An LCD monitor with CFR backlighting only has one light I think, which is why it is brighter in the center and dim around the edges, more pronounced as the lamp ages.
An LCD monitor with LED backlighting has several LEDs around the perimeter of the screen, so you get a more uniform and brighter screen.
True LED monitors do not require a backlight and do not rely on ambient light, the LEDs produce the light.
I'm thinking OLED was not the proper term either, maybe it is AMOLED?
The displays on some of our pinball machines, yeah even back then, used super tiny LED lights.
They only had about sixteen wires coming from the display, via a ribbon cable.
I'm sure they are wired on some type of grid inside the display, and a computer program sends the proper voltage to get the colors. Now a pinball display was obviously not a high definition monitor. You could see the individual LEDs back then.
But now they can print LEDs as small as a pinhead on surfaces, which might be stacked in layers for all I know.
As far as the pinball displays go though. It was different voltages that gave each LED it's color output.
Originally they were all orange, then came blue, red, green and finally full-color displays.
When they worked, they worked great. But for example, if something was supposed to be purple on the screen and it was showing up as blue, this usually meant the driver transistor for the red had failed, and/or the voltage circuit went bad and needed repaired.
We always plugged in a new display first to make sure it wasn't the display itself before trying to find what driver transistor or power supply channel was out. Heck, in some cases it was the computer driving the monitor that was going bad.
It was cool when they came out with the display panels that could show pictures and animation, but the problems from having those rose sharply.
BANKS
There were employees at banks and credit card companies who got rich by cobbing a few of those trailing decimal points and moving them to their own accounts. Until they got caught that is.
If a bank has a hundred thousand customers, that tenth digit if not rounded up, turns out to be a lot of money for them.
It has always bugged me that gas stations still show the price of fuel with that 9/1000th of a cent at the end.
No gas station still takes Mills, hi hi.
So where does that .001 of a cent left over for each gallon sold go?
Dematerialization and Capitalism
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
"So where does that .001 of a cent left over for each gallon sold go?"
I'm betting you already know the answer. LOL The question is a good one and gas pumps aren't the only things that do crazy pricing. I've rarely, if ever, seen a price tag that had a zero at the end. It's always $xx.99, or $xx.49, or some such thing. Why not just round the price up? I looked that up one time and couldn't get a reliable answer. The best explanation claimed it was just a stupid custom that didn't really make any sense. Some folks say there is some psychology going on in the price, but what kind of moron would not know $14.99 is the same as $15.00? The gas pump isn't as complicated as you might think. There is a meter inside the shop that shows how much gas was pumped. It's all time stamped too. This meter is what is used by the corporation to determine the price the owner pays for the gas sold. Since the price can literally change by the hour, the timedate stamp is critical. That .oo1 dollars added to the price is lumped in with the bulk price and obviously is part of the profit taken from the gas sale.
I can understand rounding errors and why banks are concerned about them. There was a scam in stock trading not too many years ago that left me scratching my head to explain how they pulled it off. All the major stock exchanges are now computerized. Your order gets entered, the equity gets bought or sold, and the debit or profit gets put into your brokerage account. Simple, eh? Well you know that such things do not happen instantaneously. There is some lag due to network propagation delays and other factors. So, it might take a full 500 msec from the time the order gets place to the time your account gets credited. Some clever dudes figured out how to detect those orders and make some trades that affect the price of the equity to their advantage. The crook buys or sells to manipulated price before the order can be completed. All that subversion is done in less than the 500 msec it takes for the original transaction to complete. Prices of equities can change dramatically in less than a second of time, but to beat out the network propagation to your advantage is totally amazing. The particular scheme I'm recalling, if I recall correctly, was between a client in California and the stock exchange in New York, but it could be done over shorter distances too.
