Earlier quoted context omitted.
Women, especially single moms, make less and often need to spend more to survive. Plus, while Pedro and Ian have women on the pictures, it sounds like those were sent after receiving the gifts, so that couldn't have been part of the selection process. Plus the trans individuals, whose identity or desired direction of transition I won't guess. At the end of the day, who even gives a shit who they're helping? It's a pr…
I'm not complaining. I just think that it's interesting to see the demographics of the winners. On another note, I can understand why single moms would have more expenses. But why would a woman who is not a mom have more expenses?
Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
191–200 of 200 posts
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're making a few assumptions that I disagree with. 'First, I chose the word "objectively" in the sense that win/wins are still possible in consumeristic markets.' Well, I think most economists will tell you that almost every non-forced transaction in a consumeristic market is a win-win. Otherwise, it wouldn't happen! You have $x, but you want to have whatever I'm selling more than you want to have those $x, theref…
Having studied economics and married to a PhD in behavioral science, I would urge you to separately consider the academic utility of the models of “most economists” from real life. Economic theories and models have a lot of value, just not applied to anything to do with real humans. Better said here [0]: “Economics is plagued by the spurious exactness of mathematics. It neglects human behaviour and grovels before its…
So instead of refuting my actual points, you're telling me that it's better I completely ignore an entire academic discipline?
Maybe economics, like most science, doesn't get everything right, and there are certainly still tons open questions. But how far would such an attitude take me for other disciplines?
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
You may be suffering from the same thing I did: not understanding what this is about. I recommend taking a look at the FAQ (which is relatively difficult to get to from the original article): https://www.cardsagainsthumanitysavesamerica.com/#faq It's a "complicated promotion" and in this phase they are redistributing wealth to the poorest of the group who paid -- not to the poorest people in the country. I had origin…
Past college, living hand-to-mouth is in the USA is largely an issue of financial education and self-control. I was living hand-to-mouth when I met my wife, who made half what I did and had substantial savings. Get housemates instead of keeping a house to yourself. Get roommates instead of a room to yourself. Get rid of your subscriptions. And so on. Sustenance is remarkably cheap unless you're in poor health. I blam…
The funny thing about skills is that they seem so trivial when you have them and so impossible when you don't. I've been happily "poor" in my life -- not poverty where I'm likely to die if I make a misstep, but poverty where I made a lot less than the "poverty line". That kind of poverty can be dealt with by skills -- but believe me: not everyone can master those skills.
Like you, I wish they taught a lot of these skills in high school, but just like the math they teach in high school -- it will be out of reach for a lot of people. Those are the people who need the skills the most. We could stand in judgement over those people, but to what purpose? The solution is far more complex than it appears.
As I get older, though, I am confronted with the spectre of real poverty. What happens when you get ill and you can't afford the treatment? What happens if you live in a country where there is no social net to fall back upon? And as I've watched friends that I grew up with start to suffer from mental illness, what happens when your own brain betrays you?
No amount of skills will save you from these plagues. Unless you are mercifully run over by a number 72 bus while you are in your prime, eventually you too will succumb. When you are beyond your ability; have reached the ends of your wits and don't know what to do; how do you want others to act?
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If your income is $18k/year like you said, it is low enough that you should qualify for a healthcare subsidy. I just checked. You checked? For a single adult? Most states don't even cove Medicaid for a single adult with no kids, regardless of income. And for those that do, I'd be surprised if $18,000 qualifies him in most of them. > If you won't get insurance, apply for financial aid in the healthcare system you us…
Yes, $18k national average for a single adult should be low enough for a plan subsidy. I assume he is in a higher income state due to the rent cost. Healthcare system meaning “St Jude” or “OSF” or “Kaiser.” These Are medium-to-large organizations in the US that many doctors and hospitals fit into to provide service. These orgs are large enough to provide charity if you do a little paperwork.
Why would you assume he had any association with a healthcare system like that? He's said he had no insurance.
That said, I agree that it would be good to check with any nearby large hospital to ask about their charity programs. Better yet, just show up at the ER of a large hospital and tell them the symptoms he's got. Given the urgency of the situation, I think they'd be obligated to treat, regardless of ability to pay. Then, once you're in the system, check on their charity programs.
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Government-mandated things usually work worse than the fame things done without governmental intervention. This is why government is best left to handle things that cannot be adequately done without a central command, like keeping the military forces, or collecting taxes. It can also step in where private or public efforts fail, but don't expect it to be as efficient.
I neither want nor expect it to be efficient, just reliable. Those are two vert different goals. By "efficient" I think you mean something like, as high a percentage of every dollar given as possible goes to where it's needed, and as low as possible goes towards overhead or corruption. By "reliable" I mean that everyone in poverty gets the resources needed to get out, whatever the overhead is needed to get people to…
Being more expensive for the sake of reliability / guaranteed response is fine by me. But relatively often the efficiency is so low, that, given the required scale, a low-efficiency solution becomes infeasible, prohibitively expensive.
The expense is not always monetary. While US clinics ask exorbitant amounts of money, clinics in certain countries with universal healthcare ask for large amounts of time. You need a surgery? Please wait 4-6 months. (E.g. https://expathealth.org/healthcare-news/global-patient-wait-...)
