I Met Two Waitresses Last Evening - a Point about Economics

[JoeB131]

Is that true of the billions of dollars the health insurance providers are rewarded with through the ACA temporary subsidies which will soon expire?

Sounds like a good reason for Single Payer to me.

 

[rightwinger]

Sounds like a good reason for Single Payer to me.

Agree

What value do multibillion dollar insurance companies add to healthcare?

Just a middle man

 

[Hafar1014]

Agree

What value do multibillion dollar insurance companies add to healthcare?

Just a middle man

You prefer the government?

 

[rightwinger]

You prefer the government?

Yes
They are accountable to We the People

Other governments manage to pull off universal healthcare with lower costs and better results

Why can’t we?

 

[Hafar1014]

Yes
They are accountable to We the People

Other governments manage to pull off universal healthcare with lower costs and better results

Why can’t we?

The NHS in the UK Is collapsing its out of funds and wait times are in months and years for some surgeries. It costs more more and it does less and you will wait a long time for treatment. So in fact it does not cost less and is not better and its not even close

 

[rightwinger]

The NHS in the UK Is collapsing its out of funds and wait times are in months and years for some surgeries. It costs more more and it does less and you will wait a long time for treatment. So in fact it does not cost less and is not better and its not even close

Nobody in the UK goes bankrupt due to monstrous medical bills.
They also rank much higher than the US in life expectancy and overall health

 

[80zephyr]

How hard did those who gained by the government pumping money into the markets, work?

And? On the flip side, how much did the coal miners lose when Biden told them to "learn to code"?

 

[rightwinger]

And? On the flip side, how much did the coal miners lose when Biden told them to "learn to code"?

I thought Trump was going to bring back coal mining jobs?

Why don’t you convert your house to coal to bring back those jobs?

 

[JoeB131]

And? On the flip side, how much did the coal miners lose when Biden told them to "learn to code"?

He had a point, Coal mining jobs are becoming rarer because 1) The world is using less coal and 2) the processes are becoming increasingly automated.

 

[pknopp]

And? On the flip side, how much did the coal miners lose when Biden told them to "learn to code"?

Democrats lost when that was said but I have no idea what that has to do with what I said.

 

[Hafar1014]

Nobody in the UK goes bankrupt due to monstrous medical bills.
They also rank much higher than the US in life expectancy and overall health

They die waiting for treatment or suffer in pain for months and years. I know the NHS well. You have no idea how bad it is. They pay more in taxes and 15% VAT tax on every purchase
Key Waiting Time Statistics (as of late 2025 data for England)

• Total Waiting List: Approximately 7.39 million cases (around 6.24 million individual patients) were waiting for consultant-led care in September 2025.
• Routine Care (18-Week Target): Only 61.8% of patients waiting for elective (planned) treatment had been waiting 18 weeks or less in September 2025, significantly below the 92% standard. The government's goal is to return to this standard by March 2029.
• Long Waits: Around 180,300 patients had been waiting over a year for treatment in September 2025.
• A&E (Accident & Emergency): In October 2025, only 74.1% of people attending A&E were admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours, below the current operational target of 78%. Over 54,000 patients waited over 12 hours from a decision to admit to actually being admitted to a ward in October 2025.
• Ambulance Response Times: For Category 2 calls (e.g., suspected heart attacks, strokes), the average response time was over 32 minutes in October 2025, remaining outside the 18-minute target.
• Cancer Care: The target for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of an urgent referral was missed in September 2025, achieving 73.9%.

 

[Hafar1014]

I thought Trump was going to bring back coal mining jobs?

Why don’t you convert your house to coal to bring back those jobs?

Trump is bringing back private jobs and killing government jobs. Thats better fir the economy bad for democrats who use the government to pay off supporters

 

[80zephyr]

What you don't mention is that most of those 100 Million are getting Social Security or Medicare.

The problem isn't that you are against living off the government. You are fine with "Entitlements" like Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, and Veteran Benefits.

You don't like "Welfare" such as SNAP, TANF, Section 8, Medicaid.

The ironic thing is that most of the people on the latter have at least one household member working a minimum wage job.


I agree, we should get that culture back. Here's how you get that culture back. Make even the most bottom-rung jobs worth working.

My first job was below minimum wage because it was a family-owned restaurant. My next three jobs through HS and College were minimum wage. (Fortunately, I was also in the National Guard, which is how I paid for college).

Minimum wage in 1979 was $2.30 an hour.
Minimum wage today is $7.25 an hour

If Minimum Wage had kept up with inflation, it would be $11.00 an hour now

About 1.1% of Americans make minimum wage. Most are in the hospitality industry. So, they get tips. I don't know about you, but in my area I see fast food places offering 15 bucks an hour on their readerboards.

 

[80zephyr]

I thought Trump was going to bring back coal mining jobs?

Why don’t you convert your house to coal to bring back those jobs?

Not the point. The government picks winners and losers, and they have done that for decades. Singling out one over another doesn't seem very honest to me.

 

[80zephyr]

He had a point, Coal mining jobs are becoming rarer because 1) The world is using less coal and 2) the processes are becoming increasingly automated.

Why is the world using less coal? Oh, thats right. Because our government has been steering us away from it for years.

 

[pknopp]

Not the point. The government picks winners and losers, and they have done that for decades. Singling out one over another doesn't seem very honest to me.

Giving billions to farmers is picking winners and losers.

 

[Hafar1014]

Not the point. The government picks winners and losers, and they have done that for decades. Singling out one over another doesn't seem very honest to me.

Democrats always pick losers and we get the gill

 

[Seymour Flops]

Sounds like a good reason for Single Payer to me.

So ALL medical payments will be made by the same government that gave us the scam of ACA temporary supplements?

 

[80zephyr]

Giving billions to farmers is picking winners and losers.

Maybe. I would really have to do some deep research into it.

 

[JoeB131]

Why is the world using less coal? Oh, thats right. Because our government has been steering us away from it for years.

Not just our government, the whole world. Even China.

Coal is dirty, it's unhealthy to mine, and it creates toxic waste.