
Originally Posted by
Thondalar
I find it telling that you're willing to discount any effect on inflation that minimum wage may have, simply because you can't directly correlate only minimum wage increases to only inflation increases. The economy is way more complex than that.
Of course it's telling, man, I'm a scientist. Where there is no data, there is no belief.
It is indeed a significant one; notice I was the first one to bring it up. This goes back to the
system...if you can find some sort of empirical evidence that proves that the price fixes they use is the main cog in that machine, I'm all ears.
Ah, but they don't have to be used to have an effect. Like the threat of censorship and free speech, the mere threat of price controls is enough to hold price gouging in check. How can I back that up? As follows:
1. We know the United States and Singapore are not different in competition. The top five health insurance companies in each country control the same market share.
2. We know the United States and Singapore are not different in government subsidy. If anything, Singapore's scheme of forcing citizens to save thousands of dollars is a more dramatic and market-warping subsidy.
3. We know that Singapore has seen dramatically less price increases than the United States. If not because of competition or government subsidy, then why not price controls? Economies are complex, granted, but it seems a pretty direct causation: the government says prices can't go more than yea high, then the prices don't go yea high.
My overarching opinion is that they are wrong in any situation...I've stated that I believe Singapore's healthcare system succeeds in spite of them, not because of them.
I understand that you believe this to be true. I also understand that you believe Singapore's system creates more competition than ours does. When I have demonstrated that the latter is untrue, however, I think it behooves you to reexamine the former. No?
Well yes, in a sense. The unfortunate reality(inconvenient truth?) is that our civilization has been building up to that very thing for generations now...you can't honestly look at the almost 18 TRILLION DOLLAR debt and be like "oh, it's a percentage of GDP, we're fine"...I've previously linked visual references to what 18 trillion dollars actually looks like, IRL...it's somewhat akin to a person standing next to a nuclear-class aircraft carrier...except instead of a ship it's just piles of money. Pallets of money. Stacked a hundred feet high and a thousand feet deep. All 100's.
I can do that, because I honestly believe in basic arithmetic and the concept of inflation.

Originally Posted by
Atlanteax
It is a shame that the Founding Fathers did not *literally* write "the Scope of Government (Bureaucracy) must not grow beyond xxx/yyy/zzz" (with x/y/z being defined as defense, trade, etc)
Then again, maybe it was a conscious choice. Consider these two phrases from the Articles of Confederation and Constitution respectively, with added emphasis mine:
"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled."
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Doesn't this suggest that they tried it your way, decided it was junk, and hotfixed that philosophy out? You can criticize their failure to wipe the character base after beta, sure, but the release notes are pretty clear.
Hasta pronto, porque la vida no termina aqui...
America, stop pushing. I know what I'm doing.