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, $18k national average for a single adult should be low enough for a plan subsidy. I assume he is in a higher income state due to the rent cost. Healthcare system meaning “St Jude” or “OSF” or “Kaiser.” These Are medium-to-large organizations in the US that many doctors and hospitals fit into to provide service. These orgs are large enough to provide charity if you do a little paperwork.
Why would you assume he had any association with a healthcare system like that? He's said he had no insurance. That said, I agree that it would be good to check with any nearby large hospital to ask about their charity programs. Better yet, just show up at the ER of a large hospital and tell them the symptoms he's got. Given the urgency of the situation, I think they'd be obligated to treat, regardless of ability to…
I assumed that because most people interact with these systems if they have a doctor or go to the ER. That's not precluded by avoiding elective/preventative care.
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
I neither want nor expect it to be efficient, just reliable. Those are two vert different goals. By "efficient" I think you mean something like, as high a percentage of every dollar given as possible goes to where it's needed, and as low as possible goes towards overhead or corruption. By "reliable" I mean that everyone in poverty gets the resources needed to get out, whatever the overhead is needed to get people to…
Being more expensive for the sake of reliability / guaranteed response is fine by me. But relatively often the efficiency is so low, that, given the required scale, a low-efficiency solution becomes infeasible, prohibitively expensive. The expense is not always monetary. While US clinics ask exorbitant amounts of money, clinics in certain countries with universal healthcare ask for large amounts of time. You need a s…
As a matter of amoral public policy (optimizing for "long-term survival and happiness of the people"), it's entirely possible a scheme that gets everyone surgeries with 4-6 month delays is better than one that gets rich people surgeries with 1 month delays and poor people no surgeries at all.
(Your moral system might also find that better, but morality is hard to argue.)
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi, Doctor here. Go to a doctor immediately. There is no way that old blood mixed with stool is from a stomach ulcer. In fact, that’s not how it works anyway (upper gastrointestinal bleeds are modified by stomach acid and enzymes and have a characteristic effect on stool that we call Malena). You may have one of many different things, the most serious of which is, as you fear, a cancer, but the differentials run thro…
You have no idea how much I want to, but $1k for a colonoscopy is wildly optimistic. It's probably going to be $3k or $4k minimum. I make $750 bimonthly, which barely pays the rent. My roommate pays the rest of our living expenses. There's $1,800 in the bank. What do I do? Show up and say "There's no way I can ever pay for this, but see me anyway"? I literally have no idea, and I'd feel like a complete scumbag for do…
> and I'd feel like a complete scumbag for doing that.
DON'T. Other people with less urgent medical matters are "cutting in line" before you because they don't have as much of a problem with it.
It might be our life on the scales, and maybe that's worth nudging your principles a little.
I sincerely hope you will get out of this better and more healthy.
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#199Much better than digging a hole in the ground or buying up property along the border.
I'll agree on the hole-in-the-ground schtick which I guess I attribute to a social experiment. As far as the border property, I wish more people of consequential power/capital would follow their lead and buy up border property. The wall is preposterous and any form of resistance is credible in my eyes.
>The wall is preposterous
Why? This site is obviously biased, but it presents a case for the wall saving us money: https://cis.org/Report/Cost-Border-Wall-vs-Cost-Illegal-Immi...
I'd rather spend money on dumb, long-term tech like that instead of our ridiculous military budget.
The wall was certainly a success for San Diego: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxhhjfiSy2Y
Re: Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having studied economics and married to a PhD in behavioral science, I would urge you to separately consider the academic utility of the models of “most economists” from real life. Economic theories and models have a lot of value, just not applied to anything to do with real humans. Better said here [0]: “Economics is plagued by the spurious exactness of mathematics. It neglects human behaviour and grovels before its…
So instead of refuting my actual points, you're telling me that it's better I completely ignore an entire academic discipline? Maybe economics, like most science, doesn't get everything right, and there are certainly still tons open questions. But how far would such an attitude take me for other disciplines?
Not ignore...apply very judiciously with careful consideration of the context and assumptions.
I don't refute your points. they may be valid. they may not. I merely urge reflection that actual human behavior that directly contradicts economic models.
As to Friedman: > "there is one and only one social responsibility of business–to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."
How's that going for the planet? While he dismisses social issues as "catchwords" we are now living with the very real repercussions.
>"The stockholders or the customers or the employees could separately spend their own money on the particular action if they wished to do so. "
This implies that organization doesn't add any multiplier and is merely a sum of its funds. Even the market sees beyond that argument by valuing companies at multiples of its cash and assets. So he's ignoring or discounting the disproportionate impact that an organization can have far exceeding the sum of the individual actors.
> "civil servants ... must be elected through a political process.
I wonder what Mr. Friedman would think of the influence of corporate funds in the US political decision of late. Seems to blur his lines quite a bit.
>"the great virtue of private competitive enterprise–it forces people to be responsible for their own actions and makes it difficult for them to "exploit" other people for either selfish or unselfish purposes."
When I was 17 I read Atlas Shrugged, too, and thought every individual could succeed on their own actions and effort. Then I lived in reality.
EDIT: typos and formatting