There's no way that a pigment can cost thousands of dollars per liter.
It doesn't, but the cost to the company is not just the cost of the pigments, it is also the loss leader price for just about every printer they sell; especially true with the consumer grade laser and photo printers. The market has demonstrated, whether through ignorance or otherwise, that they prefer the razor and blades model to paying what the individual items actually cost. This could happen even in the absence of any collusion.
This is BAD for the public, and should be discouraged by law. The "razor and blades" model is what has bankrupted our economy. It stretches one time expenses into sustained costs, prompting horrendous debt. The irresponsibility loss-leaders encourage is easily as destructive as credit industry practices which were recently barred by regulation because they contributed to our economic collapse.
So, we are giving this power to the government? I don't see how they are any less corrupt.
ok, i'll clarify it for you.
Corporate CEO's answer to a tiny subset of people, the majority of which are likely not even citizens of your country, and they profit from your disenfranchisement.
Politicians answer to everyone in YOUR country, including you, and, despite any transgressions you may perceive, if they even attempt to touch what corporations have managed to perpetrate on the american people they will be out on their ass.
Are government officials disgustingly opportunistic, power hungry leeches on our society? Damn straight! They're also the best we can get at the moment, and are subject to public pressure, whereas attempts to petition the CEO's of AIG will get you arrested for trespassing.
Right now, when internet goes down, even in corporate settings, it can take up to a freakin WEEK to get it back.. and that's just in every-day non-disaster type situations.
If the phone service goes out (that's a BIG if, i've only seen it happen 3 times in my entire life) it's never down for more than 3 hours.
Until they bring internet up to this level of reliability, I don't want to see it behind the one device in my whole house which is capable of summoning paramedics.
> Uh, and just what the hell do you think the government is comprised of? Deities who are always neutral and never do anything wrong? It's made of people too, but they're privileged people who are making the laws, which makes them even more dangerous than the free market you so baselessly despise.
More dangerous? I'd say both are equally dangerous, given the same amount of power. But even bad politicians can make good laws. And so long as they make good laws, we have nothing to worry about. If they make bad laws, we need to replace them. Seriously, although they do lots of things wrong, they don't screw up *every* law.
> And are you seriously comparing an ISP's rightful regulation of its internet traffic to robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting?
"Rightful" regulation? "Its" traffic!? It's MY traffic they're "regulating" dammit. If I need to vote for a law to make businesses stop pulling that crap, I will. I'd rather it not come to that, but they started this. They were going to start double-dipping and charging people who weren't even their customers. It's only you crazy libertarians (unlike the sensible ones) who get bent out of shape over this, and there aren't very many of you, given how terribly Ron Paul did in the polls. That, or you're too afraid of the government to vote.
> Could some of you stop giving the government so much power, please? We get it, you hate free markets and think government power solves absolutely everything by magic.
Nobody thinks that, although I've seen a few libertarians where you could just about substitute government and free market and make the same statement. Neither one is good and you need a balance of both. Either one alone can and will screw you.
But you wanted to go on a crazy libertarian screed, I guess. You might try posting those somewhere that people care. Though I'm not sure that such a place even exists.
why did you post this anonymously, i wanted to friend you.
When you remove law enforcement from an area people revert back to their "natural" state, robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting. For references, see looters in natural disasters, crime reports during blackouts, etc.
If you think that's our species' natural state then I hope to Odin you don't live anywhere near me as you sound like a sociopath (after all, people tend to think others will act just like they would in the same situation).
Or maybe you've never lived through a blackout or natural disaster and don't really know, first hand, how people react. My experience with both is that people become more friendly to each other, not less, after such an event. I lived through the LA quake in '92, and for days afterward it was so much more pleasant driving around Los Angeles than ever before or since. People would actually wave each other through stop lights that were still out. In LA! The city famous for its freeway shootings.
You may want to rethink your view of humanity. It's seriously out of joint with what I've seen of the world.
new york blackouts, new orleans aftermath, hurricane andrew aftermath, the entire country of somalia, need I go on.
(after all, people tend to think others will act just like they would in the same situation)
I would not treat people that way, but I've seen enough of it, and enough public record of it, to know that's how people would act, and I'm not stupid enough to venture out without defensive armaments in such a situation.
equal opportunity however is a right. Since even minimum wage jobs now require online application, and you will not be allowed at all to submit applications on dead tree material to any place without nametags on the dress code.
