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US Death Rate Rises, Health Officials Aren't Sure Why (nbcnews.com)

New submitter Ungrounded Lightning writes: According to The New York Times, the U.S. death rate has risen for the first time in more than a decade (or several decades if particular). The rise is across the whole population, though whites, especially the less educated among them, were recently (and separately) documented to be particularly hard hit. The article speculates about drug abuse (prescription as well as illegal), suicides, and Alzheimer's, though it notes that heart disease -- which had been consistently dropping -- has also risen. No mention was made of whether the cutover to Obamacare might have had some effect. The aging of the population was mentioned, though the rise is present even within particular age groups. The National Center for Health Statistics shows the adjusted death rate went up from 723 deaths per 100,000 people in 2014 to nearly 730 deaths per 100,000 in 2015. We do know that the suicide rate in the U.S. has surged to its highest level in almost three decades.

607 comments

  1. Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Look at the labor participation rate, not the widely reported unemployment figure. The participation rate is dismal and reflects a lot of white, working class men who don't fit into the modern work force.

    1. Re:Recession is really a depression by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, U6 is dismal, but that doesn't define a depression. The trick there is that BLS keeps redefining "the basket" of goods for the CPI calculation. The CPI doesn't go up because while the price of beef has tripled, the price of LCD TV's has fallen by 10x, so the BLS considers that to even out (I kid you not)

      Holy cow, I was looking at refrigerator prices the other day. I last bought a top-of-the-line unit (no icemaker because I'm not insane, but otherwise high-end) in 2002. The prices today are more than triple for a similar level of product. Very few people's incomes have moved at all since 2006, and not too much before that.

      Anyway, with the inflation numbers properly considered, GDP has been shrinking, not growing since the Crash. The growth is only in nominal terms, with diminished dollars, not in hamburger-buying dollars. The BLS's job now is to keep the economic picture bright for the politicians. The website shadowstats.com runs all the numbers the old way and the new way, for people to inspect.

      And two quarters of negative growth gives you a recession, and [mumble] years of negative growth gives you a depression. Welcome to a big one.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look at the labor participation rate, not the widely reported unemployment figure. The participation rate is dismal and reflects a lot of white, working class men who don't fit into the modern work force.

      I don't think that's it at all. Two very close relatives of mine had decent paying jobs when they committed suicide, and hell I've thought about it myself plenty of times, and even thought about how exactly I'd carry it out a few times. Right now the income I make is a LOT for just one person, I don't have any debt, flawless credit, and no drug addictions of any kind. Yet I'm really not happy with life at all. Why? Couldn't say, to be honest. Tried lots of different meds and therapy, and nothing has worked.

      Most people in my state won't even talk about it because it's so stigmatized; instead what happens is you'll just find their body one day. In fact enough to the point that I won't mention it in public and am posting anonymously.

    3. Re:Recession is really a depression by roman_mir · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's funny though, different messengers of the same message can get different moderation, but sometimes weirdly enough they let their guard down...

    4. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure they'd be able to see this if the answer wasn't 'a complete and total failure of both the neolib and neocon philosophies'.

      LAWL CAPTCHA: Paranoia

    5. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As opposed to the black or hispanic working class men, who are doing wonderful, right? Why on earth did you add the "white" qualifier here?

    6. Re:Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why is the parent modded as "insightful"? It's full of bullshit.

      For example, the price of beef has NOT tripled: http://www.statista.com/statis... - it went from $2.09 per pound in 2006 to $3.05 in 2015. That's annualized 3.2% price growth rate - quite in line with the official inflation.

      And if you don't believe BLS then there's an alternative: http://bpp.mit.edu/usa/ - they collate prices from multiple sources (literally more than a billion price points a day) and compute their own inflation measurements. And it's in agreement with BLS.

      Anecdotes like "BLS changes stuff to hide the TRUTH" are totally and ALWAYS a complete bullshit. Always. No exceptions.

    7. Re:Recession is really a depression by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As opposed to the black or hispanic working class men, who are doing wonderful, right?

      Yes, that is right. Blacks and Hispanic men are doing relatively better. They still aren't doing as well as whites, but their economic conditions have been improving, while working class white men have been stagnating. This explains why blacks and Hispanics are more likely to support Hillary Clinton, the "status quo" candidate. The status quo is actually working pretty well for them.

    8. Re:Recession is really a depression by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Too late. People believe only the first thing they read or something that its into their belief system.

    9. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only funny thing here is you thinking anyone will click on all those links.

      To quote a good friend: ain't nobody got time for this.

    10. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      35% of the US population worked in 1998. Only 30% worked in 2015. There's less jobs and more competition while all the time there is more outsourcing and h1bs. It is possible to get a job and think everything is fine. It is also possible to not get employment despite education and talent and drive, then be stuck in student loan debt and have to crash with your parents.

    11. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 2

      Where the hell are you getting beef for $3.05 a pound?

    12. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So just saying the person above needs to be banned from Slashdot permanently.

    13. Re:Recession is really a depression by roman_mir · · Score: 1, Informative

      I am just going to link to some of the previous discussions, so that this one does not take place in the vacuum.

      On the Japanese destroying their currency and causing a massive economic downturn. In the same discussion on the idiotic idea that government devaluing currency is 'good for exports'. It's only 'good for exports' in the way that lowering your pay makes your work cheaper, why should government be the one providing discounts on your labour on your behalf?

      On the Fed causing more bubbles with inflation (money printing) to make it look like the economy is doing OK, when in reality all they are doing is eventually raising everybody's prices by destroying the value of currency.

      On the so called 'main street economists', who are nothing more but mouth pieces for politicians who want to 'provide easy solutions' through impossible promises and thus eventually through inflation (money printing).

      On population size, cartels and nonsensical ideas of central planning of those.

      On robotics in the labour market, relative value of labour via capital investment and the role of government in destroying jobs by making labour too expensive to hire.

      On SS and other ponzi scams ran by governments and on reasons for deflation being a desired situation compared to inflation. Those who think people will stop buying stuff they need today just because next year it may cost a couple of percent less are blind to the point that they don't see that people prefer to get into debt today (credit card debt as an example, annualized 20% debt) to buy what they want/need right now, so they are willing to pay this premium today just not to wait for tomorrow, so those arguments are nonsensical on their face.

      On IRS and the Fed

      On jobs going to India.

      On the connection between government devaluing money of a nation and recessions/depressions.

      On China being more free economically speaking than the USA and much of the rest of the world.

      On Bitcoins.

      On the coming US bonds and dollar crash.

      On why it is dangerous to provide jobs in the USA.

      On raising suicide levels in Japan due to economic problems.

      On government being a consumption item and why it is bad to borrow for consumption.

      On 'going cashless'.

      On junk US bonds.

      On 'trickle down' economics.

      'Healthy people' in an 'unhealthy market'.

    14. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have to account for an aging population when looking at participation rates, and so looking at the range of 22 to 60 is probably more instructive to also take into account early retirement

    15. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why is the parent modded as "insightful"? It's full of bullshit.

      The parent didn't articulate his point as well as he might have, choosing a poor example with the price of food. However, even with the commodity example he's not wholly wrong. In the decades since 1978, increases in productivity in the US economy have gone overwhelmingly to the top income quintile and since the Great Recession of 2008, which accelerated these trends, to the top 10% and top 1% respectively. Wages have stagnated as generations of ordinary working people have shared little in these gains for 37+ years now. Moreover, the cost of key goods which many middle class people buy, including health care and college education, have skyrocketed. The result is a shrinking middle class which feels increasingly pressured, squeezed and pinched by high costs and incomes that haven't kept up, even though multiple family members are working harder and more hours than ever before. You cannot deny that this is an issue, the evidence is overwhelming. Indeed, all of the 2016 presidential candidates are talking about it. They may disagree on what to do about it or how to fix it, but almost nobody questions the existence of the problem.

    16. Re: Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's price normalized by cattle weight, so the final consumer price is higher (because not all parts of cows are edible). However, beef is still pretty cheap especially since most of the meat is ground beef: http://data.beefretail.org/who...

    17. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You already know that the data you are relying on for the consumer price index is not the actual price consumers pay.

      It really doesn't matter if the "cattle weight normalized price" is changing at one rate or another if the actual prices that actual people pay is growing at a much higher rate.

    18. Re:Recession is really a depression by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 0

      Also a lot of blacks and hispanics are actually quite conservative. The only reason they are not republicans is that they don't feel particularly welcome in a party that blames them for all the nations problems. So then I guess it makes sense to vote for the most republican democrat.

    19. Re: Recession is really a depression by sexconker · · Score: 1, Troll

      Shut the fuck you fucking hokum spewing troll.
      The price of beef has tripled or more where it counts - at the supermarket where the average person buys it.

    20. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Informative

      4 years ago I could buy a lbs of beef for $1.99, it's around $5.99-7.30lbs these days. Top that out with 94m people not in the labor force, you've got a recipe for people popping themselves off. Past trends show that as well regardless of what the government says the unemployment rate is, especially unemployment rates where you simply fall off after several years.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    21. Re: Recession is really a depression by davester666 · · Score: 1

      It may be beef many people are not willing to consume.

      Hell, hot dog "meat" is that expensive, and you do NOT want to know what's in that.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    22. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 0, Troll

      Congratulations on showing how much of an idiot you are. You don't even understand the difference between whole foods pricing, CPI or perishable goods, let alone the dry index. Go on, take a look at the actual indexing prices, I'll wait.

      FYI, I live in Canada. I occasionally spend part of my winter in Florida. When the local Sweetbay aka Winn-dixie has a special on and beef is $6/lbs, you're really showing you don't know what you're talking about. This of course is this weeks prices, which are slightly better then normal...but not by much. Yes, very cheap at the non-whole foods in one of the poorer areas of central Florida.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    23. Re: Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 0

      Why do I need to understand them? I looked up the wholesale prices from 2006 and 2016 and I've shown that they've inflated at roughly the official inflation rate, thus validating it. I then double-checked it by comparing the average ground meat price from the BPP (Billion Prices Project) database - they matched.

      But sure, if Teh Government hides the truth then you should easily be able to demonstrate 3x price inflation. Nobody can hide this, after all.

      And of course, BLS never double-checks the validity of CPI goods and services basket because they are concentrated on hiding The Truth from unsuspecting people.

    24. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      What's hilarious is that you waste so much time and energy making and saving links, as though anyone gives a shit.

      Try making your own arguments instead of depending on others to do it for you, tool.

    25. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 0

      Why do I need to understand them?

      The same reason why you don't sign contracts without reading them or try to write a program without knowing a language. But hey, what do us old people know? Besides that wages have been decreasing, food prices are increasing and it's looking more like 1979 every day.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    26. Re:Recession is really a depression by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I am just going to link to some of the previous discussions, so that this one does not take place in the vacuum.

      What discussion? There doesn't seem to be one, since you've merely linked a shit-ton of other pages and didn't actually put forward any claim.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    27. Re: Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 0

      And have you read Les Miserable in French? You need it know it by heart to talk about food! And that's a hard requirement.

      Please, provide the data and not anecdotes that show that the food prices are rising significantly faster than the official inflation figures.

      You can not. There's no such data. And it looks like you're the prime reason for the article - it's just another step for the cognitive dissonance to become unbearable and cause a suicide.

    28. Re:Recession is really a depression by Roodvlees · · Score: 1

      Why the downvote? You may not agree with it, but it's all rational argument...

      --
      Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
    29. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK, so lets take the Big Mac then. Its gone from 3.10 in 2006 to 4.20 in 2012 which would give an increase of about 5.2% year on year.

    30. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can not. There's no such data. And it looks like you're the prime reason for the article - it's just another step for the cognitive dissonance to become unbearable and cause a suicide.

      Really? So you're saying that the $6lbs for ground beef isn't really $6, or are you saying that wages haven't decreased(in the US on average by $3-5k in the last 6-7 years) and in turn it's all just a figment of imagination.

      Let me give you some help: You've seen food, energy, general goods all increase. You make the statement that this is simply due to inflation, as a reminder inflation isn't calculated against all items in an economy(hint: most of those data sets are using the "core inflation number"). Food for instance isn't calculated in that metric. On top of that, in the US wages have decreased in the last 7 years between $3-8k depending on where you live. That means people are bringing in less money and paying more for food.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    31. Re: Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 1
      No, I'm not saying it. You're projecting. I'm saying that the actual food prices haven't gone up significantly.

      You make the statement that this is simply due to inflation, as a reminder inflation isn't calculated against all items in an economy(hint: most of those data sets are using the "core inflation number").

      You can check the general inflation. It's called "headline inflation" and is tracked separately by BLS: http://www.advisorperspectives... - same result.

    32. Re: Recession is really a depression by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      I buy 5lb packs of 90/10 ground beef at under $3/lb at my local sams....

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    33. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe in line with inflation, but I can tell you wages aren't going up.

    34. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looking at his posting history, ShanghaiBill probably has a disorder of some sort. He seems pretty much unable to empathise. This is really a learning disability. Some people can do it without a problem, like a mathematics genius can find patterns with barely a moment's thought; some people need to put in a bit of hard work, like an accountant carefully analysing the numbers but coming up with the right answers eventually; others just get confused and anxious by a jumble of information that doesn't make sense to them, so they come out with simplistic answers to reassure themselves.

    35. Re:Recession is really a depression by peragrin · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      If you don't know why you aren't happy, then change.

      drugs legal or not is only rarely the answer. Find a new job, move to a new city, hell a new place to live, do something you wouldn't normally do. Get

      change.

      I do it on a regular basis.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    36. Re: Recession is really a depression by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      No, I'm not saying it. You're projecting. I'm saying that the actual food prices haven't gone up significantly.

      They've gone up more than wages for people who are still making minimum wage, and around 3/4 of those people are trying to raise a family.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    37. Re:Recession is really a depression by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Hang on so the stats say there's approximately a 1% rise surely that's so within tolerance that it shouldn't even be noteworthy!

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    38. Re: Recession is really a depression by akical0118 · · Score: 1

      You seem to think the middle class is not the 1%

    39. Re: Recession is really a depression by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Really we went in with the next door neighbor and bought a 1/2 beef he raised and after purchase and processing it came to $3.85/Lbs wrapped and frozen. If you follow his link, you'll notice that it's listing what most people and businesses would call the wholesale price, not retail. It's equivalent to me saying there is no inflation because I just bought T-bone steak for $3.85 while knowing it costs 6 times that in the grocery store.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    40. Re:Recession is really a depression by h4rr4r · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Ah yes, the Trump voters.
      Yeah, they are going to be a problem until we find something to do with unskilled labor.

    41. Re:Recession is really a depression by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      Fridge prices remain largely unchanged. Beef has not tripled. You are making stuff up.

    42. Re: Recession is really a depression by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      You can get grass fed 93% lean for $6 a pound.
      Where the hell are you buying beef?

    43. Re: Recession is really a depression by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      With all due respect, you're nowhere near as bright as you apparently think you are... but don't feel bad; it's certainly not your fault that you were unable to figure that out on your own (I mean what with the above limitation and all...). ;)

    44. Re: Recession is really a depression by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Was this modded down because of all the other shit he spews? 'Cause in this case, he's totally spot-on.

    45. Re: Recession is really a depression by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      No shit!

    46. Re: Recession is really a depression by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      While the "middle class" includes those that can afford to send their offspring to vastly overpriced schools without batting an eye, own vacation homes, etc (i.e. "one percenters") the phrase is often used to refer to those with actually who hold *real* power and wealth, a group that in reality numbers far fewer than .01%...

    47. Re: Recession is really a depression by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Fridge prices remain largely unchanged.

      Surely you're more imaginative than that?? Fridge pricesrelative to their cost of manufacture have most assuredly gone up... not to mention, 35 years ago a fridge could very well have lasted 20 years before you might need minor repair; now you're lucky to get three or fours years out of it before it requires *major* repair.

      Rest assured there's a bigger picture out there to be seen, if you just extract your head. ;)

    48. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I sure don't pay that much for ground beef here in the Midwest, hell unless I'm looking at filet mignon I often get steak for less than $6/lb. Is this a coastal thing?

    49. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell, sometimes I've bought sirloin steaks for $3-$4 a pound.

    50. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're paying 6x for that T-bone, you're getting screwed. I can go out to eat and pay less than that for a 16oz T-bone.

    51. Re:Recession is really a depression by ThePyro · · Score: 1

      it went from $2.09 per pound in 2006 to $3.05 in 2015. That's annualized 3.2% price growth rate - quite in line with the official inflation.

      I think something's off with your math. A 46% price increase over 9 years equates to a 4.29% annual growth rate. That's a lot higher than official inflation.

    52. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, they're just a collection of his old posts. Pretty informative, actually.

    53. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans begin killing themselves when the price of beef becomes to high? There really is a national obsession with hamburgers.

    54. Re: Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 0

      No, I'm not saying it. You're projecting. I'm saying that the actual food prices haven't gone up significantly.

      They've gone up more than wages for people who are still making minimum wage, and around 3/4 of those people are trying to raise a family.

      Now you did it. Time for some to break out the claims that minimum wage is for teenagers. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in a McD's, and there isn't a worker here under 30. That's pretty typical.

      As people who were once higher on the economic ladder move down, they are taking the jobs that teenagers may once have enjoyed. As well, they are collecting food stamps, getting housing assistance and daycare assistance. Funded by our tax dollars.

      Meanwhile the top two hedge fund managers are making the rough equivalent of 300,000 minimum wage workers. Is this system supposed to be working? It has long ago transcended normal ideas of fairness of wages or taxes and reached full potato status.

      Many have seen the future, and it doesn't include them. So I'm not surprised that one time well to do white people are becoming addicted to drugs, and find suicide as the ultimate debt consolidation program.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    55. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seeings as where you brought no evidence of your claims you won't mind if you're dismissed as a troll? Because that's really what you are. Personal attacks with no proof of claims, that's the modern way of debate.

    56. Re:Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Maybe they killed themselves because they were sick of listening to you extrapolating personal anecdotes to explain national phenomena.

      Jeebuz cryeye on a pogo stick, you are one nasty mean asshole aren't you? We got a fellow who is depressed, and noted some relatives had committed suicide.

      And you thought that was an appropriate response? We do need a -5 asshole mod.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    57. Re:Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you don't know why you aren't happy, then change.

      Nothing like a person who knows nothing about depression giving medical advice.

      Like telling a dead person to "walk it off".

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    58. Re: Recession is really a depression by DavidHumus · · Score: 1

      4 years ago I could buy a lbs of beef for $1.99, it's around $5.99-7.30lbs these days.

      Maybe you're not a very good shopper. The actual data - http://www.indexmundi.com/comm... or http://www.ers.usda.gov/datafi... - disagrees with your personal experience.

    59. Re:Recession is really a depression by dywolf · · Score: 0

      has more to do with the random assignment of mod points.
      that doesn't change the fact the your posts are consistently misinformed and ignorant, and tend to be modded as such.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    60. Re: Recession is really a depression by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Walmart super center $2.98/lb after a dollar off sale also not very lean.

    61. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the decades since 1978, increases in productivity in the US economy have gone overwhelmingly to the top income quintile and since the Great Recession of 2008, which accelerated these trends, to the top 10% and top 1% respectively.

      In Capitalism surplus value goes to Capital and not to Labour. Why is anyone surprised?

      If we want to keep Capitalism but lower inequality, then we have to redistribute wealth, which in the past has generally been up having the top marginal tax rates be quite high (hitting 90% in the 1950s). Note that Clinton raised rates in the 1990s and the economy didn't collapse (quite the opposite). By the "gubermint" is bad and taxes are theft according to many, and so redistribution is anathema to large portions of the population (even though it would benefit them in terms of public/social services like roads without pot holes and education that doesn't suck).

      While there are certainly other factors, it seems to be that having a Gini coefficient at around 0.30 gives a good balance between allowing people to enjoy their higher income, but not having another Gilded Age come about. The closer you get to 0.40 (or higher), then the more dysfunction seems to arise. (Tough I'm sure there are plenty of of messed up places at 0.30.)

    62. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "inflation isn't calculated against all items in an economy"

      ummm.
      by definition inflation is calculable against EVERYTHING in an economy

    63. Re:Recession is really a depression by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      last bought a top-of-the-line unit (no icemaker because I'm not insane, but otherwise high-end) in 2002.

      Why would getting one with an ice maker be "insane"?

      I find it to be one of the more useful parts of a good fridge.....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    64. Re: Recession is really a depression by GungaDan · · Score: 1

      Actually there is an FDA-approved amount of literal shit that's allowed to be in there. Like parent poster said, you don't want to know.

      --
      Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
    65. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please, provide the data and not anecdotes that show that the food prices are rising significantly faster than the official inflation figures.

      After 2 minutes of googling I found this: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000703112

      Series Id: APU0000703112
      Area: U.S. city average
      Item: Ground beef, 100% beef, per lb. (453.6 gm)

      Jan 2011: 2.533
      Jan 2016: 3.978

      It wobbles around a bit, but ground beef has approximately doubled in price over the last 5 years. That's approximately a 14-15% rate of inflation per year. Round it down to 10% if you don't like it so.
      I don't really have a horse in the race of this thread, but I'm tired of Slashdotters of all people shitposting in threads when the data is literally right there. People need to post links, not waste the thread calling for someone else to do it.

    66. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I buy my beef at a Vons (part of the safeway/albertsons conglomerate) in California...and it's (I think) $5 or so for 80/20 ground beef. You can sometimes get a few cuts for cheaper than that, but it takes some definite bargain-hunting. And if I'm getting it for $3 a pound, it's probably at the expiration date.

    67. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It may be beef many people are not willing to consume. Hell, hot dog "meat" is that expensive, and you do NOT want to know what's in that.

      No shit!

      Well, we can hope, but I wouldn't count on it.

    68. Re:Recession is really a depression by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      Reading that two close relatives committed suicide makes it sound genetic. I have to wonder, though, how much of the time you spend living your life has to be pre-scheduled in order to maintain the situation where you get the high income? I find I do better working 12 hours, 7 days a week for three months or so, followed by three months or so off. The notion of my activities having to follow the same schedule for the rest of my life might make me think about suicide. Do you have enough savings where you could try something else? Could two guys like you trade off on the same job, so the employer always has someone, but you don't always have to be there?

    69. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      . BLS is nothing but lies. In fact they have changed their method of calculating the inflation rate so that the government looks good and they have to pay less social security,
      http://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/02/03/if-you-want-to-know-the-real-rate-of-inflation-dont-bother-with-the-cpi/#5bd3b642118b

      For a more accurate inflation rate use:
      http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

    70. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you used the same inflation calculation as used during the "bad old days" of Carter and the early 80s, inflation would be about 8%. But by changing how it's calculated the Federal Government can game the number and make it sound great that it's only 1-2%...

    71. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fridge prices remain largely unchanged.

      Surely you're more imaginative than that?? Fridge pricesrelative to their cost of manufacture have most assuredly gone up... not to mention, 35 years ago a fridge could very well have lasted 20 years before you might need minor repair; now you're lucky to get three or fours years out of it before it requires *major* repair.

      Rest assured there's a bigger picture out there to be seen, if you just extract your head. ;)

      Well, it's obviously not a 2016 model, but I've got a 12 year old fridge that hasn't had a single issue with it and it's been through 3 moves. It's not even a high end fridge, but just above "bottom of the barrel."

    72. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Humans are herd animals. You need a few people you can count on as friends in order to stay happy and sane. Furthermore, you need to belong to a community. That's just how the human animal is built.

      Try finding a church that won't try to scam you and that has a social network. They're not easy to find, but they're out there.

      If you start seriously considering it, call a suicide hotline. It's less stigmatized than you think.

    73. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The price for ground beef has basically doubled since 2010. That's about a 12% annual inflation rate. Quite a bit different than the story you're pitching.

    74. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And remember, those hedge fund managers overwhelmingly support Clinton. They know where they can reliably buy votes and get what they need to keep enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else...

    75. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      What kind of beef are you buying and how are you buying it? Seriously I don't know what it costs in stores as I get my beef from directly from a processor and purchase the fraction of the animal from the farmer directly but unless it is some of the ultra prime cuts it shouldn't be costing that much. If that is for ground beef, chuck roast, or round steaks quit shopping at Whole Foods in San Fransisco or New York, if that price is for tenderloin then quit your bitching.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    76. Re: Recession is really a depression by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Walmart has 90/10 at around 4.25/lb but it's frequently on sale for a dollar of per lb if i where willing to drive 60 miles to the closest sam's I could get a better price but I don't make those trips often.

    77. Re: Recession is really a depression by ranton · · Score: 1

      You have to account for an aging population when looking at participation rates, and so looking at the range of 22 to 60 is probably more instructive to also take into account early retirement

      The most official figures I know of for working adult participation rates look at ages 25-54. This peaked at around 85% in the 90's, moved down to around 82-83% after the '01 recession and has been steadily moving down towards 80% since the Great Recession. There was a slight bounce up in 2015 back towards 81%. This basically works out to around 4 million people who would have been in the workforce during the 90's economy who are not in the workforce in our current economy.

      So the AC's claims that an extra 5% of the US population is out of work when in a better economy they would be working is pretty close to accurate. Although I don't agree with his reasons for why this has happened at all.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    78. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Middle class typically runs from ~$46K to $140K per household. The top 1% starts at $428K, quite a bit above the middle class level.

    79. Re:Recession is really a depression by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 0

      While most people, especially Progressives/Liberals would like to point out that the 1 and 10% are accumulating wealth at a huge rate (I am not denying it) they seem to think the cause is some sort of "Greed" factor, and not a function of anything else. I would suggest to you, that greed is in fact a symptom of the cause, but not the cause it self. Everyone has their own self interest at heart, from the manual labor worker to the Trump/Clinton types that exploit their wealth and power to accumulate even more wealth and power.

      So, as power accumulates at the top (Central Planning, Big Federal Government etc) those people who have access to that power will use it to accumulate more wealth and more power. And the more power you grant these people (abdication of personal responsibility) the more you'll see this trend. This is the natural result of socialism, in just about every case.

      People like Bernie, while identifying the symptom (the accumulation of wealth at the top) assume that creating a more powerful central government will solve the problem caused by ... you guessed it, a powerful centralized government. This is how Venezuela with all its natural resources can be on the edge of financial ruin, with the very people Bernie wants to support, getting the shaft.

      The solution is to free people from the shackles of government regulation that only stifles creative, enterprising, hard working people in the form of barriers to entry (see your typical shutdown of lemonade stands).

      And before you mention Somalia (a very tired strawman) , I'll counter with North Korea, China, Greece and the aforementioned Venezuela as great examples of socialism's end result.

      Oh yes, and we want dirty air and polluted water. We want people starving and general social Darwinism /sarcasm

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    80. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tripled no, but it's basically doubled since 2010. That's about a 12% increase annually...

    81. Re: Recession is really a depression by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Just avoid Whole Foods scam.

      Actually, if you shop wisely, you can get out of Whole Foods for about the same as a regular grocery store...mostly in the veggie section.

      You have to avoid the meat counters and cheese case which really blow the prices up, but getting good veggies there is often on par with what you can get at the regular grocery stores...and the quality, I find, is often superior....but you have to pick and choose wisely.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    82. Re: Recession is really a depression by judoguy · · Score: 1

      4 years ago I could buy a lbs of beef for $1.99, it's around $5.99-7.30lbs these days. Top that out with 94m people not in the labor force, you've got a recipe for people popping themselves off. Past trends show that as well regardless of what the government says the unemployment rate is, especially unemployment rates where you simply fall off after several years.

      Thanks Obama

      Thanks Obama

      Thanks Obama

      --
      Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
    83. Re: Recession is really a depression by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile, I'm sitting in a McD's, and there isn't a worker here under 30. That's pretty typical.

      As people who were once higher on the economic ladder move down, they are taking the jobs that teenagers may once have enjoyed. As well, they are collecting food stamps, getting housing assistance and daycare assistance. Funded by our tax dollars.

      Meanwhile the top two hedge fund managers are making the rough equivalent of 300,000 minimum wage workers. Is this system supposed to be working? It has long ago transcended normal ideas of fairness of wages or taxes and reached full potato status.

      Hillary Clinton thinks everything is great. Her daughter is married to one of those hedge fund managers and lives in a place in Manhattan worth tens of millions of dollars, but rest assured, Hillary is one of us!

    84. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're obviously referring to worldwide incomes, which is both fundamentally dishonest and doesn't serve to pay the 50% increase in rents over the last four years locally.

    85. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've obviously never experienced serious mental illness, otherwise there's no way you'd say something so fucking ignorant.

    86. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My income has not gone up 5.2% per year since 2006. That'd require a raise of somewhere around 35% from where I stand today to simply meet that.

    87. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moreover, the cost of key goods which many middle class people buy, including health care and college education, have skyrocketed.

      It should be no surprise to most people in the US that health care and education are also some of the most overregulated and over administered areas of the economy. Licensing and prescription laws should be eliminated, and businesses should stop relying on needless degrees to justify their hiring decisions and the salaries of their own administrators.

