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The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

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Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#41

Post by realusername »

NTDF9 wrote: post #37

The biggest trick that the FED has pulled is that it convinced the world that inflation is at 2% yoy. What a disgraceful joke! Had they been real about the inflation, the interest rates on savings would've been higher. Sure, it would crash the stock market but the stock market only benefits the rich disproportionately. Not teachers, admins, nurses etc. Oh btw, has anyone noticed that 20% of the 20 trillion dollar US…

> The biggest trick that the FED has pulled is that it convinced the world that inflation is at 2% yoy. What a disgraceful joke!

I don't believe it either, or they are counting the wrong things.

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#42

Post by gambiting »

TomMarius wrote: post #29
gambiting wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absolutely not true. If it is, name an EU country where that is the case. If you are a citizen of an EU country, you are entitled to use the healthcare system in that country(and any other EU state), purely by virtue of being a citizen. The only case that would maybe trigger a payment would be if you were a visitor to EU and had a baby - but most likely no hospital would bill you as hospitals are just not equi…

That is absolutely not true. I am a citizen of the Czech Republic and if I stop being insured, e.g. because of changing my place of permanent residence, I'm not entitled to anything .

Then Czech Republic must be an exception in the EU - pretty much every other country that I lived in worked on the simple principle of "you are a citizen/resident = you are entitled to care". Even if you didn't make any payments ever(due to lack of a job, or being homeless or disabled for example) you would still be 100% covered.

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#43

Post by gutnor »

chrisco255 wrote: post #7
jstanley wrote: post #2

> Google tells me that the most common reason for hospitalization in the US is childbirth. Thankfully, here in San Francisco, that would only set me back $15,000 Surely this is not true? Does having kids just bankrupt ordinary people in the US or what? I'm not asking about exceptional cases, like what is the normal way of dealing with having to pay $15,000 just to have a baby climb out of your body, when I'm assuming…

Assuming you don't have healthcare insurance, which 90% of Americans do, it would set you back around $3000, according to: https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/considering-baby/financing...

Does healthcare insurance pay for that in the US ? In the EU, this is considered a personal life-choice procedure and very rarely handled by insurances - like cosmetic surgery. (being the EU though, you can get it for free using public healthcare)

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#44

Post by kartan »

I very interesting article. This kind of numbers should be on the news all the time (like global warming) so people focus more on them instead of what is the last Twitt from the president.

> "Get rich or die trying"

I have always seen this as USA's major flaws. You are not supposed to have a good life but to risk everything for riches. This was working when the rest of the world was under-developed. USA citizens had so much more than the rest. As the world catches up and surpases USA its problems are getting bigger and bigger. If ever the dollar stops being the defacto world currency I can't even imagine what will happen.

How many TV shows I have seen that people laugh at the janitor looking down to him? There is no pride in a job well done, there is no self-fulfilment on doing what is correct. Money and fame are the only thing that matter. You even have religious groups that see economic wealth as a sign of God blessing!

Other countries have different and even bigger problems, but meanwhile the american dream is about economic aboundance and not about having a good life you are doom to a rat race.

> The taxman. I’d like 30% please. 40% if you got a bonus this year. Good job. > Medical conditions! Your income means you have to pay out of pocket

The fact that your taxes are disconnected from a public health care system is scary. I am very proud of paying taxes that helps people to survive cancer, to get an education or to live with a disability. Your problem is not that you have to pay taxes but that the taxes are not used to give you back services as it was designed to be done (and that rich people does not pay their fair share, and that is something that it is also true in Europe).

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#46

Post by gambiting »

TomMarius wrote: post #40
nik736 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate? In Germany at least this is not true at all.

In Europe there are countries where you can not be a part of the public system in some cases, such as changing your permanent residence outside the country.

Well, ok, I see what you're getting at - but unless you moved to outside of EU, you are still fully covered by the country where your new permanent residence is. If you moved out of Czech Republic to Spain for example, just get an EHIC card from Spain and you can get treatment wherever you go in EU, including Czech Republic.

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#47

Post by jstanley »

gutnor wrote: post #43
chrisco255 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming you don't have healthcare insurance, which 90% of Americans do, it would set you back around $3000, according to: https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/considering-baby/financing...

Does healthcare insurance pay for that in the US ? In the EU, this is considered a personal life-choice procedure and very rarely handled by insurances - like cosmetic surgery. (being the EU though, you can get it for free using public healthcare)

I'm only familiar with the UK, but the NHS absolutely deals with births for "free".

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#48

Post by berberous »

nelsonic wrote: post #16
jstanley wrote: post #2

> Google tells me that the most common reason for hospitalization in the US is childbirth. Thankfully, here in San Francisco, that would only set me back $15,000 Surely this is not true? Does having kids just bankrupt ordinary people in the US or what? I'm not asking about exceptional cases, like what is the normal way of dealing with having to pay $15,000 just to have a baby climb out of your body, when I'm assuming…

There's a reason for the saying: "The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Children". Perversely having children is a "luxury" many people simply cannot afford. The happiness a "bundle of joy" should bring to the family is often replaced by additional stress of having to work a "better paying" (but often soul-destroying) job to be able to afford the bigger house, school/education, extra curricular activities like sports/…

Apologies if this unsolicited advice comes off as rude, but consider easing up on the italicizing and "quoting" of random words. It makes your writing style hard to read and waters down the effect when you do each once per paragraph.

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#49

Post by CaptainZapp »

cronz wrote: post #11
TomMarius wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It costs around the same in Europe if you don't have insurance. I'm pretty sure it's the same in the USA - this is the rate that would be charged to your insurance company. Rates are way lower for uninsured people if you ask them and tell them that you're not insured (I got a bill lowered 10 times when I broke my hand); and of course most people have some kind of insurance. To the people downvoting: please read prope…

Haha, what? Childbirth costs 0 € in a public hospital

Well, yes. That's true for most European countries (unless you go private).

https://www.babycenter.com/101_what-birth-costs-around-the-w...

Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth

#50

Post by dagw »

jstanley wrote: post #20
chrisco255 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming you don't have healthcare insurance, which 90% of Americans do, it would set you back around $3000, according to: https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/considering-baby/financing...

So is that the normal case? The median birth results in the parents paying $3000? That still seems absurd. Do most people just decide to do it at home and take the risk?

People save up for having a kid the way they save up for anything else expensive. Also most hospitals are 'kind' enough to allow you to set up a payment plan so you can pay it off over a few years.
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