The internet is just as fundamental to modern society as a telephone or vehicle, both of which, by the way, require a court order to be hindered.
Luckily most firm's and consumers hold a marginal amount of market power. Hence we would model the market closer to perfect competition that we would monopoly. In the case of a natural monopoly, the market structure you're suggesting, there is a fair amount of debate about what it's state is, as it can act as either. However, most of the markets for internet access around the world are closer to an oligopoly, where the firms are given special privileges which swing more power their way, on top of being a monopoly.
this is disproven in one word: Microsoft.
there are others too. Standard oil, Mah bell. I suppose the consumer wants a billion different ways to screw you on a cell phone bill too.
Without regulation centralized corporate power squeezes millions of disorganized and powerless individuals for all they will bear in money AND consumer rights.
Uh, and just what the hell do you think the government is comprised of? Deities who are always neutral and never do anything wrong? It's made of people too, but they're privileged people who are making the laws, which makes them even more dangerous than the free market you so baselessly despise.
except the government is bound by a constitution, and subject to at least SOME form of public accountability.
And are you seriously comparing an ISP's rightful regulation of its internet traffic to robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting?
OMG HYPERBOLE, obviously that means my point is invalid, and that people aren't really being stripped of their fundamental rights to privacy and choice, that theyre not being defrauded, that freedom of speech is not being abrogated.
Could some of you stop giving the government so much power, please? We get it, you hate free markets and think government power solves absolutely everything by magic.
No, I believe in the government stepping on corporate toes, and the the people stepping up to the ballot box to make sure the government doesn't go too far.
Yep, history sure has shown how pure, fair, reliable, trustworthy, and incorruptible the government is. Uh-huh.
Let's ask the millions of jobless about which they'd rather have: ANY government beurocrat or the CEO's of AIG; shall we?
A lot of people seem to allow this to slip by, but the "free market" is composed of "actors", or PEOPLE.
When you remove law enforcement from an area people revert back to their "natural" state, robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting. For references, see looters in natural disasters, crime reports during blackouts, etc.
In the marketplace, without regulation, people with more power will perpetrate this in people with less.
People who provide internet services will abuse any way they can to gain more money, power, and control. (the same goes for software, medical insurance, mass media, commodities, you name it)
Gold bid raid leader DC'd on us we had a 70450g pot and its gone, its unlikely he will return tonight (name: presadin). He came on 40 minutes after I made this ticket and is not answering our whispers, this is officially a scam, the gold needs to be properly distributed as an even share among the members of raid ID 10981080 who were present at 9:30 PM server time. Thank you.
you mean the emdails which were supposedly extracted from stolen data which cannot be confirmed? At best it's cherry picking, more likely it's merely fabricated.
Where were these hackers before cap and trade hit congress? How much were they paid under the table by the most egregious polluters in the US?
If you want to offer different and valid interpretations of data, or point out the possibility of selection bias, it's one thing, but you can't cite "conveniently unconfirmed" exceperts from data breached at a suspiciously convenient time to back your position and expect not to be called on it.
Another inflammatory headline that anti government jackholes will rally around without bothering to read or think about.
This sin't about just siezing computers without warrent, this isn't about grabbingh people off the street, and this isn't about lies to cover an agenda.
This is about the definition of 'found in plain sight' during a computer investigation. In the case they want to get reviewed the law enforcement officials open a spread sheet they had a warrant to look at, and happened to scroll over in the spread sheet. The court said that's not the same as in plain sight; which is ridiculous.
What, exactly, is unreasonable about this observation? People are positively EXPLODING with blind, frothing rage over a fine-grained court case which has not even filtered to the supreme court. The headline is highly misleading, and it's an utter travesty the blurb made it to the front page of slashdot without editors toning down the utter partisan hackery.
I wish I had not spent my final mod point on that hilarious post a few hours ago..
This is one of the most insightful posts i've seen in a political thread in a very long time.
Therefore all votes are evil? So we shouldn't express an opinion at all then?
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
no, its not. If you were to remove the strict majority requirement from the US system it would pave the way for viable multi-party legislation and presidency. People could then feel comfortable voting for other parties knowing they would not have bureaucratic bodies deciding who is the president every single election.
What's a thug? Somebody who uses violence and intimidation to get his way. (In the case of politics, it's not necessarily physical violence.) Things like flag@whitehouse.gov and the "Fox news are partisan hacks!!" and the "Rush Limbaugh is a partisan hack!!" and such diversions from the white house press office. If administration bullying doesn't count for some reason, look back to April and Obama's remarks to Rep. DeFazio (a Democrat who voted against the stimulus): "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."
