Comments for True Cost - Analyzing our economy, government policy, and society through the lens of cost-benefit

Comment on Fuel Efficiency: Modes of Transportation Ranked By MPG by praveenghanta

praveenghanta — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:10:44 +0000

Gray, not sure I get your comment – I have ships listed as having double or triple the MPG of trains – and this is consistent with the costs of shipping via the two methods, which means it’s in the right ballpark.

Comment on List of Countries with Universal Healthcare by praveenghanta

praveenghanta — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:45:24 +0000

Steve, if you’re curious as to how I made the classifications, I encourage you to read the WHO source material, which is linked for each country.

The source reports are likely more accurate than Wikipedia, as these are in-depth health care systems studies performed by the WHO.

With regard to Japan, I classified the system as single payer because it is paid for mainly by taxes on wages, deducted directly from all Japanese employees’ paychecks. The distribution of health care is more varied, but since the government collects the funds and disburses them, that is closer to single payer than to an insurance mandate in my opinion.

Comment on List of Countries with Universal Healthcare by Steve Hirsch

Steve Hirsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:58:30 +0000

Just glancing over your list I find a lot of errors. Japan’s system is not single-payer by any stretch of the term. Here’s the decription from Wikipedia: “Health insurance is in general mandatory for residents of Japan, though there is no penalty on individuals who choose not to comply, and around 10% of the population does not enroll.[17][18] There are a total of eight health insurance systems in Japan.”

How you get from eight health insurance systems to single-payer, I don’t know.

Comment on Fuel Efficiency: Modes of Transportation Ranked By MPG by Gray

Gray — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:31:09 +0000

I think you’re over-inflating the shipping MPG versus trains. This is just a hunch, but railroads tend to be very labor-intensive versus just about anything, while an individual ship is going to usually have substantial scale advantages over the train.

I’m not going to say that the numbers are wrong, but I believe they’re distorted by non-fuel costs that pile up on the side of the railroads.

I’d be interested to see someone try and figure out the numbers needed for a cruise that was comparable in service levels to Amtrak…again, the ship has scale advantages that simply don’t apply on overland transportation in any form (you’d need somewhere close to 100 Viewliner sleepers to equal a single one of the larger cruise ships, to say nothing about dining cars and lounges).

Comment on List of Countries with Universal Healthcare by marybeth

marybeth — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:42:56 +0000

George,
My granddaughter has CP, a long wait is 6 mos – 12 mos. to see a specialist….and I live in the US. I have had the opportunity to work with our Canadian neighbors and they laughed at me when I said exactly what you “had heard.” They (the Canadian’s) don’t pay any higher taxes than we do,,,,,but wait they haven’t spent billions of dollars trying to find weapons of mass destruction, or bailing out the banks. Get your facts straight…..George (hold it is this GWB?)

Comment on The Hidden Trucking Industry Subsidy by Megan

Megan — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:31:02 +0000

My husband is an owner/operator. I see the paperwork and write the checks to the irs. We pay federal,state,and local taxes. We pay tax at the pump as well as whats called a fuel charge back tax every quarter(which is supposed to be for the roads) we pay ifta, form 2290, $1600 a year for a license plate for truck alone. Is that enough? Did any of you “research” turn up that bit of info?

Comment on California vs Texas by Razz

Razz — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:32:51 +0000

There’s a great video that gets at the essence of the California vs. Texas debate, and it’s really humorous. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-5cN8UApS0&context=C3f9a75aADOEgsToPDskL-J2DIkq9y5OUarFYwS5PQ

Comment on Do Doctors Really Lose Money on Medicare? by Michael

Michael — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:38:37 +0000

I think it’s tough to assign “value” to a profession, and I don’t wish to do so here.

it’s an apples and oranges argument. But from my medical/apples side of things, I would say that the term “doctoral degrees” paints too broad a stroke. I’m sorry, but not too many with “doctoral degrees” carry the same day-to-day risk associated with medical practice. And while you argue that “The hardest portions of the medical degree are completely unnecessary…” many others would disagree. Including me. (Not the grueling 100 hour work weeks, though.)

Physicians get what they can get. That much is true. What is also true is that many don’t get as much as others think they do.

Comment on Do Doctors Really Lose Money on Medicare? by mud-phud

mud-phud — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:40:04 +0000

Agree and disagree. I have both a PhD (in Physics) and an MD. The PhD was much harder than my MD. Once you are in medical school, the degree is almost a given. In contrast, the attrition rate was over 50% in graduate school. Unfortunately, the PhD degree is becoming worth about as much as the sheepskin it is printed on. Medical schools maintain rigorous standards. Graduate schools do not.

The cost of medical school was significantly higher. I paid nothing for graduate school. I had a research assistantship. People that actually pay for graduate school need to have their heads examined.

That being said, my life as a surgeon is infinitely harder than as a junior faculty member. I would not want to go to a physician that is being paid $50,000. And there is now shortage of applicants for jobs at universities.

Comment on List of Countries with Universal Healthcare by cie27`

cie27` — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:22:53 +0000

I am a struggling gollege student trying to make it on my own and I have a job, I pay taxes but with my other bills I don’t make enough to pay for health insurance or even a visit at the local clinic. Instead I go to school and work sick, I deal with my pre-existing conditions without the option of help unless I go to the ER and want to see a $10,000 bill. So I suppose that I should find a better job in this economy? That I should do something more with my life? That is what I go to school for but unfortunately I can’t put myself in a better situation for the rest of my life without finishing my education. I have also been a homeless child by no fault of my own and unable to recieve care then, a sick child sleeping on the streets and eating out of dumpsters, I did not ask for that situation but that is the hand I was dealt in life and maybe having the opportunity to go to the doctor as needed could have given me some hope for a better tomorrow. When you see a struggling person before you judge them you should know what their life has been like. Some people do not have the motivation and drive to make a better future as I do, some people watched their parents sell drugs and now thats all they know how to do, some people ate out of dumpsters their whole lives and they don’t know how to be different, some people simply lost their jobs and now have nothing, absolutely nothing and it is not always their fault. Have you ever considered that some of those people in line for welfare and social security benefits have paid taxes and they deserve to get what they have paid into the system for?