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That is the point...I don't see the unemployment rate going back down ever,well perhaps officially because the fedgov. will simply change the way it counts those out of work....
If a job leaves the country, it's gone. A new job will have to take its place. Growing the economy and better educating our workforce won't bring back that job, it will replace it with another one.
Have the government hire most of the unemployed and put them to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and water works. In may case just scraping and repainting would be an improvment.
Have the government hire most of the unemployed and put them to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and water works. In may case just scraping and repainting would be an improvment.
Ha ha ha. They tried that in Mexico and wound up screwing over the private sector that did those jobs (this was in agriculture not roadwork, but it's the same concept).
Some truth there, rbohm, but not totally. Medical cures/treatments and I'm talking the very serious stuff, like cancer, heart surgery, etc..are exponentially more expenive than auto repairs. Its not price gouging; I formerly worked for one of the largest medical device manufacturers who made more profit (%) off VCRs back than than ultrasounds. This cost explosion to be frank, has no cure. Most likely, we'll be swallowing a bitter pill..be it free market or gov't.that is rationing of care.
i wasnt using auto insurance as a direct model. i know a heart transplant is many orders of cost higher than installing a new fresh from the factory W-12 engine into a buggati veyron. it would as an analogy. for instance we dont use auto insurance for new tires, and oil changes, and other routine auto repairs, but we turn around and want health insurance to pay for doctors visits, band aids, and other minor stuff to the point where when people go to the emergency room, they have no clue the cost of anything that gets paid for. auto insurance was designed to take care of things like, replacing your car if it gets stolen, or you plow into a telephone pole or tree. or you plow into a car load of nuns on their way to help the homeless. etc. in other words catastrophic events are covered for the most part, and you pay for the minor stuff.
we need to treat health insurance the same way. you can buy basic catastrophic coverage that would pay for hospital visits, that heart transplant you might need, a kidney transplant, etc. you might also pay an out of the pocket deductable as well. to this you can the add, at extra cost, prescription drug coverage, lab tests, and even doctors visits as well, but you will be paying higher rates.
for instance, why should a 65 year old male pay for prenatal care as part of his insurance package?
as for the cost of medical equipment, yes that does continually get more expensive as then manufacturers keep adding capability to machines, much like cars keep getting more expensive because of the capabilities built in each year. do you really need a car with antilock brakes as standard equipment? or traction control? by the same token, does the average hospital need an mri machine that has a large number of other things is does as standard equipment?
we can bring down the cost of medical devices as well by making the bells and whistles optional. want to buy a high end corvette ZR1 with all the goodies of traction control antilock brakes, supercharger, etc.? then you pay for it. but if you want a basic corvette to style and profile at cruise night, then you can get a base corvette without all the high end options. we can do the same thing with medical devices as well.
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Originally Posted by pvande55
Talk about the health insurance mess is getting off the subject a bit. Absolutely the US has the most inefficient system in the world, but Europe does not have the most efficient. That honor goes to Costa Rica. Part of the treatment is prevention, followed by reduction in unnecesary treatment.
actually health care IS part of the issue. our system of health insurance is expensive, and rather inefficient. we can make it better by using sound business principles.
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Originally Posted by edwardianlady
Going back to doing jobs by hand ,automation has taken away so many jobs .
are you a luddite?
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Originally Posted by dman72
And you'll still see the jobs lost to Malaysian sweat shops.
Trickle down is a failure yet GOP talking points say it is the only solution.
yes some jobs are going to be outsourced regardless of what we do in this country. however jobs like manufacturing cars, parts, machines in general, etc. can all be brought back here IF we make the business environment better HERE. for instance mazda has found that it will be cheaper overall to close its assembly lines at the flat rock michigan plant and move production of the next generation of the mazda 6 BACK to japan. why? taxes, regulations, union work rules all combine to make it less expensive for mazda to build the mazda 6 in japan, and then pay for shipping the cars across the ocean to here, and paying the import duties on those cars that they import. and yes we could raise the import duties on the cars they import, but that would just make the mazda 6 much more expensive, and we still lose the jobs here. we have to deal with the excessive regulations and the onerous union work rules if we are going to bring back, and maintain higher paying manufacturing jobs in this country.
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Originally Posted by dman72
Exactly right. So why do we continue to push trickle down policies that benefit him and his "class" so much when they do nothing to improve our economy? Why is his income from moving money back and forth taxed at a lower rate than someone who goes to work every day?
warren buffet makes his money through investment in businesses, and that is taxes as a capital gain rather than as income. you can do the same thing if you are willing to take some risk. the reason capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than income is to encourage investing in this country. buy a building and lease it out to someone to put a business in. you pay income taxes on the lease proceeds, but when you sell the building your profits are taxed as a capital gain.
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Originally Posted by GregW
Have the government hire most of the unemployed and put them to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and water works. In may case just scraping and repainting would be an improvment.
i can go along with this, but understand that it is short term employment because once the work is done, the jobs end. it will get people back to work for a period of time though, but we need to use the time to make the business environment in this country better if we want to keep those jobs on a more permanent basis.
Since your idea would cost trillions of dollars, where do you think the money will come from? Higher employee taxes along with the employer contributions, and then they will probably tax each employer XXX amount per employee as their "contribution" to healthcare.
Again, the government can float long term debt, even 10's of trillion more if the economy is growing faster then the debt. That would mean about a 6% GDP growth yearly.
If corporations are relieved of their largest operating expense, then that level of growth is sustainable.
rhohm, In a pay for use system, the producers of medical equip lack incentive to remove bells and whistles, and quite frankly, you seem unaware of the magnitude of the problem. MRI rooms cost millions, with 6 figure annnual maint. contracts. Mostly not bells and whistles, but this stuff makes our first trip to the moon technology look like the first home PCs. And over 2/3 individuals cost is last 18 months, not the trip to doc for a cold that worries you.
Manufacture goods that people need and want, now here's the "out of the box" part...manufacture the stuff right here in the USA!
We can do that as soon as we eliminate labor unions, excessive environmental regulations and many corporate taxes. Until then, the cost of manufacturing in the USA is simply too high to make this realistic. This would increase costs to the point where entire companies would shut down and result in even higher unemployment.
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