I'm betting you already know the answer. LOL The question is a good one and gas pumps aren't the only things that do crazy pricing. I've rarely, if ever, seen a price tag that had a zero at the end. It's always $xx.99, or $xx.49, or some such thing. Why not just round the price up? I looked that up one time and couldn't get a reliable answer. The best explanation claimed it was just a stupid custom that didn't really make any sense. Some folks say there is some psychology going on in the price, but what kind of moron would not know $14.99 is the same as $15.00? The gas pump isn't as complicated as you might think. There is a meter inside the shop that shows how much gas was pumped. It's all time stamped too. This meter is what is used by the corporation to determine the price the owner pays for the gas sold. Since the price can literally change by the hour, the timedate stamp is critical. That .oo1 dollars added to the price is lumped in with the bulk price and obviously is part of the profit taken from the gas sale.
I can understand rounding errors and why banks are concerned about them. There was a scam in stock trading not too many years ago that left me scratching my head to explain how they pulled it off. All the major stock exchanges are now computerized. Your order gets entered, the equity gets bought or sold, and the debit or profit gets put into your brokerage account. Simple, eh? Well you know that such things do not happen instantaneously. There is some lag due to network propagation delays and other factors. So, it might take a full 500 msec from the time the order gets place to the time your account gets credited. Some clever dudes figured out how to detect those orders and make some trades that affect the price of the equity to their advantage. The crook buys or sells to manipulated price before the order can be completed. All that subversion is done in less than the 500 msec it takes for the original transaction to complete. Prices of equities can change dramatically in less than a second of time, but to beat out the network propagation to your advantage is totally amazing. The particular scheme I'm recalling, if I recall correctly, was between a client in California and the stock exchange in New York, but it could be done over shorter distances too.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
Keeping a price down by only one cent is psychological manipulation. $14.99 doesn't sound as much as $15.00 to the mind.
Even though we know it is only a penny, we may pass up something marked in even dollar amounts over an item with the .99 at the end.
However, there is another twist to this analogy also, and it had to do with sales tax and making change for a customer.
Businesses who often sold individual items, not shopping cart full of items, often priced their product so that with sales tax added it came out to an even dollar amount, or perhaps a quarter or half-dollar increment.
The logic behind this was to have less mistakes made when counting out change at the register, and to save time.
Our local ice cream shop prices a single dip cone at $1.83.
Our sales tax rate is 9.250%
They collect $2.00 even, makes the transactions fast and simple, no change to mess with.
Here too the store is making .000725 extra profit at that set price due to rounding up $1.999275 to $2.00
Even though we know it is only a penny, we may pass up something marked in even dollar amounts over an item with the .99 at the end.
However, there is another twist to this analogy also, and it had to do with sales tax and making change for a customer.
Businesses who often sold individual items, not shopping cart full of items, often priced their product so that with sales tax added it came out to an even dollar amount, or perhaps a quarter or half-dollar increment.
The logic behind this was to have less mistakes made when counting out change at the register, and to save time.
Our local ice cream shop prices a single dip cone at $1.83.
Our sales tax rate is 9.250%
They collect $2.00 even, makes the transactions fast and simple, no change to mess with.
Here too the store is making .000725 extra profit at that set price due to rounding up $1.999275 to $2.00
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
I often read that explanation justifying .99 tagged onto the price of an item. I've also read the bit about sales tax. The collection of tax as an add-on doesn't make sense to me. Why can't the retailer simply include 9.25% in the cost of what he is selling and charge an even dollar amount to the buyer? The seller pays that tax on his total sales so that life would be a lot easier without making tax a separate item for the customer to pay. I order things on line with "free" shipping. FREE? ha ha ha Yes the final price does not itemize the cost of shipping, but do they really think I believe I am not paying their shipping costs? Why not apply the same technique to retail sales?
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
There are several reasons the tax must be shown separately on a receipt or invoice.
#1 is for the seller to have a record of sales taxes collected.
#2 is so you have a record of sales taxes paid, which are a deductible expense.
#4 you cannot estimate the taxes you paid from a receipt or invoice, so you lose the deduction.
#5 is a big one, if you do not have a receipt showing you paid the taxes, you will have to pay the Use Tax based on the total amount of the receipt.
Stores that appear to include tax in the price of an item, such as the ice cream cone for $2.00 I mentioned. If they give you a receipt it will show the cost of the cone, plus the sales tax, and the receipt total will equal the $2.00.
Let's say the ice cream shop was still using an old style cash register for the sale.