Now hurry up and mod me Troll again, you partisan hacks.
The right wing has fought dirty in this manner for decades now. Finally a democratic administration manages to fumble the same boxing gloves onto their hands and you proclaim it heresy, as if it's something new and savage.
The right was the one which chose to go below the belt. The democrats tried to play it "honorably" for decades and continued to lose big. I still don't think they're doing nearly as good a job as republicans at playing dirty with political traps, fallacy, selective truth, and outright fabrication, but even standing up and saying "just wait one second!" is a start.
Then fix it. Drop the interstate barriers and let people get insurance from an company across the continent. That will solve these problems w/o need to resort to a government takeover of my damn body
Fuck.
no it wont, the exemption is NATIONAL, all it will do is make the price fixing and collusion NATIONAL, and we all know how very "competitive" the cell phone industry is.. theyre national and FAR less corrupt.
If you've studied your economics you'll understand that without government intervention, there are always large numbers of people who will go UNSERVED otherwise. This is fine for luxuries like television and vehicles, but NOT for freakin medical care.
'm sorry to hear you are sick, but you already have government help (that's what safety nets are for).
no i don't. I don't get shit from the government. In order to qualify I need to either: A - be over 65 B - have knocked someone up and made them spit out a kid
I don't qualify for either. I suppose you would suggest I do something as stupid as have a kid amidst the financial ruin my medical condition has wrought?
YOU LIVE IN A DREAM WORLD, and what's worse you're desperately, DESPERATELY trying to rationalize your inhumanity to your fellow american citizens and their need for medical care and your refusal to bear the inconvenience of a few dinners out a year in taxes... i mean "OH, EM, GEE.. you might have to HELP your fellow americans!!"
And.. apparently your "body" is made out of greenbacks..
But what the heck are they doing taxing R&D and manufacturing companies for?
My family are about 80% doctors. I can answer this for you. The majority of the "expenses" for R&D come from government funding, then these companies patent it and rake in dough at taxpayer expense.
My uncles in particular are particularly annoyed at the disingenuous claims pharma and medical device companies make about how "expensive" the R&D process is when the expense is on the backs of the taxpayers, not them.
That doesn't mean I think government is better - in fact I think it's worse because it's a monopoly (as evidenced by the fact they want to fine me ~$2500 for not taking Uncle Sam's proposed product). At least with the private market there's a choice - if Nationwide sucks, then I can try Allstate instead. Or Prudential. Or whoever.
Or just pay cash directly. I can get big discounts from the doctors when I pay cash or credit card (it makes their lives simpler). They key point is I DECIDE the course of my life, not somebody like Gordon Brown or George Bush
You certainly live in a beautiful dream world.
each state in the union is utterly dominated by one or two insurance providers. These providers are also excluded from anti-trust laws, so they collude; you're essentially doing business with ONE firm under two names. It's like buying "broadband" in the US, only far far worse.
Pay out of pocket? do you REALLY want to go down this road? I have crohn's disease, can't buy coverage at any price, and have strained the collective finances of my entire extended family with medication that costs more per DOSE than most households pay in total monthly expenses.
Again, your dream world is wonderful, may I please have whatever souped up cocktail of opiates and hallucinogens you ingest hourly?
I'm not biting the bullet by myself. Wellbutrin is the greatest thing ever invented and I've got no problem writing out the 2 cents per paycheck to the FEds or my insurance so that people that need psych meds can get them. Without meds, its just aweful.
I hope you remember this when you think about the healthcare debate. Many healthcare providers refuse to cover or severely limit coverage for depression, one more reason a public option is needed to keep them honest.
Slashdot Mirror
There's no way that a pigment can cost thousands of dollars per liter.
It doesn't, but the cost to the company is not just the cost of the pigments, it is also the loss leader price for just about every printer they sell; especially true with the consumer grade laser and photo printers. The market has demonstrated, whether through ignorance or otherwise, that they prefer the razor and blades model to paying what the individual items actually cost. This could happen even in the absence of any collusion.
This is BAD for the public, and should be discouraged by law. The "razor and blades" model is what has bankrupted our economy. It stretches one time expenses into sustained costs, prompting horrendous debt. The irresponsibility loss-leaders encourage is easily as destructive as credit industry practices which were recently barred by regulation because they contributed to our economic collapse.
