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Silicon Valley Thinks It Invented Roommates. They Call It 'Co-living' (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Have you heard of this cool new trend called co-living? It's a bit like co-working, except instead of sharing an office with a bunch of randoms you share a home with a bunch of randoms. Oh, you might be thinking, is it like ye olde concept of "roommates"? Why, yes. Yes it is. As a viral tweet pointed out earlier this week, "co-living", which has inspired a spate of trend-pieces in recent months, is actually "called *roommates* ... you invented ***roommates***." Now, to be fair, co-living isn't just living with a bunch of roommates. No, it's rich millennials living with a bunch of roommates in a fancy building in a recently gentrified part of town. The co-living space is also full of cool amenities like yoga classes and micro-brew coffee bars, meaning you can minimise unnecessary interactions with the outside world. In startup speak, this is what is called "community." The Collective, for example, a co-working space in London, describes co-living as "a way of living focused on a genuine sense of community, using shared spaces and facilities to create a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle."

53 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. Nursing homes for millennials... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think we actually used to call these nursing homes! ;).

    1. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Welcome to the future, we've renamed everything to make it better.

    2. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So... from mom's basement to assisted living to nursing home.

      Back where I come from we only have such programs for retards. Then again...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by sheramil · · Score: 2

      I think we actually used to call these kindergartens.

    4. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by houghi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sounds doubleplus good to me.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    5. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by CodeHog · · Score: 2

      reminds me of the article I saw recently about having plants in your house. Imagine that! you can have plants in your house! only now they are calling them 'urban rainforests'.

      --
      Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
    6. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by zifn4b · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So... from mom's basement to assisted living to nursing home.

      Back where I come from we only have such programs for retards. Then again...

      It's funny you got modded funny because it's pretty close to reality. I honestly hope California becomes its own country then they can go bankrupt with their socialist economy without dragging the rest of the country down.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    7. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by zifn4b · · Score: 4, Funny

      Will somebody please mod this idiot into oblivion?

      Your wish has been granted. We will mod you into oblivion.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    8. Re: Nursing homes for millennials... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      I call it Co-Ride-Sharing

      Is that sitting on someone's lap in public transport when all seats are occupied?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by werepants · · Score: 5, Informative

      I honestly hope California becomes its own country then they can go bankrupt with their socialist economy without dragging the rest of the country down.

      California's "socialist economy" apparently works a hell of a lot better than that of most red states, considering that they get only $0.78 from the federal government for every $1 paid. Mississippi, on the other hand, gets $2 from the feds for every dollar of federal taxation they pay. I don't think this will work out like you are hoping.

      Citation: https://taxfoundation.org/pres...

    10. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The police raided my urban rainforest :(

    11. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Actually this seems like moving back to a feudal system.
      Sure we get fancy adult dorms now. Then they will be company owned housing, then to a point where an entire community will be owned by the company. Where it will take care of all your needs, just as long as you work for them. They will just deduct all the expenses out of your paycheck, so you have nothing less to save, because using the company housing, you have access to bunch of services, that you may not use or want, but are paying for it anyways. So not having extra money to be socially mobile, you will be stuck in this housing, and forced to work for the company at their terms, or be homeless.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    12. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      That is assuming that you are a people person. For the introvert spending a day in an open office, having to go to a living center where you still need to interact with a bunch of people to take advantage of these shared services. Sounds like hell to me.

      This is why I became a morning person. I would wake up at 5:00 am in college just so I can lock myself in the computer lab where there would be no one there at that time, even during a deadline. And I can just sit there do my work alone with just my thoughts, giving myself a good recharge time to face the day.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    13. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Not California, but Silicon Valley. It turned from an incubator of creative ideas and new technology, to a commune where you are suppose to all think alike. Nearly every city has a spot for technology and plenty of jobs, much of them pay almost as well as SV, but the cost of living is much lower and you can live like a human being and not a caged animal.

      Sure your work probably wont be on display on national TV, however you probably didn't get credit for it anyways. But you get to work on new and interesting stuff, and a better life, plus in these cities they will actually try to bend backward to accommodate your needs, as you are the only Middle Class jobs left.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    14. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Companies flee California for a reason. So do the residents.

      An old, tired and false argument.

      You sound like someone who knows they don't have the ability to be successful in California.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    15. Re:Nursing homes for millennials... by zifn4b · · Score: 2

      California's "socialist economy" apparently works a hell of a lot better than that of most red states, considering that they get only $0.78 from the federal government for every $1 paid. Mississippi, on the other hand, gets $2 from the feds for every dollar of federal taxation they pay. I don't think this will work out like you are hoping.