They would have to enter the price of the cone pull the handle, add the tax separately pull the handle, then pull the handle again to get the total sale.
Electronic cash registers can be programmed so they just hit the button single dip cone, and the receipt will show the price of the cone, the sales tax, and the total all in one punch of the button.
One other thing, I don't know about St. Louis anymore, but here in Knoxville we have three different sales tax rates.
9.250% is for general merchandise and non-necessary foods, such as snacks, soda, beer, etc.
6.250 is for human consumable necessary foods, which include sugar, salt, spices, condiments, etc.
4.875 is for non-prescription OTC drugs, vitamins, medicines, medical supplies, etc.
0.000 on all prescription medications, necessary devices, but not applicable on user desired non-essential devices.
I realize most authorities do not scrutinize individuals for not paying Use Tax, even so, it is still the law. If you can't show you paid the sales tax on an item, then you are supposed to pay it as a Use Tax.
#1 is for the seller to have a record of sales taxes collected.
#2 is so you have a record of sales taxes paid, which are a deductible expense.
#4 you cannot estimate the taxes you paid from a receipt or invoice, so you lose the deduction.
#5 is a big one, if you do not have a receipt showing you paid the taxes, you will have to pay the Use Tax based on the total amount of the receipt.
Stores that appear to include tax in the price of an item, such as the ice cream cone for $2.00 I mentioned. If they give you a receipt it will show the cost of the cone, plus the sales tax, and the receipt total will equal the $2.00.
Let's say the ice cream shop was still using an old style cash register for the sale.
They would have to enter the price of the cone pull the handle, add the tax separately pull the handle, then pull the handle again to get the total sale.
Electronic cash registers can be programmed so they just hit the button single dip cone, and the receipt will show the price of the cone, the sales tax, and the total all in one punch of the button.
One other thing, I don't know about St. Louis anymore, but here in Knoxville we have three different sales tax rates.
9.250% is for general merchandise and non-necessary foods, such as snacks, soda, beer, etc.
6.250 is for human consumable necessary foods, which include sugar, salt, spices, condiments, etc.
4.875 is for non-prescription OTC drugs, vitamins, medicines, medical supplies, etc.
0.000 on all prescription medications, necessary devices, but not applicable on user desired non-essential devices.
I realize most authorities do not scrutinize individuals for not paying Use Tax, even so, it is still the law. If you can't show you paid the sales tax on an item, then you are supposed to pay it as a Use Tax.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
When I lived in Illinois I would buy things off the Internet tax free. While there was no specific legislation (yet) for Internet purchases, the State of Illinois expected it's citizens to pay the tax not collected by the Internet stores. Nobody did, of course,, and that got the state IRS upset. They attached some very nasty warnings on the tax forms informing the citizens to pay up or else. Or else what was never stated. Part of the problem for me was that I didn't keep track of what I bought on the Internet. No problem, says the state. Just pull a number out of thin air and we will accept that. OR, go to the tables and pay the estimated tax that people in your income bracket would likely pay. After they issued the warnings, there was an amazing increase in revenue. So much of an increase that they put off some planned tax raising legislation for a few years because of what they were taking in from that heretofore uncollected Use Tax. As you must know, there are now laws that require the virtual sellers to assess that tax so that I no longer have to make any estimates.
I know at one time sales tax was a deduction allowed on the federal forms. It was my understanding that deduction was eliminated a long time ago, along with a few others. Be that as it may, I still think eliminating the Use Tax and adding a Sales Tax in it's place would be a lot more efficient. The big advantage is that it would put the burden of paying the tax on the seller not the buyer.
I never looked into the tax rates here but they are multi-tiered. There are at least two levels when I shop at Schnucks, possibly more. I tend to ignore that kind of thing because it's one of the two things in lfe over which humans have no control.
I know at one time sales tax was a deduction allowed on the federal forms. It was my understanding that deduction was eliminated a long time ago, along with a few others. Be that as it may, I still think eliminating the Use Tax and adding a Sales Tax in it's place would be a lot more efficient. The big advantage is that it would put the burden of paying the tax on the seller not the buyer.
