Post by RazzmatazzPost by Gary HarnagelAt least when businesses provide health benefits, they make sure they're
not losing money, like Uncle Sam is. Healthcare by gov't. edict is
unsustainable. THAT'S the real disaster.
Since I own a business and am over 65 I am both a provider of health
insurance and a beneficiary of socialized medicine. I can tell you that
having to pay for private health insurance is a disaster for small
business, especially manufacturing.
That wasn't a problem 20 years ago when I worked for a research/engineering/
manufacturing company (laser diodes), but I suspect it was coming. Obamacare
just precipitated the looming disaster.
BTW, kudos for contributing to the GDP :-)
Post by RazzmatazzWe cannot compete on the world market when a huge portion of our cost is
the amount we have to fork over to health insurance companies who raise
their rates at double digits every year while cutting coverage to boot.
One of the problems may be that we as US citizens expect more in healthcare
than the country can afford. OTOH, Medicare gives me very good service, too.
Personally enjoyable but ruinous to the country in the long run. The ONLY
solution (other than collapse or extreme cutbacks) is to increase the GDP
so there is more dollars to be taxed.
Post by RazzmatazzAt the same time I have Medicare which is a godsend at my age.
For now :-|
Post by RazzmatazzAlthough I'm relatively healthy, my experience with socialized medicine
is totally positive. The few times that I needed an expensive procedure,
it was paid for without Sturm und Drang and I received no bills and was
not hassled about which doctor or which hospital could do the procedure.
I have had similar experiences. As a businessman, though, you MUST know
that the system is in trouble.
Post by RazzmatazzI cannot imagine what my rate would be if I had to buy private health
insurance at my age.
I retired at 58 and paying my own health insurance was pretty bad then. I
managed to avoid major problems until I reached 65. I just passed that
line when they had to vacuum out my kidneys :-)
Post by RazzmatazzI'm sure they are all eager to sign up all us seniors who as a group have
massive health problems. I once asked our company insurance agent what
it would cost to insure someone in their 70's, and he laughed and said
probably your entire salary for the year.
Seniors laugh at young people who vote Republican and deny themselves a
more rational health care system like every other advanced country.
Unless we can grow the economy, it's a zero-sum game. As my old econ prof
said, it's guns or butter.
Post by RazzmatazzAnd at the same time seniors vote Republican in droves because they don't
want to pay taxes to fund education for the young. They don't have kids
in school so they could not care less - send your kids to private school
if you want them educated is their motto. This kind of thinking will not
change any time soon but it is short sighted.
The public education system is one of the things that's one the verge of
collapse. Too many kids are in a what-me-worry/free-ride culture. My
oldest daughter was a straight A kid, but in high school her grades
dropped to C's and D's ... because of peer pressure! There was no solution
until she started dating a straight A boy! There was a different outcome
for my older son. A teacher set him up with an absolutely poisonous
philosophy. He tended toward the WMW/FR philosophy anyway, but it confirmed
to him that it was the "right" approach.
Today, charter schools seem to be the coming thing that might pull the
public system up where it belongs.
Post by RazzmatazzSeniors live on dividends and investments, and it is the young who are
working and producing those corporate dividends.
Corporations also need capital, which is provided by those investing seniors.
Post by RazzmatazzShort those young people enough and watch those dividends evaporate.
Razzy
Short those dividends enough and watch new capital disappear. The market
has been in a low-dividend morass for a decade. Trump has brought back
some confidence if nothing else, but that will evaporate unless something
solid happens.
Gary
