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  #16 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
John Drake's Avatar
Secretary of State
The Last Eisenhower Republican

 
Member Since: May 2008
Location: America
Posts: 5,260

   
Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlesDavenport View Post
Lemme get this straight - you seriously believe that the government can run healthcare more efficiently than the private sector?
Fuck yes.

If I want to go to a doctor now it costs $200 and that is for a simple checkup, blood pressure, etc w/no complicated tests If I go to a hospital it will cost at LEAST $500 and that's if I get an ASPIRIN, nothing more.

I stayed in a hospital for 3 days with pneumonia. No surgery, a few tests and some inhalers. It cost over $8000.00

No government service I can think of would cost even a quarter as much. Hell, no private enterprise service, except maybe being legally defended on a murder charge or something.

Let me ask you why do you think it cannot? Besides cherry picked examples and/or from other fields besides health care do you have any overall statistics or figures which back up your apparent assertion that private enterprise is more efficient than government in this area?
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Last edited by John Drake; 07-05-2009 at 03:16 PM.
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  #17 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
daddio's Avatar
Vice President

 
Member Since: Jun 2008
Location: the south
Posts: 9,784

United_States     Virginia

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by goober View Post
What WWII did was bring the country to full productive capacity, producing products with little or no economic value.
A B-17 may have been useful in the prosecution of the war, but it's residual value was a few tons of scrap aluminum, warships were useful during the war, but after the war they represented a source of scrap metal. And the massive social spending that was the GI Bill, free college, free job training, no money down mortgages at subsidized rates, was beyond anything that we have today.
Not really.

That military insured that the peace that was won remained stable. This stabily to allowing the recovery across the battleground nations that was the real magic of the American boom, we sold them whaqt they needed to recover. The Marshall Plan was an example of infrastructure that helps. The Porkulus is an example of one that oes not. Real work, rebuilding as opposed to make work, pays dividends.


Quote:
Spending money on infrastructure, bridges, roads, high speed rail, alternative renewable energy sources will leave us with far more economic value than spending on battleships, tanks and combat aircraft left us after WWII.
The massive social spending of the GI bill meant that the country entered the second half of the 20th century with a workforce that was educated and trained and far more productive than it would have been otherwise.
Top income tax rates of 93%, massive government borrowing and massive government spending did not destroy the economy, it lifted it out of depression and into a period of sustained growth and expansion.
make work

Quote:
What the war did was bring the level of economic activity to a higher level, and that higher level of economic activity reached a point where it was self sustaining.

If there is a problem with the current stimulus, it is that it is far short of the level of spending that brought us out of the Great Depression.
It was self sustaining because it was necessary as opposed to being nice to have.
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Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

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  #18 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
Lieutenant Governor

 
Member Since: Jun 2009
Location: houston,texas
Posts: 421

United_States     Louisiana

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Drake View Post
Fuck yes.

If I want to go to a doctor now it costs $200 and that is for a simple checkup, blood pressure, etc w/no complicated tests If I go to a hospital it will cost at LEAST $500 and that's if I get an ASPIRIN, nothing more.

I stayed in a hospital for 3 days with pneumonia. No surgery, a few tests and some inhalers. It cost over $8000.00

No government service I can think of would cost even a quarter as much. Hell, no private enterprise service, except maybe being legally defended on a murder charge or something.

Let me ask you why do you think it cannot? Besides cherry picked examples and/or from other fields besides health care do you have any overall statistics or figures which back up your apparent assertion that private enterprise is more efficient than government in this area?
Insurance doesn't help much either. We pay in excess of $700 a month. Had a minor medical ermengency, spent 1 nite in the hospital, bill is over 4 thousand. Another thousand plus in follow up. Can't have needed surgery now because copays and deductables add up to over $2500, and they want that money up front. With normal medication that I take and my wife's normal Dr visits puts around 7K for one 12 month period.
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  #19 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
Lieutenant Governor

 
Member Since: Jun 2009
Location: houston,texas
Posts: 421

United_States     Louisiana

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by fishjoel View Post
I also agree with a few of the things you've said. On another note....