      This is never discussed (although maybe more so with education, with MOOCs)--the focus is always on who pays.

    88. Re:Recession is really a depression by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I'd prefer an all-out ban. Pieces of shit like him are toxic to a community when allowed to stay; decent people simply leave over time unless these people are cut out like the cancers they are. There's a reason that every successful discussion site isn't a free-for-all anarchy, but instead has a moderation system of some kind, and usually has moderators who have the ability to ban truly toxic individuals like him. This site does a poor job with both, and we've seen the quality devolve immensely over the last 15 years as a result.

    89. Re:Recession is really a depression by pla · · Score: 2

      Hang on so the stats say there's approximately a 1% rise surely that's so within tolerance that it shouldn't even be noteworthy!

      When you have a sample size equal to your population size, you have a confidence "interval" of zero and a confidence level of one. That figure has no "tolerance" to it, it has perfect significance, it gives the definitive answer.

      You can ask "why" from plenty of angles, but you can't question the number itself in this case.

    90. Re:Recession is really a depression by ADRA · · Score: 1

      Like George Bush's 'ownership society' rhetoric? They can and have squealed about the economy until the cows come home, but to be frank, none of them want to change course because they're all in the better-the-way-it-is group. The only grounds for change are from the common man standing up for their share, but fuck, the common American wants (and expects) to be the better-the-way-it-is group, so you're self-selecting a worse economic conditions for yourselves with the delusion that you / offspring will rise in economic standing. Note: Many people can and do raise their station (there are few glass ceilings), but the reality is quite bleak to actually accomplish it.

      --
      Bye!
    91. Re:Recession is really a depression by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is absolutely true. Hispanics and blacks, and really all non-whites, with a few exceptions here and there, are generally extremely socially conservative compared to white people. White people are the most socially liberal worldwide, with the possible exception of Thais. Think about it: in what parts of the world is it legal for women to walk around topless or nude? In what parts of the world is it socially acceptable for people to have casual sex with multiple partners? What countries/places have legalized marijuana? What places are the most irreligious? What places are the safest and most accepting for homosexuals? I'll tell you which places aren't on this list: any place in Latin America, any place in the Middle East, China, Philippines, India, Russia, and the American South which is heavily populated by African-Americans. Black people in the South are famous for being extremely religious and conservative, and Hispanics are famous for "family values" and being Catholic and having a lot of kids. These are not traits of socially liberal people.

      Now of course, there's plenty of ultra-conservative white people too, particularly in the South and the Midwest and the "heartland" and also Utah. Also in Russia, where the Russian Orthodox church has become very powerful after the fall of the USSR.

      But you're exactly right: these minorities are generally rather conservative. They only vote Democratic because the Republican party panders to white racism and blames them for the nation's ills, so they happily vote for right-wing Democrats like Hillary who insist that "marriage is between one man and one woman" (up until it's too politically expedient to change that opinion), and who are completely against legalizing marijuana, and who take "campaign contributions" from the private prison industry and payday loan industry.

    92. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      You can get grass fed 93% lean for $6 a pound.
      Where the hell are you buying beef?

      Oh that's not lean grass fed. You can bet on it, that's grain or corn fed, couldn't tell you for sure without tasting the meat though. Grass fed though? Here in Canada easily $15lbs, US I've never seen it under $12lbs down in central-Florida. It's $7-8lbs generally for run of the mill lean beef though, not tube beef just packaged from their in-store butcher. Feel free to look at my other post up thread, I posted an imgur link from the winn-dixie that I shop at down there, it's $5.79lbs on sale if you have their fancy card.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    93. Re:Recession is really a depression by mlts · · Score: 1

      I would say it is worse than that. I remember back in the 1990s, a college grad getting $36,000 starting salary, regardless of major. A good sports car (Toyota Supra, twin turbo) would run you in the 30k range. A house where I live, around $150k.

      Fast forward to today. A college grad that doesn't make contacts via internships will wind up with the same starting salary, if not less. A decent car? $50k. A house in the neighborhood? $400k.

      Couple this with what it takes to find a job. In the 1980s, you had to have a high school diploma. 1990s, a B. S. in -any- major. Post 2008, the major has to be in the field, and even then, it is just a baseline with additional experience or certs a must.

      The ironic thing is that the new, super expensive refrigerators are worse for service life than the ones with a mechanical thermostat. If I had to pay $3000 for a fridge, I'd sooner buy one of the fridges that runs from natural gas and only uses 120VAC to power the electric light, as opposed to a "smart" model which likely will demand people watch a 30 second ad before it unlatches the door after a ninja firmware update.

    94. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      What kind of beef are you buying and how are you buying it? Seriously I don't know what it costs in stores as I get my beef from directly from a processor and purchase the fraction of the animal from the farmer directly but unless it is some of the ultra prime cuts it shouldn't be costing that much. If that is for ground beef, chuck roast, or round steaks quit shopping at Whole Foods in San Fransisco or New York, if that price is for tenderloin then quit your bitching.

      That's lean ground beef, bought at your local supermarket in places like Florida and Ontario(Cdn). More expensive in Ontario as you might expect, but no that's not at Whole Foods and so on. It can actually be more expensive from a local butcher, anywhere from $0.50-$2/lbs for medium to lean, depending on the company. see post here and the attached imgur link, that's from the winn-dixie(used to be called sweetbay) that I shop at down there, it's actually a bit cheaper this week then last week.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    95. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't know why you aren't happy, then change.

      Nothing like a person who knows nothing about depression giving medical advice.

      Like telling a dead person to "walk it off".

      Don't be a wuss. Jesus did. You simply lack faith in yourself!

    96. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      No, I'm not saying it. You're projecting. I'm saying that the actual food prices haven't gone up significantly.

      Really? So when bread here in Canada was $1/loaf, 2 years ago and now the same brand is $5/loaf that's just projecting? How about in central Florida when I could get a loaf for $0.88 and it's now $4.25/loaf. Still projecting? When was the last time you saw a tin of soup for under $1.50-2/can? 3 years ago I could buy it for $0.0.33-0.45 both here in Canada and in the US.

      FYI you're now trying to move the goal posts, also general inflation doesn't track food prices in the core inflation numbers. It also doesn't count a variety of other things like some core energy costs.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    97. Re: Recession is really a depression by LunaticTippy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I bought a dorm fridge in the 80s for about $150 and it is probably still running. It was horrible and sucked electricity so hard it dimmed the lights. It cost about the purchase price in electricity every year!

      I bought a dorm fridge this year for about $150 and it is quite energy efficient, $30/year electricity use. It is really nice - separate door for the large pizza capable freezer, main compartment light, better temp control. No idea how durable, but it carries a nice warranty and with the energy savings I can afford a new one every other year and still save money and resources..

      In my case fridge prices have dropped considerably as they have gotten better.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    98. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doing something different whether it is a new job, new medication, new environment, associating with new people, etc. is the way to try to fix the issue.
      Real problems don't get solved by doing nothing.
      "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

    99. Re:Recession is really a depression by Jack_of_Shadow · · Score: 1

      email me at vulcanmentat at me.com we'll talk, I may not be able to help, but, don't off yourself just yet, please.

      --
      My not responding to your flame is in no way indicative of my submission to your statement, it just means I don't have t
    100. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fridge prices remain largely unchanged. Beef has not tripled. You are making stuff up.

      Fun fact, when both beef and pork are up, but beef much more so... that means McRib is coming back!

    101. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doing something different whether it is a new job, new medication, new environment, associating with new people, etc. is the way to try to fix the issue.

      Real problems don't get solved by doing nothing.

      "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

      By that definition, anyone who repeats that quote attempting to change the minds of other people is insane.

    102. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here in Wisconsin, I can buy 0.5lb pre-made hamburger patties of cheff's cut Black Angus Beef for only $1. That includes a wide range of pre-seasoned or mixed in stuff like cheese or jalapenos. These burgers barely shrink after grilled. That's $2/lb for premium beef.

    103. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See a therapist; it can't hurt, right? I saw one for years - I was depressed for a specific reason (failed relationship), but it opened my eyes to another way of considering life and what happens in it, especially when it comes to dealing other people. I wish I had had such insights when younger and in school when life first became tough; it would have made things better for me, starting then. Good luck.

    104. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the hell are you even talking about?

    105. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump is gonna fix all that!! heeeehaaaaa!!

    106. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they vote for Hillary because the ideology of their party in every part of the world uses small corruption of the poor, crazies and illiterate to tilt the elections in their direction, so that they can later funnel huge amounts of money from the middle class to the 1%. The poor and stupid are only able to understand that they get "free stuff", but are not educated enough to understand the huge amounts of debt that is created on the other side.

      They usually also are pro mass-immigration, but only for selective cultures, who are known for voting for them at the exchange of "social benefits". That's why this party also turns into a taboo the mere discussion of the immigration issue, because actually discussing it could lead to the stop of their abuse of democracy for political gain.

      Trump knows their tactics because he was himself a Democrat, which is why he is hitting right where it hurts: in the strategies they use to corrupt democracy. Meanwhile, Hillary's only proposal is to bribe minorities and women (which they disregard as illiterate idiots) with small corruption.

      Look who supports Hillary: already bribed lobbies, the megacorrupt universities and media, the multimillionaries of Hollywood, and the mega-corporations that do not pay any tax in US, so they are unaffected by this money funneling yet still reap the benefits of getting a Clinton in the White House to rule TTIP treaties in their favour.

    107. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, nothing like a person that know nothing about economics thinking that "depression" is only a medical term.

    108. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why, 4 years ago I could buy a pound of expired ground chuck in a tube from the discount counter for only $1.29, but nowadays a pound of grass fed organic filet mignon goes for a good $23 and change.

      Those are some crazy high inflation rates!

    109. Re: Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Let me give you some help: You've seen food, energy, general goods all increase.

      Average gasoline price in 2006: $2.36
      Average gasoline price in 2016: $2.21
      In inflation adjusted dollars the 2016 price would be $1.80. But of course, we have a Depression so that price is an Illuminati conspiracy.

    110. Re: Recession is really a depression by StikyPad · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pfft, you pampered kids these days. I grow my own grass to raise my own cows, which I created by breeding wild cattle over many generations to optimize for muscle weight and docile behavior. I forged my own cleavers from a handbuilt kiln fired by locally sourced wood coal and a bellows made from cow stomach. How did I get the cow stomach without first having a cleaver, you ask? Good question, if you're a fan of dumb questions. I used flint, of course. In order to find the flint, first I familiarized myself with geological maps of the area (which I had created back in my cartographer days), then I searched everywhere: in plowed fields, in the gravel of creek and river bottoms, construction sites, under bridges and eroded roadside ditches. Most of the flint was of poor quality, or too small for a blade, but eventually I found the perfect sample. Anyway, once I had my cow stomach and my bellows and finished forging my cleavers, I could process my own meat almost effortlessly on my hand-built processing line, and let me tell you, I've saved a ton of money this way. Why spend money when you can spend lots and lots of time, I say? Time is free and there's an endless supply! Anyway, my 80th birthday is coming up soon, so I think it's about time I start dating. First, I need to make myself some nice clothes though. Don't want to scare off the ladies with my cow-hide panchos. Mama didn't raise no fools!

    111. Re: Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      And remember, those hedge fund managers overwhelmingly support Clinton. They know where they can reliably buy votes and get what they need to keep enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else...

      If nothing else, Sanders and Trump are a shot across the bow that there is a limit to the concept of "we will only be weathy when everyone is poor."

      I have nothing against a single person making the impressive amount of 1.7 billion dollars a year in principle. But not when they tell us how it costs too much to employ people that they don't want to pay at all, the numbers are cute.

      $1,700,000,000 is fine.

      $15,080 is unacceptable, that person is being paid too much. A taker, a leech upon society.

      As I said before, in principle a person should be able to make what they can make. Others might find that comparison a little unsettling, especially when they are told they are making too much by people making a billion or more a year. Which is all to ask the question, how little is little enough?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    112. Re: Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Hillary Clinton thinks everything is great. Her daughter is married to one of those hedge fund managers and lives in a place in Manhattan worth tens of millions of dollars, but rest assured, Hillary is one of us!

      Not even Sanders is one of us.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    113. Re:Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I'd prefer an all-out ban. Pieces of shit like him are toxic to a community when allowed to stay; decent people simply leave over time unless these people are cut out like the cancers they are. There's a reason that every successful discussion site isn't a free-for-all anarchy, but instead has a moderation system of some kind, and usually has moderators who have the ability to ban truly toxic individuals like him. This site does a poor job with both, and we've seen the quality devolve immensely over the last 15 years as a result.

      Well, it wouldn't hurt. I have no issue with strong words, and heated arguments - hell that's part of the fun. But there is a line, especially when dealing with people who have a problem in their lives, that dare not be crossed before I get what the boys down at the shop call really fucking pissed..

      I might have a bit of sensitivity towards depressed people, because I also had a relative that got his backside reamed numerous times by a priest when he was a little boy, and struggled with depression all of his adult life until he committed suicide. I'm not depressed myself, but it's unfortunate that people who dismiss it don't get to experience it. Not out of vengeance but to gain a ittle understanding.

      But it matters not, Shanghai Bill is a black hole level asshole, which is worse than suffering from depression. Only a total asshole can do more about their affliction than a depressed person can.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    114. Re: Recession is really a depression by budgenator · · Score: 1
      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    115. Re:Recession is really a depression by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Wow, nothing like a person that know nothing about economics thinking that "depression" is only a medical term.

      Wow nothing like a person with really limited intellect and comprehension.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    116. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are quite mistaken. His house in Vermont is not unlike many houses that we Vermonters grew up in. He's usually flies economy class and isn't afraid of the middle seat.

      I know a lot of people are jaded by politicians and that is quite understandable, Sanders is who he purports himself to be though, that makes him very much unlike his other fellow politicians. He is not a millionaire, he does live a comfortable lifestyle which he earns from his salary as a Senator and nothing else.

      So while Sanders might make almost twice what I do he still very much understands the pressures that people have been facing increasingly over the last 30 years.

    117. Re:Recession is really a depression by david_thornley · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Government has some reason to help the poor, but business really doesn't. They don't have money, and the fact that they're poor mean they're more available, replaceable, and exploitable as labor. They don't have the capital to set themselves up in some sort of business, even for the entrepeneural ones.

      So, assume that you're a poor man with a wife and two kids, barely scraping by. You have no money to take courses to improve your lot, or time for that matter, since you're working two part-time jobs and have travel time. In the absence of government intervention, how are you going to get your share of improving productivity?

      If you're a business owner, in the absence of government regulation, what incentive do you have to spend a dime on pollution abatement? These are practical questions. While you say you don't want pollution, grinding poverty, or social Darwinism, I don't see how your ideology leads you to ways to avoid them.

      Certainly, if you can label what you like "socialism" and point to North Korea (totalitarian), China (totalitarian), Greece (devastated by EU bankers), and Venezuela (screwed up) as the inevitable endgame, I can label what you like "anarcho-libertarianism" and point to Somalia. I'd rather stick to more productive arguments, myself.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    118. Re: Recession is really a depression by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      It may be that refrigerator manufacturers have more profit margin, but that doesn't affect consumer prices. It's part of the complaint about increasing productivity going to the 0.1%, if anything.

      We bought some new appliances in 1999, when we moved to our current house. We had to replace the washer and dryer this year, and got better than we had earlier. The dishwasher isn't running as well as it did, and the range has needed some minor repair (and needs some again). The refrigerator is working just fine without repair for seventeen years.

      It may well be that you can find people selling junk refrigerators off the back of a truck for more money than you'd spend at a reputable store (it's possible to scam many customers out of more money if you imply they're doing something illegal to save money), but nobody I know has the kind of trouble you describe with their appliances.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    119. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      You can get ground beef for $2 per pound at Walmart.

      You can probably get much better ground beef for $4 per pound at Costco or Sams Club. Those stores don't have "pickup menus" like Wallyworld does now.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    120. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > 4 years ago I could buy a lbs of beef for $1.99, it's around $5.99-7.30lbs these days.

      No it isn't. Anyone can get on the walmart delivery site or some other online grocer or even the Costco Business site and call such bullshit on this.

      I don't even pay that much for ground Buffalo, or duck, or lamb.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    121. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      The consumer price index isn't intended to accommodate pretentious foodies that are unwilling to shop at Safeway like most of the population. This kind of citation is total nonsense.

      Nonsense like this is what inspires Tea Bagger busybodies to try and micromanage Food Stamps.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    122. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      The original version of beef in the "basket of goods" was probably ground chuck. The fact that some of us like grass feed beef from cows that spend all day at the spa is probably not terribly relevant generally.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    123. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Just cook it thoroughly and make sure to wash your hands... '-p

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    124. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're just so very confused it is hard to know where to begin. We got where we are by deregulating, not by regulating. We deregulated power in California and that led to Enron.

      We deregulated investment banks by repealing Glass-Steagall and that led to Sallie Mae and all the junk loans that got passed around like a cheap hooker.

      Venezuela is just as bad an example as Somalia. They were flush with oil money and didn't diversify, so when the price of oil sunk so did their economy. That would have severely depressed any economy. They chose to make it worse by legislating prices and forcing businesses to stay open which is not being proposed by Bernie. A hotel in Vermont is still free to charge whatever price for a room they like even if Bernie got all of his proposals through.

      Extremes in either direction are going to be problematic, we've been heading sharply to the right for 20 years now and Bernie has come crashing through to try and reset the pendulum.

      The people that have accumulated massive amounts of wealth are changing the laws of the land to suit their purposes. Citizens United was probably the most devastating decision the Supreme Court has ever made to this democracy. There has been unprecedented amounts of money flowing into politics ever since.

      I can tell you when it comes to deciding on whether or not to hire people the subject of taxes doesn't even enter the conversation. So I'm unsure which shackles you are referring to. You hire someone because they will help you bring in more money than they cost. Because you need to meet demand or the money goes elsewhere.

      Taxes in the this country are lower than they've been through the majority of the 20th century for the upper levels so this talking point really needs to die. The Bush tax cuts and subsequent wars turned our projected surplus into a record breaking deficit. Obama caved and extended the cuts far longer than he should have but when faced with ridiculous opposition that has had to endure it is amazing he got anything done at all. No wonder the healthcare bill sucked, Republicans and even a few Democrats did all they could to ruin it because they were owned wholesale by people that didn't want single payer to compete with private insurance.

    125. Re: Recession is really a depression by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Middle class is about HOW you make your money, rather than how much. That definition you cited is just part of the usual attempts to divide and conquer the middle class.

      If none of the money is working for you, you aren't really middle class at all. You're just a working class schlub with more debt and bigger do-dads.

      The HOW also determines whether or not the tax code works for or against you.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    126. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 1

      Got a source for that?

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    127. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 1

      No you can't, and without a sale, you can't get ground beef for $3.05 either.

    128. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it should come as no surprise that when you stop funding education properly that the quality of said education plummets. Especially when you pass ridiculous legislation like No Child Left Behind but were not going to give you any money to meet the new requirements.

      Republicans have long been fighting a battle over public education which lead to the creation of Charter schools as a horrible compromise. Republican leadership has openly proposed shuttering the department of education alongside the EPA but that's a topic for another time. Public schools used to work because you mix the great and bad kids together and end up most kids being good. Now you take the great kids and the good kids out of public school and throw them in Charter or private schools and then surprise the schools now filled with only bad kids are underperforming.

      This was discussed in great depth where I grew up in Vermont. We had one of the best public school systems in the country and people were coming in proposing Charter schools and voucher systems because freedom. It is now but a shadow of its former self. And we wonder why kids coming out of school today are more and more useless.

      Flash forward quite a few years and I live in Arizona with a kid in one of the better public schools in the area and nieces and a nephew growing up in the least funded system in the country. They manage to get a good education because my family is full of educators and we supplement their education when they are not in school. Many other families are not so fortunate. Arizona schools near the bottom pretty much no matter how you choose to rank. Funding is so bad school districts are desperate enough to propose selling state lands to pay for education because Republicans are so fervently against any kind of tax increase when that would be the most honest and direct way to fund education. Instead we'll just sell out our future to pay for education today. Tomorrow we'll be spraying Gatorade on our crops and wondering why they are dying.

    129. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 1

      I highly doubt many people making minimum wage in 2006 are still making minimum wage. MW jobs are generally held very briefly.

    130. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Why would you want icky 93% lean? Ask any chef, 85% is where it's at.

    131. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 1

      No you can't.

    132. Re: Recession is really a depression by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Ok, maybe you can.

    133. Re:Recession is really a depression by HiThere · · Score: 1

      OK, that's a good reason. Other reasonable suspects are the increased prevalence of fructose or trans-fat consumption, which also happened during that time period, and which can be expected to have a "slow fuse", so stopping them doesn't cause a quick change in results. There are probable other reasonable causes. Probably, e.g., even laborers are having less physical exercise.

      So there's lots of plausible reasons. This study just doesn't isolate one of them as most important.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    134. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 1

      I think it's better than you're making it out to be. Decent cars (for most people's definition of decent) are certainly less than $50k, and cars overall today are safer and more fuel-efficient than cars in the '90s. College grads today can get starting offers of > $60k even without doing internships, depending on their major. You don't even necessarily need additional experience or certs, although those help. Electricians, plumbers, and welders all make good money and don't require an increasingly expensive college degree.

      Really, a lot of it boils down to two things. One, technology and globalization are pushing First World economies to be more and more skill-based, and skills generally require education of some sort. Two, people are getting "educated", but are spending lots of money for a degree that isn't going to help them get a job. If you have that much money to waste, go for it, but why spend $200k on a degree where the average starting salary is maybe $40k? Too many people aren't preparing themselves well for the future.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    135. Re: Recession is really a depression by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Perhaps he can. It's not unknown for commodity prices to be vastly different in different parts of even one state, so I'm certain it differs more within the country.

      FWIW, a couple of decades ago beef in (parts of) northern California was about half the price that it was in the SanFrancisco-Oakland SMSA. This was based on personal observation, not any official statistics, so there may well have been even more local fluctuation, and there's no guarantee that it continued over a long period of time, but I was told that "it's always around that price around here".

      That said, it's also true that lots of people do post garbage, so he may have been talking through his hat, and I haven't priced beef recently, so I don't recall. (When I did I was looking at "grass-fed" in any case, so my prices wouldn't be representative.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    136. Re: Recession is really a depression by HiThere · · Score: 1

      You must live next to my brother!

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    137. Re:Recession is really a depression by HiThere · · Score: 1

      As businesses become more automated, the cost of entry rises. This increases the power of those with lots of expendable wealth at the cost of those with little expendable wealth. There are also other reasons, but that is one of the current major drivers, has been getting worse rapidly, and is going to continue to get worse until each business has only one employee, the manager...who may or may not be the owner.

      Centralized government is, indeed, a big problem, but it's not the only problem.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    138. Re:Recession is really a depression by sdguero · · Score: 1

      Actually no. Your stats are bullshit. This is what commodities traders pay for beef stock
      http://www.tradingeconomics.com/commodity/beef

      The price of beef has tripled in the last 10 years. Better yet, just go to the grocery store and look at the prices. You can't find tri tip for less than $4.99 lb anymore. It was regularly $2.99 lb a couple years ago (which is supported in the link I provided).

      Parent is absolutely correct. The official indices that gauge inflation keep changing what they count, resulting in bad statistics like the ones you linked. There is a big economic problem in this country and it is actively being swept under the rug.

    139. Re:Recession is really a depression by HiThere · · Score: 2

      Depression is not a disease, it's a syndrome: A collection of diseases (possibly unidentified) that share the same symptoms.

      When I was depressed the root cause was social isolation. Of course, the depression made it harder to deal with the social isolation, but after a decade or so I managed. This doesn't encourage me to recommend my approaches to other people.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    140. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be Steve from
      Minecraft!

    141. Re:Recession is really a depression by Cyberax · · Score: 1
      Well, yes. I took reliable statistical data while you have unreliable anecdotes. And let's see: http://www.springhillsfarm.com... - prices concur with my statistics. And this is the price from an actual farm, not some abstract trading.

      The price of beef has tripled in the last 10 years. Better yet, just go to the grocery store and look at the prices. You can't find tri tip for less than $4.99 lb anymore. It was regularly $2.99 lb a couple years ago (which is supported in the link I provided).

      No, it wasn't. Your memory is going.

      Don't like beef? Let's look at wheat: $4.40 per bushel down from $5.50 in 2006. But it's a part of the conspiracy too? Perhaps potatoes? $6.05 per 100 pounds down from $6.12 in 2006. Drat. I guess Idaho is also on the conspiracy.

      Personally I don't spend more on groceries than 5 years ago with inflation taken into account.

    142. Re:Recession is really a depression by dj245 · · Score: 1

      Sure, U6 is dismal, but that doesn't define a depression. The trick there is that BLS keeps redefining "the basket" of goods for the CPI calculation. The CPI doesn't go up because while the price of beef has tripled, the price of LCD TV's has fallen by 10x, so the BLS considers that to even out (I kid you not)

      Holy cow, I was looking at refrigerator prices the other day. I last bought a top-of-the-line unit (no icemaker because I'm not insane, but otherwise high-end) in 2002. The prices today are more than triple for a similar level of product.

      Are you really comparing apples and apples? Refrigerators are one item that I have seen go nuts in the last 10 years with premium features. The "basic fridge" is still available but the entire market has shifted upwards in pursuit of higher sales. Some of the energy-saving regulations may be adding cost as well- variable speed drives on the compressor motor and additional insulating materials definitely add cost.

      Same thing is going on in the auto industry. The cars today are not the same as the cars of 10 years ago. The basic model might still be on the lot, but what was considered "loaded" a decade ago is almost standard package today. I can't recall the last time I was in a vehicle without electric windows. Additional regulation and safety features play a part, but consumer expectations have grown also.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    143. Re:Recession is really a depression by sdguero · · Score: 1

      Comparing a commodity market to a small grass fed beef farm's outdated website. Wheat and potatoes. Hahahaha

      Thanks for the laughs.

    144. Re: Recession is really a depression by budgenator · · Score: 1

      There hasn't been food stamps in a long time, it's EBT cards through SNAP. The issuance of the cards was spun to the recipients as a way to reduce stigma, they were in reality a means to reduce fraud; I remember Limbaugh going on a rant about how ridiculous it was to prevent embarrassment for food stamp recipients, but in reality it was about preventing Mom from sending Junior to the conner store to buy penny candy and bring back the change.
      OBTW I still lust for the Welfare Cheese, it was so good.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    145. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've attempted suicide twice, once through starvation. The GP is still correct. Its extremely, EXTREMELY difficult to change when you can barely get food to feed yourself, but you do need to do it. Stop trying to build motivation and instead start strengthening your discipline. No anti-depressants cure depression. They just mask the symptoms or make them worse (seriously, go read the research papers. Often its better not to start taking them. If you find yourself being transitioned from one drug to the next you really need to get off them. It's likely they're causing your depression or making it worse. Don't forget that their withdraw symptoms are also depression. If your doctor tells you anti-depressants don't have withdraw symptoms then get a new doctor. Skip the blogs and learn to understand the research papers yourself. It's your life you're wasting.)

      You need to change whatever it is/was that was causing the depression. Change of environment, life style, better acceptance of grief, different diet, different point of view, take a different tone of voice with yourself, less comparisons with others, try every hobby, different pillow, colored lighting, different friends, gain more control, lose more control, etc... Something with your life is off and you will stay depressed until that thing changes. Anti-depressants give some people a hand in getting their act together so they can change, but don't think of them as happy pills. If they aren't giving you the energy to change, stop taking them. Their goal should be to help you change your life. Whatever is causing the depression is different for each person, so if you don't know your cause then you need to random change stuff until you start getting better. Better doesn't need to mean happy, it just needs to mean less depressed.

      If you get stabbed you can take pain killers to not feel the knife wound in your leg, but the pain killers don't make the wound go away. It's still bleeding even if you can't feel it. Treat anti-depressants and depression in the same way.

    146. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which parts of the world is it normal for women to always be topless? Where do all the kids run around naked? Which areas teach that sex isn't over until the female squirts? Were are all female teens are taught to squirt? Where is male to male sex seen as an activity rather than a type of sex? Which groups believe males should practice with animals before accepting a wife? And where is it a social insult to not smoke drugs when offered?

      Hint: There aren't many white people there and the areas aren't solely limited to blacks or Hispanics.

      Also despite historically being called reds, Russians don't have red skin. Guess what their skin color is and guess what country has public orgies.

    147. Re:Recession is really a depression by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Any conservative movement in America basically has a choice between representing conservative minorities or white racists. For most of recent history the choice made by the republican party has been pretty clear (i.e. white racists). It seems like recently more reasonable people in the party tried to get the party to switch seeing that conservative minorities were probably going to be a more powerful demographic than white racists. But that didn't seem to go so well this election.

