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If absolute prosperity is what matters, how is the US the richest country in the world, while being pretty much the only one where medical bankruptcy is a thing

If absolute prosperity is what matters, how is the US the richest country in the world, while being pretty much the only one where medical bankruptcy is a thing?

eru 1y ago
The US isn't the richest country in the world (per capita). What makes you think so? However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. And in any case, I'm saying absolute prosperity of individual people matters. Not the average per capita absolute prosperity of a country. So people who go into medical bankruptcy in the US are obviously not individually rich. And I hope you and me agree, that if you could find a way to make them better off, that would be a good thing? Whereas if you found a way to make them worse off by 20%, but make Mr Zuckerberg worse off by 50%, that would not be advisable, even if it technically decreases inequality.
- ascorbic 1y ago
  It's the richest country in absolute terms, and the richest per-capita if you exclude small countries. As a side note, it really shouldn't be possible to edit comments two hours after they've been posted and after they've had replies. Particularly without showing any indication of that.
- voidhorse 1y ago
  No one is suggesting to "make Mr Zuckerberg worse off". The inequality problem is about access to material resources. Money is just an abstraction. No one is seriously suggesting to refuse zuckerberg access to good things on principle or to just diminish and not redistribute his wealth, that's preposterous. The point is that access to capital is access to resources. The people that hoard capital necessarily end up hoarding important resources and they use this imbalance to then extract further capital from others and further their position, thus in turn gives them power. The problem is all about bringing more balance to this situation so that we avoid a return to feudalism in which a handful of people have control over all the resources and power and everyone is is basically just beholden to their whims.
  - eru 1y ago
    How does 'hoarding' capital look like? What do you mean by that?
- metabagel 1y ago
  > However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. Better to use the median, because the average is heavily skewed by the ultra-rich.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
  > However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. Because it is very expensive to live in America.
bigfishrunning 1y ago
In poorer countries, instead of medical bankruptcy, there just isn't medicine available. The poor in sub-saharan africa are not receiving first class government funded medical care.
- simonask 1y ago
  This is a total red herring. We're not talking about sub-Saharan Africa. As Americans who want to fix your country, you should be looking at countries with similar standards of living, such as every single European country. You can even pick the rich ones, like the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, or Germany. The alternative to the current situation in the US is not abject poverty.
marcusverus 1y ago
Medical bankruptcies are vastly overstated.[1] And while the US may be unique in our exposure to medical debt, we're doing much better than other developed countries in terms of overall household debt, which would seem be a more useful metric if you're concerned about the impact of debt on prosperity.[0] [0] https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/household-debt.html https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/household-debt.html [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30793926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30793926

If absolute prosperity is what matters, how is the US the richest country in the world, while being pretty much the only one where medical bankruptcy is a thing?

eru 1y ago

The US isn't the richest country in the world (per capita). What makes you think so? However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. And in any case, I'm saying absolute prosperity of individual people matters. Not the average per capita absolute prosperity of a country. So people who go into medical bankruptcy in the US are obviously not individually rich. And I hope you and me agree, that if you could find a way to make them better off, that would be a good thing? Whereas if you found a way to make them worse off by 20%, but make Mr Zuckerberg worse off by 50%, that would not be advisable, even if it technically decreases inequality.

ascorbic 1y ago
It's the richest country in absolute terms, and the richest per-capita if you exclude small countries. As a side note, it really shouldn't be possible to edit comments two hours after they've been posted and after they've had replies. Particularly without showing any indication of that.
voidhorse 1y ago
No one is suggesting to "make Mr Zuckerberg worse off". The inequality problem is about access to material resources. Money is just an abstraction. No one is seriously suggesting to refuse zuckerberg access to good things on principle or to just diminish and not redistribute his wealth, that's preposterous. The point is that access to capital is access to resources. The people that hoard capital necessarily end up hoarding important resources and they use this imbalance to then extract further capital from others and further their position, thus in turn gives them power. The problem is all about bringing more balance to this situation so that we avoid a return to feudalism in which a handful of people have control over all the resources and power and everyone is is basically just beholden to their whims.
- eru 1y ago
  How does 'hoarding' capital look like? What do you mean by that?
metabagel 1y ago
> However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. Better to use the median, because the average is heavily skewed by the ultra-rich.
WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
> However, Americans are on _average_ pretty rich per capita. Because it is very expensive to live in America.

bigfishrunning 1y ago

In poorer countries, instead of medical bankruptcy, there just isn't medicine available. The poor in sub-saharan africa are not receiving first class government funded medical care.

simonask 1y ago
This is a total red herring. We're not talking about sub-Saharan Africa. As Americans who want to fix your country, you should be looking at countries with similar standards of living, such as every single European country. You can even pick the rich ones, like the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, or Germany. The alternative to the current situation in the US is not abject poverty.

marcusverus 1y ago

Medical bankruptcies are vastly overstated.[1] And while the US may be unique in our exposure to medical debt, we're doing much better than other developed countries in terms of overall household debt, which would seem be a more useful metric if you're concerned about the impact of debt on prosperity.[0] [0] https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/household-debt.html https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/household-debt.html [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30793926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30793926