      It only works out better for lower ability people because in an ideal "California World", all your income would go directly to the socialist government to do what's best for you on your behalf. Now maybe you would prefer that and perhaps you can't do better. I can do better than that and have a better life without this type of system because I'm intelligent, I'm hard-working and I have a lot of drive and ambition. I know how to strategize in a free market economy. That's the price you pay for freedom and I will gladly pay this price because that's how much my personal freedom matters to me. It's not for everyone. Being free means you have to take complete responsibility for your life. I know a lot of people in California and many other places are not to up to it. Just because you can handle it doesn't mean you get to forcefully coerce me to support you.

      "Give me Liberty or give me death" -Patrick Henry

      --
      We'll make great pets
  2. synonyms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'The Collective, for example, a co-working space in London, describes co-living as "a way of living focused on a genuine sense of community, using shared spaces and facilities to create a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle."'

    We also may refer to that as a 'commune', 'compound', or 'cult'

    1. Re:synonyms by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      'The Collective, for example, a co-working space in London, describes co-living as "a way of living focused on a genuine sense of community, using shared spaces and facilities to create a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle."'

      We also may refer to that as a 'commune', 'compound', or 'cult'

      I always thought that large residential buildings where lot of people shared bathrooms and kitchens were called "slums". That, or "college".

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:synonyms by flink · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A "genuine sense of community". If it were genuine, it wouldn't require a mission statement. The genuine community is probably around the corner holding a "spare change" sign.

  3. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...it's "Friends"?

  4. Pre-owned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I, for one, am enthusiastic about this new form of living. I'm also quite enthusiastic about my "pre-owned" car, which I wouldn't have even considered if it was "used".

    1. Re:Pre-owned by sabbede · · Score: 4, Funny

      You mean multi-user iterated ownership? It's a great concept where the cost of becoming the next user decreases with each iteration to offset the increased wear. Totally brilliant idea that nobody thought of until now.

    2. Re:Pre-owned by gnick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why would you want the inconvenience of having to schedule car time with 3 other owners? My start-up is different. I'm creating a pay-per-use model where you rent one car out of a fleet. They'll be delivered directly to your location and will come with a driver to take your car to its destination. Ready to head back? Rent another on demand! All I need is a name.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  5. Re:Progressive wet dream by mujadaddy · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...that's not what "progressives" want.

    --
    Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
    "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
  6. It is called ... by Templer421 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Poverty.

    Make 100K a year and live like you are 18 with your first apartment, all your life in SV.

    1. Re:It is called ... by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 2

      Make 100K a year and live like you are 18 with your first apartment, all your life in SV.

      Yes, you can make an informed, rational choice to do that.

      Or, you can make an informed, rational choice to live in one of any number of other places in the country where the salary to cost-of-living ratio is much higher.

      What you can't do is live exactly where you would prefer to live, under the exact living conditions you would prefer to have, for the exact amount of money you would prefer to pay.

      That's a lesson that seems hard for millennials -- and quite a few adults as well.

  7. Re:Progressive wet dream by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Welcome to the progressive wet dream. Home ownership is for the 1% only (and optional).

    You've misspelled conservative. Progressives want more housing and better housing affordability.

    The rest get to live in shared housing, tied to it by monthly rent that is just high enough to ensure they can't accumulate wealth, and just low enough to ensure that anyone can get a 12x12 ft box for themselves.

    Basically you're describing Feudalism, which is definitely not progressive. Its quite the opposite. Feudalism is where the lord maintains the ownership of all the lands and the tenants (serfs and freemen) rent off the lord for a portion of their produce. The tenants, well at least the freemen are permitted to work it as they see fit as long as the lords get their tribute. This is very much a conservative wet dream who are still bitter about having to give up any of their rights to the peasantry.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  8. Millenial hipsters reinvented yuppies by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    News at 11. The similarities between millennial hipsters and yuppies are significant, including the absolute hatred towards them by those that are outside the culture. I feel like I'm living the 80s all over again sometimes.

  9. Re:Progressive wet dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Conservative policies you mean.

    You cons ALWAYS project your failings on others!

  10. Re:Progressive wet dream by TheMeuge · · Score: 2

    Basically you're describing Feudalism, which is definitely not progressive. Its quite the opposite. Feudalism is where the lord maintains the ownership of all the lands and the tenants (serfs and freemen) rent off the lord for a portion of their produce. The tenants, well at least the freemen are permitted to work it as they see fit as long as the lords get their tribute. This is very much a conservative wet dream who are still bitter about having to give up any of their rights to the peasantry.