      The republican party is like a guy open to finding a new girlfriend, but while trying to ask a new girl (conservative minorities) for her number, his crazy current girlfriend (white racists led by Trump) shows up and makes a big embarrassing scene. Now the republican party looks pretty dumb in front of the new girl (and everyone else), so their only option is to go grovelling back to the current girl. Maybe they can try to ditch their crazy girlfriend again in the future, but for now she's the only viable option. The only other option is to just be single (not support Trump), and take a guaranteed loss this election cycle. But it seems the party would rather have a crazy girlfriend than no girlfriend, and just hope that the damage to the party will be minimal.

      I'm sure excited to see this shit show play out.

    148. Re:Recession is really a depression by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Trump doesn't know shit. He is just making it up as he goes along. He has one trick. Rile up angry white racists, and have no shame. I don't think even he realized how successful this idiotically simple strategy would be. I don't think the leaders in the Republican party realized just how many assholes were in their own party until now. The other republican candidates seemed to share the delusion that their party was not about racism, bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, jingoism, etc, but it turns out they were wrong. That's exactly who they cultivated, and who they are.

      It's completely fucking scary, but at least it's out in the open now. Trump is by far the must unfavorable presidential candidate in US history. Unfortunately the democrats seem unable to nominate a candidate that is better than the 2nd most unfavorable presidential candidate in US history.

      Regardless of who wins this election, the loser will be American society as a whole. Whoops. Luckily the damage a bad president can do alone is limited to making good laws harder to pass and bad laws easier to pass, preventing the nominations of good supreme court justices, and starting shit with other countries.

    149. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Certainly, if you can label what you like "socialism" and point to North Korea (totalitarian), China (totalitarian), Greece (devastated by EU bankers), and Venezuela (screwed up)...

      I'd say that in practice, Venezuela is getting pretty close to totalitarian as well.

      Funny that when Americans who wish to decry socialism (despite having very little idea of what it actually is) they always point out the totalitarian regimes which hide behind the term and tend to avoid talking about actual socialist countries, most of which have a much higher quality of life than the US. Well, they'll point out the high taxes in those countries; of course, they then ignore the fact that if you include all taxes paid rather than just concentrating on federal income tax, most Americans pay about the same percentage of their income as taxes as citizens of European socialist countries, but get much, much less for their money.

    150. Re: Recession is really a depression by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Yeah they like guns, Jesus, and being assholes. That makes them conservative right?

    151. Re: Recession is really a depression by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      $0.88 and it's now $4.25/loaf

      Is that for identical loaves? That is the spread where I am between the crap fluff bread and artisan organic seven grain loaf. What is the spread of your bread prices? And how much do you pay for flour? I have a bread machine and make very excellent bread for about $0.70/lb.

    152. Re:Recession is really a depression by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      When I was in Kenya, I saw a number of naked (or partially) kids. They were begging for food so I assumed they didn't have enough money. In very rural, but not masaii area. There'd be kids with shoes and a t-shirt, but nothing else.

    153. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The BPP has at least as much BS as the CPI,

              BPP only surveys goods, not services. Services, depending on where you look, are about 70% of the economy. I have very substantial trouble giving much credence to an index that only measures about 30% of prices, and tries to proxy the rest.

              BPP only surveys online prices, which is the most price competitive market place around since it's so easy to do price comparisons. That hints at possible undervaluing of price increases.

              BPP can't survey anything in the medical field, where the highest inflation frequently exists.

              Which housing index do they use? There's a huge difference between Case Shiller and Dataquick for example. Do they always see the whole transaction (in a swap for example)?

              How do they pick up health insurance paid by the company? That's not exactly always public knowledge available on the internet, let alone how accounting for coverages changes isn't simple too (yes, the BLS is far from perfect too)

              BPP does not and can not survey many high end items where a login or similar must occur. Inflation is always higher on high end and very high end items, aka a potential bias... and a more closed methodology.

              Is collecting 500k prices per day really all that different than 100k, in the sense that does anyone really believe that with all the variables in measuring inflation that it matters much to it's accuracy?

              Who owns BPP and who and what are their connections and possible vested interests?

              I haven't looked as deeply as I'd like and the BPP methodology is over 90% opaque, but what about bias for recording specials vs. everyday prices or software bugs that pick up data from the wrong column on a dynamic page (and yes, I'm sure they do their best and I'm not accusing them), or how about postage and handling "creativity" where higher prices are hidden in P&H.

              And then there's a biggie - how the big and medium sized sites can and do tailor make prices depending on who you are in their database? A truly almost wild variable.

              We know nothing about the weights. Is housing a 41% equivalent? How do they weight alcoholic vs. non alcoholic beverages?

              Where are the precise numbers published (they're not, just charts)?

              Where's the BPP history prior to 2009? CPI goes back to 1913, and extensions back into the 1700s. We have few historical comparisons for judgments of long term accuracy, especially during periods of high inflation like the late 1970s.

    154. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is false. Average wages have returned to just above what they were before the crash. They bottomed out in 2011 and have been slowly but steadily climbing since then.

    155. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On top of that, in the US wages have decreased in the last 7 years between $3-8k depending on where you live. That means people are bringing in less money and paying more for food.

      This is what I mean to reference when I stated "This is false"

    156. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has everyone's incomes increased by 46% in the last 9 years?
      THAT is the point.

    157. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was about to comment the same thing, except about refrigerators. I just purchased a *super* high end refrigerator with LED's and an android device built in to the door for lists, recipes, etc. It was slightly cheaper than a fridge 10 years ago that had a fraction of the capabilities. Some people will believe anything when they're politically motivated.

    158. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      That's for identical loves. About $9-14 for the artisian organic seven grain loaf. Depending on the brand for flour, it's around $75 for a 25kg bag these days of brand name, might be a bit less some weeks. Travel a bit to a place like bulk barn and you can usually get it at 2/3's the cost, sometimes 1/2. Stuff like yeast can be...weird as well. You can be easily looking at $9/jar, or $5 jar next week. Want the good bit? I'm in the most densely packed part of Canada(between Windsor, ON and Montreal, QC).

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    159. Re: Recession is really a depression by athenaprime · · Score: 1

      Pfft. So you had grass, huh? Lucky.

    160. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, nobody was talking about it this election cycle until Bernie Sanders finally got some airtime. He forced Hillary to mention it, even though she does so dismissively.

    161. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (ice is not insane, but Africans et kin do not really need it nor like it)

    162. Re: Recession is really a depression by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      I would expect that hot dogs do not contain shit, that seems to be a very accurate statement ;)

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    163. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      forged my own cleavers from a handbuilt kiln fired by locally sourced wood coal and a bellows made from cow stomach.

      Actually you would use a forge not a kiln to make a cleaver. Kilns are for making pottery

    164. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A more accurate statement's Coren22's full of shit and apk wiped you out 3 times for it, R O T F L M A O https://slashdot.org/comments.... , http://slashdot.org/comments.p... , https://slashdot.org/comments....

    165. Re:Recession is really a depression by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Your previous fridge lasted 10 years? I suspect that the new one will last slightly less than that, for values of slightly in the considerably range.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    166. Re: Recession is really a depression by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1
      That sounds like a problem with Canada. And yeast, you can keep alive and reproduce in the refrigerator indefinitely, so you only have to buy once, if that.

      http://www.amazon.com/Conagra-...

    167. Re: Recession is really a depression by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Keep up the off topic trolls, you are only demonstrating your mental illness. BTW, you should log on and see my newest signature!

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    168. Re: Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your post history demonstrates your mental illness by you off topic trolling apk Coren22 in links quoting you in the post you replied to https://slashdot.org/comments.... , http://slashdot.org/comments.p... , https://slashdot.org/comments.... Your butthurt signature bitch tactic gossip does the rest doing you in projecting your butthurt. You just don't get it, do you? We see you failed. We can read you know!

    169. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The incentive a small business owner has to help the poor (speaking as one) is simple: every time I help someone who can't pay me today, I am investing in my own future. I am raising their standard of living and helping them get to a point where they can pay me to provide goods or services for them in the future. Not only that, but my willingness to help them when they needed it most leads them to become a walking advertisement for my services, creates customer loyalty, and is good PR. This is why you will rarely find a successful small business owner who does not do some kind of outreach in their community. They are usually highly involved in community service organizations because they understand that giving back to the community is an investment in the long-term success of their business. It's also a good way to get to know people and to get the word about your business spread.

    170. Re:Recession is really a depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump doesn't know shit. He is just making it up as he goes along. He has one trick. Rile up angry white racists, and have no shame.

      Isn't that 2 tricks? Not that I'm counting or anything...

    171. Re: Recession is really a depression by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Yeah. But I usually don't buy that stuff when I'm in Florida either, but I've seen some very high prices there too.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    172. Re: Recession is really a depression by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Gasoline price is greatly affected by political/regulatory/tax environment and technological changes. Fracking has changed the supply picture, damaging the validity of price comparisons.
      It's only been 2 months since I could buy gasoline at $1.69/gallon. The price is volatile (and so is the gasoline).

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  2. It'll only get worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After the election.

  3. Campaign season by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Funny

    As many people as possible are trying to die in order to avoid having to choose between Trump and Clinton. Ironically, more dead people than ever are voting.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:Campaign season by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election I've ever witnessed, and I can't even fathom how it could possibly get even worse than this. Seriously, this year politics in America has probably hit rock bottom.

    2. Re:Campaign season by Z80a · · Score: 1

      It's a no-brainer choice here.

    3. Re:Campaign season by stfvon007 · · Score: 1

      Hulk Hogan is running third party... And is planning to fix the national debt by having the government advertise for Rent-A-Center as well as product placements and paid advertisements during congressional debates.

      --
      All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
    4. Re:Campaign season by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That's only going to work if you also have wrestling matches between senators to find out which bill will pass. Maybe get a storyline writer in or two, to keep the whole shit interesting.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Campaign season by Yaztromo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election I've ever witnessed, and I can't even fathom how it could possibly get even worse than this. Seriously, this year politics in America has probably hit rock bottom.

      If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

      Yaz

    6. Re:Campaign season by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Nowhere to go but up now!

    7. Re: Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because the rest of the world has such great leaders, signed your a fucking idiot

    8. Re:Campaign season by Lotana · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not that easy. Out of 275 citizens how many can afford a political campaign?

      If you are not rich or have backing of the rich, you don't count.

    9. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not that easy. Out of 275 citizens how many can afford a political campaign?

      If you are not rich or have backing of the rich, you don't count.

      Unfortunately, this.

    10. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's more like "flu vs cancer". Yeah, they're both diseases, but one is quite a bit worse. And orange.

    11. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not that easy. Out of 275 citizens how many can afford a political campaign?

      If you are not rich or have backing of the rich, you don't count.

      Perhaps a silly question, but did anyone ever consider how that might be part of the problem?

    12. Re:Campaign season by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      What? These are the people who are the most talented to become president. Having the most competent people to be president is another story.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    13. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election I've ever witnessed, and I can't even fathom how it could possibly get even worse than this. Seriously, this year politics in America has probably hit rock bottom.

      If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

      Yaz

      The problem is that the two major parties are broken.

      The Clinton and their apologists have captured the Democratic Party so thoroughly that Crooked Hillary! can literally commit felonies with classified data and still win the nomination, despite Sanders winning more votes from actual party members. And if you're naive enough believe for a second Crooked Hillary! didn't commit felonies with classified data: "If they can't, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure." - hrod17@clintonemail.com Of course the classified emails on Crooked Hillary!'s illegal email server weren't marked classified - Crooked Hillary! TOLD HER AIDES TO REMOVE THE CLASSIFICATION MARKINGS! (Except, well, some of them still were, so Crooked Hillary! lied about that, too - surprise, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!)

      The Republican Party is broken because its leadership ignores the party base. The Republican Party base voter does not want a bigger government - period. But the Republican leadership "play fights" with Democrats. When Democrats want, for example, $1 trillion for Obamacare, Republican leadership makes a lot of noise, then agrees to fund $750 billion. The base wanted zero. Trump is the Republican base voters' way of damn near literally giving the finger to Republican leadership - because Trump runs around almost literally giving the finger to everyone. The fact that Trump, unlike Republican leadership, is actually willing to give the finger to Democrats too is a bonus.

      (And Trump will win because he ain't Crooked Hillary!. Although, the DoJ is now investigating close Clinton confidante and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Why now, one wonders? Speculating here, but perhaps it's Obama's hedge if it becomes necessary in Democrat Party leadership minds to push Crooked Hillary! aside should the email issues wound her obviously enough that she's guaranteed to lose to Trump, but she still refuses to abandon her campaign. Crooked HIllary! won't quit, then suddenly McAuliffe gets caught with enough dirt on Crooked Hillary! that she goes to jail. Hey, I can dream, right?)

    14. Re:Campaign season by silentcoder · · Score: 2

      Oh they did... but since they were the people who benefited from it they did everything in their power to ensure it remained that way. Nobody wants competition for his job - especially not from somebody more competent than himself, so Citizens United was the best thing to ever happen to a politician.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    15. Re:Campaign season by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Oh well, let's see? How about when you guys in the US elected Carter. That was a brilliant move, of course he did get beat easily by Regan then there's the Dole move. You must be pretty young, but luckily there are plenty of ye olde news paper archives online these days so you can see what an actual "worse then today" election looks like.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    16. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The good people are too fucking smart to run for office.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07w9K2XR3f0

      I actually think we'd get a better government recruiting people into congress by draft lottery. Make the pay a million a year (cheap in the government scheme of things) so it's not like jury duty.

    17. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it makes you feel any better, regardless of who wins the same people will be running the show behind the scenes. Elections are a noisy distraction for the proles.

    18. Re:Campaign season by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Hulk Hogan is running third party... And is planning to fix the national debt by having the government advertise for Rent-A-Center as well as product placements and paid advertisements during congressional debates.

      As the government never pays back the debt, we are getting more ripped off on what that debt bought than rent-2-own places scam you for -- they "only" charge net 2x what you should pay.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    19. Re:Campaign season by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      We didn't come up with them. This is being done to us, not for us or by us.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:Campaign season by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      >Make the pay a million a year (cheap in the government scheme of things) so it's not like jury duty.

      Or, if you must have dedicated politicians and elections - make the pay minimum wage (and add a clause that minimum wages only apply to congressmen after 5 years so they can just jack that up to enrich themselves), make all campaign contributions flat out illegal and all paid-for advertising as well - everybody running gets a flat fee from public funds and must campaign with that and only that and make it utterly illegal for any office holder to accept any money from anybody except a registered bank and even then only at the standard market interest rate.
      Basically - make running the country a job you will do living in barely above poverty conditions - make it something no elite has any interest in doing, a job you would only do if you were truly passionate about serving others.

      Working in congress SHOULD be like volunteering at the local soup kitchen.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    21. Re:Campaign season by RuffMasterD · · Score: 1

      These candidates are where they are because they have the most support from the general population (votes, campaign donations, party volunteers, media coverage, etc...). They reflect the will of the average US voter. In a democracy, people really do deserve what they get. I hope they get it good and hard.

      As a side note, there are about 74.2 million under 18 year olds, plus 2.2 million in prison, plus half a million officially homeless people in the US. That automatically rules out at least 77 million people.

      --
      Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
    22. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election I've ever witnessed, and I can't even fathom how it could possibly get even worse than this. Seriously, this year politics in America has probably hit rock bottom.

      Have you no faith in self-serving politicians and the stupidity of the American voter? To Hell with "making America great again", our political system is fully capable of being even greater than today's - and will be! Political inbreeding has no limits.

    23. Re:Campaign season by dave420 · · Score: 1

      So when do the armed people take to the streets and use their guns to take back power? If not now, what will it take? Or is the corrosion of democracy not important enough?

    24. Re:Campaign season by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So when do the armed people take to the streets and use their guns to take back power?

      After missing three meals.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    25. Re:Campaign season by tsqr · · Score: 2

      It's a no-brainer choice here.

      I agree completely. No brains to choose from at all.

    26. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate myself for saying this but, between Trump and Clinton, I am afraid I will have to vote Trump. I would rather choose the wildcard and hope that he does not really mean all the BS his being saying in order to get the nomination.

      Between Trump and Sanders, I would definitely vote Sanders though.

    27. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      . How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      Being President is a terrible job, that is why we handed it to a Black guy.

    28. Re:Campaign season by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

      Yaz

      Let me help you a little with that.

      First, you're approaching the problem completely wrong. Sure, the constitution has a minimum set of requirements to be electable as president but no one takes that seriously. The first and most important requirement to run for president is money. Lot's of money. That narrows it down to a couple percent of the population. Then you have to narrow it further by looking into who would actually want the job and the scrutiny it brings, which most don't want. Then there's the "favors" and political clout, which again most don't have. We have two major political parties that have effectively created barriers so high that most couldn't cross them to even be considered a candidate. Etc.

      At the end of the day you wind up with a very small group of people to select from. And when you've got a bunch of people who have been subjected to crap political games for pretty much the past 16 years, you get a lot of anger and resentment (not to mention apathy). That's a perfect recipe for creating an election like the one that's shaping: an egomaniacal podium thumping idiot stoking and feeding of the anger of the population and a quasi-corrupt fixture representing the status quo.

      Saw this coming from a mile away. So did a lot of others. Just didn't expect it to be so soon.

      --
      ~X~
    29. Re:Campaign season by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

      "If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!"

      Easy answer.

      The absolute best people we have that -could- turn this country around, have no interest in that job. The more intelligent ones know that the President is nothing more than a corporate puppet anyway. ( Much like Congress is. )

      In order to get elected, you have to promise the world knowing you can't deliver it without approval from the true idiots who are running this country into the ground for their own personal gain. In order to get elected, you need to be rich, and / or have well connected access to those that are rich because they pretty much control everything.

      They control the parties and elected officials because of the funding they can bestow or withhold. They can get laws written or re-written to benefit whatever agenda they're currently pursuing. They control the corporations which, in turn, control the media. As such, they decide who we get to vote for very early on.
      ( Not much of a true Democracy when your choices are pre-selected for you now is it ? )

      So, only the fools and those with delusions of grandeur ever bother applying for the job.

      This is why Trump is such an anomaly. He has enough money backing him that he can run without being reliant upon corporate funding to make it happen.
      This scares the hell out of the establishment because they won't be able to control him. Will he make a good President ? I don't know. No one does. If he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors for the past forty years, the answer will be a resounding: NO. I do think if he goes down that path, we will reach a tipping point and folks will all but give up on the system as a whole. There is a limit to how much people can take and I'm of the opinion we are at the cliff's edge on that one.

      As for why folks are dying off in record numbers:

      Maybe we're tired.

      Tired of the lies.
      Tired of the quality of life doing everything it can to race to the bottom.
      Tired of not really having a voice in how the country should be run.
      Tired of working your ass off your entire life with little to show for it in the end.
      Tired of hypocrisy. ( Laws for the elites vs laws for the rest of us )
      Tired of wealth inequality.
      Tired of corporations having more rights than I.
      Tired of my rights meaning shit upon the utterance of any of the following: National Security, Terrorists, Think of the Children, Executive Privilege

      I certainly won't miss this place when it's my time to go. Not at all. Some days I wish for it.

      I'm sure someone will give the usual " Do something about it by voting " speech. To those I will point you to my above statement about corporations getting to pick and choose who you vote for. If that doesn't work, I'll leave you with this quote: "Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without."

    30. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election I've ever witnessed, and I can't even fathom how it could possibly get even worse than this. Seriously, this year politics in America has probably hit rock bottom.

      If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

      Yaz

      If I may speak to the idiots who still don't understand how this works (as if the millionaires running didn't make it obvious enough).

      Those who run for POTUS are buying the election, not earning it in some pathetically old-fashioned way you like to believe.

    31. Re: Campaign season by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Yeah I think this is by far the biggest "douche vs turd" election

      It's certainly a choice between eating shit vs dirty ass. However, a recent election where both primary candidates were willing to admit they were Skull & Bones members... that was pretty fucking surreal, too...

    32. Re:Campaign season by doconnor · · Score: 1

      In Germany during the 1930s you had Stalin-back Communists vs the non-metaphorical NAZIs.

    33. Re: Campaign season by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      The candidates or their constituents? I have a feeling both the manpig and the mullet are quite a bit brighter than their followers...

    34. Re:Campaign season by budgenator · · Score: 1

      If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world...

      America, you have just shy of 325 million residents. I don't know how many of those are natural-born residents eligible to run for US President, but I assume the percentage is fairly high. Let's say at least 275 million people. How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

      First of all Natural-born Citizen doesn't mean what common language would imply it means i.e. Ted Cruz's Father was a Cuban Citizen, his Mother is a US Citizen, he was physically born in Canada, yet is a Natural-born US Citizen and running for POTUS, my head was saying WTF.

      Secondly this election may be the Election that allows American's to realize that there really are more than two political parties and not all of them pander to the lowest common denominator.

      Third the youngest of the three is 69, they are running for a position that ages people by Dog-Years, so who's running for Vice President is likely to be very important.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    35. Re:Campaign season by budgenator · · Score: 1

      or Nixon v. McGovern

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    36. Re:Campaign season by Solandri · · Score: 1

      32% of voters are Democrats, 23% Republicans. Each has primaries where the winner is chosen by a majority of votes.

      So basically, even if the system were perfectly democratic and there were no manipulation by the party bosses, the Democrat nominee can be decided by just 17% of all eligible voters, and the Republican nominee by just 12%. In a close primary season such as this year's, our two choices for President are dictated by just 29% of the voting population. The way the parties are designed, this usually ends up the most politically extreme or bat-wing crazy 29%.

      The problem is we use a plurality voting system. It's mathematically pretty much the worst possible system, scoring high only on clarity of who the winner is. Pretty much any other system (1) encourages more than two parties (you aren't "throwing away your vote" if you don't vote for the two major candidates), and (2) encourages selection of candidates more acceptable to the entire population, not just the party doing the nomination.

    37. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Make the pay a million a year (cheap in the government scheme of things) so it's not like jury duty.

      Or, if you must have dedicated politicians and elections - make the pay minimum wage (and add a clause that minimum wages only apply to congressmen after 5 years so they can just jack that up to enrich themselves), make all campaign contributions flat out illegal and all paid-for advertising as well - everybody running gets a flat fee from public funds and must campaign with that and only that and make it utterly illegal for any office holder to accept any money from anybody except a registered bank and even then only at the standard market interest rate.
      Basically - make running the country a job you will do living in barely above poverty conditions - make it something no elite has any interest in doing, a job you would only do if you were truly passionate about serving others.

      Working in congress SHOULD be like volunteering at the local soup kitchen.

      This would ensure only those who intend to abuse the system will have any incentive to run for office.
      Currently, many do not make money *in* office, they make money after you *leave* office.

      The Clintons claimed they were nearly broke around the time Bill left the white house, now they are getting millions per year in 'speaking' fees(hundreds of thousands for each 20 minute speech and they will not release transcripts, sounds a little fishy)

      Senators and congressmen get their friends rich then get high-paying lobbyist type jobs when they leave office.

      And 'taking money out of politics' could only work if you forbid any media from talking about any candidate without being paid. (1st amendment issue there, especially with twitter and facebook being considered media) Otherwise whoever owns more media outlets gets better unpaid coverage.

      (One of the unusual things about this election is that the media feels compelled to provide huge amounts of coverage to someone they despise because they don't want to get scooped by other outlets when he does the next unexpected thing, which is almost daily. This is a case of a candidate taking control of the media. Even with your restrictions in place, Trump's 'war chest' would be almost untouched because he is making it so everyone wants to watch what he does next, even if they are looking on in horror)

    38. Re:Campaign season by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      I've served on my local Home Owner's Association board. It was a difficult, thankless job, trying to keep 22 households from being mutinously unhappy with each other and the board. Even though I did a decent job soothing ruffled feathers and not bankrupting the association, it was still a miserable experience I'm glad to be rid of. Going into politics would be like that, but millions of times worse. Nobody in their right mind should want that kind of experience. ... which is why most potential candidates tend to not be in their right mind, I guess?

    39. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't buy that popular rhetoric. Trump won by popular vote. The party leaders clearly didn't want him, but the Republican voters clearly did.

      As for Clinton, the opposite may be true, but she also has won more primary elections that Sanders. Even if you don't count the superdelegates that everybody complains about, Clinton's beating Sanders 1,769 to 1,501. That makes her the people's choice as well.

    40. Re:Campaign season by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      "If I may speak for a second on behalf of everyone in the rest of the world..."
      No you may not.

      "You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!"

      Could be worse, take a look at Putin.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    41. Re:Campaign season by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that you are too dumb to vote your own principles, and so is everyone else. Or are you saying that candidates literally force people to vote for them, somehow using money to do that? Be specific.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    42. Re:Campaign season by dywolf · · Score: 1

      funny how the CIA isn't aware of this but mr random AC is.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    43. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      Because we still use plurality voting, which enables smart people to manipulate the outcome. We don't like voting mechanisms that actually follow the will of the people because they are unfamiliar.

    44. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Death by Fire or Ice, Shot or Stabbed, Plague or Locusts, Trump or Hillary"
      I'm considering having a sign printed up and staking it in my front yard.

    45. Re:Campaign season by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Indeed. The "rest of the world" is full of power-hungry bureaucrats, kleptocrats, theocrats, autocrats and worse. Half of the UK is looking to leave the EU because of the nearly totalitarian weight of existing under that organization's screwed up priorities and sense of righteousness about getting into everyone's business (literally and figuratively). Eastern Europe is watching a replay of 100 years ago, the Middle East hasn't changed a bit, China is literally manufacturing military islands in its bid to take over other nations' coastal waters, South America multiple fine displays of corrupt, imploding socialists doing what socialists always do, and so, so, so much more everywhere we look.

      Yeah, we should definitely be lectured by the "rest of the world."

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    46. Re: Campaign season by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      However, a recent election where both primary candidates were willing to admit they were Skull & Bones members...

      As opposed to being frat members? Or part of a bowling league? Are you really seeing the world as a Marvel comic book?

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    47. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Democrat Party picked Hillary Clinton. Republican Party picked Jeb Bush. That was that. There was never really any discussion about it.

      It's not like we don't think there's someone better than Trump, he's in the race because nobody else could pull it off.

    48. Re:Campaign season by ranton · · Score: 1

      Not that easy. Out of 275 citizens how many can afford a political campaign? If you are not rich or have backing of the rich, you don't count.

      Perhaps a silly question, but did anyone ever consider how that might be part of the problem?

      I would assume that most presidents / prime ministers / etc. of other developed countries are also very well connected to big business interests, and have a substantial net worth. I'm having trouble finding the net worth of leaders in the developed world, as the top leaders are mostly monarchs with billions of dollars, but does anyone know how many developed countries are led by people with a net worth under perhaps $5 million?

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    49. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are satisfied with the one party will bend over backwards for them, while the other party is so afraid of them they are resorting to any and every legal and quazi-legal tactic to strip them of the power to challenge the system.

    50. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    51. Re:Campaign season by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      You know, if you just stop believing in the Illuminati, they'll go away. Sort of like that monster in your bedroom closet.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    52. Re:Campaign season by footNipple · · Score: 1

      That makes absolutely no sense...to me at least

    53. Re:Campaign season by pla · · Score: 1

      Agreed - We only have one even remotely competent candidate running.

      Unfortunately, I disagree with just about every aspect of her platform, and even where I do agree with her, I don't trust her to do a damned thing other than use the office to line her own pockets.

    54. Re:Campaign season by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Sure, but the real reason we have terrible candidates is because -- think about it for a minute -- who are the respected leaders that Americans can trust? Who do people look up to in the US?

      I can't think of anyone. Can you?

      If there are zero clearly good choices, why should we expect to see good candidates?

    55. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quasi-corrupt? How much are they paying you?

    56. Re:Campaign season by GlennC · · Score: 1

      Clinton's beating Sanders 1,769 to 1,501. That makes her the Party's choice as well.

      FTFY

      --
      Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    57. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Basically - make running the country a job you will do living in barely above poverty conditions "

      Sounds like a situation almost assured to increase our already severe corruption problems. Don't get me wrong we do definitely need some major changes to campaign financing, revolving door policies, etc, but throwing overly severe restrictions on politicians alone will almost certainly go nowhere. Even if you did get them passed you'll run into the same situations we have today, where those in power encounter a completely different "justice" system from the rest of us. Only being prosecuted if their actions are especially egregious, there is public outcry or a political enemy discovers them and even when they are prosecuted the "punishments" are much more sedate. We need changes in virtually every part of our government to reign in the corruption. We need courts which have a backbone and do what they're supposed to, interpret the law not side with the government on virtually every topic. We need well vetted politicians who are encounter severe penalties (civil, criminal & political) when they are caught lying or abusing their position for personal gain. And we need public participation, hopefully via politicians paying attention to the publics opinions or via lynch mobs to tar and feather those politicians who don't do so.

    58. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These aren't the best we can come up with, the problem is our system has warped to pretty much shut out the will of the people and turned into a "Pay to Play" situation where if you are actually good and capable of doing the job, you won't be allowed into it and those in control of the process will make sure the voters know nothing or only lies about you to ensure you don't get in while if you are among the worst possible choices for the jobs and will sell your soul and whore your job out to them and screw what your actual job responsibilities are supposed to be, they will make sure you get the funding and coverage you need to get votes to get it.

