How does that have *anything* to do with Free Market capitalism? That's called government protecting special interests - in this case, the pharmaceutical lobby.
Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France
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How does that have *anything* to do with Free Market capitalism? That's called government protecting special interests - in this case, the pharmaceutical lobby.
The board of directors of various insurance companies sat around, and said, "let's lobby hard, so even if it does pass, people won't be able to purchase their prescriptions from Canada". They did, it worked, and that clause was changed within the bill.
That was privately owned companies who made that call (ie. the free market).
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It's not the free market. The government is involved. The companies are playing the government to their advantage. That's not free market. Get rid of the government interference and threat of force and then you have free market where the companies have to compete instead of being able to erect government imposed barriers.
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And double-faceplam.jpg to you!
We could go round & round on this one all day. But do you seriously believe that if all government laws & regulations were removed, the private corporations would be forced to play fair due to competition, and everything would be just fine & dandy? There would be no exploitation, extortion, blackmailing, consolidation, monopolies, nothing? Several decades after opening the markets, we wouldn't have large (un-elected) corporations dictating our lives to us? You really believe that?
Free market & competition would just keep all corporations at bay, and everyone would be better off? Come on, you can't possibly believe that. The entire reason us humans invented the concept of government was because the free market wasn't capable of doing it. Corporations are held responsible by their share holders, not their end-user customers, so to think if we let corporations do whatever they want, and the end-users (us) will be fine, is ludicrous.
Or hey, while we're at it, let's just privatize national defense too. We can all pitch in, and get a group like Blackwater to negotiate with Iran, North Korea, and China. I'm absolutely certain that would work out just splendidly.
Or fuck me, I don't know... I'll just go back to work.
I mean, being idealistic is a good thing, but only as long as your idealism remains within the confines of the reality we live in.
All I'm pointing out is that if the government is involved to the point of inhibiting trade or setting prices then it is not free market. Debating where the gov should and should not be involved is a valid debate. But once it is involved it is no longer free market.
Multiple ones, actually. Went through three crews before the additions and renovations on my house were completed properly. Took six years.
For starters, the first crew took the money to buy the appropriate supplies which we specifically named and gave written instructions to buy, then they substituted the materials from their other jobs to use on parts of the house where they thought we wouldn't see. Had it not rained during construction, we'd never have known until they were done. As it was, the siding bowed because they used the wrong type and thickness, and they put in wet insulation of a totally different type than what was requested.
I see where you're going Joe, but there's a difference between the builders hired and road crews ran by the government. Yeah, there's corruption and shortcuts with each, but at least I can fire the builders and get someone to complete the job properly.
With government-ran projects on roads, there's noone else to fix it properly. It's there until the politicians receive enough complaints that they decide to funnel money off other projects, because the money they skimmed the first time for the roads has been spent, and "fix" it again.
Hell, I can count a few dozen times I've had to get my shovel out, buy the materials, and spend a weekend fixing the culverts, drainage, and roads around the house I use to live in just so I could get out of my driveway and down the hill to the main highway "after" the local official sent a crew out to "fix" the roads because they got complaints from everyone living around there that they were so bad that they couldn't leave.
I honestly thought I was done with all that when I moved, but nope, now it's happening again the past few weeks at my new place. Not just with the roads, they're fucking up the railroad crossings. It's only a matter of time before a train derailment this week since they just tossed mounds of asphalt over them.
Its not about free healthcare. Its about paying way the fuck more for shittier results. As long as people like you going all "Herp Derp socialism" and ignoring the real question as to why the fuck does this shit cost so much, nothing will change.
Exactly, these people who say "tax is theft!!" or "youre healthcare isnt free, its from stolen tax money that I had to pay" draw the line where its convenient for them.
They say that they shouldnt have to pay for anyone else, that they are totally self reliant. But they're not. They rely on state funded security (I bet they'd accept consular assistance overseas if they got in trouble), they run businesses in a country that full of consumers who are educated and kept safe by the state etc. They drive around on public roads, they use the Internet which was originally developed by state agencies like CERN and the department of Defence.
I think its just the rationalisation of an extreme selfish viewpoint, you claim that everyone should just fend for themselves and paying into a pot to provide communal services is theft, but indirectly or directly benefit from those communal goods or services.
Last points before I stop wasting time on this thread and actually get back to making some money:
1. America does not have real free market healthcare, its corporate healthcare and is a racket by big businesses to make money.
2. America spends MORE per person and as a percentage of GDP of tax revenue than wholly or partly tax payer funded healthcare systems like those in OZ, UK, Canada, France.
3. The best healthcare in the US is among the best in the world.
How can you guys not logically extrapolate the data out in your heads to realize that a socialist system is always going to be less efficient and higher priced than a competitive system? It just freaking amazes me. Is it really that hard to run both systems in your head and see which one makes the most sense? Is it really that hard to read the history of both sides and see which one is the clear winner? It just amazes me how stupid people really are, even on this forum, and how religiously they will protect that stupidity. Sit down in a quiet room, read a book on both sides, think about it honestly and objectively, and discover which one will make the lives of everyone better at the lower cost.
I never claimed I had a right of freedom of speech.
Again, this guy is an idiot. Put him on ignore.
Weird how some of us have to argue so passionately just to compel others to keep their hands off our stuff.
When we're kids, our parents tell us, "Don't touch what doesn't belong to you."
When we're adults, that somehow changes to "He's got stuff I want! Get him!!!"
Bunch of fucking savages around here. lol
When we're kids, our parents tell us, "Don't touch what doesn't belong to you."
When we're adults, that somehow changes to "He's got stuff I want! Get him!!!"
Bunch of fucking savages around here. lol
Do you understand that the act of sharing property is voluntary? If you believe people should be compelled to share their property under the threat of violence, please give me your living address.
He/she doesn't understand it.
That's why there was no reply as to where entitlements come from, or how they should be enforced.
Honestly, most people are inherently good. I truly believe that.
However most people also never question or think, and so they adopt the residual tyranny in the system as part of their system of ethics and the traditions of their culture.
To the point where people who receive stolen goods, are taking the moral high ground in an argument with victims of theft.
C'est la vie. If I wanted a sane and rational existence, I wouldn't be hanging out on planet earth.
I read his comment as a reference to you impling it in previous deliberations discussing Libertairanism and The Constitution.
Sometimes I try to speak the language of the people I am dealing with. When I address the Constitution, that's what I am doing, because it is not my Constitution, and I don't recognize the authority of any social contract I haven't explicitly consented to.
Because so few people understand anything economic or legal, let alone philosophical, I end up resorting to totems and ideals like the Constitution, when truth be told, I would rather talk about the facts.
The Constitution was a poor replacement for the Articles of Confederation in my opinion.
Because so few people understand anything economic or legal, let alone philosophical, I end up resorting to totems and ideals like the Constitution, when truth be told, I would rather talk about the facts.
The Constitution was a poor replacement for the Articles of Confederation in my opinion.
Actually, it isn't tight control and regulation vs non-tight control and regulation.
It is the type of control and regulation.
Tight control and regulation in the US = as long as you don't have several billion
If you have several billion = You get to pick and choose what controls pay the government to instal.
France has much tighter control and regulation. It is just put in place without being obnoxiously done only in favor of big business as it is done in the US.
I never claimed it was.
That is the nature of all regulation. The primary difference between the US and France is that a republic is very easy to corrupt.