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Good! Let’s hope Biden will have the courage to do even more about price transparency. If we can’t have something like Medicare for All they should at least mak

Good! Let’s hope Biden will have the courage to do even more about price transparency. If we can’t have something like Medicare for All they should at least make sure the “free market” works like an actual market. The minimum requirement for a market should be that the participants know at least how much goods cost. The current situation is just ridiculous where hospitals and insurance can do pretty much whatever they feel like and the patient has no way to know if they are being overcharged or not.

roamerz 6y ago
Let’s hope! But honestly that probably won’t happen if he gets into office. Transparency is the enemy of socialism.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  You do know that actual socialists hate Biden, and that he has openly walked back anything remotely socialist in his platform, and that none of his policies were anything more than a glance at socialism to begin with... right?
  - leesalminen 6y ago
    You do know that nearly everyone expects Biden to die shortly, leaving us with President Harris, the most left-leaning Senator in American history. Now, Mrs. Harris also likes to put poor people in prison for marijuana charges, so "left-leaning" isn't saying _too_ much, but by American standards...
    - spaetzleesser 6y ago
      “ most left-leaning Senator in American history.” That’s just propaganda nonsense. It seems everybody who is only slightly left to the current administration is labeled as “RINO” or “far left” who wants to create a second Venezuela or Cuba.
    - zrail 6y ago
      "nearly everyone" is doing a lot of work there. I for one don't expect him to die in his term. I do expect him to decline running for a second term and set up Harris for a strong campaign in 2024, but four years is a long time.
      - nerdponx 6y ago
        Lest we forget that Biden, Sanders, and Trump are all around the same age.
        spaetzleesser 6y ago
        Considering how old Pelosi and McConnell are I think 75 may just be the minimum age for political leadership in the US right now. The fact that Biden ran with 78 shows that he has a big ego so I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t let go in four years either. Maybe it will be 78 years old vs 82 year Biden with 86 year old Pelosi leading the house and 80+ year old McConnell in the senate. Trust no one younger than 75 :(
        nerdponx 6y ago
        The Baby Boom generation is a huge voting group, and their candidates are aging at the same rate as the people who keep voting for them. And 30 years of brand recognition seems powerful enough to keep serious (younger) competition out of the way. There is probably a doctoral thesis somewhere in here.
    - mypalmike 6y ago
      Liberal drug laws came from conservatives. War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > You do know that nearly everyone expects Biden to die shortly No, not “nearly everyone” expects that. > leaving us with President Harris, the most left-leaning Senator in American history She isn't even the most left-leaning sitting Senator. > Now, Mrs. Harris also likes to put poor people in prison for marijuana charges Kind of weird she was the Senate sponsor (not a cosponsor) of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, if that were true.
  - roamerz 6y ago
    No I did not realize that but that said I don’t believe he is anything but a puppet to the left and to the big corporations that gave billions and manipulated what American people were allowed to see so him walking anything back is about as credible as Obama’s if you liked your health insurance plan, you could keep it.
    - nerdponx 6y ago
      I mean, that's exactly the same criticism he gets from the far left. Words like "neolib" and "centrist" and "corporatist" are common slurs in that millieu, many of them directed at Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, et alia.
    - spaetzleesser 6y ago
      Who in the two ruling parties don’t sell out to big corporations? The Democrats have failed producing a decent health policy. And so have republicans. Do you remember “repeal and replace”? Repealing they did as much as they could but they forgot about replacing.
    - mypalmike 6y ago
      "He is a socialist and a corporate puppet", he said, without a hint of sarcasm.
      - cheaprentalyeti 6y ago
        If you didn't see the Corporate-Communist Convergence, you just haven't been paying attention. It's like that old joke about Bill Gates going to hell with the punchline "That was the demo version!", crossed with the old Soviet joke "But Leonid, what if the Communists come back?" Communism isn't an economic system. It's a political system with a long sales pitch about how everything's going to be equal and prosperous and stuff after the communists get absolute power. I'd add the caveat that it's actually worked for China, because they got lucky and the United States decided to commit Suicide by Destruction of Manufacturing Sector, in China's favor.
        6y ago
- zrail 6y ago
  > if he gets into office What do you mean by this?
- entropea 6y ago
  Biden's entire career has been center right policy. There will absolutely be no socialism under Biden. People were sure Obama was a socialist too, but he left calling his actual policies closer to a moderate Republican[1] and I strongly agree with him there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677elaGIsKU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677elaGIsKU

roamerz 6y ago

Let’s hope! But honestly that probably won’t happen if he gets into office. Transparency is the enemy of socialism.

