4 ms·

Things are being sold in the US that should not be sold. US has created businesses out of Universities and Health meaning you can buy things that should be off

Things are being sold in the US that should not be sold. US has created businesses out of Universities and Health meaning you can buy things that should be offered to you by the state; people need more money to stay afloat in the US, more jobs sure are going to get you more GDP. And if we go regional in EU, I bet you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece than Alabama, Mississippi or pretty much the whole South.

eldaisfish 2y ago
>And if we go regional in EU, I bet you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece Provided you have a job and a job that pays well enough to be able to afford a decent life. All this rhetoric about european health insurance and job security is good but it is good today. Will it be good tomorrow? unlikely, as the EU faces the same demographic crisis as most of the developed world. Mind you, i'm not advocating for US-style free markets running amok and turning healthcare into a for-profit service but there is a good argument to be made about certain positives of the USA's economic structures. Remember, when the chips are down, you cannot eat the architecture or social services in europe. Those things cannot be exchanged for money.
- rco8786 2y ago
  All we can do is compare what is real. Not try and project into an uncertain future.
- jq-r 2y ago
  Right on. > All this rhetoric about european health insurance and job security is good but it is good today. Will it be good tomorrow? In Croatia it already went down the drain years ago. People who never needed hospital treatments in their adult life have absolutely no clue at what the'll get into. Frequent misdiagnosis, waiting lists for years in advance to even see a specialist - not even to have a surgery, no responsiblity, 30 year old methods and knowledge etc. Doctors themselves are disgruntled and are complaining about low salaries how they whould be paid much more if they were in the States or say Germany etc. Which is simply ridiculous because they're highest paid profession over here and frankly any other worker would be paid more if it was working abroad. This is the only profession over here where its completely legal to work in both a public hospital/clinic and work in a private clinic/practice at the same time. So it quickly came down to: "oh you see, the waiting list for your life-saving urgent surgery is 2 years, but if you come to my/friend's practice will sort you out in no time at all, we accept all payment options". Or "Sorry the waiting list is very long, but I'm the one who makes it wink wink". So this quickly devolved to "why would I give two shits what happens in my public hospital (workplace) when they cannot fire me (because they need me)". It also priced out many non well-off people because the Germans and Italians are using these private services too raising the prices. So the public health services are used now pretty much by friends and families of the people working there and by poor people who have no choice but to take whatever scraps are given to them. Citizens get screwed over twice; they get no or bad service for the money thats taken from them by force (very high taxes), and they'll have to pay for private care which is very expensive and the private insurance options are actually very poor. I could go on about job "security" now, but this theme is so painful I'll leave it for another time.
rayiner 2y ago
Define “better life.” The median house in every southern state is double the size of the median house in Portugal. In terms of material prosperity there’s no comparison, the American south is vastly richer.
- fvdessen 2y ago
  On the flip side, no amount of dollars can get you the food quality you can have in portugal. In the end it depends on what you value.
  - bluGill 2y ago
    The American south is known for gardens. They have pretty good food quality if they want it. Many of them do not cook very good food, but they have plenty of ability to get it if they want. Which is to say for some reason more in the South do not value food quality, but for those who do they get it.
    - rco8786 2y ago
      > They have pretty good food quality if they want it Ehhh food deserts and food scarcity is very much an issue for millions of people in the American south. 1 in 4 face some type of food insecurity in Alabama. https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/npa/food-access.html#:~:text=Alabama%20is%20the%20fifth%20poorest,for%20an%20active%2C%20healthy%20life https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/npa/food-access.html#:~:....
      - hollerith 2y ago
        Neither food deserts nor rates of food insecurity have anything to do with food quality for those who want and can afford healthy food. (I would have thought that California has the best food quality in the US because that is where most of the organic fruits and vegetables in the US are grown and the other elements of a healthy diet can be shipped around the world with very little loss of quality.)
  - 2y ago
hollerith 2y ago
>I bet you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece than Alabama, Mississippi Most people need to earn money through labor, and earning money is much easier in Alabama or Mississippi than in Portugal or Greece unless you have one of those jobs where it does not matter where in the world you live as long as the internet connectivity is reliable. Some are going be tempted to reply that that might be true for people whose earning target is sufficiently high, but for just earning the median income, Portugal or Greece is easier. I disagree: I say it applies all along the continuum of incomes. If you are disabled (unable to earn money) or have all the money you will ever need (as savings), then yeah, you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece.

