates manufacturers pay for drugs are mostly absorbed by the insurer and a small % the PBM. So when a sick patient with a high deductible, or worse those without insurance, has their script filled, they pay the gross price before all those manufacturer rebates, whcih again flow to the insurer/PBM.
The key difference is other countries rely on single-payer, universal care, whiel the US has insurers and PBMs that extract profit...and judging by the lopsided number of lawsuits against these types of companies, also prevalent to fraud.
Labor and continued investment in new facilities, resources, innovations are the major costs...but undoubtedly our system an added layer of cost.
I dont necessarily want gov healthcare, but at a minimum a non-profit type system where profits are share with members/patients. And having everyone contributing to the coverage pool throughout their lives also reduces costs by adding diversification.
The bold is one of the big problems with the American system. A person I met involved with billing for a US health practice explained that the providers set their prices at levels high enough to be sure that they get the maximum amount any insurance is willing to pay. So patients who are least able to afford it are charged the brunt of these artificially inflated costs.
proper labelling is essential in building a solution
i get that we all want affordable and free goods (and services)
but there is a cost for these services
in healthcare, i think the biggest expenses are hospitals, doctors and to a lesser degree staff, then admin and insurance overhead
pushing six trillion or so (fifteen to sixteen thousand busk per person)
that has to come down drastically before we just start throwing more money into that beast
asking or forcing a small group of people to take care of this will not work
obviously cannibalizing successful people or producers would also cause your tax rev to fall through the floor (they would stop being productive)
the healthcare fortress could do with some better regulation, deregulation and competition
embrace technology (even in records and accounting)
and look at their lobbying muscle, it is ridiculous
and happy holidays
Happy holidays!
Health care is not a choice or free to any society
The US healthcare system has obvious issues, distorted by a grossly complex and opaque administration and systems. It is more costly and has less favorable outcomes than many developed nations.
A great example is with Rx and how manufacturers, insurers and PBMs basically have the sickest patients subsidize lower overall premiums. eg, the rebates manufacturers pay for drugs are mostly absorbed by the insurer and a small % the PBM. So when a sick patient with a high deductible, or worse those without insurance, has their script filled, they pay the gross price before all those manufacturer rebates, whcih again flow to the insurer/PBM.
The key difference is other countries rely on single-payer, universal care, whiel the US has insurers and PBMs that extract profit...and judging by the lopsided number of lawsuits against these types of companies, also prevalent to fraud.
Labor and continued investment in new facilities, resources, innovations are the major costs...but undoubtedly our system an added layer of cost.
I dont necessarily want gov healthcare, but at a minimum a non-profit type system where profits are share with members/patients. And having everyone contributing to the coverage pool throughout their lives also reduces costs by adding diversification.
proper labelling is essential in building a solution
i get that we all want affordable and free goods (and services)
but there is a cost for these services
in healthcare, i think the biggest expenses are hospitals, doctors and to a lesser degree staff, then admin and insurance overhead
pushing six trillion or so (fifteen to sixteen thousand busk per person)
that has to come down drastically before we just start throwing more money into that beast
asking or forcing a small group of people to take care of this will not work
obviously cannibalizing successful people or producers would also cause your tax rev to fall through the floor (they would stop being productive)
the healthcare fortress could do with some better regulation, deregulation and competition
embrace technology (even in records and accounting)
and look at their lobbying muscle, it is ridiculous
and happy holidays
EVERY other major economy (and about 1/2 of the remaining minor ones) have implemented some form of universal healthcare. Our system allows those companies to lobby to remain the outlier instead of spending a similar amount of money to treat people better. Ridiculous is a perfect descriptor.
Not sure i follow, but the vulnerable in this situation (healthcare) are the insurers and PBMs, and their stockholders.
The vulnerable I was referring to are the ones that will suffer with poor or lost healthcare, not the ones that will suffer with 'only' 10% bonuses on their 6+ figure salaries. The dude Luigi shot was a kind of a victim, but hardly vulnerable.