I never looked into the tax rates here but they are multi-tiered. There are at least two levels when I shop at Schnucks, possibly more. I tend to ignore that kind of thing because it's one of the two things in lfe over which humans have no control.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
I think sales tax deductions are now included in the standard deduction.
However, a business is different, and 90% of my major purchases are for business.
I pay sales tax on the ingredients I buy to make my product, because by doing so it just enough to cover what use tax I would owe on the bottles, caps, and cartons. Saves a lot of paperwork.
TN does not have a personal income tax, but they make up for it in excessive sales taxes and other taxes.
Businesses do have to pay TN income tax though.
However, a business is different, and 90% of my major purchases are for business.
I pay sales tax on the ingredients I buy to make my product, because by doing so it just enough to cover what use tax I would owe on the bottles, caps, and cartons. Saves a lot of paperwork.
TN does not have a personal income tax, but they make up for it in excessive sales taxes and other taxes.
Businesses do have to pay TN income tax though.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
The sad reality is that nothing is without cost. Tennessee must spend money to provide it's services just like any other state or business. The state governments have the advantage of picking the sources of their income. This is a good idea in my opinion because the demographics of each state is different. Farmers should not have to pay the same taxes as city folks for example. I may be naive, but I don't think taxes need to be so complicated. They say flat taxes are not fair to everybody, but I think they are talking about the wealthy having to pay where they don't have to now. Right. That's not fair at all.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
Hard for me to get my head around that one, simply because I've been on both ends of the equation, well close anyhow.
But the way taxes are set up right now, they really hurt the poor and lower class folks the most, while mean nothing to the wealthy.
By that same token, I don't think the wealthy should be taxed higher simply because they are wealthy.
A flat tax based solely on income does make a lot of sense though.
I don't see it as unfair since everyone is taxed at exactly the same tax rate.
But what throws a wrench into the works, is one person pay invest 500 dollars to earn a dime, while another investing 500 dollars may earn 100 dollars. That investment could be actual labor or cash. Is it fair to tax the man who worked 500 hours for a dime, the same as the man who worked 500 hours for 100 dollars, they both put in the same amount of hours.
The way things are now, they tax the money you earn, tax it again when you spend it, and if you buy something worth keeping, they tax that yearly.
If you made 500,000 dollars a year, would you care if they raised the tax on a gallon of milk to 30 bucks?
How about if you only make 10,000 dollars a year, how much would that 30 dollar tax affect you?
The government uses high taxes to control the poor from buying things the rich can enjoy because the tax is meaningless to them based on their income level.
This is what is really not fair at all!
But the way taxes are set up right now, they really hurt the poor and lower class folks the most, while mean nothing to the wealthy.
By that same token, I don't think the wealthy should be taxed higher simply because they are wealthy.
A flat tax based solely on income does make a lot of sense though.
I don't see it as unfair since everyone is taxed at exactly the same tax rate.
But what throws a wrench into the works, is one person pay invest 500 dollars to earn a dime, while another investing 500 dollars may earn 100 dollars. That investment could be actual labor or cash. Is it fair to tax the man who worked 500 hours for a dime, the same as the man who worked 500 hours for 100 dollars, they both put in the same amount of hours.
The way things are now, they tax the money you earn, tax it again when you spend it, and if you buy something worth keeping, they tax that yearly.
If you made 500,000 dollars a year, would you care if they raised the tax on a gallon of milk to 30 bucks?
How about if you only make 10,000 dollars a year, how much would that 30 dollar tax affect you?
The government uses high taxes to control the poor from buying things the rich can enjoy because the tax is meaningless to them based on their income level.
This is what is really not fair at all!
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
In my view a flat tax would be a percentage of some base; earned income would be a great base. Unearned income might get a different rate, but it too should be flat no matter who earns it. My idea of an equitable tax would eliminate the tax on milk, and everything else. If you earn an income, you would send the government, say, 2% of your earnings. That would be the only source of income for the government and the only tax the citizens would pay. The people living below the poverty level would pay the same 2% as Jeff Besos gets from his Amazon income. So yeah, maybe it's unfair to make people pay taxes when they never had to before. But what's fair is fair in my book.
