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Yes, cars and computers have gotten cheaper relative to their quality. So what? Health care and education have gotten more expensive. Inflation-adjusted mone

by lisper 6y ago

Yes, cars and computers have gotten cheaper relative to their quality. So what? Health care and education have gotten more expensive. Inflation-adjusted money is a pretty good proxy for wealth. What else is there?

pdonis 6y ago
> Health care and education have gotten more expensive. I think this depends on where you get your health care and education, but I agree that in many cases quality vs. price is certainly not where it should be. > Inflation-adjusted money is a pretty good proxy for wealth. What else is there? Not trying to centrally plan an entire country's economy based on faulty proxies for something that cannot be reliably measured [1]. Central planning just makes it easier for the rich to siphon more wealth from everyone else while disguising it as "helping". For example, if we take your observation about quality vs. price for health care and education as true, and compare it to my observation about cars and computers, the general pattern is that the areas where quality vs. price is worst are the areas that are the most centrally planned, and the areas where quality vs. price is best are the areas that are least centrally planned. ([1] - The reason wealth cannot be reliably measured is that it's subjective; the value of a good or service depends on who has it and what use they can make of it. This is the only reason wealth can be increased by specialization and trade in the firt place.)
throwaway09223 6y ago
"Health care and education have gotten more expensive. " I apologize because I don't mean to only present disagreements but I don't think this is true, either. I think that like-for-like health care has largely fallen in cost. The catch with health care is that we've developed better (and much more expensive) methods. Spending has increased dramatically. My grandparents grew up on a farm and when they broke a bone they set it at home. They saw a doctor on very rare occasions and when they did, treatment was limited. Their health care spending was very small, but so was the scope of their treatment. When my grandparents got cancer, they died. There were not nearly so many expensive options available for end of life ailments. It's possible to live with the same kind of spartan health care today, but almost no one would because we are fantastically more wealthy than past generations. Willingness to buy more is exactly what we would expect to see if wealth has risen over time, as I am arguing. The status quo rises dramatically as overall wealth increases. Education is tricky as it's largely a fashion product at this point. Knowledge itself is often freely available in ways impossible to imagine decades ago. It's the prestige and pedigree that cost money. Fashionable limited-quantity things get wildly expensive as wealth increases.

by lisper 6y ago

pdonis 6y ago

> Health care and education have gotten more expensive. I think this depends on where you get your health care and education, but I agree that in many cases quality vs. price is certainly not where it should be. > Inflation-adjusted money is a pretty good proxy for wealth. What else is there? Not trying to centrally plan an entire country's economy based on faulty proxies for something that cannot be reliably measured [1]. Central planning just makes it easier for the rich to siphon more wealth from everyone else while disguising it as "helping". For example, if we take your observation about quality vs. price for health care and education as true, and compare it to my observation about cars and computers, the general pattern is that the areas where quality vs. price is worst are the areas that are the most centrally planned, and the areas where quality vs. price is best are the areas that are least centrally planned. ([1] - The reason wealth cannot be reliably measured is that it's subjective; the value of a good or service depends on who has it and what use they can make of it. This is the only reason wealth can be increased by specialization and trade in the firt place.)

throwaway09223 6y ago

"Health care and education have gotten more expensive. " I apologize because I don't mean to only present disagreements but I don't think this is true, either. I think that like-for-like health care has largely fallen in cost. The catch with health care is that we've developed better (and much more expensive) methods. Spending has increased dramatically. My grandparents grew up on a farm and when they broke a bone they set it at home. They saw a doctor on very rare occasions and when they did, treatment was limited. Their health care spending was very small, but so was the scope of their treatment. When my grandparents got cancer, they died. There were not nearly so many expensive options available for end of life ailments. It's possible to live with the same kind of spartan health care today, but almost no one would because we are fantastically more wealthy than past generations. Willingness to buy more is exactly what we would expect to see if wealth has risen over time, as I am arguing. The status quo rises dramatically as overall wealth increases. Education is tricky as it's largely a fashion product at this point. Knowledge itself is often freely available in ways impossible to imagine decades ago. It's the prestige and pedigree that cost money. Fashionable limited-quantity things get wildly expensive as wealth increases.