Random Politics & Religion #38: The 38th One

So.. on the last few pages on the healthcare thing.
Healthcare shouldn’t really be “free”. The big problem is unregulated capitalism. Medicine that cost dollars to make is being sold for literally hundreds of dollars in some cases. Unregulated capitalism will always result in greed, greed, greed.
There needs to be a cap at some point added to lifesaving medical treatments/drugs. Insulin for example.

Oh look another "capitalism is evil" line. Capitalism has been around since before we discovered language, it's called being smarter then others. All humans are innately greedy, every last one if them. Society advances when then desire of self interest can run free and collapses when it can't.

No, Saevel.

Society advances when we have appropriate for the time period law and regulation. It collapsed when we have too much or too little of both.

It’s up to the citizens to keep both in check. Essentially keep human behaviour in check, regardless of what innate traits you think we have as individuals.

Ann Rand much?

Not in the slightest.

All humans are full of self interest, this is interpreted externally as "greed". That desire of self interest is what drives them to do things, some of those thing end up being great. Scientific progress isn't made out of the kindness of their hearts, regardless of what you like to think, but because they are being compensated in some way. That compensation can come in the form of hard cash but more often then not it's in the form of fame or recondition among their peers. Pride and Vanity come from the same place as Greed and are fundamentally the same thing, external expression of human self interest.

Society works much better when it works around humans natural instincts instead of against it.


Say that to the Soviets. Everything you've said so far is so ambiguously open to interpretation that it would be easy to justify Genocide with it. Your line of thinking is how every great tragedy of the world was created.

Harry Potter books removed from school library because they contain 'real' curses and spells

Reverend Dan Reehill, pastor of St Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee, says he consulted with Vatican exorcists before making unpopular decision
Independent UK

Visual proof that Vic is indeed wrong:

This is stupid. Though within their right, very stupid. Saying that as a Catholic. Non practicing but yet still believing, Catholic.

Excellent point for the 2nd amendment as well. Just sayin!

I agree with the Catholics those kids shouldn't read.

I owe everything in my life to not reading.

I can carry in restaurants that serve alcohol and have bars. I have never been a problem nor do I intend to be. I also don't drink EVER when around my firearms. Not cause of the LAW, but because it's the responsible thing to do.

Also did you guys see Trump with the power of his mind caused the hurricane to miss Mar A La Go !

He is that damn good.

I guess that depends. If someone invests a minimal amount of effort and stumbles on a simple cure, sure. That would be a really greedy move.

On the other hand, if someone (or some company) invested billions in R&D before discovering said cure, then it's another story. If profit potential was the driving force behind the cure, then it's only fair that they get to recoup their investment and make a reasonable profit to incentivize their next venture.

It's a tough balancing act for sure, but many of the modern medical marvels that we rely on are not the product of altruism, they are the product of capitalism. I don't really have a strong opinion on it either way, but while you don't have the right to enjoy the fruits of someone else's hard work without fair compensation, you should also not be gouged beyond reason. It's just that many people seem to think that medicine should be cheap because it's a basic necessity and don't see the mountains of money that go into inventing new ones.

It was all that Canadian Hatred of Trump, made it TURN away from it, to spite those evil spiteful Canadians running amok hating on Trump.

NUPE. I want to steal your healthcare and doctors to pay for mine! Also I don't work! PAY FOR ME!!! GIB ME STUFFS!!!!! Racist!!

Ever grab two boxes of cereal instead of just one, thats the same essential greed as wanting to make 200k instead of 100k.

Cave men hunted for meals beyond what they could immediately eat. That was greed. Greed is what pushes us to innovate. Its a classic leftist trope to vilify human nature. They vilify the very thing that pushes us forward.

We'll take 1 off your tab. XD

Honestly the government has no business being involved in yours or my healthcare.

It should be just you and your doctor.

It's crazy to think that the federal government can take over an entire industry.

Sure we could have government healthcare like other countries but we are a pretty big damn country.

Providing 300 plus million people with health care is a monumental task. That I wouldn't recommend.

You mean like this?

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-act-terrible-idea/

Oh the US could do the whole "universal healthcare" thing, the results would destroy most of Europe and Canada though.

US Military budget is $648 bn USD (yes billion), as a percentage of GDP it's around 3.1%.

Germany's Military budget is $49 bn USD, as a percentage of GDP it's 1.2%.

UK's Military budget is also $49 bn USD, around 2% of it's GDP.

France's Military budget is $42 bn USD, around 2.4% of it's GDP.

We should be seeing a trend here, the US spends far more then it's allies on it's Military budget even though it's far less likely to be directly invaded by another hostile power. The US military could easily slash it's budget to 1/3rd or less while simultaneously closing all overseas bases, recalling all troops and focusing purely on defending the borders. This means no NATO support, no UN support, absolutely zero commitment to the defense of nations not the USA.

This would save the US tax payer a ***ton of money, money that could be reinvested into social programs like some form of basic health care. This would also leave those other countries at the mercy of China and Russia. See for decades the European nations have used the US's global military presence as an excuse to slash their own militaries to nothing more then parade forces. This saved them lots of money they used to buy national socialist votes.

Now healthcare is it's own complicated beast, the vast majority of the worlds medical research is done in the USA. This is because the USA provides a 10 year patent for medical research that can be extended. In contrast other nations provide practically zero protection. Canada only allows for two years, Mexio has zero and most of Europe also has zero patent protection for non-domestically research medication. This means if pfizer creates a new drug treatment, Canada will only give them two years of protection, and the rest of the world not a single day. Within a year a generic version is available from France, Spain or Germany, and due to the UK open trade those versions are then exported to the rest of the EU.

Thus the US consumer is subsidizing the cost of medical research for the rest of the world. Pharmaceutical companies are generally limited to the US market to recoup R&D costs while making a profit.

Now the USA can follow Europe's lead and provide zero patent protection for medical research. Pfizer produces that medication it can immediately be made available from generic off-brands. This means Pfizer will never recoup costs for any medical research and stops spending the billions of USD required to make new medication. Europe no longer has a supply of cheap medical research to copy from, and everyone's left with government funded research as the only source of medical innovations.

Latest outrage is that Mike Pence is staying at a Trump resort or something.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/03/mike-pence-ireland-trump-resort-1479600

It's cuz hes a RACIST!!!!!!!

Ahem, fone. You have some explaining to do.

Sending our love down to Florida...all the way down !