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> but they always get quietly sidelined by tax industry lobbyists. Turbo tax has spent 44 million dollars on lobbying. The American Medical Association(Physic

> but they always get quietly sidelined by tax industry lobbyists. Turbo tax has spent 44 million dollars on lobbying. The American Medical Association(Physicians) have spent 500 million dollars on lobbying. (All of medical spent about 2 billion) Its good that people are angry that lobbyists control the nation, but for some reason we give the biggest lobbyists a pass. I don't see the outrage against the top 20 lobbyists, I do (rightly) see it against turbotax.

ceejayoz 4y ago
The medical industry is something like 20% of the economy. That’s not the case for the tax prep industry. Their lobbying is outsized, and able to be more narrowly focused on the couple things they really care about.
UncleMeat 4y ago
The medical industry is squarely in the crosshairs of "most broken and fucked up industry in the country" pretty much constantly. I agree that we often don't consider all sorts of other lobbying, but "our medical industry is broken because of corporations" is a pretty uncontroversial statement in the US.
- spoils19 4y ago
  > The medical industry is squarely in the crosshairs of "most broken and fucked up industry in the country" pretty much constantly. The problem is that you speak for others when they hold the opposing view - our medical industry is evidence of the free market working at its best, and providing care for dollars with no hidden or extraneous fees.
  - d4mi3n 4y ago
    I’d love to see a thorough breakdown of what that opposing stance is. How is medicine, a service that is non-negotiable (e.g. you can die without it) in a position to work without problems in a completely free market? I’m any free market, you vote with your wallet, but that’s impossible if you don’t have time to switch providers or if forces outside of the free market dictate price? I’d love for us to just say “let the market sort it out”, but that generally requires presumptions that aren’t universally true for all goods or services.
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    Where are these people? While the bulk of democrats and republicans disagree on what the route evils of the medical industry actually are, they largely agree that it is broken. The republicans, for example, complain to high heaven that the ACA has eliminated the free market within the medical industry and replaced it with regulation and rot.
    - freedomben 4y ago
      I think GP was being sarcastic. Nobody really thinks that. GP you should definitely throw in a /s or something because it's not real clear whether you're serious or not
  - oblio 4y ago
    > The problem is that you speak for others when they hold the opposing view - our medical industry is evidence of the free market working at its best, and providing care for dollars with no hidden or extraneous fees. Who are these unicorns which are not paid by this system? Are they friends with Yeti, Bigfoot, and the mythical hot single living in my area?
joshuamorton 4y ago
The broader medical industry is something like 1/5 of the American economy. It had over 2.5 trillion dollars in revenue this year. Intuits annual revenue was 5.6 billion, so it directs 10x as much revenue, relatively speaking, at lobbying.

ceejayoz 4y ago

The medical industry is something like 20% of the economy. That’s not the case for the tax prep industry. Their lobbying is outsized, and able to be more narrowly focused on the couple things they really care about.

UncleMeat 4y ago

The medical industry is squarely in the crosshairs of "most broken and fucked up industry in the country" pretty much constantly. I agree that we often don't consider all sorts of other lobbying, but "our medical industry is broken because of corporations" is a pretty uncontroversial statement in the US.

spoils19 4y ago
> The medical industry is squarely in the crosshairs of "most broken and fucked up industry in the country" pretty much constantly. The problem is that you speak for others when they hold the opposing view - our medical industry is evidence of the free market working at its best, and providing care for dollars with no hidden or extraneous fees.
- d4mi3n 4y ago
  I’d love to see a thorough breakdown of what that opposing stance is. How is medicine, a service that is non-negotiable (e.g. you can die without it) in a position to work without problems in a completely free market? I’m any free market, you vote with your wallet, but that’s impossible if you don’t have time to switch providers or if forces outside of the free market dictate price? I’d love for us to just say “let the market sort it out”, but that generally requires presumptions that aren’t universally true for all goods or services.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Where are these people? While the bulk of democrats and republicans disagree on what the route evils of the medical industry actually are, they largely agree that it is broken. The republicans, for example, complain to high heaven that the ACA has eliminated the free market within the medical industry and replaced it with regulation and rot.
  - freedomben 4y ago
    I think GP was being sarcastic. Nobody really thinks that. GP you should definitely throw in a /s or something because it's not real clear whether you're serious or not
- oblio 4y ago
  > The problem is that you speak for others when they hold the opposing view - our medical industry is evidence of the free market working at its best, and providing care for dollars with no hidden or extraneous fees. Who are these unicorns which are not paid by this system? Are they friends with Yeti, Bigfoot, and the mythical hot single living in my area?

joshuamorton 4y ago

The broader medical industry is something like 1/5 of the American economy. It had over 2.5 trillion dollars in revenue this year. Intuits annual revenue was 5.6 billion, so it directs 10x as much revenue, relatively speaking, at lobbying.