eldaisfish 2y ago

>And if we go regional in EU, I bet you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece Provided you have a job and a job that pays well enough to be able to afford a decent life. All this rhetoric about european health insurance and job security is good but it is good today. Will it be good tomorrow? unlikely, as the EU faces the same demographic crisis as most of the developed world. Mind you, i'm not advocating for US-style free markets running amok and turning healthcare into a for-profit service but there is a good argument to be made about certain positives of the USA's economic structures. Remember, when the chips are down, you cannot eat the architecture or social services in europe. Those things cannot be exchanged for money.

rco8786 2y ago
All we can do is compare what is real. Not try and project into an uncertain future.
jq-r 2y ago
Right on. > All this rhetoric about european health insurance and job security is good but it is good today. Will it be good tomorrow? In Croatia it already went down the drain years ago. People who never needed hospital treatments in their adult life have absolutely no clue at what the'll get into. Frequent misdiagnosis, waiting lists for years in advance to even see a specialist - not even to have a surgery, no responsiblity, 30 year old methods and knowledge etc. Doctors themselves are disgruntled and are complaining about low salaries how they whould be paid much more if they were in the States or say Germany etc. Which is simply ridiculous because they're highest paid profession over here and frankly any other worker would be paid more if it was working abroad. This is the only profession over here where its completely legal to work in both a public hospital/clinic and work in a private clinic/practice at the same time. So it quickly came down to: "oh you see, the waiting list for your life-saving urgent surgery is 2 years, but if you come to my/friend's practice will sort you out in no time at all, we accept all payment options". Or "Sorry the waiting list is very long, but I'm the one who makes it wink wink". So this quickly devolved to "why would I give two shits what happens in my public hospital (workplace) when they cannot fire me (because they need me)". It also priced out many non well-off people because the Germans and Italians are using these private services too raising the prices. So the public health services are used now pretty much by friends and families of the people working there and by poor people who have no choice but to take whatever scraps are given to them. Citizens get screwed over twice; they get no or bad service for the money thats taken from them by force (very high taxes), and they'll have to pay for private care which is very expensive and the private insurance options are actually very poor. I could go on about job "security" now, but this theme is so painful I'll leave it for another time.

rayiner 2y ago

Define “better life.” The median house in every southern state is double the size of the median house in Portugal. In terms of material prosperity there’s no comparison, the American south is vastly richer.

fvdessen 2y ago
On the flip side, no amount of dollars can get you the food quality you can have in portugal. In the end it depends on what you value.
- bluGill 2y ago
  The American south is known for gardens. They have pretty good food quality if they want it. Many of them do not cook very good food, but they have plenty of ability to get it if they want. Which is to say for some reason more in the South do not value food quality, but for those who do they get it.
  - rco8786 2y ago
    > They have pretty good food quality if they want it Ehhh food deserts and food scarcity is very much an issue for millions of people in the American south. 1 in 4 face some type of food insecurity in Alabama. https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/npa/food-access.html#:~:text=Alabama%20is%20the%20fifth%20poorest,for%20an%20active%2C%20healthy%20life https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/npa/food-access.html#:~:....
    - hollerith 2y ago
      Neither food deserts nor rates of food insecurity have anything to do with food quality for those who want and can afford healthy food. (I would have thought that California has the best food quality in the US because that is where most of the organic fruits and vegetables in the US are grown and the other elements of a healthy diet can be shipped around the world with very little loss of quality.)
- 2y ago

hollerith 2y ago

>I bet you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece than Alabama, Mississippi Most people need to earn money through labor, and earning money is much easier in Alabama or Mississippi than in Portugal or Greece unless you have one of those jobs where it does not matter where in the world you live as long as the internet connectivity is reliable. Some are going be tempted to reply that that might be true for people whose earning target is sufficiently high, but for just earning the median income, Portugal or Greece is easier. I disagree: I say it applies all along the continuum of incomes. If you are disabled (unable to earn money) or have all the money you will ever need (as savings), then yeah, you can have a better life in Portugal or Greece.