Freedom for the wealthy only. It is coming!!

Well we are just getting too many people and one day those with less money will be forced to live in structured authoritarian communities.

Why? Blame medical advancements.

Hell the wealthy will be able to have genetically superior children and they will have longer lives as well because of organ growth and harvesting services. Oh wait those in the structured living will also live longer. They will be medicated and tested and given more drugs.

I think medical science has gone way too far and at some point; say 70, all medical stuff needs to stop. If people want long lives they can just take care of themselves and accept the fact that they will die. Hell people that took care of themselves lived long healthy lives in the 1800's and before.

People live how they want to live and then want medicare to help them live forever. Bull.

If all non-emergency care was stopped for those over 70 we would save billions and billions. Old people don't cost us but the over medicating system does.

What surgeries for the young could be avoided? Gastric bypass? Cosmetic? unnecessary C-Section......

So what thinkest thou?

 

I think the rich will fund and consume medical advancements that will become cheap and accessible to everyone. And the rich already have genetically superior children who are taller, more attractive, and more intelligent than the average population.

Also, while life expectancy is going up, birth rate is going down. I'm more concerned that we will eventually become like Japan and have a lower birth rate than the population replacement rate.

The average woman needs to have 2.1 children. Right now our fertility rate is 2.09. You can see our fertility rate over time here.

http://www.google.com/publicdata/ex...ry:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=fertility+rate+in+the+us

I don't think you need to worry about a population explosion.

 

A better idea is that we could reduce the number of children born. At 70 years old, a person has amassed a plethora of knowledge and experience. Why would you want to erase all of that for someone who has no knowledge and experience at all?

 

Well with more people coming into the world why not simply train more medical personal to deal with it. Privatize hospitals and make sure that whoever builds them is allowed to make a substantial profit and this should fix it while bringing more money into economy's around the world.

 

I think your position is mostly ridiculous. However, I do agree that we are headed for a New World Order. If we had a free market, healthcare would be cheap and affordable for everyone. Everybody would have access to the medical advancements you are referring to. Of course in the New World Order, only the elite would have access to it.

Medical advancement is a good thing. But when it's applied with a form of international socialist high-tech feudalism, that's when your fears become grounded.

 

No, just the medicine must be done more equalitarian, and everybody must have access to the same services. But the advancements never are enough.

 

Well at 70 if they have lived as they should have they could have 20-30 more years un-medicated. If they smoked and drank and ate foods as they chose why the hell should others pay? They have finished working many times so what is the point? What are they contributing?

There you go Who will pay for it?

 

Why should everyone have access to the same services?

And again, the fertility rate in most developed countries is lower than the replacement rate. As third world nations become developed, I'd estimate the same will occur there.

So no, population will not explode.

A much bigger concern would be that people spend far less of their life working now. So a much smaller portion of society is supporting everyone. Once the baby boomers retire and gen X, gen Y are forced to support them, things are going to get interesting.

 

Well that is kind of what I was talking about. Are you willing to give up 60+% of your income for someone who never took care of themselves?

It is all welfare state or nothing.

And who pays for this?

 

Yeah, I want a source for this. Taller should be easy to prove. Attractive? For the most part that is more acquirable through wealth than genes. I have known working class who made good, and with each level of wealth they acquire they look better and better. Has nothing to do with genes. Intelligent? I assume you mean the generic view of intelligence as "book smarts". The problem with "book smarts" is it stifles originality. Because our society centers around streamlined education with all emphasis on "book smarts", originality has all but disappeared. No more so than with the elite. I'll admit, "book smarts" does wonders as to science, math, and tech. But for art, philosophy, politics, economics, literature, streamlined education has erased the chance for something new.

On a side note, great to see ya still alive and kicking, Archer! Been a long minute.

 

Because everybody must have equal opportunities.

 

I just told you. Privatize it. Have those who want the treatment pay for it like insurance but at severly reduced rates. As such you take government out of these programs and allow the operator to sell these services without the exaggerated prices hospitals now charge.

This would include things like forbidding lawsuits, allowing them to buy all their medical equipment at cost, including drugs, getting rid of any government regulation that prohibits profit such as requiring standards for health insurance, which drugs they are allowed to sell or use, which equipment is authorized and so on.