BTW, there are progressive thinkers in congress today who would tax the "rich" just because they are rich. That attitude is the result of the exploitation and corruption so prevalent in governments these days. Only people of wealth and influence seem to be able to be elected to office. Of course they would have their own interests in mind when creating legislation. The people on the other end of the spectrum feel exploited whether they are or not. So I'm thinking a flat tax rate would equalize things, which is why it will never happen.
BTW, there are progressive thinkers in congress today who would tax the "rich" just because they are rich. That attitude is the result of the exploitation and corruption so prevalent in governments these days. Only people of wealth and influence seem to be able to be elected to office. Of course they would have their own interests in mind when creating legislation. The people on the other end of the spectrum feel exploited whether they are or not. So I'm thinking a flat tax rate would equalize things, which is why it will never happen.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
There is a rich village in St. Louis County called the Village of Country Life Acres, and they were responsible for a short lived town named New Memphis in the early 1970's out in Franklin County I think it was.
It was a four tiered class oriented town which provided for poverty, low, middle, and upper class homes.
Their plan actually was quite awesome and designed to help pull those in poverty up without stifling the upper class.
Naturally they had no control over state and federal income taxes. But local and city expenses were handled almost like a co-op. In order for it to work as they wanted, they needed their own school district which they managed to get also.
Regarding the schools, if you had no children, you paid no school tax.
If your children were grown and/or not attending college, when they graduated from HS no more school tax.
But, even if they went away to college, as long as they were in a school anywhere, you still had to pay the school tax.
If I recall, those in the Poverty tier received a monthly assistance check from the city.
Those in the Low tier paid 1% of income. Middle tier paid 1-1/2% of income, and those in the Upper tier paid 2% of income to the city. There were no real estate taxes or any other taxes paid to the city.
And since this was experimental city, I believe the county real estate tax was also minimal, since it did not include school tax or public service taxes.
The people who lived in the city paid no sales taxes, the city handled that with the state themselves.
I was only like 25 years old at the time, so never really looked into how the city really worked.
People on the outside called it a private commune or a communist run city, hi hi.
But I worked with an older fellow for a couple of years who lived there and he loved it.
The city took care of almost everything if you wanted them too, certain options cost a little more on your tax, but well worth it. Like if you didn't want to mow your grass yourself or take care of your yard, you could opt for a 1/4% tax to let the city landscape company take care of it. If you want the exterior of your home maintained by the city, that was another 1/4% tax at middle tier level, less for low tier, and more for upper tier, but then too they had less or more lawns and maintenance.
Looking back on this now, sorta seems like how Condo's work, except in a Condo you can't maintain your own house.
It was a four tiered class oriented town which provided for poverty, low, middle, and upper class homes.
Their plan actually was quite awesome and designed to help pull those in poverty up without stifling the upper class.
Naturally they had no control over state and federal income taxes. But local and city expenses were handled almost like a co-op. In order for it to work as they wanted, they needed their own school district which they managed to get also.
Regarding the schools, if you had no children, you paid no school tax.
If your children were grown and/or not attending college, when they graduated from HS no more school tax.
But, even if they went away to college, as long as they were in a school anywhere, you still had to pay the school tax.
If I recall, those in the Poverty tier received a monthly assistance check from the city.
Those in the Low tier paid 1% of income. Middle tier paid 1-1/2% of income, and those in the Upper tier paid 2% of income to the city. There were no real estate taxes or any other taxes paid to the city.
And since this was experimental city, I believe the county real estate tax was also minimal, since it did not include school tax or public service taxes.
The people who lived in the city paid no sales taxes, the city handled that with the state themselves.
I was only like 25 years old at the time, so never really looked into how the city really worked.
People on the outside called it a private commune or a communist run city, hi hi.
But I worked with an older fellow for a couple of years who lived there and he loved it.
The city took care of almost everything if you wanted them too, certain options cost a little more on your tax, but well worth it. Like if you didn't want to mow your grass yourself or take care of your yard, you could opt for a 1/4% tax to let the city landscape company take care of it. If you want the exterior of your home maintained by the city, that was another 1/4% tax at middle tier level, less for low tier, and more for upper tier, but then too they had less or more lawns and maintenance.
