Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

itsmevox.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 528 posts

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#431

Post by psd1 »

aianus wrote: post #364
Telaneo wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pensions probably ought to be reduced/readjusted in accordance with life time expectancy, or some other maths that actually ends up in the green somehow while still allowing those who cannot take care of themselves to live a decent life. I've seen enough rich pensioners (my own grandmother among them...) to come to that conclusion. The US spends an inordinate amount on healthcare since the system is covered in leeche…

The US healthcare system is incredible compared to socialized systems if you can afford it. That's at least part of the reason it represents 17% of GDP. The same procedure I needed had a 2 day wait time in the US and a 10 month wait time in Canada.

Are you getting faster or better outcomes in America than when taking _private_ treatment in Canada, or do you need the treatment in Canada to he public for your claim to hold?

I imagine that you can pony up to be seen in two days in Canada too, and also that the single-payer system keeps those private practice honest, so you'd pay less for your fast turnaround than in Freedonia. I may be wrong, of course.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#432

Post by germandiago »

lenkite wrote: post #418
germandiago wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, and you think everyone will continue prpducing all the things you need for you to use them forever withiut contributing anything back to anyone? Then get ready to be a slave, bc noone, absolutely noone gives things for free, which is, in my view, reasonable.

> Oh, and you think everyone will continue prpducing all the things you need for you to use them forever withiut contributing anything back to anyone? What happens when labour-based production is fully replaced by automated factories? Then ?

[dead]

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#433

Post by juvvel »

aianus wrote: post #364
Telaneo wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pensions probably ought to be reduced/readjusted in accordance with life time expectancy, or some other maths that actually ends up in the green somehow while still allowing those who cannot take care of themselves to live a decent life. I've seen enough rich pensioners (my own grandmother among them...) to come to that conclusion. The US spends an inordinate amount on healthcare since the system is covered in leeche…

The US healthcare system is incredible compared to socialized systems if you can afford it. That's at least part of the reason it represents 17% of GDP. The same procedure I needed had a 2 day wait time in the US and a 10 month wait time in Canada.

If you have the money, you can get excellent healthcare in almost any civilized country. You're free to pay for your treatment in Canada, too.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#434

Post by wuschel »

germandiago wrote: post #372
nate_meurer wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's true, it's odd that so many social welfare programs across the western world are consuming an ever-growing share of GDP, incurring massive debt, and grinding toward insolvency and collapse. Exactly how much more of our money and labor do you want to take from us in order to continue this madness?

European here. I left Europe 14 years ago. I tried to come back. My decision was to run away bc it is impossible to build a reasonable life in a stable way where you do not get smashed mercilessly... It is just too much.

Where did you end up? Do you have a way to PM you?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#435

Post by reverius42 »

inigyou wrote: post #426
reverius42 wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the term for what you describe is "oligarchy". Under "capitalism", the invisible hand of the free market is supposed to decide resource allocation.

That's right-libertarianism, which is incompatible with capitalism.

That's melting my brain. My understanding is that right-libertarianism and capitalism are not only compatible, they are best friends.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#436

Post by ethbr1 »

AlexandrB wrote: post #187
daishi55 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not trolling. They are stating the simple, undeniable fact that there is more than enough to go around and if we had a more equitable distribution of resources, we could take care of everyone with disabilities 10x over with plenty to spare.

> we could take care of everyone with disabilities 10x over with plenty to spare. Yes, like the 40%[1] of Stanford undergrads who have disabilities. The greatest long term impediment to what you're suggesting is folks who don't need the help taking advantage of the resource distribution. It both massively increases the costs and sours those who have to pay into the system on the whole thing leading to a backlash. If…

You've just arrived back at capitalism: it's the least bad resource allocation optimization algorithm assuming everyone is an amoral asshole and willing to take every advantage they can.

Superior systems exist, but they require relaxing the adversarial asshole constraint.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#437

Post by juvvel »

chung8123 wrote: post #289
daishi55 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not trolling. They are stating the simple, undeniable fact that there is more than enough to go around and if we had a more equitable distribution of resources, we could take care of everyone with disabilities 10x over with plenty to spare.

I don't think people realize how much evening out society will impact them. This is a very US (and probably EU) way of thinking. Everyone thinks they are middle class but when it comes down to it there are far more people in poverty and that evening things out will bring down the quality of life for the people advocating for evening out things.

No. This is what capitalists want you to believe. The truth is that we are all subsiziding the capital gains of the wealthiest 2%. You could easily pay for generous social security programs by taxing property and capital more (as opposed to labor). But the ultra-wealthy point at the weakest and poorest and tell the average worker "look, they're coming for your house and your humble savings!". This is a very deliberate distraction.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#438

Post by ethbr1 »

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #339
jjav wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would not end up in the same place because then you'd be in a world without billionaires, so you would not have people who can too easily just buy every politician and law they wish for their own perpetuation. That alone would be a massive win.

It's not the ~50 billionares I'm worried about. They are human. You can appeal to Bill Gate's desire to leave a legacy he's proud of. You can appeal to Elon Musk's desire for technological progress. What worries me are the god knows how many "billionaire equivelent" entities and institutions that swing their dicks around in the same manner but do so with the sociopathic ruthlessness of corporations and governments. P…

> Peter Thiel may be evil but he'll almost certainly never knowingly instigate genocidal war in a foreign land for marginal benefit to his interests

"Thiel's Palantir, Israel agree strategic partnership for battle tech" [2024] https://www.palantir.com/assets/xrfr7uokpv1b/3MuEeA8MLbLDAyx...

Ironically, that's the saved copy hosted by Palantir itself...

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#439

Post by FiddlyPack »

aianus wrote: post #364
Telaneo wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pensions probably ought to be reduced/readjusted in accordance with life time expectancy, or some other maths that actually ends up in the green somehow while still allowing those who cannot take care of themselves to live a decent life. I've seen enough rich pensioners (my own grandmother among them...) to come to that conclusion. The US spends an inordinate amount on healthcare since the system is covered in leeche…

The US healthcare system is incredible compared to socialized systems if you can afford it. That's at least part of the reason it represents 17% of GDP. The same procedure I needed had a 2 day wait time in the US and a 10 month wait time in Canada.

I'm trying to take your comment seriously, but it's very difficult. My partner is a physician in the US. People are ending up in ERs because it takes a year for them to see the specialist who could have prevented the same problem.

"If you can afford it" is true everywhere. You can also see a specialist in just about any country in a couple days if you've got the money to fly there; often cheaper and faster to travel outside the US to get care, depending on what you need.

"Public" healthcare in the US is a joke. Insurance costs more and covers less every year.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#440

Post by tonyedgecombe »

AngryData wrote: post #405
avalys wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who produces the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the energy you use, the medicine you consume, etc. while you airily define ‘productivity’ as reading the classics and spending time with friends?

There is more than enough excess labor that farmers, seamstresses, power plant workers, and everybody else could have more time to have their own self-defined productivity too. The idea that people need to be working nonstop to survive in organized society is nonsense. Labor has been growing in excess since atleast the bronze age, and likely significantly earlier, and in just the last 50 years we have increased produ…

You could only really do that if you walled your country off from the rest of the world. Otherwise there will always be someone willing to outcompete you.

The trouble is that would make your own industries lazy and uncompetitive. Are you willing to accept the decrease in material wealth?

Post reply on HN