People seem to be forgetting one of the main reasons we had a huge jump in the economy. Why we started having more disposable incomes and why we had a big jump in inflation. The fact that women came into the workplace on a large scale was a significant factor. Now single family incomes are dual family incomes. People can buy bigger houses, more cars, more TVs and toys, etc. When you magically create an increase in the number of workers at your disposal you increase business. And everyone can afford it. Now inflation has done a lot of catching up to the dual family income and it has made it very hard for single income households to keep up with basic living.
I was born in 1951 and was raised in rural Louisiana, my mother nor any other young mothers around us worked. Almost none of my friends in school had working moms. Yet, on my dad's income as a union carpentar, we were able to live on 5 acres in a 1800 square foot house. My point, there was a much higher union membership then and skilled labor was valued. The economic deferences from the WW2 years and aftermath are considerable. Let's we forget every president from FDR through Nixon was a Keynesian. The only time in our history w/as much prosperity was the short lived prosperity in the Clinton years.
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  #20 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
Secretary of Defense

 
Member Since: May 2009
Location: New England
Posts: 2,398

   
Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Anyone here want to go to a military hospital or VA to get health care?
They are governement run after all how could they not be great ?
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  #21 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
Secretary of State

 
Member Since: Apr 2004
Location: CT
Posts: 5,723

United_States     Connecticut

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by daddio View Post
Not really.

That military insured that the peace that was won remained stable. This stabily to allowing the recovery across the battleground nations that was the real magic of the American boom, we sold them whaqt they needed to recover. The Marshall Plan was an example of infrastructure that helps. The Porkulus is an example of one that oes not. Real work, rebuilding as opposed to make work, pays dividends.
I'm not sure if I understand you. If you could detail a specific complaint with examples, instead of using buzzwords and catchphrases...

Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlesDavenport View Post
Lemme get this straight - you seriously believe that the government can run healthcare more efficiently than the private sector?
In the same manner that the government builds roads better then the private sector. They decide to build a road, raise the money, and then hire a firm to actually build the thing.

A single payer plan makes sense for a variety of reasons, including the issue of general public access to healthcare has significant positive externalities, the issue with emergency care disposing a private system to massive inefficiencies, and many more. Further note that most plans do not call for the government to run anything except the financing of treatment, not the hospitals themselves, nor the doctors offices, etc.

Further consider that a private health care company needs to assume risk in a manner which the government does not. While a small insurance company needs to risk cancer clusters and issues with not having a truly random sample size, the US government would encompass a sample size large enough to smooth all but the most widespread effects. While large insurance companies need to shield themselves against this the government does not.

Also consider the massive distortions introduced into the market where smaller firms are less able to compete by virtue of their smaller employee base and higher health care premiums. This will in turn make them less appealing to employees. At the same time there is a risk faced by all employees of losing their healthcare should they change jobs, this makes them sufficiently paranoid to avoid doing it. This makes the employment market less competitive and less mobile which is bad for both employees and employers. Employees aren't able to switch to jobs which better suit/pay/compensate them, and employers have greater difficulty attracting the employees they want, rather then the employees they have.

The government generally should pursue as competitive of a market place as possible but this could mean a national health care would be a viable means to remove the far worse consequences on competitiveness for the absence thereof.

Last edited by Thematic-Device; 07-05-2009 at 10:58 PM.
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  #22 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2009
Secretary of State

 
Member Since: Apr 2004
Location: CT
Posts: 5,723

United_States     Connecticut

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by compote_tom View Post
My point, there was a much higher union membership then and skilled labor was valued.
Skilled labor still is valued. A person who graduates today with a welding ticket will be in greater demand then a person who graduates with a B.Sc. and they'll likely be paid better too. Only a handful of university degrees pay as well, as quickly as certification in the right trades does. As for union membership? Many unions are killing themselves off through their own poor strategies and idiotic practices.
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  #23 (permalink)  
Old 07-07-2009
Speaker of the House

 
Member Since: Nov 2008
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 942

   
Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by JDJarvis View Post
What folks aren't realizing is WW2 "government spending" was actually spent on products, resources, factories and wages for actual jobs that served to build up industrial capacity. It wasn't spent on the main on vague non-returning social policies.
This is true and also WWII happend during FDR last term who prolonged the great deppression with all that foolish and misguided government spending. When he went away so did the his failed socialist idealology.
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  #24 (permalink)  
Old 07-07-2009
daddio's Avatar
Vice President

 
Member Since: Jun 2008
Location: the south
Posts: 9,784

United_States     Virginia

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thematic-Device View Post
I'm not sure if I understand you. If you could detail a specific complaint with examples, instead of using buzzwords and catchphrases...

