4 ms·

Just Doing It

31 points by unignorant 17y ago

watchandwait 17y ago
ObamaCare hits medical device companies with a special new federal excise tax. "Reform" indeed.
- krainboltgreene 17y ago
  Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus.
  - briansmith 17y ago
    I agree. Do you know what the new website is? I went through Digg -> Reddit, Reddit -> news.yc, and now I don't know what comes next. (Actually, some parts of Reddit seem to have returned to respectability. Maybe Reddit has become the new news.yc?)
    - krainboltgreene 17y ago
      I started off with HN, so I have no clue.
  - lionhearted 17y ago
    > Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus. Yeah, it's sad to see the quality of discussion erode a bit, but I'm hoping it's just a cycle. I saw a comment about "teabaggers" just recently as well, so it is truly non-partisan low quality political discussion. Then again, maybe any not-heavily-moderated politics discussion on the internet devolves into that sort of thing, which is why it's more or less verboden on HN in the first place. I'm just breaking out the downvote for it and crossing my fingers that it's a passing influx of people who don't know the etiquitte yet.
  - Estragon 17y ago
    I'm sure he's just trying to help Mr Friedman out by demonstrating the final point of his essay for us. Our national debate today is dominated by the ignorant ramblings of Sarah Palin, talk-show lunatics, tea parties and politics as sports — not ESPN but PSPN.
- anamax 17y ago
  Why is that being downvoted? Obamacare does include a new tax on medical devices. http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-device-tax-details-now-up-to-house-senate-conferees.html http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-d... It's unclear how that tax will help us get new medical devices. OC also includes a limit on flexible spending accounts ($2500/employee year), which many of us have used to pay for things that aren't covered by insurance. ($2500 is just a bit more than laser eye surgery these days and is much less than it was when first introduced.) Folks with kids and other dependents get a lot of benefit from flex spending. (They can pay deductibles and so on.) There wasn't a limit before - most companies picked one around $4-5k, so folks near the max will be paying an extra $500-1k in taxes from just this change.. They aren't going to see any comparable savings. OC also significantly restricts the use of flexible spending accounts - they now can't be used for non-prescription drugs unless "prescribed". So, if you get yeast infections and have been curing them OTC, you can't get a break on the drug that always works for you unless you go to the doctor.... (I picked yeast infections because the "white knights" complain that we don't include women enough.)
  - carbocation 17y ago
    Using pejorative terms marks the end of, not a beginning to, productive discourse.
    - Qz 17y ago
      To be fair, given the state of media coverage (read: Fox News), I wouldn't be surprised if someone legitimately thought it was named ObamaCare ...in which case the use of pejoratives on HN is the least of that person's problems.
      - carbocation 17y ago
        That would be 1 cuil, I believe. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raids_reveal_baby_farms/c06cqxb http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raid...
- watchandwait 17y ago
  I suppose I should have used the Orwellian title of the bill: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" There's nothing "affordable" that will result from expanded political control of the health care system. And I prefer liberty to "protection".
byrneseyeview 17y ago
those four words every venture capitalist loves to hear: “I have an idea” I was under the impression that VCs love those words the way novelists love "Oh! I've always wanted to be a writer--let me tell you about the first novel I'd write..."
mikecane 17y ago
Friedman rightfully gushes over the non-traditional setup of the company and rightfully cheerleads for more. But what needs to be looked into is a big revamp of the tax system and capital markets to make this a sturdier economic foundation. For example, back in the 1970s, the tax code was changed in a way that finally acknowledged the strange lives of artists. Basically, if you lived on beans for years one and two and then could afford caviar in year three (because you succeeded), the tax law allowed averaging of your third year income over the prior two years of want. You weren't socked with a higher rate because it acknowledged the reality of the prior two years as a kind of "investment." This provision was killed within a few years, however. Something like this really needs to return.

Just Doing It

31 points by unignorant 17y ago

watchandwait 17y ago

ObamaCare hits medical device companies with a special new federal excise tax. "Reform" indeed.

krainboltgreene 17y ago
Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus.
- briansmith 17y ago
  I agree. Do you know what the new website is? I went through Digg -> Reddit, Reddit -> news.yc, and now I don't know what comes next. (Actually, some parts of Reddit seem to have returned to respectability. Maybe Reddit has become the new news.yc?)
  - krainboltgreene 17y ago
    I started off with HN, so I have no clue.
- lionhearted 17y ago
  > Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus. Yeah, it's sad to see the quality of discussion erode a bit, but I'm hoping it's just a cycle. I saw a comment about "teabaggers" just recently as well, so it is truly non-partisan low quality political discussion. Then again, maybe any not-heavily-moderated politics discussion on the internet devolves into that sort of thing, which is why it's more or less verboden on HN in the first place. I'm just breaking out the downvote for it and crossing my fingers that it's a passing influx of people who don't know the etiquitte yet.
- Estragon 17y ago
  I'm sure he's just trying to help Mr Friedman out by demonstrating the final point of his essay for us. Our national debate today is dominated by the ignorant ramblings of Sarah Palin, talk-show lunatics, tea parties and politics as sports — not ESPN but PSPN.
anamax 17y ago
Why is that being downvoted? Obamacare does include a new tax on medical devices. http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-device-tax-details-now-up-to-house-senate-conferees.html http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-d... It's unclear how that tax will help us get new medical devices. OC also includes a limit on flexible spending accounts ($2500/employee year), which many of us have used to pay for things that aren't covered by insurance. ($2500 is just a bit more than laser eye surgery these days and is much less than it was when first introduced.) Folks with kids and other dependents get a lot of benefit from flex spending. (They can pay deductibles and so on.) There wasn't a limit before - most companies picked one around $4-5k, so folks near the max will be paying an extra $500-1k in taxes from just this change.. They aren't going to see any comparable savings. OC also significantly restricts the use of flexible spending accounts - they now can't be used for non-prescription drugs unless "prescribed". So, if you get yeast infections and have been curing them OTC, you can't get a break on the drug that always works for you unless you go to the doctor.... (I picked yeast infections because the "white knights" complain that we don't include women enough.)
- carbocation 17y ago
  Using pejorative terms marks the end of, not a beginning to, productive discourse.
  - Qz 17y ago
    To be fair, given the state of media coverage (read: Fox News), I wouldn't be surprised if someone legitimately thought it was named ObamaCare ...in which case the use of pejoratives on HN is the least of that person's problems.
    - carbocation 17y ago
      That would be 1 cuil, I believe. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raids_reveal_baby_farms/c06cqxb http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raid...
watchandwait 17y ago
I suppose I should have used the Orwellian title of the bill: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" There's nothing "affordable" that will result from expanded political control of the health care system. And I prefer liberty to "protection".

byrneseyeview 17y ago

those four words every venture capitalist loves to hear: “I have an idea” I was under the impression that VCs love those words the way novelists love "Oh! I've always wanted to be a writer--let me tell you about the first novel I'd write..."

mikecane 17y ago

Friedman rightfully gushes over the non-traditional setup of the company and rightfully cheerleads for more. But what needs to be looked into is a big revamp of the tax system and capital markets to make this a sturdier economic foundation. For example, back in the 1970s, the tax code was changed in a way that finally acknowledged the strange lives of artists. Basically, if you lived on beans for years one and two and then could afford caviar in year three (because you succeeded), the tax law allowed averaging of your third year income over the prior two years of want. You weren't socked with a higher rate because it acknowledged the reality of the prior two years as a kind of "investment." This provision was killed within a few years, however. Something like this really needs to return.