      Just look at the democratic primaries this year, between Clinton and Sanders, the DNC and media both made sure the public got to see as little of Sanders as they could and made sure much of what they heard about him were half truths or whole lies and it was only after he had already fallen so far behind that he was virtually guaranteed to lose that they finally started giving him even mediocre coverage to make it look like they were trying to be fair about it.

      We have had some good people run, the problem is the system is now setup to ensure they never get past the front door.

    59. Re:Campaign season by Talderas · · Score: 1

      One must be 35 years of age to assume the office of Presidency. The 2010 census collected data for 308,745,538 individuals. We can assume that the percentages are still pretty similar.

      0 to 34 years: 145,917,503 (47.3%)
      35 and older: 162,828,035 (52.7%)

      The census bureau also has a foreign born statistic, which basically means everyone who did not have US citizenship at birth. These are the people that definitely do not qualify for the Presidency. They hold that figure at 40%. Once again, we'll assume that distribution hasn't changed.

      Of 325,000,000 people we can assume that 52.7% meet the age requirement. That leaves us with 171,275,000 individuals. Of that amount we can assume that only 60% qualify as natural born citizens which leaves us with a pool of 102,765,000 individuals.

      Now you take that value, discard it, and look at how many people are prominent with the Democrat and Republican parties or have sufficient independent wealth to counter the party's influence.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    60. Re:Campaign season by axewolf · · Score: 1

      JOHN MCCLANE

    61. Re:Campaign season by Jack_of_Shadow · · Score: 1

      Hi Yaz, there are two problems with your statement, 1) these aren't 'the best we could find' these are the two richest assholes that have a desire to be president and have friends that want them to be president. me for example, I may want to be prez (I don't) but I have no one who wants me to be prez (okay, well, that's not true, 20 or 30 people had said they'd vote for me) but it takes upwards of 100 million bucks to run for prez these days, and thus you need wealthy friends to want you to run. I have no wealthy friends. So on to 2) we didn't 'come up with' them. Their parties, the two biggest political parties in the USA ( a land of about 100 political parties) each had a big food fight to see who would win, they won that fight. Thus the two largest groups of assholes, er, uh, I mean two largest political parties came up with these two assholes. sure, there are others running, maybe 12 - 15, but they are from such small political parties that most people (yourself for example) don't even know they are running... Ya gotta have BIG BUCKS to buy advertising time so that people know you and will vote for you... not having big bucks, those other 10 - 13 parties have candidates no one knows... Who MAY be MUCH BETTER than the two assclowns you speak of, but we'll never know because they don't have the bucks.... So, no, 'we' didn't choose these buttheads, their rich friends did, like Goldman Sachs who are bankrolling one of these characters... Sorry rest of the world, America is pretty fucked up right now. Maybe if we were less involved with sending BILLIONS in AID to all of you and worrying about the Ebola crisis in Africa, the ZIKA crisis in South America, the AIDS epidemic in Africa, etc, we would spend more time thinking about our own problems.

      --
      My not responding to your flame is in no way indicative of my submission to your statement, it just means I don't have t
    62. Re:Campaign season by wwalker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or you can be like Bernie. Fuck, for once, there is a worthy, honest candidate, who really stands by his principles, who is not in a pocket of any corporations, who has a long history of doing the right thing, instead of going with the popular opinion of the time, and a lot of experience with politics. And he is still losing to Hillary because of the rigged democratic party (superdelegates) and a perceived "socialist" boogieman bullshit.

    63. Re: Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You signed my a fucking idiot? Why would you do that?

    64. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, so only already affluent people could afford to be members of congress. Brilliant idea.

      Why don't we just drop all pretense and implement an aristocracy like the Roman Senate?

    65. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am not the only one. Apparently, it makes sense to about 20 percent of Sanders supporters

      Clinton is too much of an insider and that hurts her credibility.

    66. Re:Campaign season by hawkfish · · Score: 1

      So when do the armed people take to the streets and use their guns to take back power?

      After missing three meals.

      Unfortunately, that usually doesn't prevent anyone from shooting. It just prevents them from aiming.

      --
      You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
    67. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, these are the best candidates Big Money can come up with!

    68. Re:Campaign season by hawkfish · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that you are too dumb to vote your own principles, and so is everyone else. Or are you saying that candidates literally force people to vote for them, somehow using money to do that? Be specific.

      It's more complicated than that because there are a lot of obstacles to voting your principles effectively.

      For example, there are a lot of people talking about writing in Bernie, Jill Stein or whoever, but unless a certain amount of paperwork is filed, those write-ins will not get counted. This paperwork is usually significantly less than what is required to to have your name printed on the ballot, but it is not trivial (and sometimes not free e.g. Wyoming charges $200). Moreover, the "Bernie or Bust" crowd doesn't seem to get that unless Sanders himself files write-in paperwork, their votes will not even be tallied.

      The Libertarians seem to be better positioned here because they are on all 50 ballots. But the Greens are only on about 27 (last I checked) and BoB is pretty much a non starter.

      So you can vote your principles all you want, but if you are trying to (as my mother would put it) "stand up and be counted" then it is not so simple.

      --
      You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
    69. Re:Campaign season by Talderas · · Score: 1

      Third the youngest of the three is 69, they are running for a position that ages people by Dog-Years, so who's running for Vice President is likely to be very important.

      The four presumptive or confirmed candidates from Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Greens are Trump (69), Clinton (68), Johnson (63), and Stein (66). Trump is the oldest of the set, it's only if you include Sanders at 74 that Trump isn't the oldest.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    70. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...add a clause that minimum wages only apply to congressmen after 5 years so they can just jack that up to enrich themselves).../p>

      27th Amendment: "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

      Proposed 09/25/1789, ratified 05/07/1992 - 202 years, 7 months, 12 days. The next longest span between proposal and ratification of any other amendment is the 16th (income taxes) at 3 years, 6 months and 22 day.

      Draw your own conclusions from these facts, but that particular clause is actually covered.

    71. Re:Campaign season by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The way the parties are designed, this usually ends up the most politically extreme or bat-wing crazy 29%.

      Hence the Democratic Party superdelegates, who are supposed to be a brake on extremism. Democrats don't want 1972 to happen again, when a not particularly electable guy got the nomination just by winning enough primaries and caucuses, and got trounced. (Of course, the Nixon presidency had something to do with that.)

      Of course, Clinton has more regular delegates than Sanders, so the superdelegates really doesn't seem to matter in this election.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    72. Re: Campaign season by undefinedreference · · Score: 1

      Smart people don't want to be in federal politics, even though we tend to elect the person with the higher IQ in basically every modern election.

    73. Re:Campaign season by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Another big requirement: you have to want to be President bad enough to campaign for it. This involves probably years of unpaid hard work, sometimes associating with people you despise, compromising your principles, sometimes just begging, and having all sorts of vituperation hurled at you.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    74. Re:Campaign season by Blitter · · Score: 1

      How is it that from such a huge number that these are the best people you could come up with???

      Because the people who were better never even considered running. I know people who would take the job if you gave it to them, but RUN for the job? They're not crazy.

      --
      I am Jack's writable stack pointer.
    75. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when do the armed people take to the streets and use their guns to take back power?

      Against the most militarized and heavily armed police forces in the world, which would be backed by the most powerful military in human history? Yeah, can't wait to see how that turns out.

      Alternatively, what would happen if all the people eligible took to the streets, say on a Tuesday in early November, and used their votes to take back power? Kind of interesting to imagine how the two scenarios might play out.

    76. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These candidates are where they are because they have the most support from the general population... They reflect the will of the average US voter.

      While that's a nice sound bite, it's unfortunately not true. The numbers are out there if you wish to check it for yourself (I have a feeling you have no real wish to do so, though); the people who are in a position to be elected in national elections are those with the most money available to them, full stop.

      These candidates are where they are because they have the most support from people with enough money to sway elections. The average US voter / general population doesn't have a say until the acceptable candidates to the wealthy have already been chosen, and most don't bother to vote for either because they know they're screwed no matter which is elected.

    77. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hillary has brains. Lots of them.

      Unfortunately, I think she may be genetically incapable of using them for good.

    78. Re:Campaign season by undefinedreference · · Score: 1

      You also need to count out those that have been stripped of their voting rights (felons).

    79. Re:Campaign season by undefinedreference · · Score: 1

      We already elected the modern equivalent of Carter for two terms, that's how bad our options have been.

      Honestly, we haven't had a worse field in every party with national ballot access in my lifetime and perhaps since a couple of generations before mine were old enough to vote. It's unconscionably bad.

    80. Re:Campaign season by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      No, we did this to ourselves. Much as I wish you were right, that doesn't fit the facts.

      Perhaps on the Democratic side there's a reasonable excuse. Not many people ran, and only two of them were ever serious candidates. But on the Republican side there's no excuse at all. 17(!) people ran for the nomination, including a bunch of obviously qualified governors and senators. So who got chosen? Trump, the absolute bottom of the barrel. And that happened despite the opposition of the party establishment, despite Bush (who the establishment all but declared would be the nominee) spending $150 million dollars on his campaign. It's the people who made this happen, and no one else.

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    81. Re:Campaign season by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      on the Republican side there's no excuse at all. 17(!) people ran for the nomination, including a bunch of obviously qualified governors and senators. So who got chosen?

      Look, I may not be especially politically hip, but I only ever heard of about half that many of them. Most of those people were not considered credible candidates. That we never even heard about them is, of course, part of the problem.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    82. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " Bush (who the establishment all but declared would be the nominee) "

      I know right?
      We still have all these leftover bumper stickers and signs from his brothers and dad's runs cluttering up the basement.
      Mom has been harping on us to clean that fucking shit out of there.
      NOW what are we going to do with all this Bush junk!

      Crap!
      Fuck you Trump.. You come over and help us clean this shit out of here or we wont invite you to the pool party next month!

    83. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Bernie doesn't get the nomination, will his priciples convince him to run as an independent candidate?

    84. Re:Campaign season by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      1. I am an American and I must say that I too am worried about our current candidates, we really can do better.
      2. No one person can speak for the rest of the world.
      3. Yea it could be worse, look at Putin.
      4. This may be a good thing in the long term. In four years maybe we will have some better choices. AKA. This too shall pass.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    85. Re:Campaign season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We enjoy overcoming adversity. That's why we have an election between Hitler (Trump) and Stalin (Hillary).

      -Would you rather have genocide that is announced at large speeches, or the quiet killing of slightly less of your own countrymen?
      -Would you rather have embezzlement or embezzlement?
      -Would you rather flip a finger to the rest of the world and concentrate on home through questionable contracts, or pay for the outside world's subsidized defense costs so future donations to your charity may proceed after you leave office?
      -Would you rather throw everything in the general direction of civil war, or have an even more consolidated, tight fisted power structure that approaches a monarchy?

      Vote today!

    86. Re:Campaign season by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      But don't answer yet! I think the roller coaster ride has just begun. We've moved on from the 3 ring circus.

    87. Re:Campaign season by martinfb · · Score: 1

      ...and those dead people are voting for Trump - just to spite the living!

      --


      Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
  4. The suicide rate will only get worse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After this election.

    1. Re:The suicide rate will only get worse. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Not sure, but after purchasing a new macbook pro last year and feeling being ripped off big time, suicide may sound like an option. That may explain the suicide rate.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re: The suicide rate will only get worse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sudo rm -rf /

    3. Re: The suicide rate will only get worse. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1, Informative

      Real sysadmins work as root

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  5. Re:Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As opposed to the policies that led the country into multiple wars. Oh wait, all those deaths and the very creation of ISIS are on conservative cock sucker heads. Fuck you you fascist fuck.

  6. Poverty by MrKaos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The stresses related to being poor.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    1. Re:Poverty by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not just poverty. Medical insurance is so expensive and often has very high deductibles so that many middle class people don't go to the doctor when they probably should.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    2. Re:Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Jeeze, if that were true, Africa would be empty

    3. Re: Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the stress of being a babyboomer in your late 60s and seventies.

    4. Re:Poverty by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 2

      Africa doesn't count because the US is special. Or something. OT, but when I was there most people seemed happy and had a life 10,000x more difficult than anyone in the west. I believe that everyone needs a month long trip to Kenya or Ghana or Nigeria for some perspective in life.

    5. Re:Poverty by Gussington · · Score: 1

      The stresses related to being poor.

      Being poor, or merely slipping from really rich into only slightly less rich?
      On a global scale, even "poor" Americans are rich. #First World Problems...

    6. Re:Poverty by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Africa doesn't have to deal with special snowflakes, they have real problems. That's something different.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Poverty by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      The stresses related to being poor.

      Being poor, or merely slipping from really rich into only slightly less rich?

      In the case of the US stratification of classes means there is only the ultra-rich and everyone else.

      On a global scale, even "poor" Americans are rich. #First World Problems...

      On a global scale that's 1% of the population with 40% of the worlds wealth and everyone else.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    8. Re:Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhmmm... real Africans also have a life expectancy of about 40 years, which is a wee bit less than Americans.

    9. Re: Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe it's just the stress of the top 10% paying for 94% of the taxes, while shitbag leeches like you suck the teat dry while complaining about the flavor of milk.

      Shut the fuck up, cunt.

    10. Re: Poverty by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      No. I'm very happy that my free speech offends you.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    11. Re:Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't be true. We passed a $1 Trillion Obamacare bill that we were told fixes this. Not sure why you are trolling (or am I trolling?, lol)

    12. Re:Poverty by superwiz · · Score: 1

      Snowflake is as snowflake does. Americans are not stupid or smart They just enjoyed a very well-built social mechanism. Now that it's been destroyed by the neo-communists, the country is in the downward spiral.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    13. Re:Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In social terms, "rich" and "poor" are determined relative to your neighbors, not the rest of the world.

      Think of it this way: if I work as a cashier at McDonald's and I live in my mom's basement, I'm probably still wealthier than most people in the world. BUT, this level of wealth doesn't help me find a woman who respects my station in life. It does mean that I'm not starving, which is a luxury that plenty of people in the world don't have.

    14. Re:Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The stresses related to being poor.

      So poverty has gotten WORSE under Obama?

      Yeah, that's not surprising. Obama's the FIRST US President to NEVER have a year in which GDP grew 3%.

      Even Jimmy Carter was able to do that in just 4 years. Obama's had 8.

      Whoda thunk that bigger government and more government control of the economy (to "fix it"!) would make things WORSE.

      Yeah, most anyone without a vested interest in taking other people's money. Along with anybody not actually in power in Venezuela.

    15. Re:Poverty by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our new snowflake overlords....

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    16. Re:Poverty by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Neo-communists? Oh please explain that one, I didn't have my daily dose of bullshit yet.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    17. Re: Poverty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Top 10% of what? Because those with the top 95% of the wealth only pay about 70% of the taxes. So, who's leeching from whom, hmmm?

  7. It rose within the margin of error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are they not pointing out how little the difference or rise is? It went up 7 out of 100,000. That's less than 1%.

    We can safely assume our formulas and data keeping are not accurate enough to worry about a 1% change. We should not waste money until an actual trend has emerged, speculation like this is counterproductive and wasteful.

    1. Re: It rose within the margin of error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually 1% would be alarming -- 1000 additional deaths. Its actually a difference of less than .01%.

    2. Re: It rose within the margin of error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You guys dont know how percents work. Sorry but please get the fuck out.

    3. Re:It rose within the margin of error by superwiz · · Score: 1

      Because it was always going down until Obama care was passed. And it's being going up starting a few years after its passage. They are looking to find excuses anywhere they can before the historical perspective sets in.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    4. Re:It rose within the margin of error by crunchygranola · · Score: 1

      Because it was always going down until Obama care was passed. And it's being going up starting a few years after its passage.

      Just makin' stuff up are we? 2015 is the first and only year with an increase in the adjusted death rate since the 1990 recession.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
  8. Health Officials Aren't Sure Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe the man said, "fundamentally transform". If so, things appear to be going as planned.

  9. it's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Too many fucking fatties jamming as much lard in their faces as they can.

    1. Re:it's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, maybe the rising obesity rate is starting to catch up with us in terms of mortality.

    2. Re:it's obvious by RogueyWon · · Score: 1

      You might possibly have been a little more diplomatic in how you expressed that, but I suspect you are pretty much bang on the money.

      Here in the UK, gross obesity that would once have been vanishingly rare is now merely uncommon. Meanwhile, "regular" obesity barely even counts as uncommon and "overweight" is the new normal. When I go to the US, what I see tends to suggest that you are one step further along the scale than us - that obesity is now normal and gross obesity is rapidly becoming normal. We are, however, closing the gap quite quickly.

      Against this backdrop, it's absolutely no surprise that the death rate is rising, with heart disease as a particular contributing factor.

      And before anybody says that it has become "too expensive" to eat healthily, I will pre-emptively point out that this is a load of crap. If I avoid "organic" and "premium" branded groceries, I can walk into the average supermarket and buy fresh foods (meat and veg) far more cheaply than the equivalent in pre-prepared meals.

    3. Re:it's obvious by axewolf · · Score: 1

      lard is perfectly healthy

      what is not healthy is combining it with a significant proportion of calories from carbohydrates
      and also consuming unnatural forms of lard such as produced by animals fed naturally-bizarre combinations of nutrients (read: grain)

      the sets of hormones related to the metabolizing lipids and carbohydrates in large amounts are completely at odds.
      for example, insulin greatly inhibits the production of lipases

      and anyway people are not built for eating grains in general.

    4. Re:it's obvious by Entrope · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you look at the components of the increase, it does not look much like an obesity epidemic. There are increases in suicide, Alzheimer's, gun deaths (probably because of suicides), and opioid overdoses. Most of the increase was among whites, especially white women, but whites have a slightly lower obesity rate than most other racial categories in the US.

      It is easy, but probably wrong, to blame this on people's bad eating habits.

    5. Re:it's obvious by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 1

      gun deaths (probably because of suicides)

      I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with record levels of gun violence in the inner cities, right?

    6. Re: it's obvious by Entrope · · Score: 2

      I doubt it. That kind of violence is a tragedy we should try to prevent, but constitutes a tiny fraction of all deaths. Gun homicides are only roughly a third of gun deaths, and firearm deaths are about 1.5% of all deaths. So the 11% increase in murders (in the ten largest US cities, according to your DailySignal link) represents some fraction of 0.35 deaths per 100,000 people -- no more than 5% of the increase in death rate, and perhaps negated by reductions in other causes of death. Again, we shouldn't ignore those deaths, but they're not a driving factor in the increase here.

    7. Re:it's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eating habits can't so easily be defined by obesity. I've seen plenty of people die "before their time" who weren't obese but fall due to reasons that are normally pinned as obesity caused conditions. Leaning too heavily on processed foods can cause these conditions even if the patients BMI is inline with current standards.

    8. Re:it's obvious by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Drug abuse deaths have more than doubled in the last decade. They've now passed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death. This is probably the biggest scourge in the U.S. this century, and most people are clueless it's even happening because the media isn't reporting it.

      Yesterday there was a murder-suicide at UCLA which left two people dead and ended with no further incident, and a concert where 2 people died and an additional 57 were hospitalized after apparent drug overdoses. By any objective measure, the second is the bigger story. But the first made national news and was the biggest headline of the day. The second was only local news, with Fox the only national news outlet carrying the story according to Google News. Because a disproportionate number of people in the media think "guns bad, drugs good," and promote the gun death stories while suppressing the drug death stories.

    9. Re: it's obvious by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 1

      Suicides also make up about 1/3 of gun deaths annually too. I find it interesting that you would blame one and not the other when that facts clearly show last year was a record year for gun homicides, but no similar annual increase in suicide by firearms has been reported anywhere (if you have them, please provide links -- I can't find any).

    10. Re:it's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And before anybody says that it has become "too expensive" to eat healthily, I will pre-emptively point out that this is a load of crap. If I avoid "organic" and "premium" branded groceries, I can walk into the average supermarket and buy fresh foods (meat and veg) far more cheaply than the equivalent in pre-prepared meals.

      Is that walk from your car or your home? Do you have access to a full size, well functioning refrigerator to store them?

      Some people live beyond walking distance from fresh groceries and have, at best, a mini fridge which tends to freeze lettuce and somehow still let milk spoil prematurely (aka there is the cold spot iced up and then the rest of it at 50*F). I've got it handled now, but that's not always been the case.

      On that note, all fridge, no freezer section mini fridges rock for tight spaces.

    11. Re: it's obvious by crunchygranola · · Score: 1

      CDC 2013 stats: total number of firearm deaths: 33,636; number of suicides with firearms: 21,175. Now 21175/33363 = 63.5%, or two thirds of all gun deaths.

      I find it interesting that you are making up your firearms figures, and include no links to back up anything you say.

      Here is a comparison of total firearm deaths, firearm suicide deaths, and firearm homicide deaths published October 21, 2015. Firearms deaths by suicide have been trending up since 2006, homicide declining steadily over the same period (and, again, showing that 2/3 of firearm deaths are suicide). Please provide your link showing that "last year was a record year for gun homicides", the FBI and CDC have not yet released final figures for 2015 as far as I can tell.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
    12. Re: it's obvious by Entrope · · Score: 1

      Beyond what crunchygranola wrote, gun suicides make up slightly more than half of suicides. Maybe the increase in suicides last year was by poison or other means, but if someone tells me that gun deaths and suicides moved in the same direction (and doesn't provide more info that contradicts this), my inclination is to think most of both changes are due to gun suicides.

  10. Go figures? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    730 vs 723 is not even 1%. The thing is, thanks to medical progresses mainly (and food supply...) life expectancy tended to get longer, i.e. a whole generation (seniors) who would have died earlier otherwise, is given a few years more. But everyone dies eventually, and we are maybe just witnessing the "older generation who was the first to benefit from those progresses" starting to die.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Go figures? by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ... everyone dies eventually, and we are maybe just witnessing the "older generation who was the first to benefit from those progresses" starting to die.

      But the death rate within each age group went up. Ageing population was already corrected for.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    2. Re:Go figures? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

      Ageing population was already corrected for.

      Ok, but ageing population death rate grew relatively more than the others, these are the raw figures.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    3. Re:Go figures? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 1

      It's not just about ageing skewing the death rate higher in the future, it's about medical improvements in general, particularly vaccination and antibiotics, which skewed death rates across the board; there would have been a dip in death rates around the 1960's/1970's which consequently introduces an equivalent peak around about now.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    4. Re:Go figures? by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 1

      ... everyone dies eventually, and we are maybe just witnessing the "older generation who was the first to benefit from those progresses" starting to die.

      But the death rate within each age group went up. Ageing population was already corrected for.

      I admit I find this tricky to conceptualize, but does that matter? Isn't a decrease in the death rate of any decade-of-life cohort necessarily followed by an increase in the death rate of the next decade-of-life cohort ten years later?

    5. Re:Go figures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A few things that are hard to cope with:

      1) Death of Steve Jobs
      2) Bill Moyers and Jon Stewart off the air
      3) Citizens United (Democracy sold off)
      4) Militarized police state
      5) spy state (biz and government data mining EVERYTHING)
      6) loss of locally owned independent media
      end of the fairness doctrine in broadcasting
      7) international trade treaties undermining workers and food safety
      8) hedge funds using city/county money to buy up homes.
      9) widespread use of propaganda and disinformation
      10) widespread collusion and corruption
      11) loss of local manufacturing
      12) student debt (generally no longer possible to work part time while attending school covering cost of school, books, food and housing)
      13) students increasing unable to self-fund new idea or business ideas and end up owned by venture-vultures
      14) excessive corporate control has killed most in-depth investigative reporting
      15) cable/satellite tv and corporate broadcasters suck wealth from local communities harming small local businesses and news coverage
      16) habitat loss and pollution is driving the 6th mass extinction.
      17) organized creation of exploitive oppressive national and international laws from groups such as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and a similar international organization

    6. Re:Go figures? by hucker75 · · Score: 1

      Yip, why do newspaper articles always clutch at straws. 723 to 730 is NOT a significant increase. Ever heard of variation? My god, my electric bill went from £50 to £51! I must do something about this!

  11. Fuck NYT, use archive.is archival urls please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fuck paywalls

  12. Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by TigerPlish · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "She lost the will to live."

    While that may sound mawkish, isn't it possible that many more folk are falling into depression, given the long-term downturn in the economy, the bleakness of the foreseeable future, and just a sense of "Man, nothing we can do will fix this?"

    I'm sure I'm projecting a bit here, but... I'm also sure a lot of y'all are thinking exactly the same thing. There's an ugly mood about America right now, and the media and politicos are trying to paper it over.. but it's there. The numbers are lying. We're not as well as they tell us we are. To me it feels like the mid to late 70's did. Ugh, that was ugly. I was 10 going into 1980, and I could sense it was ugly.

    So what I'm saying is.. maybe more people are dying off because things have been rotten for a couple of decades, and there's no end in sight?

    Could just be me, though. I'm a pessimist by nature and by training. Meteorology and then IT? Yeah. Expect the worst, always =o)

    --
    The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    1. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If losing the will to live killed you, why would anyone commit suicide?

    2. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      18% inflation, 9.5% unemployment. I was almost ten also, but lost a few friends who had to move and was very afraid of my parents losing their jobs. I also knew how much they made and could calculate how fast prices were rising and at one time remember telling them when bread was going to be $100/loaf. IIRC, it was around $0.60 at the time I felt the 70's were a lot worse.

    3. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If all the displaced workers would just kill themselves the unemployment rate would finally go down and make the politicians look good again.

      Ironically, this would likely improve wages. Invisible hand of the market at work!

      "Won't somebody think of the Politicians' Approval Ratings?"

    4. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      To me it feels like the mid to late 70's did. Ugh, that was ugly. I was 10 going into 1980, and I could sense it was ugly.

      I wasn't 10, more like 4 but hey. My parents told me the stories of the crap they went through during that period and I can remember bits and pieces of what stuff was like here in Canada too. Wage and price controls for one thing, and my dad was mentioning the other day that everything feels like 1976 right now. Even in Florida(central) where I own property, it still hasn't recovered from 2008 and when I was down there early this year there were just as many forclosures popping up as there were in 2007, lot of people I knew from the US that were snowbirds weren't there this year -- they couldn't afford it. About 45% of the trailers in the park where my parents and uncle live in the winter are up for sale, they're mostly owned by Americans. They can't even sell them for $15k/pop, the place is amazingly nice too(50 plus, co-op, pools, rec centre, gym, secured compound, etc).

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    5. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Gamasta · · Score: 1

      I'd rephrase what you said a bit by stating that a society based on consumerism, bombarded with advertisements of happy families consuming product X, might be hard on e.g. the unemployed or singles. Some people may be just bored because life isn't so hard as it was for previous generations (so many appliances manage the household today) and there is more time to worry about things and be unhappy about.

      --
      reason defies logic
    6. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by skam240 · · Score: 1

      I think a big part of the problem you describe is modern media telling us things are way worse in the world than they are. Most people seem to think violent crime in the last 70 years has gone up in America when it has done almost nothing but gone down. Likewise, war in this world we live in? We live in one of the most peaceful periods in global history and yet modern media crams the few truly tragic events happening around the world down our throats like they are the norm.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    7. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by ndavis · · Score: 1

      I think a big part of the problem you describe is modern media telling us things are way worse in the world than they are. Most people seem to think violent crime in the last 70 years has gone up in America when it has done almost nothing but gone down. Likewise, war in this world we live in? We live in one of the most peaceful periods in global history and yet modern media crams the few truly tragic events happening around the world down our throats like they are the norm.

      I just want to add that having Facebook I think makes people more depressed as you can always find some friend on vacation posting pictures and then think "Why haven't I gone on vacation?" I think this is causing some people to be depressed. Add in low wages and a consumerism society and you start to get more depressed people.

    8. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I quit news and most media 22 years ago and life is pretty good for me. It's amazing how much you can pick up without even trying.

      captcha: presence

    9. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am not American, but if this is true maybe you should elect Trump. I am pretty sure that he would be noisily positive about everything that goes right, and maybe some other stuff, which might help change the mood, and - this might be a stretch - make people more optimistic/happier? Obama just doesn't come across as a happy guy on the few clips I see. And well, neither does Hillary. Sanders also doesn't seem like a negative person, however naive he sometimes sounds.

      Incidentally I don't think he would be a disaster for anyone. I don't think the muslim ban would last long if it can even be implemented. But, in general I don't think he is extreme, some time ago I saw a video of him being asked his position on abortion, and he jus tshut the question down by saying his position is clear - he is pro-life. But he avoided any follow ups on whether this applied even in cases of rape or incest (or rape-cest?) It just sounded like he didn't want to be drawn into any detail and that he just knew he has to avoid stopping the people-for-whom-any-nuance-on-this-issue is a deal-breaker being able to vote for him. So that he wouldn't lose the early primaries/caucuses.