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by daddio
Not really.

That military insured that the peace that was won remained stable. This stabily to allowing the recovery across the battleground nations that was the real magic of the American boom, we sold them whaqt they needed to recover. The Marshall Plan was an example of infrastructure that helps. The Porkulus is an example of one that oes not. Real work, rebuilding as opposed to make work, pays dividends.

I'm not making complaints, I'm explaining the differences.





Quote:
In the same manner that the government builds roads better then the private sector. They decide to build a road, raise the money, and then hire a firm to actually build the thing.
you offer no proof that the government builds roads better and actually point out that they do not build them at all.


Quote:
A single payer plan makes sense for a variety of reasons, including the issue of general public access to healthcare has significant positive externalities, the issue with emergency care disposing a private system to massive inefficiencies, and many more. Further note that most plans do not call for the government to run anything except the financing of treatment, not the hospitals themselves, nor the doctors offices, etc.
So fix the problem, open Medicaid to well care.


Quote:
Further consider that a private health care company needs to assume risk in a manner which the government does not. While a small insurance company needs to risk cancer clusters and issues with not having a truly random sample size, the US government would encompass a sample size large enough to smooth all but the most widespread effects. While large insurance companies need to shield themselves against this the government does not.
Insurance companies already spread their risk.
__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand
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  #25 (permalink)  
Old 07-07-2009
Secretary of State

 
Member Since: Apr 2004
Location: CT
Posts: 5,723

United_States     Connecticut

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by daddio View Post
I'm not making complaints, I'm explaining the differences.

Quote:
That military insured that the peace that was won remained stable. This stabily to allowing the recovery across the battleground nations that was the real magic of the American boom, we sold them whaqt they needed to recover.
Okay but in this case we're selling ourselves what we need to recover because we have an economic failure, not five years of war.

Quote:
The Marshall Plan was an example of infrastructure that helps. The Porkulus is an example of one that oes not.
This is not a difference, this is a claim. Which is well and fine, but you need to actually elaborate with information how specifically they differ in ways which you believe make them less effective.

Quote:
Real work, rebuilding as opposed to make work, pays dividends.
This is just empty sloganeering. How does the construction of power plants and electric infrastructure not qualify as 'real work'.

Quote:
you offer no proof that the government builds roads better and actually point out that they do not build them at all.
Okay...

There is limited private incentive to construct sufficient roads, if one person constructs a road it benefits a significantly larger group of people then just him, even after tolls and everything else is taken into consideration, further it benefits people who don't even use the road system because its benefits spill over. These benefits cannot be captured by any single firm, therefore the government has to invest money to build the roads or else they wouldn't be constructed anywhere close to what meets demand.

Even though the government hires private firms to handle the actual construction, the government is still 'building the road' because they're the ones spending the money. Similarly government healthcare pays the bill, it doesn't manage the hospitals or run your local doctors office.

Quote:
So fix the problem, open Medicaid to well care.
We can do far better then medicaid.

Quote:
Insurance companies already spread their risk.
Not to the degree the government can, as I said they face issues of a non-random sample predisposing them to get spikes, in order to level this out they invest the money but this exposes them to risk and requires additional staff. Further because they cannot spread their risk sufficiently, they've had to sell derivatives of their investment, then those derivatives get mingled with other derivatives, repackaged as triple AAA and what do you know it, we've opened ourselves to this recession.
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  #26 (permalink)  
Old 07-07-2009
daddio's Avatar
Vice President

 
Member Since: Jun 2008
Location: the south
Posts: 9,784

United_States     Virginia

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thematic-Device View Post
Okay but in this case we're selling ourselves what we need to recover because we have an economic failure, not five years of war.

This is not a difference, this is a claim. Which is well and fine, but you need to actually elaborate with information how specifically they differ in ways which you believe make them less effective.

Flowers in a park or new tarmac on a little used airstrip is nice but rebuilding a destroyed bridge across a major river is necessary.


Quote:
This is just empty sloganeering. How does the construction of power plants and electric infrastructure not qualify as 'real work'.
Nobody is doing that. Besides. thats a private venture.


Quote:
Okay...