So, we are giving this power to the government? I don't see how they are any less corrupt.
ok, i'll clarify it for you.
Corporate CEO's answer to a tiny subset of people, the majority of which are likely not even citizens of your country, and they profit from your disenfranchisement.
Politicians answer to everyone in YOUR country, including you, and, despite any transgressions you may perceive, if they even attempt to touch what corporations have managed to perpetrate on the american people they will be out on their ass.
Are government officials disgustingly opportunistic, power hungry leeches on our society? Damn straight! They're also the best we can get at the moment, and are subject to public pressure, whereas attempts to petition the CEO's of AIG will get you arrested for trespassing.
Right now, when internet goes down, even in corporate settings, it can take up to a freakin WEEK to get it back.. and that's just in every-day non-disaster type situations.
If the phone service goes out (that's a BIG if, i've only seen it happen 3 times in my entire life) it's never down for more than 3 hours.
Until they bring internet up to this level of reliability, I don't want to see it behind the one device in my whole house which is capable of summoning paramedics.
> Uh, and just what the hell do you think the government is comprised of? Deities who are always neutral and never do anything wrong? It's made of people too, but they're privileged people who are making the laws, which makes them even more dangerous than the free market you so baselessly despise.
More dangerous? I'd say both are equally dangerous, given the same amount of power. But even bad politicians can make good laws. And so long as they make good laws, we have nothing to worry about. If they make bad laws, we need to replace them. Seriously, although they do lots of things wrong, they don't screw up *every* law.
> And are you seriously comparing an ISP's rightful regulation of its internet traffic to robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting?
"Rightful" regulation? "Its" traffic!? It's MY traffic they're "regulating" dammit. If I need to vote for a law to make businesses stop pulling that crap, I will. I'd rather it not come to that, but they started this. They were going to start double-dipping and charging people who weren't even their customers. It's only you crazy libertarians (unlike the sensible ones) who get bent out of shape over this, and there aren't very many of you, given how terribly Ron Paul did in the polls. That, or you're too afraid of the government to vote.
> Could some of you stop giving the government so much power, please? We get it, you hate free markets and think government power solves absolutely everything by magic.
Nobody thinks that, although I've seen a few libertarians where you could just about substitute government and free market and make the same statement. Neither one is good and you need a balance of both. Either one alone can and will screw you.
But you wanted to go on a crazy libertarian screed, I guess. You might try posting those somewhere that people care. Though I'm not sure that such a place even exists.
why did you post this anonymously, i wanted to friend you.
When you remove law enforcement from an area people revert back to their "natural" state, robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting. For references, see looters in natural disasters, crime reports during blackouts, etc.
If you think that's our species' natural state then I hope to Odin you don't live anywhere near me as you sound like a sociopath (after all, people tend to think others will act just like they would in the same situation).
Or maybe you've never lived through a blackout or natural disaster and don't really know, first hand, how people react. My experience with both is that people become more friendly to each other, not less, after such an event. I lived through the LA quake in '92, and for days afterward it was so much more pleasant driving around Los Angeles than ever before or since. People would actually wave each other through stop lights that were still out. In LA! The city famous for its freeway shootings.
You may want to rethink your view of humanity. It's seriously out of joint with what I've seen of the world.
new york blackouts, new orleans aftermath, hurricane andrew aftermath, the entire country of somalia, need I go on.
(after all, people tend to think others will act just like they would in the same situation)
I would not treat people that way, but I've seen enough of it, and enough public record of it, to know that's how people would act, and I'm not stupid enough to venture out without defensive armaments in such a situation.
Let's not mention FLIR (forward looking infra-red) allows law enforcement to see through walls anyway with remarkable resolution.
They still need a warrant to use it, but let's just say there's a possibility that what goes on in your bathroom won't just be between you and god.
The gas company is required to pump gas through its pipes, they cannot pump salad oil or dishwater without getting into trouble.
if I ran a gas company, I would TOTALLY pump dishwater on april fool's day.
The internet isn't a right.
equal opportunity however is a right. Since even minimum wage jobs now require online application, and you will not be allowed at all to submit applications on dead tree material to any place without nametags on the dress code.
The internet is just as fundamental to modern society as a telephone or vehicle, both of which, by the way, require a court order to be hindered.