nerdponx 6y ago
You do know that actual socialists hate Biden, and that he has openly walked back anything remotely socialist in his platform, and that none of his policies were anything more than a glance at socialism to begin with... right?
- leesalminen 6y ago
  You do know that nearly everyone expects Biden to die shortly, leaving us with President Harris, the most left-leaning Senator in American history. Now, Mrs. Harris also likes to put poor people in prison for marijuana charges, so "left-leaning" isn't saying _too_ much, but by American standards...
  - spaetzleesser 6y ago
    “ most left-leaning Senator in American history.” That’s just propaganda nonsense. It seems everybody who is only slightly left to the current administration is labeled as “RINO” or “far left” who wants to create a second Venezuela or Cuba.
  - zrail 6y ago
    "nearly everyone" is doing a lot of work there. I for one don't expect him to die in his term. I do expect him to decline running for a second term and set up Harris for a strong campaign in 2024, but four years is a long time.
    - nerdponx 6y ago
      Lest we forget that Biden, Sanders, and Trump are all around the same age.
      - spaetzleesser 6y ago
        Considering how old Pelosi and McConnell are I think 75 may just be the minimum age for political leadership in the US right now. The fact that Biden ran with 78 shows that he has a big ego so I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t let go in four years either. Maybe it will be 78 years old vs 82 year Biden with 86 year old Pelosi leading the house and 80+ year old McConnell in the senate. Trust no one younger than 75 :(
        nerdponx 6y ago
        The Baby Boom generation is a huge voting group, and their candidates are aging at the same rate as the people who keep voting for them. And 30 years of brand recognition seems powerful enough to keep serious (younger) competition out of the way. There is probably a doctoral thesis somewhere in here.
  - mypalmike 6y ago
    Liberal drug laws came from conservatives. War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > You do know that nearly everyone expects Biden to die shortly No, not “nearly everyone” expects that. > leaving us with President Harris, the most left-leaning Senator in American history She isn't even the most left-leaning sitting Senator. > Now, Mrs. Harris also likes to put poor people in prison for marijuana charges Kind of weird she was the Senate sponsor (not a cosponsor) of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, if that were true.
- roamerz 6y ago
  No I did not realize that but that said I don’t believe he is anything but a puppet to the left and to the big corporations that gave billions and manipulated what American people were allowed to see so him walking anything back is about as credible as Obama’s if you liked your health insurance plan, you could keep it.
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    I mean, that's exactly the same criticism he gets from the far left. Words like "neolib" and "centrist" and "corporatist" are common slurs in that millieu, many of them directed at Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, et alia.
  - spaetzleesser 6y ago
    Who in the two ruling parties don’t sell out to big corporations? The Democrats have failed producing a decent health policy. And so have republicans. Do you remember “repeal and replace”? Repealing they did as much as they could but they forgot about replacing.
  - mypalmike 6y ago
    "He is a socialist and a corporate puppet", he said, without a hint of sarcasm.
    - cheaprentalyeti 6y ago
      If you didn't see the Corporate-Communist Convergence, you just haven't been paying attention. It's like that old joke about Bill Gates going to hell with the punchline "That was the demo version!", crossed with the old Soviet joke "But Leonid, what if the Communists come back?" Communism isn't an economic system. It's a political system with a long sales pitch about how everything's going to be equal and prosperous and stuff after the communists get absolute power. I'd add the caveat that it's actually worked for China, because they got lucky and the United States decided to commit Suicide by Destruction of Manufacturing Sector, in China's favor.
      - 6y ago
zrail 6y ago
> if he gets into office What do you mean by this?
entropea 6y ago
Biden's entire career has been center right policy. There will absolutely be no socialism under Biden. People were sure Obama was a socialist too, but he left calling his actual policies closer to a moderate Republican[1] and I strongly agree with him there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677elaGIsKU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677elaGIsKU