[ExI] My prediction

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 
…

 

>…Differences strong enough for you to ignore the fact that 47 other countries are much better at handling things that relate to health care then the US is?

 

I am not claiming the USA is doing health care right.  I am not saying Albania is better either.

> When citing the life expectancy statistics, we should filter out murders,

 

>…That wouldn't be necessary if we copied Canadians not only in the way they handle healthcare but also in the way they filter out bad gun laws….

 

Canada filters OUT bad gun laws?  Canada filters IN bad gun laws.

 

> So… streamline the drug approval process. 

 

>…Sure but that advice is so vague as to be useless. But I have advice that is not vague and it has been proven to work, just copy what other countries have done….

 

A way forward is to allow most drugs to be declared vitamins, an industry which is far less controlled.  Then drug companies would not have the enormous expense in getting them licensed, and many manufacturers could compete.

 

 

>…We can import Ozempic, but unlike every other country in the world the US can't negotiate with the Danish company Nordisk on pricing….

 

So buy it from a third party importer.

 

>… he doesn't like fat people even though he himself is fat….

 

John, reminder: congress makes law.  POTUS does not. 

 

 

>> …… But in the USA the law specifically forbids Medicare, the largest drug purchaser, from negotiating drug prices….

> OK, so elect representatives who run on the platform of changing that.

 

>…Great idea, so why do Republicans oppose allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies like every other country in the world does?

 

That I don’t know.  You would need to ask a well-informed Republican that question.

 

>… the Electoral College system is imbecilic, in fact I don't think it's an effective rebuttal against ANYTHING. 

 

So elect representatives whose platform is to eliminate the EC.  You will need 38 states to go along with it.

 

 

>…Because of the expiration of the ACA premium tax credits it's estimated that between 3.8 and 7.3 million people will lose all health insurance in 2026….

 

John the ACA was passed without subsidies or tax credits.  We were told it would lower the cost of health care.  It didn’t.  We were told it does not need subsidies.  OK then, it doesn’t.  We were told it would eventually fail.  That part was true.

 

>… Meanwhile a man who doesn't know how to dance 

 

POTUS doesn’t make laws.  Congress does.

 

>…gets a gold plated ballroom….

 

Congress should refuse to pay for that.  Oh wait…

 

…

 

>…Yeah yeah I know, the sky will fall…

 

No, the sky will stay up there.  But most of what we think of as government will go away in the next few years because the funds for that must go to paying interest, assuming the singularity doesn’t happen.  Because then everyone will be dead but the ending of the ACA subsidies is but one example.  There will be others.  They will not be pleasant.  

 

>…By the way, on January 8 your favorite president said he would ask Congress for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the next fiscal year, this would be a 66 percent increase over the 2026 defense budget that Congress just authorized. John K Clark

 

 

 <https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/trumps-15-trillion-defense-budget-should-not-come-surprise> Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget

 

John I hope they say no to that.  My favorite president has been dead for 93 years this month.  There is no way the USA can keep spending like that.  We have a lot of interest to pay on the trillions already borrowed.  

 

spike

 

spike

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20260111/ee43bf73/attachment-0001.htm>