    The difference here is that instead of a ruling family you have "the government". The Soviets used to have an expression: "you own what you guard". When the government owns and controls everything, the bureaucrats own and control everything, including you. In Soviet Union, the government officials had property, income, and quality of life that far exceeded the rest, and was proportional to their position. I fail to see the difference.

    Have you been to Manhattan, San Francisco, Silicon Valley - they so-called havens of the progressives? They are far more segregated, stratified, with their high castles inaccessible to the common citizens, compared to the South, for example.

    Do not make the mistake of eating shit that's in a fancy wrapper. It's still shit.

  11. Condescend a bit more, please by chispito · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Could the summary possibly be any more condescending? I'm fine with the occasional "SV is silly" story, but do we really need another story crapping on millennials?

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    1. Re:Condescend a bit more, please by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As long as they keep pretending they invented the world while at the same time not getting anything accomplished, we'll keep mocking them.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Condescend a bit more, please by david_thornley · · Score: 2

      Just like the generation before them. And the generation before that. You know what the thing about millennials is? They're young. Most of us old farts prefer to remember an idealized time when we were in child's bodies with our current judgment, and did everything right.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  12. Re:Progressive wet dream by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Basically you're describing Feudalism, which is definitely not progressive. Its quite the opposite. Feudalism is where the lord maintains the ownership of all the lands and the tenants (serfs and freemen) rent off the lord for a portion of their produce. The tenants, well at least the freemen are permitted to work it as they see fit as long as the lords get their tribute. This is very much a conservative wet dream who are still bitter about having to give up any of their rights to the peasantry.

    The difference here is that instead of a ruling family you have "the government". The Soviets used to have an expression: "you own what you guard". When the government owns and controls everything, the bureaucrats own and control everything, including you. In Soviet Union, the government officials had property, income, and quality of life that far exceeded the rest, and was proportional to their position. I fail to see the difference.

    And where did I advocate government ownership? Sure its better than Feudalism, but I'd still rather not have it (Communism originated from a time where Feudal lords still controlled much of eastern Europe like they did in dark age England, Feudalism in England was over before the US even existed).

    Have you been to Manhattan, San Francisco, Silicon Valley - they so-called havens of the progressives? They are far more segregated, stratified, with their high castles inaccessible to the common citizens, compared to the South, for example.

    Have you? These aren't liberal havens. The people who live in SF, Manhattan, Central London et al want to keep their property prices high and the riff raff out. They aren't progressive in any way shape or form no-matter what Fox News tells you. Why do you think multi-millionaires flock to these places to live if they're so bohemian? Clue by four, if that were true they wouldn't.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  13. Re:Progressive wet dream by kilfarsnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Welcome to the progressive wet dream. Home ownership is for the 1% only (and optional). The rest get to live in shared housing, tied to it by monthly rent that is just high enough to ensure they can't accumulate wealth, and just low enough to ensure that anyone can get a 12x12 ft box for themselves. You don't need a bathroom - you can share. You certainly don't need a kitchen - you won't be doing any cooking of your own. And you surely don't need a garage because you'll use public transportation, or god forbid rent once in a while. Everything is disposable... and you're dependent on your betters for every aspect of your life. You won't even have a job of your own - you'll get free money from the government.

    You do realize that you have just described where our capitalist system has led and is leading us, right? Are Republicans "progressives" now?

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  14. They didn't invent Doublespeak either by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    but this sure as hell is it. Folks can't afford their own place, even into their late 20s or even 40s? Not getting on with the kind of life normal humans are expected to have? No problem, just change the name for all your social ills. A tiny apartment with 5 people crammed into it becomes co-living. Millennials now want 'experiences' instead of houses and cars. You're not single and lonely due to your crap economic position, your an independent free thinker. Now get back to work. These mansions, yachts and private jets (and accompanying private airports) aren't gonna pay for themselves.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  15. Re:Wow IT sucks as a career now. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    PUSHING anyone anywhere is wrong. You know, back when I was young, everyone and their dog had to become a doctor or a lawyer. Preferably both, so you can handle your own malpractice lawsuits. Anything else and you were stupid.

    Today we have lawyers and doctors with huge debts for their expensive education with no chance to ever recover any of that in their lifetime (unless they're extremely lucky or extremely good at their job) because you can't throw a lawyer over your shoulder without hitting a doctor. And that's especially true for those that don't really want to be either, have zero passion for their job, actually hate it and only put in as little effort as absolutely necessary, for they will never be among the top tier of their profession and hence most likely lose any position they might have to someone more qualified and motivated.

