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Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

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Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#301

Post by waste_monk »

rhexs wrote: post #293
waste_monk wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how much it would cost to hire a translator for an hour or two, but you'd probably still come out ahead.

Is the eye chart in kanji? That’d be tough to translate.

I was thinking more that optometry appointments usually include medical testing (the "air puff" test for glaucoma etc.) and may turn up issues that you need to be informed of. A machine translator or a friend who speaks both languages conversationally may not be sufficient to translate complex medical terminology.

I'm not sure what you'd do about the eye chart. I don't know about optometry but I would imagine you can't just print off a poster of an English-language eye chart and use that, I always figured they'd be calibrated for a certain size, resolution, and the distance from the vision test machine taken into account.

As you suggest, given the number of western tourists to Japan I'm sure there'd be some subset of optometrists who are set up for English-language patients.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#302

Post by slg »

notch656a wrote: post #297
slg wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You could imprison slaves and pick cotton, that doesn't mean the cheaper cotton is result of a free market, because it is predicated on force rather than voluntary exchange. Isn't regulation against slavery inherently a restriction of a free market? There is obviously violent coercion baked into it, but from an economic perspective, it is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on…

>Isn't regulation against slavery inherently a restriction of a free market? There is obviously violent coercion baked into it, but from an economic perspective, it is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on the market. What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we c…

>What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we can just stop here.

Do you think healthcare is always a voluntary exchange? Because a type 1 diabetic has exactly the same choice in whether to participate in the insulin market as a slave does in the labor market. Either they participate or they die. Once you say slavery can't be considered part of a free market, isn't that an admission that lifesaving healthcare also can't be part of a free market?

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#303

Post by slg »

WalterBright wrote: post #298
slg wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but they have their own FDA equivalent with their own regulations. Why are the regulations in the US more harmful than the regulations elsewhere?

Regulatory barriers to competition: https://www.t1international.com/blog/2019/01/20/why-insulin-... https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/12/10/insulin-drug-pric...

Many of those issues are not specific to the US. So are you arguing for doing away with drug patents or something? That is rarely an argument I see from someone praising free markets.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#304

Post by pezezin »

ekianjo wrote: post #277
pezezin wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought a pair of prescription sunglasses and I had to pay almost 35 000 yen, about 250 USD or EUR at the current exchange rate, the same I paid for the previous ones in Spain 5 years ago. I would love to know where I can get them for a quarter the price!

You dont need prescription to get glasses in Japan.

Maybe I used the wrong word, is graduated glasses more correct? Anyway, you know what I mean. My eyes were measured at the glass shop, I didn't need to go to a doctor.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#305

Post by notch656a »

slg wrote: post #302
notch656a wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Isn't regulation against slavery inherently a restriction of a free market? There is obviously violent coercion baked into it, but from an economic perspective, it is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on the market. What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we c…

>What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we can just stop here. Do you think healthcare is always a voluntary exchange? Because a type 1 diabetic has exactly the same choice in whether to participate in the insulin market as a slave does in the labor market. Either they participate or they die. Once y…

I can answer your questions but first I'd like the apology. Otherwise we're done.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#306

Post by slg »

notch656a wrote: post #305
slg wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we can just stop here. Do you think healthcare is always a voluntary exchange? Because a type 1 diabetic has exactly the same choice in whether to participate in the insulin market as a slave does in the labor market. Either they participate or they die. Once y…

I can answer your questions but first I'd like the apology. Otherwise we're done.

If you are still demanding an apology, that is an answer to my question and an indication that you don't see the same ethical problem I do in pricing otherwise healthy people out of lifesaving medication.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#307

Post by notch656a »

slg wrote: post #306
notch656a wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can answer your questions but first I'd like the apology. Otherwise we're done.

If you are still demanding an apology, that is an answer to my question and an indication that you don't see the same ethical problem I do in pricing otherwise healthy people out of lifesaving medication.

It's also probably an indication I think it's great to suck the blood out of innocent kittens and that I worship a portrait of a pentagram. Have fun making whatever accusation you want, they'll be left undefended.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#308

Post by notch656a »

slg wrote: post #303
WalterBright wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulatory barriers to competition: https://www.t1international.com/blog/2019/01/20/why-insulin-... https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/12/10/insulin-drug-pric...

Many of those issues are not specific to the US. So are you arguing for doing away with drug patents or something? That is rarely an argument I see from someone praising free markets.

Warning about above poster: they believe slavery is free-market.

Of course people active in free-market discussion know that patents as government imposed forced monopoly against people that never entered a contract with the "patent-holder" are staunchly opposed by many free market thinkers, including individuals such as Murray Rothbard. Again in SLG's bad-faith quest to make free-markets about slavery and monopolies, he uses his exceptional intelligence in attempts to trick the naive reader into a false view about free markets.

> countries in which insulin is cheaper have a healthcare industry that is a freer market than the US?

Here we see the fallacious slight of hand, where OP attempts to deceive audience by using PRICE OF A SINGLE GOOD to measure whether THE ENTIRE MARKET OF HEALTHCARE is "freer."

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#309

Post by slg »

notch656a wrote: post #308
slg wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of those issues are not specific to the US. So are you arguing for doing away with drug patents or something? That is rarely an argument I see from someone praising free markets.

Warning about above poster: they believe slavery is free-market. Of course people active in free-market discussion know that patents as government imposed forced monopoly against people that never entered a contract with the "patent-holder" are staunchly opposed by many free market thinkers, including individuals such as Murray Rothbard. Again in SLG's bad-faith quest to make free-markets about slavery and monopolies…

>Again in SLG's bad-faith quest to make free-markets about slavery and monopolies,

Yeah, I'm the one acting in bad faith...

My comment about patents was because in the US political sphere "free market" and is often code for "pro-business" so I was checking which meaning WalterBright was using.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#310

Post by Gibbon1 »

notch656a wrote: post #300
Gibbon1 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you go to the doctor ask them if they think they are making more or less than your deductible for the visit.

The only time I've seen a doctor since I've been responsible for health insurance was when the police took me there in handcuffs against my will and without a court order or any legal basis. Obviously on that occasion I refused to provide insurance. I've never been to the doctor voluntarily as an independent adult or paid a deductible for my healthcare. Can you explain how the deductible relates and is useful for fig…

When you see a doctor when you have insurance you have to pay an out of pocket fee. Because economics teaches us that patients needs skin in the game otherwise people will abuse 'free healthcare'. This makes total sense if you're an economist. Because well if you are an economist you are an extremely stupid person.

Now if you're an accountant you'd take 20 patients a day X 250 working days a year X $50 and get $250,000. Which is close or more than a doctors take home.

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