Trumps: White Angry Middleclass

[Rogar]

Apparently Jon Snow is alive and available.

That's good to know! His Black Watch certainly built a HUGE wall to keep the wildlings out.

[iris lilies]

I agree. It could go either way. His little constituent support seems to be coming from Republicans who are holding their nose and towing the party line, and he is no great friend of the media. If he wanders too far off into the weeds I can see the media blow things out or proportion and an impeachment political bandwagon in the works. His VP pick could be strategic. Or maybe I've just been watching Game of Thrones too much.

No friend of the media? Are you kiddIng? The mainstream media MADE him by giving him so much free coverage for his antics that he was in front of us 24/7. It is deliciously ironic that those who made him despise him, but he is ratings gold.

[JaneV2.0]

Yea I think most people expect taxes would be higher (but then again health insurance is also very costly - so a lot of people would break even). As for unemployment the problem is countries usually have very different ways of measuring unemployment, so it's often difficult to compare unemployment rates across countries.

I want to be one of those rich young people that gets to travel though, young people have all the time and money in the world I guess. Oh well I'm middle aged and middle class so so much for that fantasy.

Health care could be a lot less costly if the powers that be, with their hands in the pockets of drug manufacturers and insurance companies, would do the responsible thing and remove profit from the equation. Because of the huge profit margins involved, we pay twice as much as any other country for much poorer outcomes.

[bae]

... drug manufacturers and insurance companies, would do the responsible thing and remove profit from the equation. ...

People say this sort of thing all the time - "remove profit from the equation".

What does that look like in practice? Who pays for the R&D, trials, approval process, and manufacturing of new drugs, with "profit" removed? Who pays for manufacturing/distribution/litigation costs for existing drugs, with "profit" removed?

Are you envisioning the government stepping in and doing the whole job, or some legislated maximum ROI for this sector, or ...?

I've never quite understood the details. I know what happens when you remove "profit" from the housing market, and it's not pretty. And we see what happens when you remove it from the manufactured-goods and food sectors.

Also, as an investor, which specific pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have excessive above-market returns, compared to other investment options? I'm always looking for a decent return, but those sectors don't seem strikingly different from others, on average.

[Williamsmith]

No friend of the media? Are you kiddIng? The mainstream media MADE him by giving him so much free coverage for his antics that he was in front of us 24/7. It is deliously ironic that those who made him despise him, but he is ratings gold.

I beg to differ. All that media coverage exposed his "weaknesses". The media coverage was a result of people's interest in him. You can't make people watch. And you can't make them believe this or that simply by media coverage. The people drove the coverage. He has a wide following.

[bae]

He has a wide following.

Anyone know if his steaks are any good?

[Ultralight]

People say this sort of thing all the time - "remove profit from the equation".

What does that look like in practice? Who pays for the R&D, trials, approval process, and manufacturing of new drugs, with "profit" removed? Who pays for manufacturing/distribution/litigation costs for existing drugs, with "profit" removed?

Are you envisioning the government stepping in and doing the whole job, or some legislated maximum ROI for this sector, or ...?

I've never quite understood the details. I know what happens when you remove "profit" from the housing market, and it's not pretty. And we see what happens when you remove it from the manufactured-goods and food sectors.

Also, as an investor, which specific pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have excessive above-market returns, compared to other investment options? I'm always looking for a decent return, but those sectors don't seem strikingly different from others, on average.

Removing profit from the equation takes a re-imagining of one's purpose on the planet.

[bae]

Removing profit from the equation takes a re-imagining of one's purpose on the planet.

So you are envisioning some indigo-children-led radical change in human consciousness unprecedented in the history of mankind?

Sweeeeet!

[JaneV2.0]

People say this sort of thing all the time - "remove profit from the equation".

What does that look like in practice? Who pays for the R&D, trials, approval process, and manufacturing of new drugs, with "profit" removed? Who pays for manufacturing/distribution/litigation costs for existing drugs, with "profit" removed?

Are you envisioning the government stepping in and doing the whole job, or some legislated maximum ROI for this sector, or ...?

I've never quite understood the details. I know what happens when you remove "profit" from the housing market, and it's not pretty. And we see what happens when you remove it from the manufactured-goods and food sectors.

Also, as an investor, which specific pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have excessive above-market returns, compared to other investment options? I'm always looking for a decent return, but those sectors don't seem strikingly different from others, on average.

The government pays for a lot of the R&D already--which must include the hundreds of slight variations on existing drugs to dodge patent expirations, etc. Drug companies pay more, if I recall correctly, far more, on advertising than they do for R&D. I think non-profit medicine would look a lot like it looked when I was growing up in the ice age before people went bankrupt trying to pay for hospitalizations. And of course all the greedy industries probably started looking alike, return-wise, since the eighties when the "greed is good" philosophy took hold. All hail Martin Shkreli, the patron saint and icon for what medicine has become.

[Rogar]

I don't have the figures to back it up, but suspect that a large portion of the new and better drugs come from the U.S. where the profit motive is an large incentive. However, it came as a surprise at least to me that Kaiser and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are not for profit organizations that seem to have made it work, compete in the health care market, grow their market share, and make loads of money and pay giant CEO salaries.