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“Society” should have things like universal healthcare like every other industrial country in the world. The US is the only country with an ass backwards syste

“Society” should have things like universal healthcare like every other industrial country in the world. The US is the only country with an ass backwards system where you are dependent on your employer for health benefits.

jart 1y ago
My employer is a lot more dependable than the US government. If you trust the overlord you didn't choose more than the one you did, then you might want to rethink your career.
- JustExAWS 1y ago
  What’s more likely - your company is going to get rid of you in the next five years or the government is going to take away your citizenship? Did you try to get insurance on the open market before 2012 with a pre-existing condition? Every other industrial country in the world has health insurance not tied to your employer. Even smaller countries like Costa Rica and Panama have better more affordable insurance. Yes I’ve done my research on caja, Costa Rica’s national health care system. We will be staying there a couple of months in the winter starting next year and it’s our Plan B to retire there.
  - jart 1y ago
    I got my job because I had a life threatening illness at the time. My employer saved me when no one else would. After spending all that money saving my life, it'd be a shame if they got rid of me before I had the chance to fully repay their kindness. There are a lot of other good countries where you can go for care. For example, if you have an impressive looking GitHub then Audrey Tang will give you a gold card. That's privileged elite immigrant status and you don't even need a college degree. You get your gold card. You go to Taiwan. The place where some of the greatest people in the world (e.g. Jensen Huang) are from. You're under no obligation to get a job. You get free health care. The ER waits are ~15 mins. If your heart bleeds red instead then the Chinese also say on RedNote that if you're a sick American, then just come on down to China and they'll treat you and take care of you, no matter how bad it is, or how long it's going to take.
    - JustExAWS 1y ago
      You know you’re arguing my point for me that universal health care provided by taxpayer funds is better than depending on your employer for health care? And becoming a permanent resident of Costa Rica is just a matter of either proving you have $1000 a month in guaranteed income as a retiree or $2500 a month in passive income or put $60K in a local bank account and they will dispense $2500 a month to you. They don’t tax foreign income.
      - jart 1y ago
        The best thing about Costa Rica is the Sloth Sanctuary. You and your wife should send me photos of yourselves with the sloths when you get there.
utyop22 1y ago
It’s by design.. America is all about using you up as an asset then discarding you when you are no longer productive and generate economic benefits. I always laugh when Americans poke fun at Europeans… we have it much better over here. I assure you of that.
troupo 1y ago
But that's the thing, isn't it? Universal healthcare isn't magic. It's paid for by taxes. Yet Uber claimed its drivers where independent contractors that had to pay for anything: taxes, medical, insurance, car depreciation etc. etc.
- JustExAWS 1y ago
  And that’s fine. Uber drivers should pay taxes and Uber itself pays taxes - or at least should. And the drivers have the free will to choose to drive for Uber.
  - troupo 1y ago
    > Uber drivers should pay taxes and Uber itself pays taxes - or at least should. Yup. The drivers should have to pay everything because despite working for Uber they are "free contractors" > And the drivers have the free will to choose to drive for Uber Ah yes, I forgot that's exactly how price dumping works: there are multiple companies to chose from and all of them offer competitive wages. I mean, it's not ancient history. For half of Uber's existence the ongoing story was: drivers have to drive almost 24 hours a day to make living wage with Uber randomly stealing their wages. This only somewhat changed once governments stepped in and forced Uber to change some of its practices.
    - JustExAWS 1y ago
      There are multiple jobs to choose from. California’s attempt to regulate contractors was a disaster. Jason Snell, the former editor of Macworld, left to go independent and makes a living based on a combination of podcasting, writing books and freelance writing and he said how much harder the rules made it for him to do freelance writing because of the requirenments around hiring contractors. Trust me, Snell is far from a fire breathing libertarian conservative. It’s not the responsibility of a corporation to decide what a “living wage” is. Should Uber pay more to a single mother with three kids than a single father with no kids? Again it’s society’s responsibility to provide for a safety net and to tax corporations to fund it. On the federal level, that’s what the earned income tax credit was suppose to do and until 2016, it had wide bi-partisan support and was championed by both Republican and Democratic Presidents.

jart 1y ago

My employer is a lot more dependable than the US government. If you trust the overlord you didn't choose more than the one you did, then you might want to rethink your career.

