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How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

thoughtcatalog.com

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Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#11

Post by peacemaker »

mikekij wrote: post #7

This is a great post. My only disagreement is with the insinuation that the lack of universal healthcare in the US is there to intentionally trap people in unfulfilling jobs. While I agree that it sometimes has this affect, I think universal healthcare may actually make people even more dependent on the system the author is writing against, all while decreasing the quality of the health care we receive. Great article…

I've lived in both situations (currently in the US) and I would say universal healthcare is absolutely essential for a first world nation to have. Tying it to your employment is most certainly a form of keeping people dependent.

The biggest concern I have is that there are many people in the US like you who simply cannot see this. It's a disgrace that a country as large and dominant as the US cannot take care of it's own. I honestly believe that the healthcare situation adds a strong undercurrent of stress to everyone's lives here in the US. It detracts from personal flexibility and makes things like extended travel or entrepreneurship even more risky.

Unless you've had the fortune of living with universal healthcare, it's difficult to understand the feeling of security knowing that no matter what happens to your health, you will be looked after without needing to go bankrupt in the process.

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#12

Post by [deleted] »

mikekij wrote: post #7

This is a great post. My only disagreement is with the insinuation that the lack of universal healthcare in the US is there to intentionally trap people in unfulfilling jobs. While I agree that it sometimes has this affect, I think universal healthcare may actually make people even more dependent on the system the author is writing against, all while decreasing the quality of the health care we receive. Great article…

[deleted]

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#13

Post by anthonyb »

geuis wrote: post #3

The author makes a good introduction and really gets to the point about halfway through. Should have ended there. The rest is just repetitive.

I disagree. The first half explains the situation, the second half gives you options as far as dealing with it.

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#14

Post by Zirro »

mikekij wrote: post #7

This is a great post. My only disagreement is with the insinuation that the lack of universal healthcare in the US is there to intentionally trap people in unfulfilling jobs. While I agree that it sometimes has this affect, I think universal healthcare may actually make people even more dependent on the system the author is writing against, all while decreasing the quality of the health care we receive. Great article…

"I think universal healthcare may actually make people even more dependent on the system the author is writing against"

Please explain why you think that is, and why you think that universal healthcare is of lower quality. It sounds very much like an assumption fuelled by the sort of people (and "propaganda") the article speaks of.

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#15

Post by firefoxman1 »

Amazing article. The most powerful method of marketing I've seen is that which blurs the line between "want" and "need", or between pain and discomfort. Then they put their product on the "need" side, or categorise your discomfort as real pain.

"You don't want a cell phone, you need it. Look, everyone around you has one, so it must be necessary!"

"Hey, that minor discomfort you have with [whatever]? You have every right to be in pain from it. Heck, you should go out right now and get diagnosed with a disorder we invented/coined last year. Oh by the way, we also have a drug that relieves the symptoms."

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#16

Post by michaelochurch »

It's amazing to me how much expense comes out of fear.

For example, one of the reasons why Manhattan real estate is so expensive is that people feel a need to live here in order to keep up their professional status. Not to limit their commutes, but because the really evil law and financial firms stop promoting you as soon as you move off the island. So they spend $5 million on a house, as opposed to, for example, not working for douchebags.

Where this is worst in New York is in the private school industry. $40,000 per year is market now, and it starts in nursery school. On no data whatsoever, parents now spend half a million out of fear that if their kids go to public schools, they won't be able to get into the top colleges and get good jobs. New Yorkers, take note that people in the rest of the country think you're a giant douchebag if you spend $40,000 on a nursery school.

The Bush years were awful for political reasons-- curtailment of civil liberties, illegal wars, disastrous morale-- but, economically, this past decade would actually be a fairly good time for the U.S. if the Satanic Trinity-- healthcare, housing, and tuition-- of costs were better controlled.

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#17

Post by waqf »

grecy wrote: post #10
mikekij wrote: post #7

This is a great post. My only disagreement is with the insinuation that the lack of universal healthcare in the US is there to intentionally trap people in unfulfilling jobs. While I agree that it sometimes has this affect, I think universal healthcare may actually make people even more dependent on the system the author is writing against, all while decreasing the quality of the health care we receive. Great article…

From my experience living and working in multiple countries, some with and some without universal healthcare - I'm shocked that a person's health can be tied to their employment. It's a disgrace, and it absolutely, 100% has the impact of trapping people to their job. After 7 years in a country where health care is tied to employer, my brother moved to the other side of the world to a country with universal healthcare…

Without further information, your second paragraph sounds like a straightforward correlation/causation fallacy. Can you add context which might dispel that impression?

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#19

Post by waqf »

anthonyb wrote: post #13
geuis wrote: post #3

The author makes a good introduction and really gets to the point about halfway through. Should have ended there. The rest is just repetitive.

I disagree. The first half explains the situation, the second half gives you options as far as dealing with it.

But the "explaining the situation" is a striking exposition of a relatively original perspective, whereas the "options for dealing with it" are the same shtick we read every week here on HN.

Re: How To Make Trillions Of Dollars

#20

Post by grecy »

waqf wrote: post #17
grecy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience living and working in multiple countries, some with and some without universal healthcare - I'm shocked that a person's health can be tied to their employment. It's a disgrace, and it absolutely, 100% has the impact of trapping people to their job. After 7 years in a country where health care is tied to employer, my brother moved to the other side of the world to a country with universal healthcare…

Without further information, your second paragraph sounds like a straightforward correlation/causation fallacy. Can you add context which might dispel that impression?

Sure. The more we talk about it, the more he notices the differences when an employer has to actually compete for employees, not the other way around.

People in that country get the same level of care if they have been employed full time for 10 years, or have never had a job, or whatever. Because of this, people are free to move between jobs, or even outright quit if they want, because they know their health will not suffer.

Nobody in that country discusses health or healthcare like it's an issue, because it's something they take for granted. It's a given.

With that in mind, imagine how differently the conversation goes when someone says something like "I'm thinking about working for a non-profit" or "I'm thinking about taking 2 years off to explore my creative talents", etc.

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