meiroy

This is the problem with US single payer solutions. They don't really understand what makes single payer work. Rationing is key. Without this the costs of single payer will spiral out of control. All good single payer systems include lots of rationing or they use deductibles (a much much much better method) to control costs. Interestingly Singapore avoids this problem completely. It has much much lower costs that even the NHS and it has much much much much much MUCH MUCH lower wait times. Singapore wait times are measured in hours...British wait times are measure in weeks. This means that Singapore's wait times are more than 100 times shorter than Britains. Its costs are half of Britains. Singaporeans also live longer. The interesting question is given the incredible wait times in Britain...why aren't their healthcare outcomes much much much worse?! My explanation is simple...its because healthcare mostly does nothing. It doesn't really improve health. Thus single payer works because it rations something that was a useless expenditure to begin with. A rational system would focus much much more on determining what actually is useful in healthcare and focusing all subsidies on that. Its also important to avoid killing people...something the US healthcare system does very often: https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/ Its also really shocking to me how little connection there is in the healthcare system between scientific evidence and actual healthcare practice...or even how little concern there appears to about this issue. Given the way healthcare is practiced and the complete lack of incentives for evidence based care I don't see how healthcare could possibly be very effective. The proper way to view modern healthcare is mostly as witchdoctors, voodoo and shamans. That is what healthcare mostly is. https://retractionwatch.com/2016/03/16/evidence-based-medicine-has-been-hijacked-a-confession-from-john-ioannidis/ Honestly this whole debate is mostly arguing about how to do insane and stupid things in a slightly less ridiculous way but no one questions the fundamental ways the whole system is setup. Single payer is just lipstick on a pig. The U.K. health service is absolutely fantastic if you have something serious and you literally would not have to pay a pound for it. This is its main purpose. If, on the other hand, you have a sore throat then you'd do better to just research it on the internet and resolve it yourself. Of course, it has a lot of crap built into the system but it is still far better than what the US got. The fact is that the pig with the lipstick which you mentioned is us. The single payer system is the best we can come up with, just like how capitalism is the best system we can come up with considering all of our faults and biases and whatnot. It's stinky, it has a lot of issues but damn do we look good with that lipstick on.

Yes. But, we are all going to die. So, eat and drink and be merry.

How optimistic people are depends on how old they are right now. I'm 32, and I think that the chances that medical science advances a lot over the next 50 years is very high. What people miss is that to benefit, we don't have to go from zero to a perfect therapy for the diseases of aging. We just have to do enough to allow you to live long enough for these therapies to be improved enough in the meantime so that by the time you would need them, there are developped. I like your explanation, it's somewhat like the situation with self-driving cars. There's a lot of discussion on how when cars will be truly autonomous and ubiquitous, fatalities numbers would drop dramatically. As it happens, right now, there's already technology using AI and other means installed in various cars which significantly increases safety. It gets better year by year. OK now write on the singularity.

What evidence? You didn't provide any. All you did is provide 2 links to blog posts that say that Pakistani emigrants don't do very well in Canada. Maybe so, but so what? In a race someone will always be last. Again you say that you get "the tickle" because on quora people are saying that Canada is a version of the us but when you check the data it's not the case. Then I'm assuming that you've checked the data. So where is it. Please share the comparative data for Pakistani immigrants to the US to see if they're doing better there than Canada. Show me the evidence. Because so far I have nothing to ignore. Justin Bieber just got U.S. citizenship. You just lost this whole discussion.

I grew up in an economically depressed area in Germany. There were no jobs locally, so you just have to move someplace else. Despite having virtually full employment and plenty of jobs, some people are nevertheless unemployed, because they just don’t want or can’t move out of the area. This is the case in many areas in the US, but traditionally the mobility in the US has been higher than in Europe and I believe Canada as well. When you think of it in terms of landmass, you can’t get a decent job in 95% if the US. Are you still in Germany? Would be very interesting to hear your thoughts on the current economic situation and how you see the Eur going forward. Thanks.

Singaporeans live 3 years longer than Americans, spend less than 1/3rd of what Americans spend on healthcare and express very high levels of satisfaction with their healthcare. Wait times in Singapore are also vastly superior to the US. BTW, Singaporeans spend as much on their military in proportion to GDP as the US and also force their young into mandatory service where some of them actually die in training (they run themselves to death). Healthcare is an input. HEALTH IS AN OUTPUT. You are confusing the two. You can have a space age healthcare system and yet because you order needless tests, over treat, over medicate and don't wash your hands (poor operational effectiveness)...actually make peoples health worse. Well, I just spent a few minutes seeking a downside to Singapore but can't. 3rd richest country in world tax rate of 0-22% corp tax 17% minute # of poor apparently, a pretty damn good healthcare system No clue. Good for you, Singapore! Singapore like Hong Kong is an Entrepôt. It does not make much sense to compare the U.S. to an Entrepôt... And it's not necessary as there are plenty of other examples of superior health systems around the world that cost far less than the states'. The reason the U.S. does not have a decent healthcare system is due to ideological/religious beliefs and that is extremely hard to change.

