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British pound hits record low against the dollar

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Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#151

Post by foldr »

echelon wrote: post #95
chanc3e wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly all A&E (ER) rooms are managed by the NHS. Private ones are few and far between so it’s likely that a tourist with insurance will end up in a standard A&E - which can have very long wait times[1]. The NHS is also using private clinics to help clear backlogs - so even private insurance can lead to a long time to see a consultant. Ambulances also do not have good response times. [1] https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/…

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

>have higher taxes

It bears repeating for the zillionth time that the US spends more public money on healthcare as a proportion of GDP than the UK.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#152

Post by foldr »

zoid_ wrote: post #125
echelon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

As someone working in the industry, I can say that unfortunately NHS funds are very poorly managed with lots of corruption within management. My believe is that a lot of the staff are passionate and hard-working, however at least an equal number of staff are worn-down, disillusioned and dispassionate due to years of managerial neglect and high public expectation. There is also a believe that the NHS is a single natio…

Although dental coverage on the NHS sucks, British people actually have quite good overall oral health outcomes. If you google, you can find that some studies place British overall oral health ahead of the US.

For anyone who's spent a significant amount of time in the US this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Middle and upper class Americans have access to excellent dental care, but if you spend some time in the poorer parts of town, you'll see plenty of people with missing teeth and other severe dental problems. NHS dentistry is poor, but it's better than nothing (which is what a lot of poor Americans effectively get).

There's also the aesthetic aspect of it. Europeans in generally tend to be culturally less interested in tooth straightening and whitening.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#153

Post by sofixa »

echelon wrote: post #95
chanc3e wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly all A&E (ER) rooms are managed by the NHS. Private ones are few and far between so it’s likely that a tourist with insurance will end up in a standard A&E - which can have very long wait times[1]. The NHS is also using private clinics to help clear backlogs - so even private insurance can lead to a long time to see a consultant. Ambulances also do not have good response times. [1] https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/…

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

> Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, etc. Something always seems to give.

What is a "weak" military for you, and what does it have to do with healthcare? The UK has aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines (including 24/7 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile patrols). Only an ignorant American (and maybe Russian) would consider that to be "weak", because they're so used to the militarised culture and massive spends that everything below blowing half the budget on tanks is "weak".

As has been said many times, the US spends more public money on healthcare, per capita and as % of GDP than everyone else, and had some of the worst outcomes (infant mortality, birth mortality, life expectancy, etc.) of all the developed world.

It's not a matter of how much, but how. The US system has middlemen to manage the middlemen and mind boggling prices and practices. Other systems are underfunded or with corruption here and there.

Would you prefer to wait 2 months to see a non-urgent specialist doctor for "free" or have it in a few days, but billed $60k hoping your insurance covers it? I know that most people prefer not being bankrupt over speedy non-urgent treatment. And US nurses are still paid shit for terrible working conditions, so it's not like it's them getting the extra money, it's mostly at middlemen and to a lesser extent doctors.

The solution to the problems exhibited in systems such as the NHS are more funding and focus (e.g. helping more students get to doctor/nurse positions to ease the burden).

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#154

Post by vandreas2 »

currenciessfe wrote: post #91
rr808 wrote: post #5

Crazy times it wasn't long ago that a pound bought over $2. The interesting thing this week is that the most fragile and indebted country that the EU has bailed out for 30 years straight (Italy) has elected a govt that doesn't like the EU. Good times ahead.

It's not that simple. Germany wanted a country like Italy in the Euro so it would pull the currency down and not allow it to appreciate too much (like the Deutsche Mark did). That would would be very bad for German exports.

