are y'all better off than you were 4 years ago ?

[chickened]

I’m torn between two very good points of views. I can appreciate ScottnLydia’s view of this subject, and I also agree with rebelcowboysnb’s reasoning. They point in two opposite directions, and I don’t think we will be able to go in both directions. So which is best? I’m no stranger to hospitals and drug bills, and I can appreciate the anguish people experience when a loved one is in that kind of trouble. I was lucky enough to be able to provide health insurance, but when I imagine watching the loss of life because of a lack of money – well that is simply unacceptable. But who should pay for all of this medical care? Let me suggest a point of view by asking this:
Who should pay for our roads so that we may participate in commerce? Who should pay for our airports? Who should pay for our military to protect us from our enemies?
Would it be too much to add this one other question: Who should pay for our healthcare providers to protect us from injury and disease?

Let me ask this question, is there money to be made from sick people or healthy people?

 

[punk-a-doodle]

The way medication is produced and marketed is not a positive thing as far as I stand. I work in biomedical research. Guess who profits from University studies done with public funding? It sure isn't the public.

Larger universities are being run more and more like corporations, and are now starting to embrace big pharma funding and involvment for every step of the way in drug research. What does this mean for research that is not supposed to be influenced by profit? Not good things from where I'm standing.

The idea that the pharmaceutical companies drive innovation seems heavily skewed to me. I think people are watching the media a little too unquestioningly ( http://www.corporations.org/media/media-ownership.gif ). Much of what companies do is focused on what are often known as "me-too" drugs. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120808132452.htm
How do you think this plays a role in medical costs?

The drug/pharmaceutical lobby spends more than any other industry. Who here is aware that many doctors are paid by pharmaceutical companies to promote and prescribe their drugs, including the previously mentioned expensive-but-not-necessarily-better variant drugs? This also includes drugs that will not work for the given situation. How do you think this plays a role in medical costs?

I have a hard time with people denouncing big government while supporting corporations. Corporations and government are increasingly becoming one and the same.

 

[DennisK]

Let me ask this question, is there money to be made from sick people or healthy people?

To answer, there is money to be made from sick people. There is also money to be made from war – so what? I am not getting your point.

 

[kathyinmo]

This is a great video about how the new "government healthcare," will work.....
It is "A GUIDE TO THE ORIGINAL HEALTHCARE BILL H.R. 3200." This video is based on HR3200 but it is very closely related to HR3962. Healthcare bill HR3962 passed.

 

[rufus]

Some thoughts: Why do politicians always refer to "the Middle Class" and never mention "The Working Class." Is it because their constituency is offended by the idea of work?

Companies cannot stay in business if they do not make money. That is how jobs are lost. If your steel mill can't make money, it just might be your fault.

Why do people hate corporations? Corporations provide the goods and services we all need. I have lived in the village economy where it takes someone three of four days to make a pair of shoes that no one in the village can afford to buy. It sucks!

A lot of US companies make good earnings abroad. They tend to lose money on goods made and sold in the US.

Just who owns these corporations? Foreign investors, retirement funds, peoples' IRAs, my deferred comp account. It is us, the people that own them. When I hear people use the term "corporate greed" I know they failed economics.

Why do jobs go overseas? Well when companies cannot make it here, they go on the block and get sold to foreign investors. They don't buy companies to deal with truculent labor unions, onerous government regulations and rapacious taxes. No, they buy companies to make money and employ their own people. The product may look the same and have an American sounding name, but if you want to know who owns the company, look at where it is made. Before you complain about a company going overseas, find out who really owns it.

Who are "da rich" that are supposed to pay all of our bills? If we confiscated all of their wealth, we wouldn't make a dent in our national debt. The truly wealthy now live in the Middle East or Far East and are well beyond our taxing authority. No, the rich didn't leave, but their money did. If a nation buys enough cheap plastic gee gaws and doo dadds from China and overpriced oil from the Middle East, pretty soon they have most of our wealth.

Why does the government and the fed keep fiddling with the money supply? They make borrowing dirt cheap for the banks. Then the banks loan the money to China who uses it to buy up more of our industry and real estate. The government has stimulated the economy -- of China.

Some of this phoney money gets loaned back the people in the US through credit cards with really usurious rates. Before you do business with a bank, find out who really owns it.

The stock market looks good, but it is driven by inflation. People are looking for ways to protect their personal savings from inflation. The government and the fed cannot continue to print money without provoking inflation. When inflation takes hold, people have to spend their money or invest it before it loses value. This leads to hyperinflation. Pretty soon the currency is worthless. Remember Germany in 1923? Zimbabwe?

Am I better off now than four years ago? The answer is no. However, I have hope. We are sitting on a gift from God, shale gas. When we kick the imported oil habit, things will get better.

 

[rufus]

That is a pretty powerful video. My wonder is how businesses are going to be able to pay for this program and still compete with the cheap imports from Asia? This looks like the death knell for small business.

 

[kathyinmo]

That is a pretty powerful video. My wonder is how businesses are going to be able to pay for this program and still compete with the cheap imports from Asia? This looks like the death knell for small business.

It is! Our BYC friend, Mahonri, is a dentist. He said it could put him out of business. It is that bad! I don't think some people understand what all this entails. Another friend of mine has been told not to hire any full time employees, only part time help - in an attempt to avoid the issue.

Yeah, there will be more jobs alright - more part time jobs to take the place of full time jobs (and many of those will be one person working 2 part time jobs).

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I have a hard time with people denouncing big government while supporting corporations. Corporations and government are increasingly becoming one and the same.

Thats the thing. Corporate control of government is normal. Its not something you can get around. The bigger government gets, the more control of your lives you are giving the government an threw that big government, the more control of your lives you are giving to corporations.

 

[cpwhip]

To satisfy your curiosity I am not in any one of your sarcastic suggestions. My business is a single, stand alone, propane distribution business in a small town where my competitors are Amerigas and Suburban and I do more business then both of them. You should only pray (along with Sydney) that you could find someone like me to run your business and then you would not have to whine about the government putting you out of business which is just nonsense.

well there you have it thats why you are doing so well "propane" I have a bill sitting right here for 1,250.00 the 1st of 4-5 bills I will pay over the winter just to heat my house!
I will be installing baseboard heaters this weekend because eletricity is cheaper! I have watched the last couple of years as my propane bills go from 700-800 to 1,200-1,300
and climbing with no end insight. I called around to different companies to get the best price per gallon and they refuse to tell me how much I will pay and they want to lock me
in to contracts some as long as 5 years! propane is a joke.. better off? no NOT at all!!!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
I have had no problem down here getting quoted price per gallon an buying one fill up at a time. Sense I bought my own tank anyway. What your one bill is is not far below what I expect to pay for all year.