IndyStar OP/ED

Interesting fact: 65% of Japanese models sold in the US/Canada were also built there.

 

Nice read, good to see something well-written in the Star once in a while.

It will be interesting to see if GM can ever get to a point where they are selling cars at close to MSRP again. I just hope we don't have to bail them out a la Chrysler in the 80's. Seems to me that billions of dollars could be better spent on some type of national healthcare reform, which would indirectly help our airlines, automakers and other businesses become more competitive by removing the burden of healthcare.

 

I almost gagged in disgust at the whining about the "weak" yen. Back in the '60s, the ¥-to-$ rate was around 300:1. And I can recall the hand-wringing in the late '70s when the rate fell to 200:1. Now it's ~120:1 -- definitely above the all-time low of ~85:1 set a few years ago, but still less than 1/2 the '60s level.

Awhile back I read a story about a real estate deal out west. In 1960 the price was $100,000 or 30 million yen. By 1990 the property was valued at $250,000. A big increase in value? Not if you were Japanese. Thanks to the tanking dollar, that was only 25 million yen -- a 16.7% decline.

 

National Healthcare Reform ?

Sure. Put the nation on a diet. Put tobacco in a museum. Send people walking to the gym.

Universal healthcare will only /increase/ costs in this land of the sedentary and obese. Until people are motivated to preserve their health, rather than expect a pill or knife will fix them when needed, health and cost containment are oxymorons.

Americans tend to respond when the cost is directly felt. When services are pseudo-free, things like the following occur:

I read the other day that part of the reason that the auto manufacturers have such high medical costs in their retirees is because the retirees use an emergency room for primary care. Maybe you want to be part of a social system that encourages that kind of idiocy, but I sure do not.

 

You are already paying for this kind of idiocy through high insurance costs instead of tax dollars. Countries with "socialized" healthcare plans pay far less per-capita than the U.S. because of our wacky insurance costs. I don't see the difference. I'm probably idealistic, but I can't help but think that if we had some form of national healthcare (funded by taxes) more thought would be put towards preventative care, and lowering pharmaceutical costs.

Sorry if I started a healthcare reform debate

 

Yeah, this is a bit off-topic

You are right to a degree. However, the more you distance the person from the payor, the worse things will be.

 

You always pay less when you get less. I've read several articles about national healthcare as implemented in other countries and the bottom line is that you get what you pay for. Services are expensive in the US, but just about everything is more expensive in the US than elsewhere, plus more services are available and average wait time was between 1/2 and 1/5 as long as other countries.

As for insurance costs, I'm paying 100% of my own health care insurance. I left the salary worker world and went into contracting and pay all my own insurance and benefits. The cost of medical insurance is not unafordable by any means. I suspect it would cost more and deliver less if we turned it into a government program.

 

I don't see a problem with this discussion so far - it's civil and a somewhat related topic.

A recent article Russians told to drink less - diet more.

Detroit has to address health costs somehow. For that matter all Americans do.

For the nation as a whole, I think there must be incentives for preventive medicine and penalities for neglect. If the general population moderately exercised, attempted to eat a healthy diet, got annual checkups, health costs would go down considerably. Control obesity and there will be a reduction in heart disease, strokes, some cancers (including colon), possibly Alzheimer's.

Arkansas govenors Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee have made news losing weight, then joining in a bi-partisan effort to combat childhood obesity. Huckabee recently lost 110 pounds, got rid of his diabetic condition, finished a marathon faster than I did!

To an extent, larger people has resulted in the purchase of larger vechicles.

On fuel economy, the "take responsibility" theme has been mentioned - it applies to health.

 

I could not possibly agree with you more. Sorry for going a bit further OT, but this stumbles into the area of what is the fundamental root cause, and I don't think it has anything to do with our actions. It's our attitude that drives those actions. American culture has degenerated into a haven for those who never want to be held accountable for their actions. We want to live how we want and abuse our bodies, then have others pay the medical bills to fix us later on. We want to act with no common sense and sue others when our foolishness gets us in trouble. We want to spend recklessly and have the government bail us out. We want to drive what we want and let future generations pay for our indulgence. And to rub salt in the wound, there are organizations out there who exist to protect the rights of people to be overweight, self-destructive, foolish and wasteful.

I'm really not that pessimistic and hold out hope that America will find its way out of this selfish hole we're in. I hope we will one day collectively make better choices with the greater good in mind, not just ourselves.

 

Tim,

You had a lot of good stuff to say yourself.

I've heard that America has more lawyers per capita than any nation on earth. Also heard (can't prove this ) that about 10% of the cost of products is legal.

In the 1950's the there were 8-ounce Coke bottles - only recently are 8-oz cans coming back after restaurants serving from 12-44 ounces. We have more than twice the number of obese Americans at 23.1% than back in 1990, according to U.S. health gains hurt by obesity, smoking.

Not mentioned much here, but houses have grown. I hear about "McMansions"....