Go, Economy!

[Yoshi]

There's only one federal government. It's pretty naive to think that the motivations for foreign affairs are so different than those for domestic policy.

[bbobb]

There are a lot of divisions of the federal govt. it's pretty naive to think the motivations of a division like the military is the same as the motivations of a division like the cdc

[Fe 26]

A lot of research has been done on the costs, and while it's not exclusively because of insurance companies, they distort the market in weird ways.

I'll give an example. Google comes out with a music service that puts your songs in the cloud, so then everybody does. Competition is good. But in health care, a hospital spends millions on a fancy machine, then every hospital nearby needs to do it. It leads to an oversupply of fancy machines. And of course, a hospital isn't going to buy that machine without using it so it leads to a bunch of unnecessary tests that get billed to insurance and drives costs up.

Obviously, the last thing we need is government telling companies what to put into their music services. That'd be terrible. But the government limiting the number of fancy machines in an area can streamline operations and cut costs. It's weird.

So you want to do things like Mississippi where we put all the fancy machines in Tupelo and just send all serious problems to one central Hospital? Or if you want really fancy machines you go to Vanderbilt in TN

[Fe 26]

After being with them for 30 years my mom's company was acquired by a competitor and everyone was laid off. For three decades she paid into the system, never taking a dime back, and now she will use unemployment for the first time I her 50 year life to help out until she finds a new job.

She sure as fuck doesn't only care about herself. Many people in hard situations or, fuck, who have medical issues, would much rather not be in the position where they need government assistance. Who the fuck is like "man, I hope I get cancer so the government can front the bill", who is this person? Yeah dumb ass kids smoking pot while riding funempoyment shouldn't be getting the money, but that's a regulation problem, not a problem with people genuinely in need getting help they've earned.

This happens some what commonly in the US. When a company building reaches the retirement age of the first round of employees, they just shut it down and let everyone go and shift operations somewhere else.

Having a public option that companies can't run from would be nice.

[Diff-chan]

There are a lot of divisions of the federal govt. it's pretty naive to think the motivations of a division like the military is the same as the motivations of a division like the cdc

Well, it's also worth noting that, say, the Iraq War was driven by an insane ideological fantasy and run by complete crooks. None of this was hidden beforehand for anyone who cared to look. They still "won" two elections.

Of course, I put won in quotations for a good reason, but people were eager to cheer them on after.

I think it was Madison in the Federalist Papers who said we get the government we deserve, and any failings of the government are failings of the people. He was right.

So you want to do things like Mississippi where we put all the fancy machines in Tupelo and just send all serious problems to one central Hospital? Or if you want really fancy machines you go to Vanderbilt in TN

I don't think that is such a bad idea.

[Fe 26]

I don't think that is such a bad idea.

there is still hidden costs in that method. If you get seriously injured and you're more than an hour away, they'll call in a helocopter and fly you to Vandy or Tupelo. And you're usually the one who pays for the copter just like you would for an ambulance ride.

I think there is a member service you can join for a pretty low monthly payment to make it free. Something like 5 a month I think.

[Diff-chan]

there is still hidden costs in that method. If you get seriously injured and you're more than an hour away, they'll call in a helocopter and fly you to Vandy or Tupelo. And you're usually the one who pays for the copter just like you would for an ambulance ride.

I think there is a member service you can join for a pretty low monthly payment to make it free. Something like 5 a month I think.

Well, in each instance you'd have to optimize those costs versus the costs of oversupply. This is not trivial, but it's also not impossible. Companies do it all the time, for example in figuring out where to put a new store. It does take cooperation, though, instead of competition. This sort of thing would be totally illegal if private companies did it.

[Fe 26]

I can hear the doctors grumbling now. "You're going to tell us where and when we can open a practice! Communism!"

[Yoshi]

There are a lot of divisions of the federal govt. it's pretty naive to think the motivations of a division like the military is the same as the motivations of a division like the cdc

Agreed, but the same 500+ people set the policy for all of them.

[bbobb]

And those 500+ are elected