    10. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, 15k a pop, but what is the space rent and how high has that risen in the past 10 years? My parents did the mobile home development park for about 7 years before they were able to get out and into an actual house. They still have an hoa but they really wanted to live in an organized neighborhood (I don't get it myself).

      What really pushed them out of the mobile home park living was the incredibly high space rent. It had gone from something around 500 a month to around 1200 a month over about 7 years. It was retarded.

    11. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Sure, 15k a pop, but what is the space rent and how high has that risen in the past 10 years? My parents did the mobile home development park for about 7 years before they were able to get out and into an actual house. They still have an hoa but they really wanted to live in an organized neighborhood (I don't get it myself).

      What really pushed them out of the mobile home park living was the incredibly high space rent. It had gone from something around 500 a month to around 1200 a month over about 7 years. It was retarded

      No buy-in, lot rental if you want to go that route is around $400/mo that includes property maintenance. Has a basic HOA bit, but nothing insane. Keep your property looking good on the outside, if you can't the guys who do the weekly maintenance are available for hire. Don't use loud colours that type of stuff. If you want to buy into the park it's $40k. Property taxes are around $138/year in both cases whether renting the lot or have bought into the park. How high has it risen in the last 10 years? About $50 if I remember right, it actually went down $5 last year.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      Unemployment is one of the numbers I think are being fudged for our benefit -- I think it's much worse than the official number. The official number doesn't take into account people who've given up on a new job - long-term unemployment.

      I think the real number is worse than 6%, but how much worse I don't know.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    13. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      I didn't lose friends until 1991, after I had left Puerto Rico. What happened to them and their families was the implosion of Eastern Airlines and then Pan American. Those two employed a huge chunk of people who lived in my neighborhood. From letters and phone calls, pretty much all of them sold out and left for the US, and over time I lost touch with all of them.

      I also remember, in the 70's, consumer interest rate was 13% or somesuch? Gold was through the roof at 700-ish?

      We're not in that shape now, but I think it's artificially good. I think our real unemployment rate is more than the 6%-ish we keep hearing about. I don't know how much worse than that it is, but that official number doesn't count people who gave up looking for a job after being unemployed for an extended time.

      Economic expansion is slowing yet again. I don't think we've seen the second shoe drop (first one was 2007-8)

      Our politics are at a standstill, their own parties divided, and if one choses to believe the media, so is our country -- far worse than ever, save maybe the Civil War.

      Energy is cheap now because OPEC is flooding the market, hell-bent on destroying our own oil industry.

      The media does what the media does, but there's no denying that now, like in the 70's, we're still in countries where we have no business being. The world may be more peaceful now, but the US is still where it doesn't belong, fighting wars we should let the locals fight out.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    14. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      The American Dream didn't turn into a lie until the late 60's early 70's. The 80's was when everyone was too high to notice, and by the 90's the dream was crashing.

      Why did this happen? Whatever combination of events that did it, they happened early 1970's.

      Like I said in another reply in this thread, I lost friends due to the collapse of Eastern and Pan Am. I myself dreamed of flying for Pan Am since early childhood, didn't get to do it. Anyway, in a book called "Skygods - The Fall of Pan Am" by Robert Gandt, Chapter 8, it is mentioned in a meeting between then President Lyndon Johnson - on March 30 1966 - where LBJ told Trippe (Pan Am) and Allen (Boeing) that things are REALLY bad, that there will have to be "mutual sacrifice" between industry and government. THat they'd have to pull back expansions and new projects. One such project became the 747. Trippe and Allen somehow cajoled the administration into allowing 747 to proceed. And it did, and it made a lot of jobs in Seattle and other places that made parts for it.

      But my point of the above is this: They knew the economy was already sinking hard in 1966. Johnson and his advisors were trying to slow the crash. The American Dream wasn't always a lie, it just gradually vanished. The consumerism you point out has always been there, at least since the late 40's early 50's

      50's - 70's : One parent could sustain the house, rather well.

      70's - 80's: Both parents likely work, out of necessity, not liberation.

      80's - 00's: Both parents barely make it, some have to work multiple jobs. I myself tasted this, I did moonlighting assembly line work while in the USAF, with the wife (now ex, heh) working too.

      01-now: It's all burning and sinking.

      I've been meaning to deep-trawl that event(s) mentioned in the book I paraphrased above. I didn't know about this until I read it, and I was taken aback that such closed-door meetings were happening and that our economy was already tanking as far back as '66.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    15. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by bmk67 · · Score: 1

      To me it feels like the mid to late 70's did. Ugh, that was ugly. I was 10 going into 1980, and I could sense it was ugly.

      So what I'm saying is.. maybe more people are dying off because things have been rotten for a couple of decades, and there's no end in sight?

      Could just be me, though. I'm a pessimist by nature and by training. Meteorology and then IT? Yeah. Expect the worst, always =o)

      This is nothing compared to the mid-late 1970s. Take what you have today and add inflation in the high teens, as well as interest rates.

    16. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by bmk67 · · Score: 1

      About 45% of the trailers in the park where my parents and uncle live in the winter are up for sale, they're mostly owned by Americans. They can't even sell them for $15k/pop, the place is amazingly nice too(50 plus, co-op, pools, rec centre, gym, secured compound, etc).

      I'm not surprised. It's a depreciating asset. Many people would be better off renting.

    17. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by undefinedreference · · Score: 1

      Real inflation is in the high teens, if you count housing and daily necessities. Anyone that didn't start buying houses back in the mid-90s is suffering tremendously from inflation. My parents can get by on 1/3 of my income because they've had a mortgage on their house for 20 years now. My 1/1 apartment costs over a quarter of my income and my monthly food costs have doubled in the last three years. To buy a house comparable to theirs would take 120% of my pre-tax income.

      On top of the high inflation, interest rates are near zero. You can't even save money to buy a house without it being eroded away almost as fast as you save it. I dream of the 10-15% APY interest banks were paying on savings back then.

    18. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      One parent could sustain the house, rather well.

      This is entirely possible today based on at least a dozen people whom I know personally are doing it, and not with $100k salaries either.

    19. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      Food $200/month, mortgage $700/month, taxes $200 month, utilities $200/month ~$15k/year. Throw in a beater car for another $200/month or take the bus/bike. Easily workable with a median salary of $50k/year. Get a roommate for another $400/month income.

    20. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      Well, the May numbers just came out and were abysmal. And to rub in hot sauce into that wound, the prior two months were revised down - sharply.

      Lies, Lies and Lies. x.x

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    21. Re:Maybe it's the same thing that whacked Padme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reagan saved this country...will Trump...

  13. Cell phone radiation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It just takes longer to present itself than the recent studies.

    1. Re:Cell phone radiation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone needs to punch a hole in your throat and record the gurgling noises you make so we can play it at parties and celebrate the fact that you're no longer with us.

  14. Horsefucker.org - best free email domain ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    brought to you by cock.li!

  15. #whitelivesmatter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The higher you are the harder you fall, being on top isn't great if you don't know how to survive the bottom, especially when it's coming at you at terminal velocity.

    Obviously I am not talking about white lives, but upper class people have troubles too regardless of race if they truly find hard times.

    1. Re:#whitelivesmatter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ban this racist account now!!!

      Btw (unrelated), here's the most hilarious video on youtube in years:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzO7mW4vXRc

      I can't stop laughing!

  16. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Obamacare just dumped 15 million people into the medical system who were not there before 2010.

    Do you think that the medical system suddenly accommodated enough highly trained and new medical staff to support all those new people?

    Or do you think that doctors are spending (even) less time with patients while sketchy urgent care practices are being set up to fleece these 15 million new moneycows?

    I'll let you guess which outcome capitalism would favor more. Hint: It's probably the one that generates a higher death rate.

    I'd rather say the avoided deaths of nearly 15m people formerly without health care should more than even out the effects you propose. You also don't need 'new' medical staff as there were enough layoffs before.

  17. Re:Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    "puppet socialist hellpits" What? You mean places like the USA? "SHOW YOUR PAPERS, CITIZEN!"

  18. Re:Libtards by epyT-R · · Score: 1

    hypocrisy knows no bounds, but the US isn't yet nearly as bad as the soviet union was.. Give it a few more decades..

  19. Re: Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    uh so it should have gone down. 15 mil without healthcare vs. with. insane

  20. Genocide by axewolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The people, especially whites, are being punished for the failed social doctrine to which they have been subject. They are too hard to please; they need more resources to do work than immigrants from the third world. They expect a quality of life that "they don't deserve" according to our leaders and people who don't have any real problems in their lives in general ("they're not me so fuck them" syndrome).

    The situation boils down to the simple fact that we have incompetent leaders that are incapable of mobilizing our human resources because they live in a bubble and can't relate to anything they don't have first-hand experience in, which is not much. They are used to having people do all of that for them, but their social doctrine has seen that all of those people have disappeared.
    They've milked the cow too dry: the worst aspect is that the world wars damaged the population severely by disrupting the traditional transference of knowledge, habit, and experience; too many kids grew up without fathers and the media failed to pick up the pieces.

    If throwing money at the problem by making an exaggerated effort to solve it with whatever devices happen to be lying around doesn't work immediately, as was the case with the media, our leaders find the problem to be impossibly difficult to solve. The quality of true innovation has escaped them from generation after generation of soft living; they completely rely on others that they can entice with wealth to do everything for them. They have inherited a system that they very barely can keep track of and have completely forgotten how it was made. They have lost the characteristics that allowed their ancestors to make it to begin with.

    If they can't solve the puzzle, then, like the spoiled rotten idiot children they are, they start attacking it. See: the recent "recession". It is simply the rich robbing everyone who isn't working in the industries with the most growth. Squeezing people dry until there's nothing left to shed but their very lives. This ensures that people are living day-to-day and cannot organize to do something to help themselves (against their leaders' interests), like enact a revolution (like the German Third Reich).

    1. Re:Genocide by MxMatrix · · Score: 2

      And perhaps stimulated bad lifestyles by industrial tycoons. Lobbyists have more power than the complete registered amount of civilian voters. So being addicted to sugar, fat, salt and other food substitutes will not prolong your life ...

      --
      Bach says it all.
    2. Re:Genocide by Evtim · · Score: 1

      Isn't the problem even deeper than that? What I see from History is that fundamentally the wealth distribution remains more or less the same regardless of the socio-economic system. Sure, the absolute value grows but one might say this comes at the expense of the future generations since the idea of "progress" is eating as much as possible from the [one and only available, finite] cake while fighting the other kids. First we had chiefs and witch doctors, then we had slavers, then we had feudal lords, then we had nobility [appointed by God!] and now we have political, business, religious and other criminal classes.

      Personally I had no doubts that at a certain moment we will start measuring the effect of the socio-economic system on longevity. Major contributors to increased life span as sanitation have done their job. While this was happening the negative effects were buried beneath the [much larger] positive effects. Now the trend will turn. Stress, poverty, plastic unhealthy food, industrial pollution, lies, damn lies and medical insurance systems, the list is endless....we boiled the frog slowly so now we can only register its death.

      All of this instead of freeing ourselves from mundane jobs [robotics], ensuring human needs are satisfied for all [imagine the positive effects on our physical and mental health, social cohesion, higher creativity, lower crime, no wars etc.].

      I am officially depressed!

    3. Re:Genocide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hospital Infections
      In Australia I have seen people with bad circulation die as their legs turn purple/blue. Mega doses of Floxacillin did nothing yet pathology was not interested even a privately insured GP! Now dying at 82 and not 86 will push things up a tad. I suspect antibiotic resistance is well known. This is one factor

    4. Re:Genocide by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      The amish are officially laughing at you.

    5. Re:Genocide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This ensures that people are living day-to-day and cannot organize to do something to help themselves (against their leaders' interests), like enact a revolution (like the German Third Reich).

      Please clarify yourself, did you mean that:


      •  
      • people live day-to-day, supposedly like in the German Third Reich, so they cannot organize to do something to help themselves (against their leaders' interests),
      • or

      • people live day-to-day, so they cannot organize to ... enact a "revolution" of the kind the German Third Reich was?
    6. Re:Genocide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They meant the latter. It's a very lightly-cloaked racist/neo-Nazi comment that got modded to +4 Insightful. FFS, the comment title is "genocide" and the first sentence makes explicit reference to "whites". Claiming "white genocide" is a white supremacist pastime right now.

      I really should stop visiting Slashdot. The number of extremist comments are just getting too much.

    7. Re:Genocide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is either masterful bait, a computer algorithm's output, or else you are completely insane. Whatever the cause, your composition is painful to read. Please take a course in English composition.

  21. You guys are working too hard for too little by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe the reason is that the USAians are working harder and longer than before, and because of the always-present stress about making ends meet.

    Perhaps some unions or welfare system would be nice to have?

    1. Re:You guys are working too hard for too little by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We had those for a while, but then loads of people who got by on them stopped needing them and decided to destroy them in order to stuff the coffers a bit more.

    2. Re:You guys are working too hard for too little by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't disagree with that but one of the problems is the unions got complacent and stopped fighting for anything better. Cronyism took hold and people became content. Many unions have earned the ire they receive rather than support they could have.

      But I think another factor is people trying to live well beyond their means. Buying things they either don't need or can't afford and living better than they can via debt. Were people willing to cut back on the unnecessary things, I think they'd see quite significant benefits to their overall quality of living. How much, I don't know.

  22. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, it's far closer to Germany circa 1933. Youve gone through worrying about 'the red plague', given emergency powers to your rulers, given billions in reparations to failed banks. Theres a growing sense of unease, and a charismatic speaker talking about how he will make your country great and kick out the muslims has come along and gained surprising support. His followers are happy to engage in violence and rioting has begun where he speaks. Its an amazingly close parallel. If I were in the US, Id get out NOW.

  23. Re:Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Idiot, socialism is not (always) totalitarism. But, meh, as you're certainly from US I don't expect you to understand.

  24. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Gussington · · Score: 2

    Obamacare just dumped 15 million people into the medical system who were not there before 2010.

    So you're saying had these 15 million people not been given access to medical services, more of them would still be alive now? ie Better medical services killed them?
    Because that sounds like what your saying, and it sounds a whole lot of crazy.

    I'll let you guess which outcome capitalism would favor more. Hint: It's probably the one that generates a higher death rate.

    So the "socialist" system is killing people, but a "capitalist" system also prefers to kill people too? Under a managed system, either socialist or capitalist, a living person generates more income to the state than a dead one. So this all sounds a bit whacko...

  25. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Finally! I really thought this thread would get by without someone coughing "Obamacare" into it.

    But I have to admit, your reason why giving people who didn't have medical insurance one should lead to more deaths is at least creative. Dumb, but creative.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  26. Re: Libtards by Bartles · · Score: 0

    Yes it is. Without fail.

  27. Probably the Facebook effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most photos on social networking are people having fun, and the average person browsing will incorrectly feel that everyone is having more fun.

    1. Re:Probably the Facebook effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a) Rubbing people's noses in their failures while presenting fake 'celeb' style people as something to aspire to.
      b) Economic dislocation.
      c) More people taking drugs (meds & illegal) to cope with stress.
      d) A culture where young heterosexual men are seen as creepy losers, but 'alternative' sexual identities are praised (that nerd on the Internet without a girlfriend - LOSER... that dude wearing a dress - why are people so shallow! He's a lovely woman!)
      e) A capitalist system that is collapsing thanks to systemic fraud.
      f) A media which lies constantly.
      g) Little help with problems as everyone has problems and you're not special therefore shut the fuck up, no one cares about you.
      h) Less informed populace thanks to lying media clickbait organisations telling them the latest cat story is more important than what their government is up to.

      And so on...

  28. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's behind youuuuu! Wow, its cogent argument day here on Slashdot. Hmm, actually I think every day here may be that. Sorry, carry on.

  29. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where would you go? Is the US crumbles or descents into some kind of terrorising madness that crap will sure follow you to everywhere.

  30. Lack of Privacy? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wonder how the increasing lack of privacy may psychologically impact indirectly the death rate, and more specifically the suicide rate. The amazing revelations from Snowden, the recording of whatever / whenever, the increasing ability to flag any light wrongdoing, or being reachable at any time and place are all factors that add their small amount of permanent stress.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Lack of Privacy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite possibly. Have you seen how much drama is on a typical person's Facebook page? Many people feel the need to share everything and this often results in pissed-off associates for one reason or another. We know that public performers (musicians, actors etc.) can suffer greatly from stress, but we're now expecting the entire population to put on a 24/7 public performance on social networks.

    2. Re:Lack of Privacy? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Have you seen how much drama is on a typical person's Facebook page? Many people feel the need to share everything and this often results in pissed-off associates for one reason or another. We know that public performers (musicians, actors etc.) can suffer greatly from stress, but we're now expecting the entire population to put on a 24/7 public performance on social networks.

      I don't have much sympathy here. No one is forcing you to have a Facebook account, or to put any effort into using it. I have a FB account (mainly because other people I know do), but I don't actually use it for much. I don't follow peoples' inane posts of inspirational captioned pictures, or nutty right-wing political crap, or obnoxious photos showing off their kids and families, or anything else. I really don't even log in really; main primary use for it is for Tinder, as Tinder requires a FB account for authentication.

      If people are getting stressed out about their lives being on display 24/7 on Facebook, then they need to stop using Facebook that way. It's that simple.

  31. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm working on the assumption that after a few years under that rule, his followers will be too dumb to find other countries on a map.

  32. It's because of the sodomy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's because of all the sodomy they've been having. I tried to warn them that this would happen, but they wouldn't listen to me. Serves them right.

  33. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I went a year without mental health treatment following the surge in demand for psychiatrists as a consequence of Obamacare enrollment. 3 month wait to see someone for every one of the ~40-50 psychiatrists I called, no exceptions.
    (I was traveling at the time and I wasn't in the same zip code/country for 3 consecutive months to make an appointment that far in to the future. Emergency Room refused to give me a meeting with one of the ones they had on-hand unless I claimed I was a danger to myself or someone else.)

    Graduation from college was delayed by 12 months as a consequence. Lost GDP due to additional time stuck in school? ~$70,000 Broken Window

  34. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

    Actually, statistically, that's correct. There have been a few occasions, due to strikes or disasters, when communities have lost access to hospitals. Death rates in those communities have gone down.

    If you're really sick then a hospital can save your life. If you're not, hospitals are dangerous. And most people who go to the hospital don't need to be there.

  35. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    The AMA is actively working to reduce the numbers of doctors. They think there's enough. Thousands of "qualified" people are rejected from medical school every year.

  36. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obamacare just dumped 15 million people into the medical system who were not there before 2010.

    So you're saying had these 15 million people not been given access to medical services, more of them would still be alive now? ie Better medical services killed them?

    Because that sounds like what your saying, and it sounds a whole lot of crazy.

    It takes a certain level of ignorance to refuse to accept the fact that a socialized medical system is less efficient (read: more deadly) than the alternative. And this isn't the crazy part. The crazy part is thinking about how turning medical care into complete shit was by design to reduce the population, or help contain the population growth. Forget the planet for a minute, a country has finite amount of resources, so population management IS a function of government whether we want to accept that or not.

    Want examples? Tobacco kills almost half a million Americans every year. It's one of the most deadly products we've ever made, and yet it remains 100% legal. Why? Because it guarantees a certain death toll. Don't give me this shit about personal freedoms, we outlaw plenty of other shit that's FAR less deadly. This is a perfect example of policy dictating population control while having the added bonus of feeding a greedy capitalist system of tax stamps and medical treatments. Alcohol remains legal because we re-classified alcoholism as a "disease" in the 1950s Why? So that affliction would qualify under insurance plans to fleece millions of "infected" addicts while also guaranteeing a certain death toll. If this sounds crazy, tell me what other addictions have been legalized and re-classified as a "disease" for the sake of capitalism and population control.

    Above all, shit like antibiotic-resistant bacteria can push us back 100 years when it comes to walking into a hospital. They are dangerous places full of disease. Exposing more people to that environment doesn't always have the outcome you would expect.

    I'll let you guess which outcome capitalism would favor more. Hint: It's probably the one that generates a higher death rate.

    So the "socialist" system is killing people, but a "capitalist" system also prefers to kill people too?
    Under a managed system, either socialist or capitalist, a living person generates more income to the state than a dead one. So this all sounds a bit whacko...

    Clearly you underestimate the amount of money that is bilked from both an individual and the system before they die. I fully expect my entire retirement nest egg to be fleeced from me due to a cancer scare or some other medical issue that maximizes their profits rather than actually afford or enjoy retirement. To say they get you "coming and going" is an understatement these days. I'll just refer back to my previous comment regarding the mission of resource management regarding any residual justifications for this flavor of "crazy".

  37. Baby Boom = Baby Bust by eggstasy · · Score: 1

    Studies have shown that 100% of all people BORN, will eventually DIE :)
    Increased birth rates will necessarily lead to increased death rates somewhere down the line.

    1. Re:Baby Boom = Baby Bust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Studies have shown that 100% of all people BORN, will eventually DIE :)
      Increased birth rates will necessarily lead to increased death rates somewhere down the line.

      No (unless your argument is incomplete.) Increased birth rates will necessarily lead to increased population and deaths but not death rates (unless the resulting overpopulation causes increases in the death rate.)

    2. Re:Baby Boom = Baby Bust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't help when you're looking at numbers per 100k people, corrected for age.

    3. Re:Baby Boom = Baby Bust by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Those studies can't be trusted. There's no way that they actually managed to track every single person to make sure they died. You don't know that there isn't a 40,000 year old caveman out there somewhere.

  38. Death and taxes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only certainties in life are death and taxes. I.e. everybody dies eventually, so the death rate, which is also influenced by the birth rate, cannot keep going down.

  39. Everyone together now! by redcliffe · · Score: 3, Funny

    USA! USA! USA!

  40. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > given emergency powers to your rulers
    Bush, Obama

    > given billions in reparations to failed banks.
    Bush, Obama

    > Theres a growing sense of unease, and a charismatic speaker talking about how he will make your country great
    Trump

    > kick out the muslims has come along and gained surprising support.
    Trump

    > His followers are happy to engage in violence
    Sanders

    It's a great time to be in the US!

  41. Re: Libtards by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Informative

    The thing about making absolute statements is that it only takes a single counter-example to absolutely disprove them. So here you go.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    But it's not Andalusia of today that is interesting, it's Andalusia as it existed between 1920 and 1939. Andalusia the land of plenty while the rest of the world were living in the great depression. Absolutely socialist and completely anarchist - had no government whatsoever (let alone a totalitarian one). Orwell fought on their side in the Spanish civil war - he called Andalusia the closest thing to a Utopian society that has ever existed. A society that had no poverty, starvation or suffering at all - and more personal liberty than any other in history before or since.

    That pissed off everybody else - nobody liked to see people governing themselves, without poverty or hunger, in a functioning industrial society. Other country's citizens may get ideas... so they faced a two-front war. Capitalist and communists (they may despise each other but not nearly as much as they despised anarcho-soialists. The Capitalists hated both the anarchism and the socialism and the communists REALLY hated the idea of a working socialism without an autocratic state) actually formed an alliance to wipe Andalusia off the map and after almost 2 decades they finally overwhelmed them.
    But economically, politically and socially it was an astoundingly successful society. Democracy's greatest success. Unfortunately nobody can stand forever against a sustained war on two fronts by extremely powerful forces, even so it took two decades to defeat them.

    --
    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  42. Same old, same old by MPBoulton · · Score: 1

    Another article, another lack of error stated in quoted figures.

    What is the standard deviation on those per 100,000 figures? A change from 723 to 730 deaths per 100,000 sounds like it could be heavily made up by the (perfectly understandable) random fluctuations in death rates for each type of illness.

    1. Re:Same old, same old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad batch of the old Mexican brown shot up.

  43. You mean it's gone over 100%? by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 1
    --
    Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
  44. We're winning the War on Cholesterol by Jesrad · · Score: 1

    35 years of widespread use of statins are showing their results. Depression, Alzheimer's, and generally worse health in old age.

    --
    Maybe we deserve this world ?
  45. Political Talent by SeattleLawGuy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You guys really need to dig deeper for political talent. We in the outside world are getting worried about you if the current crop of clowns is the best you can find!

    The problem is not political talent, but the ability to rule wisely and well. Our institutions, unfortunately, do not optimize for selection of a person with that skill set. And our press and population are, unfortunately, more interested in outrageous stories that generate lots of clicks and outrage than they are in reasonable discussions of issues which would recognize the interests of stakeholders and strive to develop meaningful plans.

    Most people probably do not encounter a single meaningful expert panel discussion on any policy issue even once in their lives. Our presidential debates are like children throwing sand in the sandbox when held against those.

    --
    Real lawyers write in C++
    1. Re:Political Talent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is not political talent, but the ability to rule wisely and well.

      NO! Rule is NOT the word. The kind of thinking that lets one choose that word in this context is a huge part of the problem.

      We are not electing rulers - We are electing EMPLOYEES who's job is to act as stewards of the nation regarding the needs and desires of us citizens. WE are the rulers. We don't act like it or take OUR jobs seriously - witness the results.

  46. 8 years of Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Crime, Poverty, Unemployment, Debt, Addiction, Depression.... up across the board.

    Thanks Obama!!!

  47. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, it's a real effect. The newly subsidized "customers" absorb healthcare resources that otherwise would have saved people on the margin, while not measurably affecting the death rate among the newly de-loused.

  48. Official Coroners Report Will Say... by magusxxx · · Score: 1

    Death by Complacency.

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
  49. Climate Change-Related Suicides by pipingguy · · Score: 1

    Why bother going on?

  50. war on us through the microbiome by axewolf · · Score: 1

    It seems like a crisis with antibiotics was planned. It's a problem with "side-effects" of hygiene as much as bacterial evolution, and our immune systems are kept weak not only from "hygenic" practices but from the lack of exercise resulting from unnecessary antibiotic use.
    Perhaps the antibiotic resistant crisis was engineered to ease the pressure on society of having so much surplus "labor resources".

    "Hygiene" was originally necessary to keep up economic efficiency in cities where different ethnic groups were co-mingling by keeping them from infecting each other with each others' germs and to stop them from getting at each others' throats for smelling differently.
    The solution was simply to burn the flora off the skin completely (with lye soap, chlorine, et c.), which eventually results in extinctions in the digestive tract, respiratory system, and the rest of the body.
    Simply put, there is supposed to be a circular relationship between all of your natural flora that is completely disrupted by "hygiene". Yes. The flora from your feces is supposed to spread on your skin and into your mouth and nose and eyes and ears. Not only your own, but that of the people around you.
    The only time this becomes a problem is when people get too crowded and the system of flora gets overwhelmed with too many variants. Especially when many different people with quite different populations of flora from different lands and ways of life meet up.

    This has all been well-understood for a long time; for some aspects even since ancient times. Absolutely none of this is mysterious to any ranking health official.
    The implications of all of this seem quite predictable. People will get sick. Not just once in a while, but chronically. This will become more and more pervasive as generations go on and more and more species of flora are extincted.
    Meanwhile we are given antibiotics.

    Evil is hiding in the "muddled" issues. More often than not some one knows exactly the truth of the matter and is using it to control everyone who doesn't know. This is the nature of our form of civilization. Probably about time to put an end to it, or accept your extinction.

    1. Re:war on us through the microbiome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do us all a favor, next time you might need antibiotics or a medical procedure whose gainful outcome would benefit immensely from basic hygiene, refuse them and die. The last thing the world needs are conspiracy theorists with a disregard for basic scientific facts and a penchant for Nazism.

    2. Re:war on us through the microbiome by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      The flora from your feces is supposed to spread on your skin and into your mouth and nose and eyes and ears. Not only your own, but that of the people around you.

      Dear Sir,
      It is my most fervent hope that we never share the same zip code at the same time, ever.
      Regards, Everybody

    3. Re:war on us through the microbiome by axewolf · · Score: 1

      It's not a joke. Have some respect for your own history, if not for your own body and for the health of your children.

  51. American Society by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have people pushing to have government not get involved as much as possible while they sell swill to people as food in places like McDonalds and other food establishments and vendors who use the cheapest and most addicting foods available to raise their bottom lines. You have unbelievable pushes in to media which people sit on their backsides not doing a damn thing but watching a box or pushing buttons on a keyboard or swiping their IoTs device. Obesity is rampant around the country along with a severe case of the lazies. Throw on unemployment and poor education and you have a large herd of people who aren't getting their exercise or are able to afford good food and exercise.

    Effectively the US population is cattle that is fattening up.

  52. I have a theory by silentcoder · · Score: 1

    It was science that got the death-rate this low and life expectancy this high. For years we've warned that the anti-science movement risks undoing those gains. The anti-science movement has only grown stronger over this time. Surely we should consider the possibility that this is that prediction coming true. That the blame for this belongs with the anti-vaxers and the homepaths and if so - perhaps that other rabid anti-science group so prevalent here on slashdot who think that cause and effect somehow doesn't apply to the climate should heed the warning...