Luckily most firm's and consumers hold a marginal amount of market power. Hence we would model the market closer to perfect competition that we would monopoly. In the case of a natural monopoly, the market structure you're suggesting, there is a fair amount of debate about what it's state is, as it can act as either. However, most of the markets for internet access around the world are closer to an oligopoly, where the firms are given special privileges which swing more power their way, on top of being a monopoly.
this is disproven in one word: Microsoft.
there are others too. Standard oil, Mah bell. I suppose the consumer wants a billion different ways to screw you on a cell phone bill too.
Without regulation centralized corporate power squeezes millions of disorganized and powerless individuals for all they will bear in money AND consumer rights.
Uh, and just what the hell do you think the government is comprised of? Deities who are always neutral and never do anything wrong? It's made of people too, but they're privileged people who are making the laws, which makes them even more dangerous than the free market you so baselessly despise.
except the government is bound by a constitution, and subject to at least SOME form of public accountability.
And are you seriously comparing an ISP's rightful regulation of its internet traffic to robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting?
OMG HYPERBOLE, obviously that means my point is invalid, and that people aren't really being stripped of their fundamental rights to privacy and choice, that theyre not being defrauded, that freedom of speech is not being abrogated.
Could some of you stop giving the government so much power, please? We get it, you hate free markets and think government power solves absolutely everything by magic.
No, I believe in the government stepping on corporate toes, and the the people stepping up to the ballot box to make sure the government doesn't go too far.
Yep, history sure has shown how pure, fair, reliable, trustworthy, and incorruptible the government is. Uh-huh.
Let's ask the millions of jobless about which they'd rather have: ANY government beurocrat or the CEO's of AIG; shall we?
A lot of people seem to allow this to slip by, but the "free market" is composed of "actors", or PEOPLE.
When you remove law enforcement from an area people revert back to their "natural" state, robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting. For references, see looters in natural disasters, crime reports during blackouts, etc.
In the marketplace, without regulation, people with more power will perpetrate this in people with less.
People who provide internet services will abuse any way they can to gain more money, power, and control. (the same goes for software, medical insurance, mass media, commodities, you name it)
b) CRU emails - won't say much more, too much said about this already.
HAHA face is red.
Gold bid raid leader DC'd on us we had a 70450g pot and its gone, its unlikely he will return tonight (name: presadin). He came on 40 minutes after I made this ticket and is not answering our whispers, this is officially a scam, the gold needs to be properly distributed as an even share among the members of raid ID 10981080 who were present at 9:30 PM server time. Thank you.
you mean the emdails which were supposedly extracted from stolen data which cannot be confirmed? At best it's cherry picking, more likely it's merely fabricated.
Where were these hackers before cap and trade hit congress? How much were they paid under the table by the most egregious polluters in the US?
If you want to offer different and valid interpretations of data, or point out the possibility of selection bias, it's one thing, but you can't cite "conveniently unconfirmed" exceperts from data breached at a suspiciously convenient time to back your position and expect not to be called on it.
If the newspapers collude they can be brought to court under the sherman anti-trust act for cartel activity. They are not exempt.
Another inflammatory headline that anti government jackholes will rally around without bothering to read or think about.
This sin't about just siezing computers without warrent, this isn't about grabbingh people off the street, and this isn't about lies to cover an agenda.
This is about the definition of 'found in plain sight' during a computer investigation. In the case they want to get reviewed the law enforcement officials open a spread sheet they had a warrant to look at, and happened to scroll over in the spread sheet. The court said that's not the same as in plain sight; which is ridiculous.
What, exactly, is unreasonable about this observation? People are positively EXPLODING with blind, frothing rage over a fine-grained court case which has not even filtered to the supreme court. The headline is highly misleading, and it's an utter travesty the blurb made it to the front page of slashdot without editors toning down the utter partisan hackery.
I wish I had not spent my final mod point on that hilarious post a few hours ago..
This is one of the most insightful posts i've seen in a political thread in a very long time.
Therefore all votes are evil? So we shouldn't express an opinion at all then?
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
no, its not. If you were to remove the strict majority requirement from the US system it would pave the way for viable multi-party legislation and presidency. People could then feel comfortable voting for other parties knowing they would not have bureaucratic bodies deciding who is the president every single election.
What's a thug? Somebody who uses violence and intimidation to get his way. (In the case of politics, it's not necessarily physical violence.) Things like flag@whitehouse.gov and the "Fox news are partisan hacks!!" and the "Rush Limbaugh is a partisan hack!!" and such diversions from the white house press office. If administration bullying doesn't count for some reason, look back to April and Obama's remarks to Rep. DeFazio (a Democrat who voted against the stimulus): "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."