Not sure Pinker would call himself a lefty. He gets attacked by both sides. I think the left dislikes a lot of his evolutionary psychology stuff... That's when you know you're an independent thinker: Once one side accuses you of being on the other side and vice versa, and all you're trying to do is figure out what's what on a case by case basis, so you don't fit into the nice arbitrary binary tribal divide that most people slot themselves into. Or maybe it's because he loudly declared himself to be an atheist. Most on the left are religious, as are those on the right, that's the main reason you get the bashing. Was the same for Feynman. Einstein also got bashed when he expressed his opinion.

Thanks. I recommend the best hardcore sci-fi series which I've seen since forever: The Expanse.

Maintain all pre-conceived notions about reality/religion/ideology because cognitive dissonance is a bitch.

It's not what I call it, it's as the book defines it. I thought it was a brilliant book as it sure sheds a lot of light on our society. Anyhow, one can easily Google about the differences between the two and Antisocial Personality Disorder.

You are describing functional psychopaths. You might want to read: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Psychopaths-Saints-Killers-Success/dp/0374533989/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522210040&sr=8-1&keywords=wisdom+of+psychopaths The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success TL;DR plenty of "heroes", neuro-surgeons, "leaders" including presidents, lawyers, etc. are functional psychopaths. It would also explain why they have "great interpersonal skills".

What is the GDO portion of Canadian lumber, steel, oil, gas etc.? The best thing Canada can do is reduce this number as much as possible and have its resources allocated to services, hi-tech etc.

I for one welcome our Wall of Worry overlords. Would a FED under Trump be allowed to pop the massive low-interest-rates-bubble?

Some could be great takeover targets for Chinese companies -- a few of those are decades behind and they need to catch up.

Ahh, thanks for those videos. Now beginning to see how this could be used for places like a hospital. Gives me a completely different perspective of what is going on. Am I correct with the following statement? Don't focus on the cryptocurrency value attached to to the blockchain technology. Focus on the specific blockchain technology and what it's intended to do. The release of cryptocurrency is more or less a test of the validity of the underlying blockchain technology. Companies will then use the underlying technology (the blockchain copy) for their intended use. Ahh, thanks for those videos. Now beginning to see how this could be used for places like a hospital. Gives me a completely different perspective of what is going on. Am I correct with the following statement? Don't focus on the cryptocurrency value attached to to the blockchain technology. Focus on the specific blockchain technology and what it's intended to do. The release of cryptocurrency is more or less a test of the validity of the underlying blockchain technology. Companies will then use the underlying technology (the blockchain copy) for their intended use. Blockchain finance is one of the applications of the blockchain. You can google "blockchain applications" to read more about the various uses.

CONeal, Watch this: Then this:

It would not take 8 minutes nor 10. To this duration, one would have to add the time to get to the station and from the station to the final destination, waiting for the trains, constraints due to tickets availability and times etc. How is that any different from going any other option? The train once it starts takes an hour. The hyperloop once it starts takes 8 minutes. Of all the things to nitpick, having to show up early at the station or buying tickets seems kind of silly to complain about. It's different from driving your own car. It's about economic benefits.

It would not take 8 minutes nor 10. To this duration, one would have to add the time to get to the station and from the station to the final destination, waiting for the trains, constraints due to tickets availability and times etc. The real benefit would be over far larger distances and the real revolution would be autonomous public transportation on dedicated lanes. Would the money better be invested in the latter or on the hyperloops?

Almost all good advice anyway. But Blood alliances? The U.S. has the best system in the world making it the greatest country ever and it will continue to be this way regardless of who wins. So, I'm definitely hoping Trump wins if it means market crash considering my massive cash position.

“Now, it's important to recognize the vital role that the financial markets play in our economy and that so many of you are contributing to. To function effectively those markets and the men and women who shape them have to command trust and confidence, because we all rely on the market's transparency and integrity. So even if it may not be 100 percent true, if the perception is that somehow the game is rigged, that should be a problem for all of us, and we have to be willing to make that absolutely clear. And if there are issues, if there's wrongdoing, people have to be held accountable and we have to try to deter future bad behavior, because the public trust is at the core of both a free market economy and a democracy.” [Clinton Remarks to Deutsche Bank, 10/7/14] https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/927

DB. j/k.

Would you trust Warren Buffet as your diving instructor? Would you trust him to take your three year old toddler for a walk in NYC? etc. I would not. So? Does that make him unfit to manage BRK? Meaningless topic.

I'm also mostly in cash these days but not because I think that S&P is so over valued, I don't. The U.S. economy is fine and no recession is in sight. However, there is a certain Global macro situation (not limited to economies) that is certain to increase volatility. Playing it this way has worked well this past year.

God, you could cut the arrogance with a knife in these forums. Rising tides raises all boats. Btw....Trump is still the underdog and its a long way to November. Did you use a random nonsense generator to post this or you're just into strong EMH? I guess in your eyes calling Mr. Market a manic is also a form of arrogance. And next time try not to involve any gods in lame random posts, it's really not necessary.

So I had a couple of Mojito watching this thing, standing on the outside looking inside and I have to (read: I want to, because) say two things: 1. as a supposedly value investor it is absolutely splendid and joyous to see that massive irrational and emotional decision making by the economically ignorant masses; more for me! 2. The singularity must be really much closer than we think because it sure ain't a high hurdle to pass! Cheers!