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>> Ah, the smell of boiling frogs! >That's a myth; look it up. Uh, yeah, I know that it's not biologically true. It's a metaphor. It doesn't matter that it'

by crusso 14y ago

>> Ah, the smell of boiling frogs! >That's a myth; look it up. Uh, yeah, I know that it's not biologically true. It's a metaphor. It doesn't matter that it's not biologically true just like it wouldn't matter if I used the allegory of the Frog and the Scorpion or the Ant and the Grasshopper. > How many people don't launch startups because they can't risk it? How many people don't launch startups because they don't have the disposable income needed to take risks? You could compare US startup rates per capita with other countries featuring Universal Healthcare systems. Wanna guess what that graph would look like?

jtheory 14y ago
> Uh, yeah, I know that it's not biologically true. You're skipping over my actual point; "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy by itself. >How many people don't launch startups because they don't have the disposable income needed to take risks? That's my point. You need to have much more disposable income if you're going to pay for medical insurance while you're hacking away in a garage. If you're keen on cutting down your life expenses, you can get then down really very low, even for a family... but expensive medical insurance doesn't play along. > Wanna guess what that graph would look like? Hard to say -- how would you make it apples to apples? Obviously "has universal healthcare" isn't the most significant variable in a straight comparison.
- crusso 14y ago
  > "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy by itself. Not necessarily. I wasn't making a fallacious slippery slope argument of the form A leads to B leads to C : B, therefore C. I was simply pointing out that we are CURRENTLY in a state of greatly reduced Liberty and we got here slowly, step by step. I wasn't positing an inevitable terminal stage which would indicate a slippery slope argument. The stage we're in regarding Liberty sucks plenty enough as it is. > Hard to say -- how would you make it apples to apples? Obviously "has universal healthcare" isn't the most significant variable in a straight comparison. Right you are. Since I'm not looking for a PhD in the area, I'll go with my impression that the US has a great deal more entrepreneurial opportunities than any other country on earth, especially when you put it against reasonably comparable countries with universal healthcare. Add to that impression my experience in starting up companies here in the US (in the Bay Area) where I had plenty of disposable income because I wasn't paying high taxes to go to large socialist programs for healthcare, housing, food, etc.

by crusso 14y ago

jtheory 14y ago

> Uh, yeah, I know that it's not biologically true. You're skipping over my actual point; "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy by itself. >How many people don't launch startups because they don't have the disposable income needed to take risks? That's my point. You need to have much more disposable income if you're going to pay for medical insurance while you're hacking away in a garage. If you're keen on cutting down your life expenses, you can get then down really very low, even for a family... but expensive medical insurance doesn't play along. > Wanna guess what that graph would look like? Hard to say -- how would you make it apples to apples? Obviously "has universal healthcare" isn't the most significant variable in a straight comparison.

crusso 14y ago
> "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy by itself. Not necessarily. I wasn't making a fallacious slippery slope argument of the form A leads to B leads to C : B, therefore C. I was simply pointing out that we are CURRENTLY in a state of greatly reduced Liberty and we got here slowly, step by step. I wasn't positing an inevitable terminal stage which would indicate a slippery slope argument. The stage we're in regarding Liberty sucks plenty enough as it is. > Hard to say -- how would you make it apples to apples? Obviously "has universal healthcare" isn't the most significant variable in a straight comparison. Right you are. Since I'm not looking for a PhD in the area, I'll go with my impression that the US has a great deal more entrepreneurial opportunities than any other country on earth, especially when you put it against reasonably comparable countries with universal healthcare. Add to that impression my experience in starting up companies here in the US (in the Bay Area) where I had plenty of disposable income because I wasn't paying high taxes to go to large socialist programs for healthcare, housing, food, etc.