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> Propelled in part by surging demand during the pandemic, people spent more than $610 billion on Amazon over the 12 months ending in June, according to Wall St
by HenryKissinger 5y ago
> Propelled in part by surging demand during the pandemic, people spent more than $610 billion on Amazon over the 12 months ending in June, according to Wall Street estimates compiled by the financial research firm FactSet. Walmart on Tuesday posted sales of $566 billion for the 12 months ending in July.
$610 billion is starting to resemble the tax revenue of some nation states.
- smnrchrds 5y ago$610 billion is more than the GDP of 190 out of 213 countries in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...
- pope_meat 5y agoAnd some of those 190 even manage to provide healthcare to their citizens, there's no "oh they're just part time citizens, gotta be a citizen for 40 hours a week to qualify for a doctor"
- swiley 5y agoThose countries probably also require upfront price estimates and the hospital admins might not be trained experts in gaming regulation.
- handrous 5y agoPrice controls. It's always (AFAI can tell) price controls, whether de facto or de jure. That seems to be the uniting factor in successful healthcare systems. Even Singapore, the closest thing I know of to a "free market healthcare can work!" darling, has some price controls (and uses the very real threat of imposing more to keep the rest of the prices under control).