Now hurry up and mod me Troll again, you partisan hacks.
The right wing has fought dirty in this manner for decades now. Finally a democratic administration manages to fumble the same boxing gloves onto their hands and you proclaim it heresy, as if it's something new and savage.
The right was the one which chose to go below the belt. The democrats tried to play it "honorably" for decades and continued to lose big. I still don't think they're doing nearly as good a job as republicans at playing dirty with political traps, fallacy, selective truth, and outright fabrication, but even standing up and saying "just wait one second!" is a start.
"syfy" ???? Sounds like a freaking sexual disease, shared by gay little bastids who can't handle Sci-Fi.
FFS, if you mean space opera, say so. If you mean science fiction, then use terms that adults might recognize.
EXACTLY!
just add "HD" "Plasma" "Giga-" or some other pseudo-scifi or pseudo-consumer-tech jargon to ANYTHING and suddenly it's 'cool'!.
I think i know where the people responsible for "SYFY" are spending their spare time.
quick everyone, pass the "plasma" shake-weights!
Then fix it. Drop the interstate barriers and let people get insurance from an company across the continent. That will solve these problems w/o need to resort to a government takeover of my damn body
Fuck.
no it wont, the exemption is NATIONAL, all it will do is make the price fixing and collusion NATIONAL, and we all know how very "competitive" the cell phone industry is.. theyre national and FAR less corrupt.
If you've studied your economics you'll understand that without government intervention, there are always large numbers of people who will go UNSERVED otherwise. This is fine for luxuries like television and vehicles, but NOT for freakin medical care.
'm sorry to hear you are sick,
but you already have government help (that's what safety nets are for).
no i don't. I don't get shit from the government. In order to qualify I need to either:
A - be over 65
B - have knocked someone up and made them spit out a kid
I don't qualify for either. I suppose you would suggest I do something as stupid as have a kid amidst the financial ruin my medical condition has wrought?
YOU LIVE IN A DREAM WORLD, and what's worse you're desperately, DESPERATELY trying to rationalize your inhumanity to your fellow american citizens and their need for medical care and your refusal to bear the inconvenience of a few dinners out a year in taxes... i mean "OH, EM, GEE.. you might have to HELP your fellow americans!!"
And.. apparently your "body" is made out of greenbacks..
But what the heck are they doing taxing R&D and manufacturing companies for?
My family are about 80% doctors. I can answer this for you. The majority of the "expenses" for R&D come from government funding, then these companies patent it and rake in dough at taxpayer expense.
My uncles in particular are particularly annoyed at the disingenuous claims pharma and medical device companies make about how "expensive" the R&D process is when the expense is on the backs of the taxpayers, not them.
I agree. Insurance companies can be bad.
That doesn't mean I think government is better - in fact I think it's worse because it's a monopoly (as evidenced by the fact they want to fine me ~$2500 for not taking Uncle Sam's proposed product). At least with the private market there's a choice - if Nationwide sucks, then I can try Allstate instead. Or Prudential. Or whoever.
Or just pay cash directly. I can get big discounts from the doctors when I pay cash or credit card (it makes their lives simpler). They key point is I DECIDE the course of my life, not somebody like Gordon Brown or George Bush
You certainly live in a beautiful dream world.
each state in the union is utterly dominated by one or two insurance providers. These providers are also excluded from anti-trust laws, so they collude; you're essentially doing business with ONE firm under two names. It's like buying "broadband" in the US, only far far worse.
Pay out of pocket? do you REALLY want to go down this road? I have crohn's disease, can't buy coverage at any price, and have strained the collective finances of my entire extended family with medication that costs more per DOSE than most households pay in total monthly expenses.
Again, your dream world is wonderful, may I please have whatever souped up cocktail of opiates and hallucinogens you ingest hourly?
Bullshit. I actually worked for Facebook for a while recently, and even employees don't have this kind of access.
or maybe you STILL work for them and you're covering their public relations ass?
I'm not biting the bullet by myself. Wellbutrin is the greatest thing ever invented and I've got no problem writing out the 2 cents per paycheck to the FEds or my insurance so that people that need psych meds can get them. Without meds, its just aweful.
I hope you remember this when you think about the healthcare debate.
Many healthcare providers refuse to cover or severely limit coverage for depression, one more reason a public option is needed to keep them honest.
obligatory xkcd