    --
    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  53. Health might be related to healthcare by houghi · · Score: 1

    Not sure, but it might be related to healthcare. People going later to the doctor when they are sick. This will add up and on a large enough scale it will have an influence.
    Is the amount of doctors visits the same or has that declined as well? Going to the doctor often is also prevention, not just trying to get a cure.

    e.g. you do not feel well and you do not go till you are really sick. That might mean the difference between a cold and pneumonia. The latter will be a little bit more deadly than a cold on a long term.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:Health might be related to healthcare by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Is the amount of doctors visits the same or has that declined as well?

      The very poor now can go to the doctor, and some of them do. That means that there's less health care to go around for the middle class, because the AMA has successfully made it harder than necessary to become a doctor (not everyone is going to work in an ER someday) which keeps down the supply of health care professionals, and which keeps the pay high which means that people who don't give one tenth of one shit about you become doctors anyway. Meanwhile, the upper-lower class or lower-middle class can no longer afford to go to the doctor. The wealthy, of course, are laughing at us as usual.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Health might be related to healthcare by budgenator · · Score: 1

      The very poor always did go to the Doctor, medicaid covered about half of the costs, then told providers they had to accept half of their fees and that they had to take all medicaid or none. Even if the poor that didn't sign up for medicaid or didn't even have their $3.00 co-pay, the provider's had to at least treat them until they were stable, and if they didn't pay anything what was going to happen, you can't garnish the wages of someone who makes a living returning empty pop bottles.

      Right now We're seeing more lower middle-class patients on benefit plans that pay 50%UCR that used to be on plans that paid 80%UCR and the 50%UCR plans are denying many more services, bundling more separate services together that used to be separate fees and unilaterally downgrade services after treatment.
      What happening now is we don't do any routine treatment without a benefits predetermination first, and this is slowing down treatments by at least a week. Soon you'll see healthcare providers scheduling based on benefits as much as need, if your cash you get in first, if your 80%UCR in a week if your 50%UCR we'll see you 1 day a week as space is available.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  54. WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by twitnutttt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Speaking of biased writing...

    No mention was made of whether the cutover to Obamacare might have had some effect.

    Equally, a less Obamacare-dead-horse-beating person could have written, "No mention was made of whether the disastrous foreign policy blunders of George W Bush or the unprecedented obstructionist Congress-paralyzing politics of Mitch McConnell had some effect."

    LOL

    Although maybe I am being too quick to say that the above are all equally preposterous to mention as having had no effect. Because in fact, I can imagine a reasonable argument being made that expanding medical coverage to include millions of Americans who previously had no insurance could quite likely have led to a REDUCTION IN THE DEATH RATE such that without the introduction of Obamacare the rise would have been larger.

    1. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Diss+Champ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know more people who have lost their healthcare as a result of Obamacare than who have gotten health care who did not have it before. Then again, I know more working class folks than non-working who can get the biggest subsidies.

      That's just anecdotal of course.

      Less anecdotal is that health care costs have risen considerably, and that even if one has insurance under Obamacare, the cost of getting sick is high (look at deductables and out-of-pocket maximums of the various tiers).

    2. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by budgenator · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to mention the high number of people who have subsidised coverage, but with deductibles so high that it is the benefit is unusable.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    3. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      Equally, a less Obamacare-dead-horse-beating person could have written,

      "No mention was made of whether the cancellation of American Idol had some effect"

      In this case perhaps inverse, suicides may decline somewhat.

    4. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ComputerGeek01 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Obamacare hasn't helped anyone. The "millions of poor people" who supposedly benefited from it qualified for medicaid to begin with. The only thing this disastrous plan has done is drive up the cost for those of us who actually have to pay for it out of pocket and force people who decided that they can't afford it to pay out the nose anyway. Do you remember when Obama was running for President and we were all shouting how he didn't have the experience he would need to properly pass a bill through congress? This is exactly what we were talking about. Anyone with a modicum of foresight would have expanded the program that was already in place to help these people instead of managing to screw things up worse then they were.

    5. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      I know that before Obamacare I was consistently offered good low deductible low cost insurance at every job that I had- and after Obamacare all that is now available was the high deductible variety that we are now familiar with. I won't be going to the doctor unless I break a bone or something....

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    6. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      The most expensive debt that I have is health care mostly my wife's and that's with good insurance. I had always thought that my largest debt would be a mortgage however health care exceeds all of my other debts put together by a very large margin.

    7. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sound like a wingnut. The ACA is far from disastrous, but if you ask a right-wing lunatic, they'll tell you the things that right-wing-lunatics believe.

    8. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by twitnutttt · · Score: 1

      Equally, a less Obamacare-dead-horse-beating person could have written,

      "No mention was made of whether the cancellation of American Idol had some effect"

      In this case perhaps inverse, suicides may decline somewhat.

      Exactly! ;)
      Both are likely to have had a positive effect. LOL

    9. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The most expensive debt that I have is health care mostly my wife's and that's with good insurance. I had always thought that my largest debt would be a mortgage however health care exceeds all of my other debts put together by a very large margin.

      My wife and I have two small sons, the older of which is just under 2 years old. I'm spending over $4,000 per year on premiums. That's MY portion; I won't even mention how much my employer contributes. Welcoming a baby in your family can easily get you to the max out of pocket ($5,000 in my case).

      Question: can you count premiums when calculating if your medical expenses reach 10% of your adjusted gross income for tax purposes?

    10. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why statistics are better than anecdotes for assessing large effects.

      Coverage is greater than before Obamacare.
      And yes, the trend of increasing costs that existed before Obamacare has continued.

    11. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by twitnutttt · · Score: 1

      No mention was made of whether the Flying Spaghetti Monster might have had some effect.

      The point you are missing is not about Obamacare but about the fact that it is completely disingenuous and fallacious to report on a study and *ADD* your own pet project causes into the report that aren't there. If you want to implicate Obamacare, you either have to find a study that does it or run your own damn study!

    12. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you cannot - because your portion ofemployer-sponsored health care premiums are taken pre-tax. They're reductions in income, not deductions. They're already tax-free.

    13. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's simple: The rise in the death rate is inversely correlated with the drop in the number of pirates. His noodly holiness tells us this.
      Sorry conservatives... these aren't the droids you're looking for.

      No mention was made of whether the Flying Spaghetti Monster might have had some effect.

      The point you are missing is not about Obamacare but about the fact that it is completely disingenuous and fallacious to report on a study and *ADD* your own pet project causes into the report that aren't there. If you want to implicate Obamacare, you either have to find a study that does it or run your own damn study!

    14. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Me and my friends experienced the opposite. After Obamacare went live, prices went down and coverage went up.

    15. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by CaptainLard · · Score: 3, Informative

      Obamacare hasn't helped anyone. The "millions of poor people" who supposedly benefited from it qualified for medicaid to begin with.

      Doesn't mean they got it. One of the big things Obamacare did was expand medicaid so those people that qualified actually received healthcare. Everyone's beef was using the individual mandate to make it happen (ask congress for $100B to give more poor people insurance? yeah that would have worked out so much better). Sure it needs some work but its not like everything was roses under the status quo. I assume you're firmly dug in to your opinion on it but if you look at some of the data that is rolling in, Obamacare has largely done what it set out to do, which is get more people health insurance (+30M so far). Plenty of anecdotes abound about financial ruin...just as there were before Obamacare but none of the disaster scenarios have come true or even seem plausible anymore.

      Also, I don't think any candidate would have had the experience to deal with a historically antagonistic congress like Obama did for 8 years. Hell, democrats even voted for Bush and cheney's war.

      Anyway, I don't expect you to give this post any credence but maybe lighten up a bit and don't deal so much in absolutes. Life is generally more complicated than goodthing/badthing.

    16. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When we had our latest child, our OB-GYN collected an up front fee for all services rendered by the office to make sure that we would be able to pay the practice through the duration since we had a high deductible plan. They then billed our insurance with every visit and drew from the fee for what insurance didn't cover. We got to clean out our HSA when we found out we were pregnant, but that didn't count towards our deductible until much later in the year. That is just one crappy tactic practices have resorted to to make up their losses over ACA. I've got coworkers who have to pay hundreds of dollars for the privileged of staying on their primary care physician's patient roster.

    17. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you reconcile your statements with the fact that the ACA expanded Medicaid eligibility in 25+ states? Or are you suggesting they "already qualified" because they could simply quit one of their low-paying jobs, make less money, and thus be eligible?

    18. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except the biggest contributor to this rise was Alzheimer's related deaths. I guess you are theorizing that our Alzheimer's patients are turning on the news to see the problems we caused in the middle east and stroking out is a more likely explanation than they get poorer care under ACA?

    19. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ScentCone · · Score: 2, Informative

      This. That's the key to the whole "Affordable" act scam. My wife and I were very happy with our previous plan at $2500 deductible. It just jumped to $12,000 and our rates have more than tripled, even as we've lost choices of doctors and hospitals. This was all utterly predictable, and WAS predicted by the people who opposed the bill. But Pelosi, Reid, and Obama deliberately and knowingly lied about it in order to get it passed, and now we're all wearing it. As a result, fewer people are getting basic health care. No surprise that there's more death across the board, including suicide by people who used to be able to afford care and now no longer can.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    20. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      In this case perhaps inverse, suicides may decline somewhat.

      Why? Fewer people can now afford basic health care. Deductibles have jumped hugely, and rates are going up at several times the rate of inflation in order to subsidize the demographic that the target of this vote-buying scam. Of course there are more people deciding to end their lives in lieu of bankrupting their families.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    21. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (Name calling). (Unsupported counterargument), (Name calling). (Name calling).
      I supported all the things we were looking for ACA to do. I'm also now disappointed on the other end that I've had to carry medical debt on a credit card while earning 6-figures. I'm annoyed that I've avoided seeking medical treatment because of the cost. I'm pretty livid that I've refused treatment options for my children because of the cost. Screw you that you'd rather pretend this isn't happening, than talk about how to fix it because that might mean the "right-wing lunatics" have some speck of a point.

    22. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by dcooper_db9 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Another anecdote: I have a rare and very serious autoimmune disease called Poly Arteritis Nodosa. I lost my health insurance after the Maryland high risk insurance program was transferred to CareFirst. They "lost" all the records from the previous management company and failed to renew my insurance. Once I lost my insurance I had a "preexisting condition" and was ineligible for coverage. Unfortunately Federal law makes it nearly impossible to sue a health insurance company. Even if they commit outright fraud, even if their actions cost you hour life, you have little recourse.

      Remicade cost about $90k per year so I had to take out a home equity loan to pay my medical bills. After I blew through my savings I lost access to medication I desperately needed. Multiple visits to the Maryland State House and television interviews were not sufficient to get CareFirst to remedy their error.

      I am alive today for two reasons. The first is that Abbot Labs provided me with Humira for free. Thanks to the drug company's donation my doctors were able to stop the progression of the disease. Ultimately I did regain the use of my left arm and partial use of my vocal chords. I have since lost the use of my left shoulder but it has minimal impact on my ability to function.

      The second reason I'm alive is due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA required insurance companies to accept patients with pre-existing conditions. I have since been able to get coverage and have kept the disease in remission. In fact, I just got the good news that the disease is in complete remission and for the time being I no longer need to take any medications to control it.

      Now on to evidence that is not anecdotal. Many people don't know that, or if, they are benefiting from the ACA. Health expenditure per capita in the US as of 2013 was $9000 per person. For a single person that's $9k. For a family of three that's $27k. I pay about $6k per year and I'm grateful for the subsidy I receive. How many people, how many family's are paying their share?

      The cost of health insurance does continue to rise. But since the reform act it has risen at a slower pace than it did before the reform. Between 2000 and 2010 the cost of coverage rose on average by 7.1 percent. Between 2010 and 2014 it rose by 5.2 percent. In 2015 it rose by 4.2 percent. When you consider those cost increases you should also consider that a lot of very sick people are getting treatment today.

      Personally I had misgivings about the ACA. I had concerns that reform would reduce incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. I also had concern that the ACA was so complex that it would collapse. Health finance companies simply act as a middle man taking a cut of every transaction. If you're going to reform I think the financial management of health care should be nationalized. But so for the ACA has not collapsed. Millions of people are getting medical care who did not have access before 2010.

      --
      I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
    23. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Jack_of_Shadow · · Score: 1

      Agree, here is my anecdote: my fiancée used to work two part time jobs, making about $25K per year (for about 60 hours per week of work) no benefits from either job. She had Medicare/Medicaid (whichever, I forget) and was covered 100%. Obamacare came along and her mediXXX coverage was removed. She was FORCED to spend $1000/year (or be penalized via IRS taking more of her money) of her own money to buy plans which did not cover her 80% much less the former 100%. Now she has gotten one full time job (making $32K/year) and has benefits, but her coverage is still only about 80% and costs her (her share, not her employers share) is about $177/month. the thing about the "Affordable Healthcare" plans is, if they really made a difference, then the Insurance companies would have lobbied against them. They did not, therefore they are not really making a difference. The thing that made the difference is that now the IRS punishes you if you don't have healthcare.

      --
      My not responding to your flame is in no way indicative of my submission to your statement, it just means I don't have t
    24. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck are you like 63 and a smoker or something?

      I've got a silver HMO for under $250/mo from the exchange without subsidies (I have a job in Texas) that has a $3500 out of pocket maximum. Alaska seems to be the most expensive place to get a silver plan at $488/mo. If you're paying more than that for something worse than silver level, maybe you should move.

    25. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Jack_of_Shadow · · Score: 1

      you are wrong. My fiancée was on Medicaid before Obamacare, after she no longer qualified and had to pay out of pocket or be penalized by the IRS. Perhaps you should actually do some research into what really happened and simply repeat what others tell you less?

      --
      My not responding to your flame is in no way indicative of my submission to your statement, it just means I don't have t
    26. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by BronsCon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      To be fair, Congress gutted what was a good bill. Obama lacked the testicular fortitude to not sign what Congress handed back to him of his bill, so it's still his fault we're stuck with it; but the bill he handed Congress was good.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    27. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      But since the reform act it has risen at a slower pace than it did before the reform.

      Only if you ignore the initial more-than-doubling in price and elimination of no-deductible and no-copay plans when the ACA first came into effect.

      In fact, I'm now paying more than double what I paid in 2013 for a no-deductible, no-copay plan and paying even more toward a deductible ($4500 on $4300 in premiums), on top of a 20% copay. I don't benefit from that in any way. My wife does, because she is now able to get coverage; so I'm now actually paying more than 4x (nearly 5x) as much for coverage, essentially just to cover her because I'll never meet my deductible in a given year so I'm paying more to cover myself for nothing.

      In detail, I was paying $153/mo for a no-deductible no-copay plan covering just myself. I now pay $717/mo for a plan with a $4500/person deductible and a 20% copay. I went from paying $1836/yr for health care to paying $8604 in premiums and at least a $4500 deductible before the insurance even kicks in. To be fair, only half of that $8604 covers me, so I'll do the right thing and cut that number in half: I'm not paying $4302 in premiums, with effectively no coverage until my medical expenses exceed $4500 in a calendar year. That means I effectively don't have insurance until I've spent $8802; then, I still pay 20%.

      Yes, that's such a benefit over the $1836 and done I was paying before.

      Now yes my wife does see some benefit from it... potentially. Let's analyze: It takes her 6mo to meet her $4500 deductible, and 20% of that (what the remainder of the year will cost out-of-pocket) is $900. $4302 (her half of the premiums) + $4500 (deductible) + $900 (copay) = $9702. That's $702 more than simply paying out of pocket. So, where's the benefit? She got treatment even without coverage and the cost was the same (actually it was a bit lower because costs have gone up since then, but I'm looking at today's cost for this comparison and out-of-pocket still wins).

      And that's compounded by the fact that the insurance company (the only one our providers of choice accept, mind you) insists that, since we're married, if we're both covered we must both be on the same plan. If not for that, I could be on a much cheaper plan as I haven't seen a doctor for a non-emergency condition in over half my life and I'm perfectly healthy aside from a back injury (one of those emergency conditions) currently being treated by a chiropractor, as recommended by the doctor who carried out the initial treatment, which is not covered by my insurance. The cost of initial treatment of my back injury (last year, so it means nothing for this year's deductible) would have been about half what I paid for insurance, deductible, and copay last year, were I on the cheaper plan. But the insurance company refuses to allow that; my wife is on the better (for her specific case) plan, so I must also be on that plan or find a different insurer for myself (which means finding new care providers).

      Again... where's the benefit?

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    28. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      You must be borrowing someone else's computer and internet connection, because the subsidies that allow that to happen don't apply to anyone who earns enough to afford their own.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    29. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As medical mistakes are the largest killer of Americans outside of actual disease, expanded Obamacare coverage may well be a contributor.

      Doctors/nurses negligence kill ten to fifteen the number of anericans that guns do, and three hundred times the number that law enforcement kills.

    30. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Welcome to The People's Republic of Maryland. No - we are perfectly healthy, 50's, no smoking, nothing. That's just the going rate for two adults who aren't having part of their bill paid for by everybody else. It sure is nice, though, to know that one of the things we get for "free," per the law, is all sorts of maternity-related care which we could never possibly use. They make 90-year-old nuns buy plans that provide that, too.

      Glad you only pay $250. Ours will have gone UP by over $250 in just 24 months. And even then, multiple insurers are now leaving the market because they are losing money with every new customer. I think this is all intentional, and is aimed at producing such a failure that people will give in and ask for an even more ruinous medicare-for-all style all-government program to magically "solve" all of their issues. Won't THAT be fun (just ask anyone who gets care through the VA).

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    31. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ScentCone · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      There was no "good bill handed to congress." But Obama's vote-buying, pandering wish list (which was nothing more than a craven bit of theater, part of the overall scam) he asked Pelosi and Reid to incorporate was even WORSE that what we're now stuck with. His own party, and ONLY his own party, pushed it through on lies and obfuscation, with every single member of the other party pointing out what a disaster it would be, and giving it not even the cover a single vote in its favor. Splitting hairs over whether some priority bending policy detail or another in the law as written would have been better or worse as tweaked by the Democrats running the legislature or the Democrats running the executive branch at the time the con job was carried out - it's just silly. The main point is that the entire concept of the thing is fundamentally flawed, as it bears in reality no resemblance to the frothy talking point lies that Obama and his partners in the House and Senate spun for months ahead of time, and which have been shown to have been purposeful deception.

      Deliberate, knowing lies. Intended specifically to deceive people into providing political support for a bill that nobody could bother themselves to read. There was no "good version," there was only a pile of crap from the beginning, made even worse by Obama's capricious, unconstitutional use of his "pen" to unilaterally change the law's purpose and implementation after the fact once people started to catch on to what a disaster it was. And his executive action along those lines? All it did was push the consequences of this disaster back a few months so it would be after the more recent election.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    32. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jmac_the_man · · Score: 1

      One of the big things Obamacare did was expand medicaid so those people that qualified actually received healthcare.

      This is the opposite of true. Medicaid is, and always has been, government-paid healthcare for poor people. The "Medicaid Expansion" in Obamacare refers to a redefinition of the word "poor." Since Obamacare was enacted, people with more money than the pre-obamacare limit qualify for Medicaid. This cohort is by far the largest group of "newly-ensured" people helped by Obamacare.

      An issue that Medicaid has always had are its price controls. Like all large healthcare providers, Medicaid pays all the doctors that provide a specific service the same amount. However, Medicaid payment rates are much lower than those of private insurers, so many doctors refuse to take Medicaid patients. Obamacare didn't create this problem. But by increasing the number of people with Medicaid (some of whom had private insurance before) Obamacare has made this problem slightly worse. When people say that Obamacare made it harder for Medicaid patients to find doctors, that's what they're referring to.

      Everyone's beef was using the individual mandate to make it happen (ask congress for $100B to give more poor people insurance? yeah that would have worked out so much better).

      This is also false. At the time Obamacare was proposed, the competing Republican plan was to do a Medicaid expansion (similar to what the Obamacare expansion ended up being) but to leave private insurance alone. There wouldn't have been the exchanges, the mandatory coverage standards at the federal level, or any of those parts. The Democrats shot down just a Medicaid expansion so they could run on "Republicans hate poor people."

    33. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get subsidies. I live in Texas which is probably one of the worst states for healthcare, I pay 204$ per month on a plan with zero deductible silver rated coverage. Are you guys just not shopping around?

    34. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by CaptainLard · · Score: 1

      Plenty of anecdotes abound about financial ruin...

    35. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      ...except Obamacare is actually related to healthcare. Whereas your red herring is not.

      Of course the party faithful will make up any excuse they can think of. There can be no negative consequences, not even ones you might think might occur due to this being the real world rather than some sort of fantasy or simulation.

      Any heresy will be shouted down.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    36. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      Obamacare has been exactly irrelevant to me and affected me not at all, in fact I am substantially more prosperous 8 years later in spite of the socialist tax burden I was promised to be overwhelmed and crushed by. But the omnipresent and increasingly shrill noises coming from the right have definitely contributed to a decline in my mental health.

      No mention is made of whether the cancellation of American Idol has offset this somewhat.

    37. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by BronsCon · · Score: 1
      The best available in CA is a $4500 deductible and 20% copay for about $360/mo. Compare that to the $153/mo I was previously paying for no-deductible, no-copay. See here.

      I live in Texas which is probably one of the worst states for healthcare

      Against all probabilities, your rates in Texas are relatively cheap.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    38. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by bjamesv · · Score: 1

      Your basic health care came from a plan with a $2500 deductible?

      I assume by "basic" you meant "cardiac arrest & shattered femur".. because it kind of seems like your wife and you were only paying for a skimpy catastrophic-care plan, and were either ignoring "basic" health care or paying for it out of pocket with cash.

    39. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > And yes, the trend of increasing costs that existed before Obamacare has continued.

      Another talking point from the cult.

      My rates were not going up nearly as fast until Obamacare came around. Choices in the private market place have also been reduced. The top tier plans aren't available to individuals any more.

      Obamacare actually forced me OUT of the private market. I can't afford to deal with a crappy HMO.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    40. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Atomic+Fro · · Score: 1

      Coverage is greater than before Obamacare.

      When trying to control the costs of healthcare, this metric means the reverse of what you think it means. Insurance increases the costs of healthcare, it does not reduce it.

      And yes, the trend of increasing costs that existed before Obamacare has continued.

      Yes, because the crashing economy put more people on Medicaid, increasing healthcare costs. In many localities, the local healthcare system is the only sector of the local economy that has shown any growth for years.

      --

      ==================
      Hippie Logger Jock
      ==================
    41. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > I assume by "basic" you meant "cardiac arrest & shattered femur".. because it kind of seems like your wife and you were only paying for a skimpy catastrophic-care plan, and were either ignoring "basic" health care or paying for it out of pocket with cash.

      Here's a little secret for you blithering morons: If you are covered by insurance, you get deep discounts for being insured. You pay much less for things that you "pay cash for". So that there is an immediate benefit of "skimpy catastrophic plan".

      The point of such a plan is that you pay less in premiums and sock some of those savings away instead of just blowing them. That way you have enough in your HSA account to cover "basic" health care and your out of pocket limits in a bad year.

      This is all about you being an adult and managing your own life versus handing that over to some corporation or government.

      This is not complex stuff but people seem staggeringly ignorant of it.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    42. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by CaptainLard · · Score: 1

      This is also false. At the time Obamacare was proposed, the competing Republican plan was to do a Medicaid expansion (similar to what the Obamacare expansion ended up being) but to leave private insurance alone.

      I thought it was give a $2500 tax break to individuals by taking the tax break away from employers:

      http://www.heritage.org/resear...

      Although the last line in the description does have something about "encouraging medicaid expansion". Is there another proposal that I missed?

    43. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > What the fuck are you like 63 and a smoker or something?
      >
      > I've got a silver HMO

      That is an inferior tier of health plan. It reduces your choices and will keep you out of the best facilities. That's kind of pathetic because we have one of the premier cancer treatment centers on the entire planet.

      It's not the time to be cheap when you're life is on the line.

      American's in general need to get that socialist bit of thinking out of their heads.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    44. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 2

      Obamacare has nearly tripled my insurance premiums. While the great recession didn't bother me much, I do find increased costs bothersome.

      I can absorb it. I expect most others cannot and they will have to make compromises or do without.

      You can trust any bill in Congress to do the opposite of it's name.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    45. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Good for you, that your income is substantial enough to make these price hikes irrelevant to you, or that your employer has decided to eat the difference on your behalf (which is costing you money whether you know it or not). Or, you're just a shill. Either way. If you like the situation, and are happy to see millions of your fellow citizens be shut out of health care or facing IRS fines because they can't afford it, than get some help - you have a serious empathy deficit, and may have other problems. Your employer's generous health insurance policy probably covers that sort of treatment - check it out.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    46. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > Against all probabilities, your rates in Texas are relatively cheap.

      People like to whine about Texas. What I find confusing are those that come here and still whine. Clearly some of these people have ZERO experience with places like California. The prices in Cali are one of the reasons I moved here instead. They were BRUTAL in 2001. I don't even want to think what they are like now.

      Texas had pretty decent private market insurance before Obamacare came.

      Any useful measures that individual states might have had before got wiped out. Again, I am intrigued that Democrat controlled states didn't already have themselves sorted out.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    47. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by david_thornley · · Score: 2

      Here where I live, the state exchange is functional, and you can get good plans for reasonable prices. There are lots more people with decent health insurance than there used to be. The ACA is working just fine here.

      Of course, I wouldn't expect it to work nearly as well in states where the governments did their best to undermine it. That was predictable. That's a typical Republican tactic: do your best to screw up government programs and blame them for not working as they should.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    48. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Our employer health insurance has remained essentially the same, at two different workplaces. The costs have gone up, but that's because Congress wouldn't pass a bill that would reduce insurance company profit.

      I've had quite a few minor problems this year, and it's been nice to go to the doctor without significant expense.

      We have duelling anecdotes.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    49. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      The only problem with Texas is that the blathering idiots are the vocal minority in the state, which makes everyone there look like blathering idiots. Contrast that with California, where the problem is that the blathering idiots don't just say stupid shit on national news, they lobby politicians and convince them to be blathering idiots. The problem is that the same people who aren't paying enough attention to see that most Texans aren't blathering idiots also pay little enough attention that they can say, in all seriousness, "at least California is doing something".

      I say this as a California resident. Sometimes doing something is the wrong thing; especially when you know the thing you're doing isn't going to solve the problem you're facing. Like banning certain guns from legal purchase; how's that working out in Oakland and Vallejo, where literally every gun crime reported or investigated is committed with an illegally acquired firearm. Literally every one. None committed with legally purchased guns. Yet they're pushing more gun laws through the state legislature right now.

      On the other hand, Texas politicians sound like complete doofuses in the press, which makes the entire state look like a bunch of bafoons. But, the reality is that a bunch of smart, freedom-loving (and freedom-protecting) people live there, and they prevent the doofuses in charge from doing too much damage.

      And if you think that's an attack on Texas, you're one of the ones who's not paying attention.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    50. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ACA originally included a public option which was removed by republicans. This allowed insurance companies to jack rates and deductibles because there was no pressure to keep costs competitive. The mandate without the public option is the problem - it may have worked and still may work if BOTH of those components are law.

      You might say 'but there is competition - there are multiple insurance companies'. Technically having competition is a disingenuous argument when effectively there is none. Effective competition lowers costs. Technical competition where all insurers behave the same does not decrease costs - it raised them.

    51. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't believe you one bit. You've sat on here for years bitching about Obama. Your anecdote does not match reality. Probably because you made it up.

    52. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you, guy!

    53. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Counter intuitively, profit caps actually work against controlling costs. If your business is capped at some percentage the only way to increase your profits is to expand your subscriber base or increase the cost of your insurance and with caps you do that by driving up the cost of procedures. It doesn't harm the insurance company's competitiveness as long as other insurance companies are forced to pay for the same procedures, which is exactly what Obamacare does.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    54. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How did Obamacare force you out of your plan? You're attributing to Obamacare the actions of your health insurance carrier. My healthcare premiums stopped going up. When I started my job 15 years ago now I had free health insurance through my employer. 2 years later they couldn't afford it anymore so it was $120 plus the employer contribution. When I finally left that job 3 years ago it was $280/month. My new employer spent some time getting educated and now I have 100% covered health insurance again.

      Several of my family members never had health insurance until the ACA. The bill was crap compared to what it could have been but a lot of people are blowing it way out of proportion attributing to it what insurance companies have done. The ACA only mandates certain minimum requirements for a healthcare plan. So when someone says they lost their plan because the ACA it is either because it was a crappy plan that didn't cover anything or because the insurance company took the opportunity to change their offering since everyone was expecting a change anyway. Insurance companies are still making quite good profits so it makes sense.

      I would love to see a great many changes to the ACA but this rosy idea that everything was okay before is either horribly naive or willfully ignorant.

    55. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is the benefit for you puffing up the size of your post with the giant spacing between paragraphs?