    This and nothing else is when you pretend that there is ONLY ONE career worth pursuing and that you have to do it, whether it's something you want to do or not.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  16. Re:$50,000 by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hell no. Dead broke people needn't apply.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  17. Re:Communes by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    In the 60s, nobody had a job but everyone had good dope and somehow still managed to make ends meet.
    Today, nobody has good dope, everyone has a job and probably a second one to make ends meet.

    Where did we go astray?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  18. Newspeak by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    Everthing is called differently now.

    Hitchhiking is called Ubering, your granny's bed-and-breakfast is now called Airbnb, mooching off your friends is now called Couchsurfing and living with Roomates are no longer a Hippie-Commune but Co-living.

  19. Co-living Makers in Tiny Houses by cahuenga · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember the first time I heard the term "Makers". It was as if garage tinkerers and fabricators hadn't existed before the vaguely sci-fi Makers had arrived

    And the same goes for "Tiny Houses". They are trailers people.... Ridiculously heavy and expensive trailers

    Rebranding run amok.

    1. Re:Co-living Makers in Tiny Houses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think some millennials are so detached from reality because they haven't had to participate in "reality". The idea of "jobs" has become so ingrained and is so abstract from what "work" really is. Parents of these people are on average very well off. Even the poor are so well off that they don't repair their own stuff anymore hence kids don't learn that you even CAN repair and build things yourself. Some people literally are unaware that you don't have to go to a store to get things.

      Makers used to be every god damn man on the planet that did his own home/car repairs or had a friend that could help.

      Organic used to be called gardening, but then everyone spent all their money on Starbucks coffee and can't afford a yard so they have to have someone else grow it.

      Jobs used to not be so abstract. Now Jobs = I do my assigned task and collect $ and expect someone else to handle all other unrelated tasks.

      Cooking a regular meal is apparently so impressive that it is worthy of pictures and sharing with friends. Wtf. Its something people used to do around 3 times a day or 1,000 times a year. Now its practically a miracle for a millenial to cook a meal. I am sure there is some new term for cooking food too.

      Society used to be about well rounded people and families that could somewhat self sustain. These people had more knowledge than their job requirements and what was on TV/netflix yesterday. Now 90% of the people on the coasts would probably die if new shipments of food and supplies didn't appear on store shelves every day. I'm not talking about "prepping". I'm just talking basic "hmmm, what could I do about this" type skills.

      People are reinventing these words because they are SO IGNORANT that they literally don't understand basic things that every man knew by the time he was in his twenties 30 years ago. Its making me sick just thinking about this.

  20. Re:Progressive wet dream by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

    You're such a brainwashed trumpflake rethuglikkkan tool.

    BBBBBZZZZZTTTT

    Did you hear that? The period bell just rang. Better get going to your next class. Don't want to get a citation from the hall monitor. (I've heard those things stay on your record even after you make it to high school. Don't chance it.)

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  21. Re:Wow IT sucks as a career now. by ErichTheRed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lawyers are a good example of your complaint, but not doctors...not by a long shot. Doctors were smart enough to create professional organizations that actually have teeth. Through these orgs, they pay for the laws that will keep them employed when every other knowledge job is done by automation.

    Part of the reason why it's so hard to become a doctor is that the supply of medical school slots is closely protected. The Bar Association did the reverse and allowed tons of new law schools to open up, resulting in those lawyers with unrecoverable debts because there just isn't enough work to go around anymore. Becoming a doctor requires the closest thing possible to a photographic memory even to pass the MCAT, and you have to be even more hard-wired in an academic mode to make it through the classroom part of the training. So yeah, if my kids are capable of it I would certainly encourage them to at least try...I don't know of any non-rich doctors in the US!

  22. Re:Wow IT sucks as a career now. by umghhh · · Score: 2

    STEM != IT

  23. What will they think of next? by Maritz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Shoes, maybe? Perhaps they'll invent things you can put on your head if it's cold, or something.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  24. I call it "Rent Hacking" by TheNarrator · · Score: 2

    It's this super cool way where you hack your monthly rent bill by having other people live in the same house!

  25. Ugh... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 2

    Look dude, it's quite obvious you hate silicon valley and millenials, plus the idea of gentrification, but this is nothing really new nor recent, much less exclusive to millenials or silicon valley. Including the renaming of the idea or separation from stuff like frat houses, roommates or student dormitories.

    Think you are some sort of genius for making the association? Think again.

    Co-living and other shared styles of housing have been around since early 20th century in one form or another, in several different countries if you didn't know about it including Japan, Denmark, and others.
    It's far from being a Silicon Valley thing, and it's targeted towards single people who just graduated and are looking for jobs or just started working, particularly in urban areas where rent is cost prohibitive.

