Neil Howe: 'Civil War Is More Likely Than People Think'

[Ragnarök_62]

Rags Wrote:Medical care and retirement provision are 2 things I don't think free enterpriseTM handle.  As such they should be public goods. 

Medical care depends on random stuff like an odd mutation which causes cancer or losing the genetic lotto and getting early heart disease , type I diabetes, going blind, etc.  There's also random stuff like car wrecks.

Retirement and running out of money is where you win the genetic lotto sorta, but losing the economic lotto and winding up with a body wearing construction job.

Whaddya think, and why?

Warren Dew Wrote:I think a medical system that relies primarily on treatment rather than prevention is ridiculously messed up.  We save a few bucks eating and drinking cheap, mass produced junk food, then spend thousands of dollars of "other people's money" fixing the cancer, diabetes, and heart disease that result.  The problem is, we end up also being those "other people" who pay for everyone's medical expenses.  And we're so far into the system - more than a generation - that most people have forgotten what healthy food actually is.  It's a terrible system.

Wrt junk food. I think most folks know how bad the stuff is.  However, consider the dual minimum wage house hold where mom and dad work their asses off and have no time or energy to cook like the "good old days" with stay at home moms. So to enable folks to procure the more expensive fruits/veggies and cook them, we'd need to either raise the minimum wage [I work minimum wage and my employer doesn't even provide me with health insurance so no savings there] or have a guaranteed national income provided or not with an expanded EITC.  

Quote:Did you know there's an inexpensive supplement that has been shown in clinical trials to prevent 77% of cancers in older women?  Unfortunately since it's cheap, there's no money in marketing it, or even in testing it on men or on younger women.  And since it's an off patent supplement, FDA rules prohibit its sellers from advertising the health benefits, because that would be a problem for the companies that make really expensive, marginally effective cancer drugs who have lots of money for lobbying the FDA.  You've heard of this supplement, even if you didn't know it prevents cancer.  I've written about the cancer result more extensively here:

http://psychohist.livejournal.com/53503.html
http://psychohist.livejournal.com/67372.html

Yup. JohnMc'82 told me about vitamin D when I bitched on the old forum about all of the nuisances of being homozygous HLA DQ2.5. I don't have celiac disease but I do have a bunch of allergy crap.

http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2780726

Quote:The best approach would be for everyone to pay for their own food, doctor's visits, and health insurance; that way, they'd be able to pick a balance that offered them the most benefit for the least cost.

1. That would work if everyone had enough funds for ordinary medical expenses.  Drugs and routine medical visits. The health insurance would need to work like homeowners insurance and be fore catastrophic stuff equivalent to a house fire.

2. The routine stuff can still add up a lot for poor folks though.

3. Uh, what about the folks who won the genetic lotto and outlive their savings?  The stawk market is not sane or predictable. I mean why did the stawk market go up after Brexit, Trump win, and now Italy's vote?  I'll never understand the stawk market and hell if I can time the thing.

Quote:Current employer contributions to health insurance could be turned into pay which people could choose to use on any of these things.

Yes, that's a hangover from WWII wage/price controls.  It's obsolete and stupid.  Nuking the tax deduction should wipe it out.  I certainly don't like a subsidy to health insurance companies by proxy , tax write offs. The concern I have is the freed up money would be used to pad profits and CEO pay. There's way too much of that going on. I'd really like to nuke tax write offs for CEO pay, financial engineering stuff like stawk buybacks, mergers, spinoffs, etc. The corporate tax rate can be cut, ... but after the top income tax rate needs to go up to at least 50%. Eh, while I'm at it, I'll go into
  mode.  Lessee,  no more mortgage deductions, abolish all housing agencies [Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, HUD, FHA, VHA, etc.],  abolish useless government agencies Education, DHS,  fucking worthless duplicate agency that is. We already have the FBI/CIA.  The DEA also needs to go.  It's a Nixon legacy and thus sucks. I'd also apply the chainsaw to the defense budget.  Let's close 100+ offshore military bases. We're fucking broke.  Death to empire, death to NATO, death to wars of choice.death to NeoCONS, Death to the war on drugs! Let's all peace out, man.




Here's a Christmas tree Rags wants, but can't have 'cause of the stupid DEA. Who needs lights with this kind of tree since the tree will light you up?

Warren Dew Wrote:Some level of regulation would be needed to ensure that the insurance companies were able to make good on their promises.  Some level of subsidy could be provided for the poor by state government or private charity, which might cover a minimum level of medical care in the event of a catastrophic eventuality.  But that's as far as I'd really want it.

Uh, "private charity" ?.   That's an Oklahoma state government special.  I can tell you first hand, that option is a no go. Hell, even state government here is a no go , come to think about it.  All the Oklahoma state government cares about is law enforcement and jails.  Lot's of money goes to those 2 . Yeeahyaaawwwww.  The wahoos we've elected are idiots. Like they cut the income tax just right before the oil price crashed and we have major shortfalls.  If I could, I'd pack up and move to a sane state like Colorado. That's why I never bitch when Eric pans Oklahoma, 'cause he's right.

Quote:Auto accidents would be covered by auto insurance, of course.

I see big numbers for auto insurance bills to pay for lifetime disability payments.

Quote:Except for the part about auto insurance, though, that's so far from what we have that we'll probably need to take baby steps even to start moving in that direction.

I have an idea that will save lots of money, but it'll be a big fuck in the ass for Big Pharma.  Let's legalize importation of drugs from the cheapest locations that adhere to generic drug specifications by the FDA?  I say bring 'em in from Mexico/Canada and even India.