    56. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? Exactly how many Republicans voted for this bill? It is amazing to see how liberals manage to still blame Republicans for this boondoggle that is 100% on your Democrat president and representatives in both Congress and the Senate. Perhaps you have forgotten that Democrats controlled both the house and senate at the time and pushed this bill through after they lost control of the house in the November election, but before the new republican congress was in office?

    57. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      The ACA gave states the option to expand Medicare. Some of the states, like mine, opted not to. I lost my employer-sponsored health insurance in mid-2014 and have been without health care since. I've tried to sign up for subsidized packages through healthcare.gov since then and have been offered nothing below $120/mo... you might say that's cheap, but it's $120 more than I have. I've applied both while unemployed and while working part-time for minimum wage. I don't see how I could get much poorer, but apparently I'm not poor enough to qualify.

      Sure, 30 million have been herded into buying near-useless insurance plans - but what multiple of that have fallen through the cracks? The ACA is like a cloth patchwork over a leaky bucket. Not quite free market health care, not quite government health care: the bastardized system we have now is the worst of both worlds. The fortunate ones who do have access to health care can fondle their UnitedHealth cards, look at this 30M figure, and pretend the issue is solved. You have to realize we still have the shittiest health care system of any developed nation.

      As long as "health insurance" continues to be a thing, it will stay that way. What we need to do is remove them from the mix entirely. It's an entire industry whose only purpose is to skim money from people by being the gatekeepers to doctors and hospitals. Get rid of that, and you get rid of the main source of inefficiency in the system. Certain things are simply done better through centralized government management - road systems, police, military defense, and health care. Privatizing stuff like that has disastrous results.

    58. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      "The data doesn't matter. We're not basing our recommendations on the data. We're basing them on the climate models." -Prof. Chris Folland, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research

      Prof. Chris Folland e-mails me only known confirmation of quote widely attributed to him: “The data doesn’t matter. We’re not basing our recommendations on the data. We’re basing them on the climate models.”

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    59. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blame the moronic, backwards American public who refuse to go single payer. Or the mind numbingly stupid GOP controlled states that refused to play ball with Medicare. There are consequences to stubbornly demanding to continue sucking corporate cock and the rich are NEVER going to be the one to pay them. Hell, I'm probably sort of one of those rich. Affordable Care didn't affect me at all. Not a single bit. Because I work for a decent company and make good money. But now the "working class people" got what they asked for. They're being forced to pay their share of medical costs instead of subsidizing it with my insurance premiums and taxes. Unfortunately, the "working class" aren't educated or just plain smart enough to know what's best for them. This is OBVIOUS in basically every aspect of politics today. I have no problem just letting the sick and injured poor die if that's what they want but I'm equally fine making basic health services free and covered by taxes EVEN IF THAT MEANS PAYING MORE. Because that's how taxes work. When you need something that SHOULD be a public service for every, like roads, electricity, not dying, etc you have to pay for it and that means sometimes raising taxes. I know the plebs have been brainwashed into thinking they can have everything for nothing but that's not how it works.

    60. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by CaptainLard · · Score: 1

      Certain things are simply done better through centralized government management - road systems, police, military defense, and health care. Privatizing stuff like that has disastrous results.

      100% agree. I'm lucky in that my employer pays my health insurance but I'd be perfectly fine with single payer like the rest of the world. Neither Socialism or Free Market are a magic fix for every possible scenario (especially when humans are involved) so its in our best interests to pick and choose. I'm guessing as the left and right get further apart we will continue to have your "cloth patchwork" on pretty much every big societal issue until automation makes everything free (aka basic salary) in a few decades.

    61. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "all sorts of maternity-related care which we could never possibly use"

      So.. you are saying that you just appeared one day fully formed? You were never an infant that was born into the world?
      What. The. Fuck.

      Just because you choose not to have children does not mean that YOU were never a child.
      You were born, needed food and shelter, and education, and now healthcare.
      And the functioning civilization in place at the time you were born made sure you made it to adulthood.
      When you are old and decrepit do you know what you will need? Assistance from today's newborns to diagnose your illnesses, give you pills, and eventually whip your ass. You will need a functioning police and legal system, staffed with today's newborns to keep other of today's newborns from simply taking all of your shit, because you are old and you can't stop them yourself.
      Then, at some point, today's newborns will bury your body and make sure your possessions are distributed lawfully.

      Guess what..... That "maternity-related care which we could never possibly use"? Fine.. We take it back. You just agree not to use any services provided by a functioning civilization and get your 'independent' self up to middle of nowhere Alaska, build a cabin with your own two hands using stone tools you make on site and leave the rest of the world alone.

      That will "solve" lots of issues.. In your head.
       

    62. Re:WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is not some tactic to undermine anything. It is simple economics 101. If you try to give everyone the same widget the costs go to infinity and strangely not everyone gets the same widget. This is also known as economies of scale except you are pushed to other side of the curve by law not economics.

      The reason any of this works is because not everyone needs or wants the same widget. It is why we have different kinds of cell phones, different kinds of cars ...etc. When you are forced by law to produce the same product and force it on everyone - everyone loses.

    63. Re: WTF with the spurious Obamacare reference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding competition, the problems are twofold:

      1) insurance competition is not allowed across state lines in the US (first solution that would be better than obamacare)
      2) there is no price transparency to the customer across providers (if prices for procedures were known ahead of time across doctors and hospitals, competition could bring prices down).

      Instead, price controls on care inserted by the government reward the addition of more useless procedures to get more revenue, wasting valuable / rare time with doctors.

      I'm tired of the notion that subsidized / socialized medicine for all is the solution, while we have ignored common sense economics...

  55. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by twitnutttt · · Score: 2

    Which is why I find is so suspicious that the post ridiculously and spuriously includes this bias-ridden sentence:

    No mention was made of whether the cutover to Obamacare might have had some effect.

    Equally, a less Obamacare-dead-horse-beating person could have written, "No mention was made of whether the disastrous foreign policy blunders of George W Bush or the unprecedented obstructionist Congress-paralyzing politics of Mitch McConnell had some effect."

    LOL

    Although maybe I am being too quick to say that the above are all equally preposterous to mention as having had no effect. Because in fact, I can imagine a reasonable argument to be made that expanding medical coverage to include millions of Americans who previously had no insurance could quite likely have led to a REDUCTION IN THE DEATH RATE such that without the introduction of Obamacare the rise would have been larger.

  56. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So you're saying had these 15 million people not been given access to medical services, more of them would still be alive now?

    No. Had those 15 million people not been given access to medical services, more other people would still be alive now. The system already couldn't handle the strain of the patient load, which has been increased without increasing the number of medical professionals sufficiently or even substantially, thanks to the AMA.

    Also, medical misprescription is one of the biggest killers in America. It's in the top three. It's grossly underreported because if your doc fucks up and stops your heart with a bad drug combo it's most likely to be reported as a heart attack and stop there. They don't have time to get your prescription right, they certainly don't have time to figure out what killed you.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  57. I'm not a real sysadmin by RuffMasterD · · Score: 1

    I root as real sysadmins work...

    --
    Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
    1. Re:I'm not a real sysadmin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so what is the difference between a real and an imaginary sysadmin, is your uid negative?

  58. Should be pretty obvious by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Global warming is killing us. Scientists all agree. The discussion is over.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Should be pretty obvious by superwiz · · Score: 1

      The discussion is over.

      You are spelling it wrong. It's spelled "the science is settled". </sarcasm>

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  59. BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Not sure why" is hilarious. When Sarah Palin became the first major politician to use twitter, the Democrats laughed at her. When she said that Putin, if not thwarted, may eye invading Ukraine, they laughed at her. When she said she didn't read any one newspaper for her news (as anyone who looks at news aggregators doesn't), they laughed at her. When she said Obamacare would destroy the quality (not access, but quality) of medical care in this country, they ridiculed her. Well, keep laughing, ass holes.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    1. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      She is more insightful than the all the Democrats in office or running for office. If you think so little of her, just imagine how little you should think of them.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    2. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Kohath · · Score: 1

      The fact that Palin haters are toxic gibbering assholes doesn't make Palin wise. It's tempting to think that way, but a person's wisdom should be evaluated dispassionately. Palin is ok, but she'd have to be brilliant to live up to the hype and overcome the jaundiced judgement aimed at her. And she's not that brilliant. She's above average for a politician.

    3. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Listening to Sarah Palin is kind of like listening to Nostradamus. You can sort through it and interpret however you want. She never said she use news aggregators. She pretended that she read "all of the newspapers", but couldn't name one. Sarah Palin claimed there would be death panels, and the government would decide who lives and who dies. Sure, through her word jumble, she said what you wanted her to say.

      Furthermore, there isn't any evidence that giving healthcare to more people has caused the people who already had healthcare to die more frequently. You just made that up without doing any studies. Yet I'm sure you consider yourself more evidence-based than those evil Democrats. Next time start from the evidence and go from there, instead of starting from your conclusion and then looking for evidence to back it up.

    4. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but assuming I even agreed with you that she deserves credit for all those statements, it does not change the fact that she also said she remembered seeing Russia from Alaska, that 'death panel' bureaucrats would effectively decide whether seniors and the disabled would live or die, and rambles out incoherent emotional push-button buzzwords in her public speeches. I find ridicule of her acceptable for the same reason I find ridicule of Trump acceptable. The majority of their public speeches are pandering consisting mostly of areas between half-truths and easily verifiable outright lies, with a true statement thrown in every now and then (intentionally or not). Why not ridicule everyone and anyone who does that?

    5. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by ADRA · · Score: 1

      Insert self-selected sound-byte. Add Straw-man. Mix vigorously into a smooth trollicious cocktail, enjoy!

      --
      Bye!
    6. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by tekrat · · Score: 1

      At least most other politicians can form a sentence that doesn't have thirty tangents in it that results in "word salad".

      Louie Gohmert might be insightful too, but we'll never know because he can't seem to get out a coherent sentence in the English language.

      --
      If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    7. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1

      Eloquent, but uninsightful, are dangerous. So I take issue with the "at least" part of your judgement. It should read "at most" from a rational perspective.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    8. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know that Putin didn't do anything to Ukraine, right?
      You know that Ukraine people were ok with the Russians for many years past?
      You also know about what the u.s. did to Ukraine, right?

      Perhaps your statement and Reality need to get a little closer to each other.

    9. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Not sure why" is hilarious. When Sarah Palin became the first major politician to use twitter, the Democrats laughed at her. When she said that Putin, if not thwarted, may eye invading Ukraine, they laughed at her. When she said she didn't read any one newspaper for her news (as anyone who looks at news aggregators doesn't), they laughed at her. When she said Obamacare would destroy the quality (not access, but quality) of medical care in this country, they ridiculed her. Well, keep laughing, ass holes.

      No one cared that she used Twitter. People laughed at her because she thought Putin would invade Alaska, not Ukraine. They laughed at her not for admitting she didn't read newspapers, but that she claimed to read ALL of them but couldn't name one. She made no nuanced argument about health care before we laughed. We laughed because she claimed there would be government death panels, much less the implication there was no corporate death panel already in place and denying care.

      We laughed at her because she convulsed gibbering on stage during a witch doctor faith healing.

      We laughed at her because she went to five or six colleges in order to get an UNaccredited degree (and I don't mean one by the United Nations!).

      And on slashdot, we laughed because that unaccredited degree was in communications.

      We laughed for those and other reasons, but mostly because she was a joke. The trainwreck of her life since then shows we were correct to do so and keep her out of the White House.

    10. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In what fucking brain addled universe do you think this is a valid narrative.

      Everyone knew Putin was going to probably invade the Ukraine under certain circumstances. Anyone reading CIA briefings would know this.

      The difference is everyone else didn't go fucking tweeting about it for no fucking reason. What would the point of antagonizing Putin, harming the chance of a possible diplomatic out?

      Palin is a bottom feeding, unqualified, hack. Which is probably why you look up to her.

    11. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by swillden · · Score: 1

      When Sarah Palin became the first major politician to use twitter, the Democrats laughed at her. When she said that Putin, if not thwarted, may eye invading Ukraine, they laughed at her. When she said she didn't read any one newspaper for her news (as anyone who looks at news aggregators doesn't), they laughed at her. When she said Obamacare would destroy the quality (not access, but quality) of medical care in this country, they ridiculed her.

      They also laughed at her when she said that man coexisted with dinosaurs.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    12. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Sticking to the principles of evidence and reasoning you show, she's also working to subvert the planet in advance of the Martian invasion.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    13. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      You're rewriting history to make it sound like Palin was a lot more intelligent than she actually was. For example, people didn't laugh at her because she read multiple newspapers. They laughed at her because she couldn't name even a single one that she read, and it was obvious to everyone watching that in fact she didn't read any newspapers at all. Trying to equate that to someone who reads articles through Google News is grossly distorting the facts.

      As for your main claim, that Obamacare has destroyed the quality of medical care, citation needed! That's not a claim you can just make without presenting a shred of evidence.

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    14. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

      [Her Handlers are] more insightful than the all the Democrats in office or running for office. If you think so little of her, just imagine how little you should think of them.

      There, fixed that for you. Sarah's political career ended as soon as she started speaking off the cuff. If she'd continued to listen to her handlers and the billionaire funded think tanks she'd be our vice president right now. Thank God she didn't. I don't think little of her. I'm utterly terrified of her. She'd throw us to the wolves of Wallstreet in ways you can't even imagine. Hell, Obama's why we have net neutrality.

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    15. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1

      it does not change the fact that she also said she remembered seeing Russia from Alaska

      But she never actually said anything of the kind. This meme comes from Tina Fey's parody of her on SNL. The actual Sarah Palin never made this statement or any paraphrasing of it.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    16. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1

      You do know that Putin didn't do anything to Ukraine, right?

      You mean accept violate the treaty which Russian Federation signed giving Ukraine sovereignty over Crimea in exchange for Ukraine surrendering all of its nuclear weapons to the Russian Federation? Or violate the laws of the Russian Federation which explicitly disallowed Putin to use RF armed forces on Ukrainian territory (which at that time included Crimea)?

      You know that Ukraine people were ok with the Russians for many years past?

      Yeah, the statement was about Putin's imperial ambitions -- not about Ukrainian history of animosity against Russians. In fact, the lack of such history is what makes the predictions of RF's aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territory that much more prescient.

      You also know about what the u.s. did to Ukraine, right?

      Oh, I didn't know we were operating in the fantasy world created by the RF propaganda in which "The West" (which includes East and South of RF) are out to getch ya.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    17. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1

      but that she claimed to read ALL of them but couldn't name one.

      Yeah, I call bull shit on that one. Anyone who reads news on Google news would answer "I read all of them" when asked to name any one particular source of the news. The news aggregators just work that way.

      We laughed for those and other reasons, but mostly because she was a joke.

      Aha. And you got that from listening to 20 seconds edited from her 4-hour interview with Katie Couric? You may want to do a search on Katie Couric and creative editing before you do any more laughing. The joke is on you.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    18. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1

      That's not a claim you can just make without presenting a shred of evidence.

      It's a much more credible claim than the one made by NY Times article. They claim that aging population is responsible for the rise in death rates despite the fact that the rates rose in all age groups. Basic economics will tell you that adding more patients without adding more doctors will make it more likely that people in dire need of care will be less likely to get it because the system will be too busy handling those with only minor ailments.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    19. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      Ok, let me list the claims you just made (or implied):

      1. The number of patients has increased.
      2. That was because of Obamacare.
      3. The number of doctors has not increased.
      4. People in dire need of care are less likely to get it than they were a few years ago.
      5. More time is being spent handling people with minor ailments.

      Every one of those claims needs to be backed up with evidence. Until you actually do the research and find out whether they're true or not, you're just making things up. Conclusions based on unfounded assumptions are meaningless. Get the facts. Find out whether the above claims are really true or not. Then we'll have something to talk about. Then we can have a discussion that's grounded in reality.

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    20. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by superwiz · · Score: 1
      Claims 1 and 2 are implicitly claimed by the proponents of Obamacare. They claim that 15 million more people have health insurance. It is not a big stretch (as you insist) to take that to mean that this creates a bigger pool of patients. I don't to prove claim 3. In fact, the burden of proof that the number of doctors all of sudden increased by 5% (because the number of potential patients has increased by 5%) would have to be on the defendants of the Obamacare. The burden of proof is on them because such an occurrence would be highly unlikely. I don't need to go proving that highly unlikely events have not happened in the absence of any evidence that they have happened. Claim 4 has been proven by the gp post to follow from claims 1-3. You just refuse to accept the proof. That's on your lack of comprehension -- not on me. Ditto for claim 5.

      Every one of those claims needs to be backed up with evidence.

      No. Not if they necessarily follow from a different claim which was already made by the opposing side in the debate.

      Conclusions based on unfounded assumptions are meaningless.

      Sure. That's true. But they are not made on unfounded evidence. They are made based on claims made by the proponents of the Obamacare.

      Then we'll have something to talk about.

      I don't think we will. You want me to go on a wild goose chase for statistics which are not collected and to close my eyes to the logical conclusions which follow from the statistics which are collected.

      Then we can have a discussion that's grounded in reality.

      You are not on the of reality. Don't flatter yourself. You are on the side claiming that evidence needs to be collected for the fact that 2+2 is always 4. You are on the side of absurdity and insisting that those who point out to you the absurdity of your arguments may only collect evidence and suspend reason when making observation about the world.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    21. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      Claims 1 and 2 are implicitly claimed by the proponents of Obamacare. They claim that 15 million more people have health insurance.

      "More people with health insurance" is not at all the same thing as "more patients". In fact, there are good reasons to think they'll be inversely correlated. When someone without health insurance gets sick, they tend to go to the emergency room, which is one of the least efficient, most expensive ways to provide health care. People with insurance are more likely to get preventive care, which tends to decrease the amount of health care they need in the long run. Ditto for treating minor ailments before they turn into major problems.

      The burden of proof is on them because such an occurrence would be highly unlikely.

      I don't understand what you mean by "burden of proof". You seem to view this as a competition, where you're fighting against someone and your goal is to win. I don't see it like that at all. I want to understand the world. I want to know what's really going on, and find the best solutions to real world problems. That means the burden is always on me to get the facts and find out what is really going on. If I make things up, then draw conclusions based on them without bothering to find out whether they're really true, all my conclusions are meaningless. That's living in a fantasy world. I don't want to do that. Do you? If not, then you too have the responsibility to get the facts before you start drawing conclusions.

      No. Not if they necessarily follow from a different claim which was already made by the opposing side in the debate.

      In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they often are not. Humans are spectacularly bad at figuring out what "necessarily follows" from anything. I distrust all my own conclusions until I look up the facts to find out whether my predictions match reality. I distrust yours even more, since you haven't even bothered to verify your assumptions, much less test your conclusions.

      Claim 4 has been proven by the gp post to follow from claims 1-3. You just refuse to accept the proof. That's on your lack of comprehension -- not on me. Ditto for claim 5.

      Then please humor my lack of understanding and point to exactly where those facts were established. I just looked back through the tree of posts, and I don't see anything remotely resembling evidence for those claims. What am I missing?

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    22. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think most of the laughing comes from her begging for money from people like you to subsidize her faux superstardom. That and "I can see Russia from my house!"

    23. Re:BIG ELEPHANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She is more insightful than the all the Democrats in office or running for office. If you think so little of her, just imagine how little you should think of them.

      It's impossible for me to think less of any of them because there's simply nothing lower but it's laughable to call Palin insightful. She's younger than the dem candidates and maybe has more in common with the common person but that's about it. Lol, Palin insightful.

  60. Re:Libtards by superwiz · · Score: 0

    ISIS rose because we left. We removed a brutal dictator. We left. A brutal dictatorship emerged. Yeah, I am sure it was our fault.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  61. Re:Libtards by superwiz · · Score: 0

    You are the idiot. Socialism is always, without exception, totalitarian dictatorship. It's how the dictators subdue the middle class. They call it by different names, but it's just a way to keep the poor always available to be the attack dogs to keep the middle class at bay.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  62. You really have no idea why?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MKNAOMI for a start... World depopulation has been a reality for years now. Keep eating GMOs sheep...

  63. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by superwiz · · Score: 1

    Obamacare reducing the quality of care (not access, but care) has a direct effect on the rising death rates.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  64. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

    Citation please.
    Look at countries without healthcare, or even counties in the USA. The death rates are not lower than more urban or industrialized nations.

  65. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by superwiz · · Score: 1

    I'd rather say the avoided deaths of nearly 15m people formerly without health care

    Obamacare has 0% chance of doing that. The only people without care were the ones with lower medium income of less than advanced age. They didn't need medical care at that stage in their life other than emergency care (which they would receive without Obamacare). The only thing Obamacare did was reduce the quality of medical care for people who actually needed it (oh, and forced a lot of people to pay for illusion of care which they didn't need).

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  66. Simple Answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Y'all keep shooting each other.

    Idjits.

  67. Poor healthcare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No really. When you fear going to the doctor will bankrupt you. Its crazy that we live in a nation where people can't go to the doctor at all. Obamacare isn't available to everyone despite what they say. We are dying of neglect of reasonable health services. I'm sure the haves will argue that that is ridiculous. Tell it to the have nots.

    1. Re:Poor healthcare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obamacare isn't available to everyone despite what they say.

      Your private insurance premiums are subsidizing gender reassignment surgery for homeless people. While you pay that huge deductible. Enjoy.

  68. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by superwiz · · Score: 1

    More people spending money on insurance is not "more people with medical services". It's driving the cost of medical care and increasing wait times for procedures for people who actually need them. Everyone loses in the process. Doctors get paid less and have to fight with insurance companies more. Insurance companies have to find ways go delay care for people who actually have coverage in order to ration access (because more people who don't need it now demand it). Trial lawyers lose because insurance companies are the reason people are getting sicker and Obamacare indemnifies insurance companies for law suits. Patients lose because the quality of care is worse and more expensive. It's not a system which improves something at the expense of others. It's worse for everyone involved.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  69. psst spooks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dig.

    A.

    Big.

    Big.

    BIG.

    Mother.

    Fucking.

    Tomb.

    NWO is over with. Period.

  70. Re: Libtards by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    Thank you for posting this; clearly the subject deserves additional reading...

  71. Re: Libtards by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    You conveniently left out the part about him being our brutal dictator.

  72. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, since it's grossly underreported, you're just making shit up when you say it's number 3, because you really don't know.

  73. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Toonol · · Score: 1

    Obamacare just dumped 15 million people into the medical system who were not there before 2010.

    I very much doubt that most of those new people are actually using the medical system. Even where insurance rates are 100% paid for with tax money, the deductibles are generally still in the $3,000 - $6,000 range. They've gone up significantly in the last decade. Insurance helps some with prescription benefits, but do you think the people getting insurance for the first time are willing to spend $250 on a doctor's visit when they get a sore throat? It really only helps you if you have a major medical condition, of the kind most people only get once in their life.

    I'd like to see some usage metrics... number of practicing doctors, patients per doctor, etc., trended over time.

  74. The ACA has completely removed my access to HC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Insurance policy pays for nothing until i meet my deductible (which is about double what i ususally have in savings) and even then they only chip in 70%.

    I was better off when i was uninsured... at least then i got the cash discount at the drs office.

  75. Re: Libtards by superwiz · · Score: 1

    He was our when he was fighting our enemies. He certainly was not ours when we removed him. In fact, he stopped being our when he turned from fighting our enemies to fighting everyone around him (including our friends).

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  76. Logic gentlemen/women... by evolutionary · · Score: 1

    Okay, a few facts. Population: It's larger. SIGNIFICANTLY larger. Of course there will be more deaths because of that. Even if your rate takes population into account, what it DOESN'T take into account is the impact psychologically on people in general: Worse tempers, fewer resources available, (especially to the poor). Also, every non-white ethnic group seems to have at least 1 (if not 3) advocacy groups working on behalf of the "oppressed" (some are, but not all and not everywhere;The one thing I agree with Senator McCain on is that Affirmative Action system in the USA is not only out of date but is a form of racism unto itself, and no I cannot be classified as white, or anything else I think, been offered preferential consideration due to my "minority" status which I politely refused). The protection of advocacy groups may reduce the death rate of these non-white USA folks as well although it may or may not be significant.

    We've all seen increasing food, housing/space, energy prices all of which is (in addition to greed), is supported by a larger population, increasing demand, reducing supply and making people more irritable as a result. Tempers flare (road rage seems to be on the rise where I am), we have more private/public police everywhere with more and more military weapons (but no proper military/unarmed training, which adds fuel to the fire flamed tempers and emotional discomforture.

    Oh, and our news(Fox, NBC, ABC other American sources including most newspapers): Observe how it's primarily geared to the less educated white population (most of whom, unlike Donald Trump are poor and cannot use other people's money) and is specifically designed to stimulate fear. (see other foreign news sources, it's not just the content...it's the presentation). Fear sells and make submissive (well sort of...a cornered animal...). Fear/stress is clinically shown to reduces life expectancy (as well as provoke more violent crime). Let's all do the math now, turn off our mainstream news (which is often inaccurate/wrong anyway), stop munching on our junk food because are nervous, and go to a park (or as best we can in poor areas like Buffalo, Detroit or Flint), and read a good book by a non-American author. We'll live longer, happier and more informed. :D

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    1. Re:Logic gentlemen/women... by ADRA · · Score: 1

      God, can't you just be proud of who you are? HUMAN.

      --
      Bye!
    2. Re:Logic gentlemen/women... by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      Population: It's larger. SIGNIFICANTLY larger. Of course there will be more deaths because of that.

      It's measured in deaths per 100k. If you have 100k people and 300 die, that's 300/100k. If you have 200k people and 600 die, that's 300/100k. If you have 200k people and 700 die, that's 350/100k. That's what went up, not just the total number of deaths.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  77. Must be the taxes by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Because, you know, death and taxes. Tax rates go up therefore so must death rates.

  78. heart disease increase by DriveDog · · Score: 1

    Hamburgers. Once upon a time a burger was considered an inferior good and although people enjoyed them, they tended to eat fewer as their income increased. Now people celebrate the things and it's hard to see how gourmet burgers are any healthier than Hardee's, McD's, BK, or Wendy's. They may in fact be worse since there's likely more beef. Interestingly, a minor mad cow disease outbreak might increase health for most of the first world.

  79. Increased costs by Sperbels · · Score: 1

    It probably has nothing to do with the fact that nobody can afford health care anymore.

  80. Fukishima 03/11/2011 by FirstOne · · Score: 1

    Yes, we in the USA are in fallout zone and got hit fairly hard.
    Expect many more years of declining lifespan, unless you took steps to prevent inhaling and ingestion of various radio-isotopes from those meltdowns.
    That's all for now, I don't want to start a flame war.

  81. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by budgenator · · Score: 1

    I remember reading that the national death rate in Belgium actually went down during the Nazi invasion and WW II.

    --
    Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  82. UH by blackomegax · · Score: 1

    Pesticides, GMO's, the face a hospital visit will bankrupt you, artificial sugars that cause cancer, all the damned drugs urinated into the water supply. This isn't fucking rocket science, america is fucked.

    1. Re:UH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      our water district EC/TDS ranges from 400-500 even though the website states 300.

      wtf are we drinking

      i have proof

  83. Re:Fukushima 03/11/2011 by FirstOne · · Score: 1

    Minor correction to title..

  84. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except that it didn't lower quality. Policies are still run by the same private insurers they always were. However, minimum standards of coverage were implemented, if that's what you're referring to? LOL.

  85. Re:Libtards by dywolf · · Score: 1

    Yeah, two countries run by dictators are totally comparable to the policies of liberals in America. Instead of...say...other countries that actually are similar to America and have already instituted those policies, like most of Europe.

    In regards to cuba...what event happened 50 years ago, just by coincidence?
    oh ya. the embargo.
    but that's just coincidence.....

    --
    The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  86. I've got a couple good guesses by Kevin+by+the+Beach · · Score: 1

    1. For Profit Health Care.
    Can you make a profit if people don't get sick? Or, if they are already sick and you find a cure where will you profit from next?

    2. Mental/Emotional Health.
    Watch enough TV(or internet) news, trigger your fear/anger response, watch more TV (or internet) news, add to pre-existing fear/anger response (repeat until ill)

    3. Poor Parenting
    All babies are born a blank canvas with autonomic systems for basic function. Our jobs as parents is to program the correct pathways before neural pruning establishes the "defaults" which become our firmware. The basic emotional processing that is built in to everyone builds with an almost "Crazy Glue" stickiness which gives emotional weight to our memories. Bug Filled Firmware -> Bug Filled Person

    4 Poor/Failing Society
    All great empires in human history have failed. Once the failure is irreversible the values and morals are the first thing to go.

    These are my top 4, if I continued the list... Environmental Pollution, and Splitting some of the above into more detailed points would be easy.

    Sunny and Warm here by the Beach

  87. I had the exact opposite experience by rsilvergun · · Score: 0

    I know half a dozen working poor who only have health care because of Obamacare. One of which is a type I diabetic (e.g. he was born that way) who's only alive today because the Medicaid expansion means he gets his insulin. Until then he'd been showing up at the ER every couple of days hoping to get in before he went into insulin shock. Now, if you're in one of the states that voted down the Medicaid expansion then I'm truly sorry for you and your people. I hope your voters come to their senses and kick those bums out.