    And neither the idea of having ammenities in commonground areas, the gentrification part, positive spins or the general philosophy of it is anything new. It's just how the market works. This is ad targetting. It passes a specific image not only of what you should expect of the space you'll be living in, but also of people landlords are looking for in tenants.

    While some people might find this kinda fake or stupid, it's actually not. Saves a whole lot of money and time, plus it's a very effective marketing strategy. And more importantly, this isn't so dissimilar to things like stars and categorization of hotels, vacation spots, and whatnot.

  26. Re:Wow IT sucks as a career now. by retchdog · · Score: 2

    yeah, doctors formed the only successful labor union in the united states, and republicans can't stop slobbering on their knobs (possibly just because they're rich?). go figure. the irony is killing people. literally.

    --
    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  27. Re:Progressive wet dream by AnyoneEB · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is a very clear divide between progressives and establishment democrats at the municipal level. I live in Seattle, which isn't one of the cities you list but has similar problems of officially being controlled by the "liberal" party but the municipal policy effectively greatly favoring current land-owners over renters (according to this site, 46% of the population, but likely non-citizens are overrepresented as Seattle has a lot of immigrants), homeless, and future residents.

    Because Washington state has top-two primaries (instead of Democrat and Republican party primaries), this divide is very visible in Seattle politics, especially in our mayoral race last week where the primary had the eventual winner establishment candidate Jenny Durkan with 28% of the vote and the two leading progressive candidates each with 17% of the vote (and another with 12% of the vote; if only we had ranked choice primaries...). One of the main issues was that Durkan wanted to zone for less new housing and slower. And she won in part because home owners think that increases their property values. But "increased property values" is bad for anyone who wants to live in the area who does not presently own a home.

    If you want to see progressive housing policy, look to Seattle Transit Blog calling for upzoning near any major transit route. Multiple people in the comments put forth arguments for eliminating zoning limitation on residential construction entirely. These policies are not even within the Overton window of political discourse at the level of campaigns for Seattle city positions.

    --
    Centralization breaks the internet.
  28. Re:Progressive wet dream by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 2

    You do realize the overwhelming majority of the 1% are liberals, right? Oh, you just ignored that for your strawman? Got it.

  29. Which is why I left the Silicon Valley by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 2

    A six-figure salary, and you have to resort to room sharing in order to be able to live there. Thanks but, no, thanks. I'll earn less somewhere where I can get my own home and a decent standard of living.

  30. Re:Wow IT sucks as a career now. by cas2000 · · Score: 2

    You wonder why some of us resist the idea of socialized medicine.

    I don't wonder. I know it's because Americans have been brain-washed with decades of pro-corporate and anti-government propaganda into believing bullshit like this:

    "Residents on strike. Nurses paid like burger flippers. Not enough hospital beds. Wait lists for cat scans. Wait lists for hip surgery. Wait lists for HEART surgery."

    Waiting lists in public health systems are for non-urgent conditions. Anyone with an urgent condition will be treated immediately (which also has the side-effect of increasing waiting times for non-urgent conditions). And yeah, it ain't perfect, and there are never enough resources, and our government is bowing to the pressure from american corporations who want it privatised so they can loot our sick like they do yours, but i am so fucking glad I live in a country with a public health system than in some barbaric fucking hellhole of privatised health.

    Priority is assigned by medical need and available resources, not by how fucking rich someone is, or how much the private hospital and the insurance company can make between them with criminal collusion to artificially inflate prices, like hundreds of dollars each or more for simple pills like paracetamol - "acetaminophen" to yanks - a drug that you can at any chemist in Australia for under $3 AUD for a box of 100 pills, and that's without being subsidised by our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme - which American multinationals have been trying to get killed off for years, fortunately without success so far because even our corporate lick-spittle "conservative" (actually, radical right-wing reactionaries, same as yours but better at hiding it) party knows it would be political suicide.

    The weirdest thing about your shitty health system is that many Americans actually believe that it's the best in the world ("of course it is, it's American"). It's not. Far fucking from it. Your system is worse even than that of many third world countries.

    I bet you even believe the bullshit about "government death panels". You know who actually has "death panels"? private medical insurance companies trying to welch out of the bet they made.

    And something that would be hilariously ironic if it wasn't so scary is that you've been propagandised with this shit for so long that you accept it as part of your identity now. It's the identity politics of the enthusiastically and willingly exploited - "Fuck me over please, I'm American and proud of it. I'll fight to the death to preserve a corporation's right to shaft me any way it wants".