Not really Italian lira suffered from inflation, a lot of people push this narrative that somehow Italy was forced to join the Euro against her will. From Wikipedia:

Lira pesante Due to the lira's low value after the war economic calculations and price displays became unwieldy because of the large number of zeroes. As early as the 1950s suggestions were made to redenominate the lira but no serious efforts were made at that time. In the 1970s a plan known as lira pesante [it] (English: hard lira) or lira nuova (new lira) was proposed. The lira pesante would have redenominated the currency at 1,000:1, removing 3 zeroes. However the project went dormant for several years before being revived in 1984. Ongoing heavy inflation saw the lira pesante pushed back until it was permanently abandoned in 1991 because of plans for a single European currency.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#155

Post by mcv »

411111111111111 wrote: post #101
echelon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

I think a lot of people aren't aware how greed as reduced the previously decently run healthcare systems in a lot of places. Germany for example had pretty decent healthcare 10 yrs ago, then a few regulations were passed and it's been doing downhill at a staggering pace. Nowadays hospitals prefer amputations over simple treatments in diabetes cases as a pretty well known example, as it's me profitable.

This is the big problem with healthcare in capitalism. If everything is about profit, then healthcare also becomes about profit, and hospitals will decide on treatment based on what's profitable to them, instead of what's better for the patient and for society.

There's always going to be some trade-off of course, because resources are never infinite. But preventative healthcare is a lot cheaper and better for quality of life than waiting until limbs need to be lopped off.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#156

Post by mcv »

nyokodo wrote: post #80
woodruffw wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no economist, but intentionally cutting themselves out of a massive common market probably isn't helping much.

> intentionally cutting themselves out of a massive common market probably isn't helping much. My understanding is that they never intended to leave the common market but to gain a trade deal that would leave market access substantially the same. However, the EU wouldn’t let them keep access in the divorce if for no reason other than as a cautionary tale for other member states. So, it turned ugly and there they are.

Many people in the EU have always argued for a soft Brexit, where the UK would remain in the common market. It was really the Brexiteers who kept insisting on a hard Brexit. You can't blame that on the EU.

The problem is that the Leave campaign had promised the impossible: to stay in the common market for goods and services, but leave the common market for labour (free movement), and not pay for anything anymore. The world just doesn't work that way.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#157

Post by currenciessfe »

lottin wrote: post #142
currenciessfe wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that simple. Germany wanted a country like Italy in the Euro so it would pull the currency down and not allow it to appreciate too much (like the Deutsche Mark did). That would would be very bad for German exports.

Having a weak currency means you're selling cheap and buying expensive, so it's not clear how it benefits you. It certainly benefits everyone else.

It also means you're paying your labor cheap. That makes you more competitive.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#158

Post by shawabawa3 »

alexisread wrote: post #150
kergonath wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She was not kidding when she said she was Thatcher v.2. Exactly what the UK did not need.

Thatcher implemented a windfall tax, LT is not even that. UK residents are paying twice for their energy consumption as a result. Nose was in the trough 3 days into her premiership when the top treasury official got fired, to make way for these tax cuts. Guess the Conservatives figure they are going to lose the next election...

it honestly seems like their strategy is fuck up the economy sufficiently in the next 2 years that labour have to struggle to put things right in their term with unpopular tax increases and spending cuts, meaning conservatives can win again in 2030

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#159

Post by nxm »

hristov wrote: post #121
quickthrower2 wrote: post #105

The UK could now consider making stuff, and exporting that stuff. Probably good to do a London based startup too, sell to the US. Get your seniors for the price of a US junior (say $60k/y)

They can probably try to do that but Margaret Thatcher completely destroyed the UKs manufacturing base in order to screw over labor unions. The Thatcher theory was screw over manufacturing in favor of financial services. She was widely praised by the financial press for doing so. The plunging pound does not help the financial services sector, it hurts it. Then there is Brexit which seriously hurts both the manufactur…

British economy was in the dumpster until she revived it.

Blame loss of manufacturing on globalization and the rise on China more than anything else

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#160

Post by lottin »

currenciessfe wrote: post #157
lottin wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a weak currency means you're selling cheap and buying expensive, so it's not clear how it benefits you. It certainly benefits everyone else.

It also means you're paying your labor cheap. That makes you more competitive.

But competitive simply means your products sell for less. The question was how does selling for less and buying for more benefit you?
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