[ExI] Single Payer Healthcare

spike spike66 at att.net
Wed Mar 29 16:37:02 UTC 2017



-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK


Quotes:
...

"Ultimately, we see our story as about the collapse of the white, high school educated, working class after its heyday in the early 1970s, and the pathologies that accompany that decline."
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>...That is exactly why the ignored half of the US population voted for Trump and why so many are giving up the struggle and committing suicide.

>...BillK

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But... those guys won.  Seems like they would at least want to hang around long enough to see if he really can make American great again.  {8^D

Hmmm, well OK, guess we need to wait around for numbers on that one, see if the suicide rate goes down since last November, but I have (as usual) a different spin on it.  A recent comment suggested the USA is going backwards on life expectancy.  I am reminded of a trip where I was hauling a trailer along the freeway which parallels the Oregon Trail.  I had the cruise set on 60 mph, which is how one tows a rig, and of course the traffic was swooshing past us like tornados, some going triple digits out there in that open empty county.  I was lost in thought as the two-track remains of the Oregon Trail crossed and re-crossed, still easily visible in places where the 1849 overlanders lined up in their Conestoga wagons.

As the traffic whizzed by, my bride howled in frustration that we needed a bigger truck: we were practically going backwards.  I suggested she look at it from the point of view of the long-gone wagon-jockies who went this way 150 years ago.  We sit here in perfect air conditioned foam-padded comfort, listening to our tunes, munching on snacks and drinking coffee, effortlessly gliding across that harsh broiling desert at speeds beyond their fondest dreams.

That's our family: I am Tigger, my bride is Eeyore.

I have heard the stagnation of wages theory and perhaps it is right.  But in the 1960s we were still in a post-war prosperity.  Of course US wages will eventually reach parity with the other countries, and probably fall behind.  On the other hand, I am constantly reminded of what a terrific time it is to be poor.  So much cool stuff is free now.  Khan Academy and many of the other online education resources allow anyone with a 50 dollar internet-capable device to access all that excellent material absolutely free, study up as much as we want, learn anything we want, all that free nekkidness (that used to cost so much (if one could get it at all (and so much better than National Geographic))) all the sports, science, technology and entertainment a prole can devour, all the new science instruments dumping all that cool data on us, all of it just sitting out there available to all.  A lot of cities have a competent enough food bank, and the local Salvation Army will put clothing on a body, oh such a time to be alive, such a time.

So ja, I have heard the stagnant wages theory, but it seems less than compelling to me.  We have long heard the best things in life are free.  Only recently has it become literally true.

spike









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