JustExAWS 1y ago
What’s more likely - your company is going to get rid of you in the next five years or the government is going to take away your citizenship? Did you try to get insurance on the open market before 2012 with a pre-existing condition? Every other industrial country in the world has health insurance not tied to your employer. Even smaller countries like Costa Rica and Panama have better more affordable insurance. Yes I’ve done my research on caja, Costa Rica’s national health care system. We will be staying there a couple of months in the winter starting next year and it’s our Plan B to retire there.
- jart 1y ago
  I got my job because I had a life threatening illness at the time. My employer saved me when no one else would. After spending all that money saving my life, it'd be a shame if they got rid of me before I had the chance to fully repay their kindness. There are a lot of other good countries where you can go for care. For example, if you have an impressive looking GitHub then Audrey Tang will give you a gold card. That's privileged elite immigrant status and you don't even need a college degree. You get your gold card. You go to Taiwan. The place where some of the greatest people in the world (e.g. Jensen Huang) are from. You're under no obligation to get a job. You get free health care. The ER waits are ~15 mins. If your heart bleeds red instead then the Chinese also say on RedNote that if you're a sick American, then just come on down to China and they'll treat you and take care of you, no matter how bad it is, or how long it's going to take.
  - JustExAWS 1y ago
    You know you’re arguing my point for me that universal health care provided by taxpayer funds is better than depending on your employer for health care? And becoming a permanent resident of Costa Rica is just a matter of either proving you have $1000 a month in guaranteed income as a retiree or $2500 a month in passive income or put $60K in a local bank account and they will dispense $2500 a month to you. They don’t tax foreign income.
    - jart 1y ago
      The best thing about Costa Rica is the Sloth Sanctuary. You and your wife should send me photos of yourselves with the sloths when you get there.

utyop22 1y ago

It’s by design.. America is all about using you up as an asset then discarding you when you are no longer productive and generate economic benefits. I always laugh when Americans poke fun at Europeans… we have it much better over here. I assure you of that.

troupo 1y ago

But that's the thing, isn't it? Universal healthcare isn't magic. It's paid for by taxes. Yet Uber claimed its drivers where independent contractors that had to pay for anything: taxes, medical, insurance, car depreciation etc. etc.

JustExAWS 1y ago
And that’s fine. Uber drivers should pay taxes and Uber itself pays taxes - or at least should. And the drivers have the free will to choose to drive for Uber.
- troupo 1y ago
  > Uber drivers should pay taxes and Uber itself pays taxes - or at least should. Yup. The drivers should have to pay everything because despite working for Uber they are "free contractors" > And the drivers have the free will to choose to drive for Uber Ah yes, I forgot that's exactly how price dumping works: there are multiple companies to chose from and all of them offer competitive wages. I mean, it's not ancient history. For half of Uber's existence the ongoing story was: drivers have to drive almost 24 hours a day to make living wage with Uber randomly stealing their wages. This only somewhat changed once governments stepped in and forced Uber to change some of its practices.
  - JustExAWS 1y ago
    There are multiple jobs to choose from. California’s attempt to regulate contractors was a disaster. Jason Snell, the former editor of Macworld, left to go independent and makes a living based on a combination of podcasting, writing books and freelance writing and he said how much harder the rules made it for him to do freelance writing because of the requirenments around hiring contractors. Trust me, Snell is far from a fire breathing libertarian conservative. It’s not the responsibility of a corporation to decide what a “living wage” is. Should Uber pay more to a single mother with three kids than a single father with no kids? Again it’s society’s responsibility to provide for a safety net and to tax corporations to fund it. On the federal level, that’s what the earned income tax credit was suppose to do and until 2016, it had wide bi-partisan support and was championed by both Republican and Democratic Presidents.