I dont like to get behind labels, but...
I am for universal healthcare, tuition free education, worker and environmental protections, and higher taxes on the wealthy (defined as making over ~$1M a year, or assets over $100M).
proper labelling is essential in building a solution
i get that we all want affordable and free goods (and services)
but there is a cost for these services
in healthcare, i think the biggest expenses are hospitals, doctors and to a lesser degree staff, then admin and insurance overhead
pushing six trillion or so (fifteen to sixteen thousand busk per person)
that has to come down drastically before we just start throwing more money into that beast
asking or forcing a small group of people to take care of this will not work
obviously cannibalizing successful people or producers would also cause your tax rev to fall through the floor (they would stop being productive)
the healthcare fortress could do with some better regulation, deregulation and competition
embrace technology (even in records and accounting)
and look at their lobbying muscle, it is ridiculous
FYT - We have two captured parties that maintain a duopoly for appearance and control. They both serve the same set of constituents, and you and I are not in that set. Until control is wrested from these people, nothing will change. I don't know how it can be done without significant harm to many vulnerable people. The question really is how much harm are the vulnerable suffering now and at what point is the alternative better. I think we are close to an answer.
Not sure i follow, but the vulnerable in this situation (healthcare) are the insurers and PBMs, and their stockholders.
It's high time for some major changes in how we govern/operate. Healthcare, Education should be stripped down to the studs and completely reworked. The tax system requires similar treatment. Presently if feels as if the government exists to serve those who have the means to pay for influence and the majority of Americans are left to fight it out on social media. Current Democratic leadership is incapable of moving us out of this desert.
This is what most other modern countries have done to some level.
It's high time for some major changes in how we govern/operate. Healthcare, Education should be stripped down to the studs and completely reworked. The tax system requires similar treatment. Presently if feels as if the government exists to serve those who have the means to pay for influence and the majority of Americans are left to fight it out on social media. Current Democratic leadership is incapable of moving us out of this desert.
FYT - We have two captured parties that maintain a duopoly for appearance and control. They both serve the same set of constituents, and you and I are not in that set. Until control is wrested from these people, nothing will change. I don't know how it can be done without significant harm to many vulnerable people. The question really is how much harm are the vulnerable suffering now and at what point is the alternative better. I think we are close to an answer.
what is it about their proposed solutions that we should entertain again? just curious...
edit: early in life i had similar thoughts
so what changed for me?
i'm literally surrounded by thousands and thousands of people from all over the globe that have been in these types of situations
same proposals/verbiage/political sermons and ended up with very bad results
usually when asked, they think we are bonkers for going down that road...
I dont like to get behind labels, but...
I am for universal healthcare, tuition free education, worker and environmental protections, and higher taxes on the wealthy (defined as making over ~$1M a year, or assets over $100M).
It's high time for some major changes in how we govern/operate. Healthcare, Education should be stripped down to the studs and completely reworked. The tax system requires similar treatment. Presently if feels as if the government exists to serve those who have the means to pay for influence and the majority of Americans are left to fight it out on social media. Current Democratic leadership is incapable of moving us out of this desert.
what is it about their proposed solutions that we should entertain again? just curious...
edit: early in life i had similar thoughts
so what changed for me?
i'm literally surrounded by thousands and thousands of people from all over the globe that have been in these types of situations
same proposals/verbiage/political sermons and ended up with very bad results
usually when asked, they think we are bonkers for going down that road...
I dont like to get behind labels, but...
I am for universal healthcare, tuition free education, worker and environmental protections, and higher taxes on the wealthy (defined as making over ~$1M a year, or assets over $100M).
what is it about their proposed solutions that we should entertain again? just curious...
edit: early in life i had similar thoughts
so what changed for me?
i'm literally surrounded by thousands and thousands of people from all over the globe that have been in these types of situations
same proposals/verbiage/political sermons and ended up with very bad results
usually when asked, they think we are bonkers for going down that road...