There is limited private incentive to construct sufficient roads, if one person constructs a road it benefits a significantly larger group of people then just him, even after tolls and everything else is taken into consideration, further it benefits people who don't even use the road system because its benefits spill over. These benefits cannot be captured by any single firm, therefore the government has to invest money to build the roads or else they wouldn't be constructed anywhere close to what meets demand.

Even though the government hires private firms to handle the actual construction, the government is still 'building the road' because they're the ones spending the money. Similarly government healthcare pays the bill, it doesn't manage the hospitals or run your local doctors office.

govt roads are a reasonably new invention.



Quote:
We can do far better then medicaid.
and far worse


Quote:
Not to the degree the government can, as I said they face issues of a non-random sample predisposing them to get spikes, in order to level this out they invest the money but this exposes them to risk and requires additional staff. Further because they cannot spread their risk sufficiently, they've had to sell derivatives of their investment, then those derivatives get mingled with other derivatives, repackaged as triple AAA and what do you know it, we've opened ourselves to this recession.
Learn about the insurance biz. not picking on you, most people have little idea how it works.
__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand
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  #27 (permalink)  
Old 07-08-2009
Angry American's Avatar
Secretary of Defense

 
Member Since: Oct 2006
Location: Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 2,657

United_States     Pennsylvania

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by daddio View Post
Learn about the insurance biz. not picking on you, most people have little idea how it works.
I'll tell you how it worked for me once.

When I was 19, I rear-ended someone making a left turn at a light, after they slammed on their brakes mid turn. I shouldn't have hit them, but I was inexperienced and didn't think people would slam on their brakes half way through initiating a turn.

My insurance company paid the claim, and then canceled my policy.

That was over 20 years ago, maybe things have changed.
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  #28 (permalink)  
Old 07-08-2009
daddio's Avatar
Vice President

 
Member Since: Jun 2008
Location: the south
Posts: 9,784

United_States     Virginia

Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Angry American View Post
I'll tell you how it worked for me once.

When I was 19, I rear-ended someone making a left turn at a light, after they slammed on their brakes mid turn. I shouldn't have hit them, but I was inexperienced and didn't think people would slam on their brakes half way through initiating a turn.

My insurance company paid the claim, and then canceled my policy.

That was over 20 years ago, maybe things have changed.

Happens a lot to kids for obvious reasons. They know that a certain percentage will learn from these things and a much larger percentage will not.

In that respect, getting cancelled is actually a good way to reinforce the learning opportunity. These companies are not your Dad, they do not have to love and forgive you.
__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand
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  #29 (permalink)  
Old 07-08-2009
Speaker of the House

 
Member Since: Nov 2008
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 942

   
Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by goober View Post
What WWII did was bring the country to full productive capacity, producing products with little or no economic value.
A B-17 may have been useful in the prosecution of the war, but it's residual value was a few tons of scrap aluminum, warships were useful during the war, but after the war they represented a source of scrap metal. And the massive social spending that was the GI Bill, free college, free job training, no money down mortgages at subsidized rates, was beyond anything that we have today.
Spending money on infrastructure, bridges, roads, high speed rail, alternative renewable energy sources will leave us with far more economic value than spending on battleships, tanks and combat aircraft left us after WWII.
The massive social spending of the GI bill meant that the country entered the second half of the 20th century with a workforce that was educated and trained and far more productive than it would have been otherwise.
Top income tax rates of 93%, massive government borrowing and massive government spending did not destroy the economy, it lifted it out of depression and into a period of sustained growth and expansion.

What the war did was bring the level of economic activity to a higher level, and that higher level of economic activity reached a point where it was self sustaining.

If there is a problem with the current stimulus, it is that it is far short of the level of spending that brought us out of the Great Depression.
Roads and bridges are the same as war planes and ships. They are a nescersary evil but they take money out of the pocket of tax payers and worste of all you can't sell a bridge and pay back investors. Infestructure just takes money but you get nothing in return. Building roads and bridges just to put people to work is stupid because for every job you create you are probably putting somone else out of work and the the job is only temporary.
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  #30 (permalink)  
Old 07-08-2009
Secretary of State

 
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,221

   
Re: WWII as an example of an economic remedy

Quote:
Originally Posted by daddio View Post
Learn about the insurance biz. not picking on you, most people have little idea how it works.
I do. He's right.
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