    --
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  88. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by twitnutttt · · Score: 1

    Not interested in your conjecture. Because actually, as the post says, there was no mention of Obamacare in the report.

    Also, no mention was made of whether the Flying Spaghetti Monster might have had some effect.

    The point you are missing is not about Obamacare but about the fact that it is completely disingenuous and fallacious to report on a study and *ADD* your own pet project causes into the report that aren't there. If you want to implicate Obamacare, you either have to find a study that does it or run your own damn study!

  89. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by MountainLogic · · Score: 1

    Even if it were a correct data point, when all of those who are injured and require critical care or surgery go to a different county then no surprise that there are fewer sick people to die in your hospital/county.

  90. Health care insurance changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last year with insurance one med cost me 30 a month, with the blessing of the ACA, the med is no longer covered by the same plan. Now it is $60K a year out of pocket and it is a maintenance med, ie. pay for it or die.

  91. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The largest contributor to this number was an increase in Alzheimer's related deaths. If we are going to blame things on our government, Obamacare doesn't look like as crazy a place to start as you want it to be.

  92. Kang VS Krodos 2016 by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Kodos: It's a two party system! You have to vote for one of us!
    Man: He's right, this is a two-party system.
    Man 2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
    Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.

    And if Krang wins we'll force you all to build a giant Ray Gun, erm I mean Wall!

  93. Re: Libtards by dryeo · · Score: 1

    Better to say that the Stalinists really hated the form of socialism/communism that existed in Andalusia. Things really went downhill when the Stalinists showed up and Orwell had to sneak out of Spain and was harassed for the longest time.
    People like Bartles make the mistake equating socialism with Stalin-ism while even credit unions and co-ops are socialist.

    --
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  94. Why the surprise? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...recent research has documented sharp rises in death rates among certain groups ... increases for the entire population are relatively rare."

    If the "certain group" happens to constitute a majority of the population, it seems obvious that it could skew the death rate averaged across the entire population.

    A study from last December by some Princeton researchers reported that death rates for middle-aged white people had increased. Particularly, but not limited to, lower educated white people. Given that whites are a majority, wouldn't the increase in this group account for the overall increase?

    That study pointed to drugs and alcohol, suicide, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis as the precise causes. It also noted that financial stress might be a factor, because financial stress probably leads to drug and alcohol abuse and suicide.

  95. Economic stress kills too by cahuenga · · Score: 1

    Savings, pensions or retirement nest-eggs have evaporated for a large swath of Americans, Throw the 30% of Millennials still living at home on top and the levels of economic stress has skyrocketed.

  96. Arizona changed the rules by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pre-Obamacare single adults couldn't get on Medicare regardless of income. I have two friends with medical conditions that prevent them from working who used to carry around the letter telling them they were denied because they got tired of folks like you convinced that it was somehow their fault they didn't have the medicine they needed to stay alive. Telling yourself Medicare was taking care of these people might make you feel better but it doesn't make it true.

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    1. Re:Arizona changed the rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True. So why didn't they simply drop the pre-existing conditions requirements out of Medicaid? Why did they have to screw the entire system for everyone to benefit a small few?

      This is all a gimmick. The real story here is that this is a stepping stone, designed to collapse the existing system so the Government can ride in and save us all with single payer, which is what they wanted all along but could never have passed even with their bribes and procedural tricks.

    2. Re:Arizona changed the rules by orgelspieler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You realize this is essentially the system the Republicans were espousing in the 90s, right? If Obama had any balls at all, he would have insisted on single payer. Instead, he thought using a page from the Republican playbook would somehow assuage them. He really underestimated their hatred for him. He could have proposed tax cuts for Exxon and a ban on raping puppies, and they would have balked.

    3. Re:Arizona changed the rules by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      If that's true, it just needs to fucking happen already. I see no evidence of this.

      --
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    4. Re:Arizona changed the rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... who used to carry around the letter telling them they were denied because they got tired of folks like you convinced that it was somehow their fault they didn't have the medicine they needed to stay alive.

      Wow, I would have thought them being dead would be argument enough.

    5. Re:Arizona changed the rules by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > Pre-Obamacare single adults couldn't get on Medicare regardless of income. I have two friends with medical conditions that prevent them from working

      Utter bullshit.

      Medicare covers the disabled. Any support group for whatever condition they suffer from could likely provide you with all of the information you need on getting your status and what specific Medicare options are best.

      I know "young people" that get their cancer costs covered by Medicare.

      It's not exactly trivial but that's American social-welfare for you. That suckage is why you don't want socialized medicine for everyone.

      --
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    6. Re:Arizona changed the rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is another Obamacare lie. A single writer at a single Right think-tank espoused a mandate plan. His think-tank published the idea, along with several rebuttals as the why it wouldn't work. It was never, ever, a plank in the party platform; it was never proposed by the party in any bill.

    7. Re:Arizona changed the rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People on Social Security disability get Medicare.

    8. Re:Arizona changed the rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suppose the fact that Obamacare was modeled after the the health care reform that Republican Mitt Romney implemented at the state level in Massachusetts doesn't fit into your worldview, does it?

  97. Even a broken clock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is right twice per day.

  98. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, that's the first thing my wife did on passage of the ACA: she became a shittier pediatrician. All of her colleagues did too. It was as if the ink on the President's pen turned her into an idiot.

    Much like it apparently did you.

  99. Why did you have children you couldn't afford? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why did you have children you couldn't afford?

    For fucks sake people. Stop having children!

    The world is overpopulated, and if you can't afford to pay 100% of the lifetime costs of having a child, then don't have one!

    1. Re:Why did you have children you couldn't afford? by orgelspieler · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and if you can't afford 100% of the lifetime costs of running a business, don't start one! If you can't afford 100% of tuition and books, don't go to college! If you can't afford 100% of your health care, go kill yourself!

      Aside from missing out on the human nature aspect of wanting to have kids, your logic is not very good. 1) You don't know what a kid is going to cost. 2) The world is only overpopulated if everybody consumes as much as an American. 3) Whether you can afford a child or not has no bearing on the overpopulation issue.

    2. Re: Why did you have children you couldn't afford? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop. Having. god. Damned. Kids. Why is this such a hard fucking concept for you? The numbers for any of the statements made don't have to be 100%. They just need to be good enough. If you already have food stamps, for instance, then you cannot afford a child. If your business cannot at least be roughly around the black, then don't start one. Your argument falls apart when you use common sense instead of your nerdy pedantry. I bet you were that smart ass who was always pointing out there's no such thing as a perfect circle, flat plane, or straight line. There's close-e-fucking-nough and you know that's what we're talking about.

    3. Re: Why did you have children you couldn't afford? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That may be so; but if your having children you cant afford your probaby contributing the over abundent amout of stupid on the planet.

  100. Re: Libtards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, except when it isn't, fuckwit.

  101. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by MountainLogic · · Score: 1

    We may have the best doctors in the world, but we have a mediocre healthcare system. Both before and after the start of Obama care. Take a look at the statistics here. Basic measurements of performance are cost and health care outcomes. As to cost we are more than twice the average of other developed nations (OECD) and more than 60% than western European countries. These other countries have a broad range of health care systems including socialized, insurance mandates, private insurance, single payer, tax based and two-tier system. Yet they all perform better than the US for both cost and outcomes.. We have surgery and major test rates double other countries. And over prescription and patent laws drive our pharmacy rates to be double the rest of the western world. If we had great outcomes then I would be happy with the cost, but we have lousy outcomes. We have poor outcomes relative to other western countries as measured by any measure include life expectancy, asthma rates and infant mortality. So both before and after Obama care we have been paying twice as much and getting half the results. Much of this is indeed the system's fault such as the very high number of clerical workers in a US doctor's office to fight with the Byzantine insurance system, the perverse incentive that doctors get paid more for doing too much in a fee for service and the broken way we over pay for patented drugs. One the other hand we as a society have each have some responsibility. How many Americans really make any effort to drop that weight the doctor proscribed they drop? As consumer of health care far too many of us hector our doctors into over prescribing and over aggressive surgery decisions. We must be willing to accept that often the correct prescription is to make changes to our diet and not a prescribe a pill. The effects of the waning smoking epidemic is still working its way through the health care system and it would be interesting to see if the rise in deaths are these folks causing a blip or perhaps it is just the leading edge of the obesity epidemic or even the fallout from over prescribing opiods. I still see a candy jar setting on every admin's desk that gets paid for by the company that is paying for part of the health care cost - how crazy is that? One word of caution with the statistics, they are averages. We have a very uneven societies and this expensive health care is not spread evenly. In the US, the rich over consume health care while the poor put off preventive care until the cost of fixing what would have been a preventable/curable illness become massive. Drug costs for diabetes is a big chunk of health care dollars and most diabetes can be cured with weight loss. Again with an uneven society folks working 50 hours a week flipping burgers and no options for time off for a check-up are set-up to fail. Sure, IT and tech workers spend long hours at work and feel pressure, but few of us would be fired the first time we took an hour off to see a doctor. Yes, as others have said Obama care fixes access, not quality. That quality fix takes no small part of responsibility on our part.

  102. Baby boomers starting to die out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'nuff said.

  103. Statistical Significance? by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

    What's the confidence interval on the death rate? Is an increase from 723 per 100k to 730 per 100k statistically significant or is it just random noise?

  104. Re: Libtards by undefinedreference · · Score: 1

    Really? There's a big difference between totalitarian socialism (colloquially referee to as "communism" in the West) and other forms of socialism/communism. There have been many highly successful group that would.have persisted, peacefully, indefinitely if it wasn't for the outside world interfering. I'd argue that socialism is the natural state for humans as they historically lived in smaller groups where labor and the fruits thereof were shared among members of the group according to need.

  105. Quality of Life by Tom · · Score: 1

    The elephant in the room is, of course, quality of life. Which has been going down for a large part of the population for a long time now. Enough years to use up whatever reserves existed.

    The increasing class warfare against the poor and middle class is raising stress levels, causing depression, removing options for rest and recovery (holidays, days off, etc.) -- all things that cause health issues.

    Experts are puzzled because there isn't one cause, there is a multitude of soft causes that are difficult to quantify and measure. I'm quite sure the experts aren't clueless, they just can't prove their suspicions so far because of these difficulties.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:Quality of Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This man. The good life now is faux wood floors in your spec-built house in your ends-with-wood cookie-cutter subdivision.

      I can't fucking stand it and I doubt that I am alone.

  106. Here we go again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Fucking whitey, being all superior and taking the spotlight again.

    whites ... were recently (and separately) documented to be particularly hard hit

    Fuck you, whitey!

  107. Here is a hint. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The death rate in the US is going up, because of texting while driving, and stupid selfies in dangerous places.

  108. Aging, unemployment, expensive health care... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

    are the witches brew that has made this happen, along with the opiate epidemic. If people suddenly realize they have nothing to live for, they won't.

    Not that anybody in *real* power (i.e. the world's unelected wealthy) gives a damn. As far as they're concerned, it's just fewer cattle to feed.

    --
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  109. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, statistically, that's correct. There have been a few occasions, due to strikes or disasters, when communities have lost access to hospitals. Death rates in those communities have gone down.

    You don't think that has ANYTHING to do with people being taken to the closest hospital before being pronounced dead on arrival?

    Hint: Generally, if you are not "cats ate her face off" dead, they try to revive you. That means you are not pronounced dead except by a doctor. If there are no doctors in your community, you will not be pronounced dead until you arrive at the closest hospital that has a doctor, which means you "die" in the next community.

  110. Well, given that it's the Newspaper of Record... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the New York Times, which as we all know is unbiased and neutral in all things, and given that they blamed all the bad stuff in the 80s on Reagan and then Bush41 and blamed all the bad stuff of 2000-2008 on Bush43, surely they blame this on Obama who has been in office for 7+ years...

    Oh, wait, nope. This is the New York Times that blamed all Jimmy Carter's problems on a world that had become too complex for ANY man including the complete genius Jimmy Carter to manage. This is the New York Times that covered-up Stalin's massacre of millions of innocent civilians because "Uncle Joe" was a Marxist and a kindred spirit to the editors. This is the New York Times that helped Bill and Hillary blame all the problems of the 90s on some imaginary "vast right wing conspiracy" (which in any democratic society is usually just referred to as "the opposition"). This is the NYT that supports all Democrat resistance to Republican policies as patriotic and normal but then pretends that Obama is facing some unusual and illegitimate resistance by "obstructionist" and "do nothing" Republicans when they do not happily go along with his left wing agenda.

    It must be Bush's fault...

  111. Here's a clue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doctor's won't see you unless you have a 3rd party for-profit middleman involved, of which has a business model that seeks to charge you as much as possible while denying you as much medical service as they possibly can even if you are entitled to it. There is a reason why any health 'plan' a typical person has is a maze of arbitrary coverage exceptions.

    Most people don't have a legion of lawyers at their disposal in order to deal with these parasites, wages are stagnate or declining while cost of treatment increases, so many go without service even though they are 'insured'.

    If you are younger, you may have a job but if you're lucky you might get two weeks vacation a year, and the rest of the time you are going to be squeezed as hard as they possibly can in order to 'maximize shareholder return'. Intense stress, lack of sleep, and poor diet all increases risk factors for disease. By the time you are middle aged this is when medical services start becoming more necessary, but you are also most likely to be laid off* and have the most difficulty in being rehired, which impacts your ability to afford quality healthcare.

    Is it any wonder that in the race to the bottom that death rates are also on the rise?

    * Anecdotal evidence from recent Intel layoffs.

  112. Wrong, ACA literally saved my life by almechist · · Score: 1

    Obamacare hasn't helped anyone. The "millions of poor people" who supposedly benefited from it qualified for medicaid to begin with. The only thing this disastrous plan has done is drive up the cost for those of us who actually have to pay for it out of pocket and force people who decided that they can't afford it to pay out the nose anyway. Do you remember when Obama was running for President and we were all shouting how he didn't have the experience he would need to properly pass a bill through congress? This is exactly what we were talking about. Anyone with a modicum of foresight would have expanded the program that was already in place to help these people instead of managing to screw things up worse then they were.

    Wrong! Despite my intense dislike of the ACA, I'm quite willing to go on record saying that Obamacare quite literally saved my life. I had no insurance before the ACA, it was totally out of reach, and I don't qualify for medicaid (I know for a fact because you are forced to be evaluated before being given ACA credits). Within 2 weeks of signing up for a quite good silver plan that was also quite affordable (this was in the 1st year of Obamacare, it's much less good and affordable now) I came down with a rare disease that would have crippled or killed me without a doubt. I literally got my insurance ID number while on the way to the ER for the 2nd time in a week. Funny thing, now I had some insurance they decided to do an MRI "just in case," and discovered the infection. Without that MRI and subsequent diagnoses I would have been paralyzed or dead within days, and I have little doubt there wouldn't have been an MRI if I was still uninsured. As it was, I was hospitalized for months with the final bill well over a quarter million, which my silver plan promptly payed all but $500 of. Don't get me wrong, health care in this country is fucked and the ACA can't and won't fix it, but there's no doubt it saved my ass big time. So your facts are wrong, but your premise may be correct. We need to go single payer, the longer we put it off the harder it will be, and more people will die.

  113. Very few people understand this by kervin · · Score: 1

    Also a lot of blacks and hispanics are actually quite conservative. The only reason they are not republicans is that they don't feel particularly welcome in a party

    Very few political commentators understand this salient point. They believe minorities are mostly liberal, or just vote for the person that offers the most free stuff. If that were true Bernie would have dominated that demographic, yet the direct opposite happened.

  114. Obamacare proof? by kervin · · Score: 1

    Any proof/citations that "Obamacare would destroy the quality (not access, but quality) of medical care"?

  115. Blame Obamacare crapfest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What a riot, this "it's all Obamacare's fault. What a crock of shite. You do realize that the GOP had well over twenty years to come up with their own plan but failed at EVERY. SINGLE. TURN. Not that they ever tried all that hard mind you. So, take your "it's all Obama's fault" and stuff it.

    1. Re:Blame Obamacare crapfest by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      So, doing the wrong thing is better than doing nothing at all? Just because you don't know what the right thing to do is, you don't just go out and do any old thing just to look like you're doing something. I voted for Obama. Twice. His plan was good. What Congress passed back to him was shit. He still signed it, and for that I blame him and only him.

      For the record, he only got my vote the second time because there was no good alternative. I doubt I'll even vote this year, given the choices; there isn't one I wouldn't complain about, so I'll retain my right to bitch about whoever's elected.

      --
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  116. Re:Poverty (Is it caused by Obamacare? Who knows) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you'd RTFA, you'd have noticed that the demographic groups with the increases in death rates are NOT the ones the got Obamacare. They're the ones that got shafted by Obamacare: the middle class, mostly white, workers.
    Not the poor.

  117. Re: Libtards by silentcoder · · Score: 1

    Very true, but I didn't expect him to be able to understand the ideas to that level. The kind of people who see the world in stark binaries tend to be oblivious to the idea that there can ever be more than just two ideas in the world about anything - let alone things that exist in between without being at the extremes of either and that those in-betweens are frequently better than what's on the fringes.

    --
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  118. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, most of those 15 million already had health insurance, but lost it and had to go on the exchanges because of increased premiums or just dropped coverage. Only 3-5 million of those on the exchanges didn't have insurance, and many of those were that way by choice (I was in my 20s).

  119. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only people without care were the ones with lower medium income of less than advanced age. They didn't need medical care at that stage in their life other than emergency care

    Citation needed.

    captcha: victim

  120. Yeah, I realize it by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    it's better than nothing. The right wing took over the state legislatures and used them to gerrymander Senate & House victories. After that single payer was dead. Our winner take all political system means you just need to get a small number of people out to vote and keep the rest away from the polls. I don't see how the left can win. We need to take back the churches. That's where the civil rights movement started. But there's no money. Maybe if things get a whole lot worse, but I think the 1% learned their lesson and they'll keep us in check this time.

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    1. Re:Yeah, I realize it by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      it's better than nothing. The right wing took over the state legislatures and used them to gerrymander Senate & House victories. After that single payer was dead.

      Huh? How do you connect these two things? Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for Obamacare. It passed with ONLY Democratic votes, while Democrats were in control of both houses. How exactly can you blame the system adopted on Republicans when they unanimously opposed the bill??

      Yes, both parties have used gerrymandering to their advantage. Yes, Republicans largely retook Congress by running on a platform to oppose Obamacare. Heck, when Ted Kennedy died, one of the most liberal states in the country -- Massachusetts -- held a special election, and Massachusetts voters sent a Republican to fill the seat largely on the platform that he would stop Obamacare from being passed... and yet Congress leaders used procedures to get around passing the bill that avoided intervention by that newly elected senator from one of the most liberal states.

      There is absolutely NO ONE to blame for this other than a Democratic President and Democratic Congress members -- from the refusal to consider single payer to all the wacky crap like the Cornhusker Kickback.

      BTW -- I'm NOT a Republican, and I'd absolutely be in favor of a single-payer system. But Obamacare is an abomination, designed to enslave people to insurance companies who skim money off the top for doing nothing but standing in the way of good healthcare. Democrats have no one to blame for this other than themselves.

    2. Re:Yeah, I realize it by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      "How exactly can you blame the system adopted on Republicans when they unanimously opposed the bill?"

      A. It's the plan previously espoused by Republicans.
      B. Republicans got every amendment to the bill they asked for.

      "the refusal to consider single payer"

      Single payer was considered, but was known before the fact to have no traction with Republicans and would have been branded "partisan". Little did the Democrats realize that Voinovich was speaking literally when he said “If [Obama] was for it, we had to be against it.”

  121. Dude, I've been shown the letters by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    denying them and quoting the statute. My buddy used to keep the letter around so he could show his parents to prove he applied so they'd stop treating him like a lazy ass liar when he had to beg them for money to buy meds.

    I'm using term loosely here because everybody else is but you don't actually get Medicaid unless you've been legally declared disabled. Which is a 6+ month long process that often involves a lawyer. Yes, cancer patients can get on it while they're in active treatment. As soon as they are in remission they're kicked off it and put on the State sponsored low income programs. In Arizona that's called AHCSS (pronounced "access"). It's right here. As long as the feds (read:Obama) are paying for it adults can apply.

    It's not trivial. It doesn't fucking exist. Sorry, but I'm tired of people who've never had to rely on the social safety net telling me it's there. It's not. It's been gone for ages. The problem is folks like you think it's there. If you ever find out it's not it'll be too late. By then you'll be crushed by whatever disaster hit you. I've seen it happen a half dozen times now and it's really, really pissing me off.

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  122. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >> Obamacare just dumped 15 million people into the medical system who were not there before 2010.

    > So you're saying had these 15 million people not been given access to medical services, more of them would still be alive now?
    > ie Better medical services killed them? Because that sounds like what your saying, and it sounds a whole lot of crazy.

    He's not saying that at all. It is completely documented that Medicaid results are outright worse than no insurance at all, you can google that for yourself.
    Most, if not all, of those 15 million aren't on "Obamacare" at all, they were shunted into Medicaid and Medicaid STILL SUCKS! That's why the Republican governors fought that Medicaid expansion nonsense so hard. This was utterly predictable, Obama knew it, lied about it, and you bought it, pure and simple.

  123. Oh, gee...how predictable... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obama swore "Obamacare" would bring medical help to those who needed it, but he lied, and that is documented fact. The real facts of the matter are quite simple:

    1) "Having health insurance" is NOT THE SAME as "having health care". Sorry, it just isn't. The nuking of professional doctors happened just as predicted, more and more people are seeing a smaller number of doctors for a) less time or b) with someone else, usually a husband/wife or parent/child combined trip or c) with someone who is NOT A REAL DOCTOR. Nurses are wonderful people, but we don't call them "doctors" because they AREN'T.

    2) Most of these people were never put into "Obamacare" - Obamacare hugely expanded Medicaid, and healthcare.gov frequently shunted people to that "option". Wonderful! Except it is documented fact available from Google that people with Medicaid had WORSE outcomes than people with no "insurance" at all.

    3) The deductibles on Obamacare policies are so insanely high that for many people "having" insurance precludes their ever "using" it, because they can't afford the deductible in the first place and so never can reach the "insurance" part of it. And this was PRECISELY AS OBAMA INTENDED IT TO BE, SINCE THE POINT OF OBAMACARE WAS TO ELIMINATE CARE FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE WHILE TRYING TO HIDE THAT VERY FACT!

    Obamacare was a clusterfuck of historical proportions, one we will not easily get out of, thanks to the idiot Supreme Court, and this result is EXACTLY WHAT REPUBLICANS AND OTHERS PREDICTED EVEN AS OBAMACARE WAS BEING SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS!

    Liberals should at least have the grace to admit they were wrong in the face of this kind of evidence, but they won't - because "Liberals are NEVER wrong" because they FEEL IT IN THEIR HEARTS. And good thing, too, because they won't get an EEG if they need one!

  124. One Word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obama

  125. Obamacare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "No mention was made of whether the cutover to Obamacare might have had some effect." ...so why, THE FUCK, are you fucking bringing it up?
    Unless you mean to imply that it has had some effect, you fucking conspiracy theorist nutjob.

  126. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Gussington · · Score: 1

    Also, medical misprescription is one of the biggest killers in America. It's in the top three. It's grossly underreported because if your doc fucks up and stops your heart with a bad drug combo it's most likely to be reported as a heart attack and stop there.

    A citation would be good right about now. In my country, a death needs sign off from the state coroner, which is legally and politically liable for it's conclusions. The family can request an independent autopsy, so that scenario doesn't sound plausible to me.

  127. Re: Libtards by Bartles · · Score: 1

    You can't be socialist and anarchist. The definition of socialism is state ownership of the means of production. What you are talking about is a social anarchy.

  128. Re: Libtards by Bartles · · Score: 1

    Aren't you guys cute.

  129. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Gussington · · Score: 1

    More people spending money on insurance is not "more people with medical services".

    So they don't get medical services? So what are they paying insurance for? And how does it increase the wait times, if people aren't using the services?
    Your argument makes no sense.

  130. Re: Libtards by Bartles · · Score: 1

    It's interesting that in that whole wiki, the word socialism is never used, and the word socialist is only used once in refernce to an actual socialist political party. And if you were to go here The word socialist is only used in reference to the relationship the anarchists had with socialists. They were two separate and distinct groups. We've had this discussion before. You were wrong then, just as you are now.

  131. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Gussington · · Score: 1

    I remember reading that the national death rate in Belgium actually went down during the Nazi invasion and WW II.

    Ok that sounds like a load of shit. And a quick Google tells me 88000 Belgians were killed during the German invasion and occupation. Without even looking up the pre-war mortality rate, I'll bet my house that it wasn't anywhere near that level.

  132. Re: Libtards by silentcoder · · Score: 2

    >You can't be socialist and anarchist.
    Yes you can, and many socialists would argue you cannot be a true socialist and NOT be anarchist.

    >The definition of socialism is state ownership of the means of production.
    No it isn't. Who told you that ? The definition of socialism is WORKER ownership of the means of production. There is NOTHING in there about a "state". The idea of the state as a proxy for workers was introduced by Bolshevism but all the other forms roundly reject that. Worker-owned co-ops are socialist businesses. A country becomes socialist when the majority of workers own the businesses they work in. Argentina is technically the most socialist country in the world today since worker-owned coops are now by far the largest form of employment there (and the absolutely backbone of the economy contributing well over 80% of total GDP). Many anarchists reject the idea off a boss/worker relationship as being an unacceptable power-relationship - and find only socialist businesses compatible with anarchism. Many such socialists believe the idea of a government or state is an unacceptable power relationship and believe they should have a say in every vote they are expected to live under, just as they should have an equal say in every company decision that affects their livelilhood and an equal share in the profits they helped create.

    >What you are talking about is a social anarchy.
    It's had many names, anarcho-socialism, social anarchy, libertarian-socialism, left-libertarianism, anarcho-syndicalism, participatory politics and participatory economics are all essentially the same set of ideas. They have very minor differences in how they propose to handle specific aspects of implementation but the key features of all of them are exactly the same.

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  133. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by superwiz · · Score: 1

    And how does it increase the wait times

    The same way "salami insurance for all" would increase wait times in the salami store. It creates a longer line in which people must stand before they can get to buy the salami and makes it impossible for people at the end of the line to get the salami even if they need it to save their lives. This is an abstraction. of course. But if you don't understand basic economics, then why do you insert yourself into this debate at all?

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  134. AMA+Insurers+Hospital+Pharma = Death Rate + by aurizon · · Score: 1

    The crime and corruption in these 4 conspire to increase the death rate through sheer greed.
    It is as simple as that - pay or die

  135. Government and statisitics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "US Death Rate Rises, Health Officials Aren't Sure Why"

    Because the government does not understand statistics and standard deviation.

  136. Wrong metric by u19925 · · Score: 1

    Number of deaths per 100,000 is not the right metric. The correct metric is average age of person dying. If this is falling, we have a genuine problem.

  137. Re: Libtards by silentcoder · · Score: 1

    Now try reading the wiki page for libertarian socialism. Where andalusia is specifically listed as an example. You are failing to understand the concept. Anarcho socialism has been around for centuries and dates back to philosophers like Proudhom. In fact the original meaning of 'libertarian' is anarcho-socialist. Its a French word that was coined to get around the Napoleonic ban on anarchist propaganda.
    Among the most notable anarcho-socialists living today is Noam Chomsky. Try reading his works. You dont have to agree with the idea but you ought to at least understand it before you decide.
    Or read the wiki page on participatory politics and participatory economics for a popular contemporary proposal on how an anarcho socialist society can be structured from Harvard.

    People who spend their lives studying political and economic philosophy see no contradiction in the idea... but you do ? So either you are privy to some fact that has escaped every major philodopher for 500 years or you are wrong. Guess which one is more likely.
    Or to put it otherwise. If you publish a paper proving anarcho socialism a logical contradiction without relying on the false definition of socialism you quoted before (because that would get you mocked) you would receive a dozen honorary phds in philosophy from the world's greatest universities for doing something even a rabid capitalist philosopher like John Locke could never achieve. It would be philosphy's greatest breakthrough in 500 years. I wish you luck but I will not be holding my breath.

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  138. Re:Hello! It's adjustment to Obamacare! by Gussington · · Score: 1

    The same way "salami insurance for all" would increase wait times in the salami store. It creates a longer line in which people must stand before they can get to buy the salami and makes it impossible for people at the end of the line to get the salami even if they need it to save their lives.

    Do you even know how a hospital works? Hint: It's a little more intelligently managed than your local meat shop. Look up the word triage, then come back and appreciate your idiotic analogy.
    Also look up preventive medicine, then tell me how this is relevant in the salami story. I won't hold my breath.

    But if you don't understand basic economics, then why do you insert yourself into this debate at all?

    To try and educate people like you who clearly have no fucking clue...