The only government regulation should be an oversight to make sure nothing outside the scope of normal medical procedures is performed and checks to make sure medical staff is qualified.

 

I run into silent spells. Home work. Built a coffe/breakfast station and a train table over Christmas.

 

Nice! I'm sure it's impressive. Good to have you back.

 

Attractive, I can't really source. But it's been well established that a wage premium exists for those who are taller and have a higher IQ.

A 1958 British study on National Child Development also found that taller children also scored higher on cognitive tests. You can read the full study here. http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/1/34.full

The study suggests that high achieving individuals pair with each other resulting in children who are likely to be taller and more intelligent than their peers.

 

I think you are mistaking opportunities with outcomes. Everyone if they have the money, can purchase healthcare.

 

Well I know a few doctors who would like that. They cant make much money with this BS they are dealing with now. But what about the poor? Those who were going to live off of SS and medicare for 20-30 years? Do we turn them away? What about those who can not afford it. A choice of food or the doctor?

 

And that is my thing here. If we just put a stop to it the playing field will level.

 

I could see that, as height comes with a successful paring of genes. However, I know several working class families who kick out tall pups, some brilliant, some not so much. Nothing in nature is predictable to a 100%. And your claim is the "wealthy" all poses such genes, meaning not only should all wealthy be tall, but attractive and intelligent to boot. Which is an absurd claim. Not only that, but it suggest all working poor should be short, ugly and dumb, also an absurd claim.

 

Well this thread was about the elderly not about the poor. They would be covered under Obama's universal health care I imagine. My brother in law recently cut his hand and got a very bad infection.

He went to the emergency room and they performed emergency surgery to drain the infection and whatever else they do in there to kill the bacteria. They kept him for 3 days and had to go back in once more and to their credit they saved his hand.

His bill was over 100,000 dollars. Both my wife and mother-in-law are supervisors at this hospital and said that the drugs and bandages were less than 300 dollars for the hospital. The rest of the money was spent for monitoring equipment, doctors fees, and a bed.

They also said that any doctor in the field in the military could have taken care of this at no cost other than supplies. Now tell me that if you privatize a hospital and get government out of the way that they couldn't get away with charging seniors 10 bucks a month for insurance or something similar and still make a profit.

 

I never claimed anything of the sort. I just suggested on the whole, that broad generalization is true. I'm sure there are plenty of stupid, ugly, and short people are rich. But on average the wealthy are having children who have a genetic advantage over their peers.

 

Quite honestly, my life has presented the opportunity to be intimate with both camps. The genetics claim is a way for those who, somewhere deep down inside, feel guilty for the obvious truth it takes money to make money. We all want to believe it stems from hard work, and all of society is a meritocracy of liberty, which is absurd. It doesn't mean somebody should give up hope, as many of rich families acquired their station through generations that wanted more. It very rarely is obtainable in a single generation, and such quickly got gains generally stem from dubious actions that can haunt a bloodline for generations to come.

 

The old are generally poor and the wealthy are wall?

I am an ultra conservative not a liberal so the only way I see to stop the wasteful spend and remain fair is to just stop it all.

I had a recent visit that a football coach could have taken care of but it needed an X-Ray. The X-Ray fee was 76 bucks, drugs less than 100 and then radiology bill was 900 and the doctor bill was over 2000.

I just had 2 dislocated hand bones. A 30 second fix I just needed and xray to make sure nothing was broken. So I am seeing the reverse. Boxers Club 3000+ BS.

 

Ehh, I think you mean something very different than I do when we use the word wealthy. To me, anyone who is upper middle class and above falls into this category. So the top 5% or so. You are talking about old money or some such. The vast majority of people who are millionaires are self made millionaires. There are plenty of people with money who are not rich enough to also make their children rich. These people are doctors and lawyers. These people are successful business owners. These are people with a good education and work ethic. They are the working rich if you will.

The uber rich you seem to be referencing are such a small insignificant slice, it's not worth worrying about.

 

Ok, I see what you are saying. My bad.