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

U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 377 posts

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#91

Post by TSiege »

eigenspace wrote: post #85
nprz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wealthy, aging boomers with increasing need for health care, makes sense.

It's not just boomers (though they are the biggest part of it). Americans of all ages are spending more on healthcare, and seeking more healthcare interventions than in previous decades.

This isn’t surprising. The population overall is aging. Millenials are now the largest cohort and are approaching middle age. Until recently we’ve seen the number of insured individuals rise consistently and our medicine continues to advance. More older adults have access and need more healthcare

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#93

Post by eru »

glaslong wrote: post #66
eigenspace wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare has consistently been one of the biggest drivers of US GDP and job growth numbers for years now. This is one of the major things that has helped explain why US consumer sentiment has been so out of step with headline numbers like employment, consumer spending, and GDP. It also helps explain why there's so many economists are saying they see limited evidence of a "K-shaped economy", and say they see positiv…

So perhaps we'll never get to a better healthcare+insurance market (nee "Free") through government, but eventually we will just all work in healthcare, and barter our nursing and dental skills in secret away from the insurance coders.

You can move to Singapore, if you want a better healthcare sector.

(The UK spends very roughly half of what the US spends on healthcare in terms of percentage of GDP. That's total (public plus private) expenditure. Singapore spends very roughtly half of what the UK spends by the same measure. Health outcomes amongst the three countries are comparable. If anything, Singapore is healthier.)

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#94

Post by eru »

notfromhere wrote: post #89
gruez wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect Any sector that's resistant to productivity growth is liable to become bigger and bigger part of the economy.

yeah but the size of the us healthcare sector (like 18%) is a policy choice, other developed countries have theirs at 10-12%. U.S. healthcare is a giant predatory clusterfuck and seems impossible to meaningfully reform.

Singapore has more like 5.5% or so. (That's total expenditure: public plus private added up.)

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#95

Post by pickleglitch »

staticman2 wrote: post #70
ethagnawl wrote: post #35

And, as a result, the market is ... up?

If the market expected a worse job loss than 23,000 that would make sense. I'm not actually suggesting there's a good reason for market swings, just that bad news shouldn't necessarily cause the market to go down.

Yesterday they were expecting the report to show 80k+ jobs added. So, this is much, much worse than expected. The market is up because they expect this will keep the fed from raising interest rates, and also because the market is increasingly detached from reality.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#97

Post by eigenspace »

TSiege wrote: post #91
eigenspace wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just boomers (though they are the biggest part of it). Americans of all ages are spending more on healthcare, and seeking more healthcare interventions than in previous decades.

This isn’t surprising. The population overall is aging. Millenials are now the largest cohort and are approaching middle age. Until recently we’ve seen the number of insured individuals rise consistently and our medicine continues to advance. More older adults have access and need more healthcare

No, I mean on an age-corrected basis, throughout the spectrum of ages.

i.e. young americans are spending more on health care than young americans used to, even if it's also true that there are fewer young americans now, and more old americans.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#98

Post by toomuchtodo »

eru wrote: post #93
glaslong wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So perhaps we'll never get to a better healthcare+insurance market (nee "Free") through government, but eventually we will just all work in healthcare, and barter our nursing and dental skills in secret away from the insurance coders.

You can move to Singapore, if you want a better healthcare sector. (The UK spends very roughly half of what the US spends on healthcare in terms of percentage of GDP. That's total (public plus private) expenditure. Singapore spends very roughtly half of what the UK spends by the same measure. Health outcomes amongst the three countries are comparable. If anything, Singapore is healthier.)

Europe is also excellent in my experience, specifically Portugal and Spain. My health insurance cost for a family of four in Spain is ~$2k/year as someone on a visa. In the US on an employer plan, it was ~$20k/year (premiums, copays, etc).

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#99

Post by micromacrofoot »

Jensson wrote: post #83
MSFT_Edging wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we can finally reach communism by first getting together and all agreeing "the economy" isn't a science and if we all just believe really hard, numbers can go up forever, then we won't even need money!

It only works until people try to withdraw money that doesn't exist. The less people believe the earlier that happens, but it will happen sooner or later.

Never withdraw money, only take out loans! the survivors will sort it out, or not... we'll be dead so who cares.
Post reply on HN