Looking back on this now, sorta seems like how Condo's work, except in a Condo you can't maintain your own house.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
That's quite the social experiment you describe. Essentially it does appear to be socialistic, but not run by an autocrat. That makes all the difference in the world. Of course if they were truly independent from federal and local support, things might not have gone so well. But I do like the concept. I never realized Missouri folks could be so progressive.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
In essence, you had the same thing up near Chicago in Oak Brook. Part of Oak Brook was controlled by a single private individual. Name might have been Bill Bevridge unless that was the Memphis guy. Been many years ago when I was living there in Oak Brook, and that was only for six months. But everything was taken care of from building maintenance to landscaping and mowing. Just like Condo's of today.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
They have places for seniors that are run along the same lines. It's kind of like assisted living where you live in a condo and all the work is done for you by the management. The communities are usually well planned with recreational facilities and transportation for those who can't drive. I'm not sure about the finances, but it's something like you have to sign over all your assets to the management. Then they will take care of you forever or until you die, whichever comes first. I've always thought the government could be run the same way. I'd work for a stipend and let them take the bulk of it if they provided me for everything I needed. You know, like America being one super big nursing home. LOL
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
The seniors complex my mom lived in was over 3,000 dollars a month. She sold her house in order to live there, and ran through all of that money, so us kids pitched in to keep her there since she only had a few more months to live.
Another friend did like you suggested, went into a state run nursing home who took all of her assets. She really didn't have all that much, but needed a bit more than assisted care, thus the reason for a nursing home. There was really no reason she shouldn't live another five years at least. But she died within 8 months. It death certificate shows her liver failed, yet she never looked jaundiced to anyone.
Socialism doesn't work for very long. Only until they run out of other peoples money.
Another friend did like you suggested, went into a state run nursing home who took all of her assets. She really didn't have all that much, but needed a bit more than assisted care, thus the reason for a nursing home. There was really no reason she shouldn't live another five years at least. But she died within 8 months. It death certificate shows her liver failed, yet she never looked jaundiced to anyone.
Socialism doesn't work for very long. Only until they run out of other peoples money.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
Well, Russia and the USSR have had socialism for quite a long time now and they show no signs of collapsing any time soon. That's not to say it's great to live in Russia, but when you have all the money you have all the power. It's that principle I have in mind when I think of the latest "tax cut" passed by our Republican congress. In effect the law moved cash in the form of taxes not needing to be paid to the wealthiest among us and left us poor slobs to fend for ourselves. This movement of wealth is nothing new but it hasn't been so obvious in this country as it has become lately. When only a few people have the money, and the power that goes with it, that kind of destroys the concept of democracy. But that's just my own personal opinion. It may not be that way in reality.Socialism doesn't work for very long. Only until they run out of other peoples money.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
Wait What?
Russia is not a Socialist County! It was from about the 1870 to around 1922 to 1924 when it turned Communist which ended probably during WWII or shortly thereafter.
Currently and since about 1993, Russia is a democratic, federative, law-based country with a republican form of government. State power is divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
In addition: The way socialism worked in the USSR was entirely different than how socialism worked in any other socialistic country. There are many forms of socialism and to what extent each country controls what more or less defines whether they are truly socialistic or a watered down version of same.
In it's purest form, every individual is controlled by the state, where they live, where they work, how many hours they must work, what foods they are assigned, and what they can do with their free time, etc.
Russia is not a Socialist County! It was from about the 1870 to around 1922 to 1924 when it turned Communist which ended probably during WWII or shortly thereafter.
Currently and since about 1993, Russia is a democratic, federative, law-based country with a republican form of government. State power is divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
In addition: The way socialism worked in the USSR was entirely different than how socialism worked in any other socialistic country. There are many forms of socialism and to what extent each country controls what more or less defines whether they are truly socialistic or a watered down version of same.
In it's purest form, every individual is controlled by the state, where they live, where they work, how many hours they must work, what foods they are assigned, and what they can do with their free time, etc.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
As you point out in no uncertain terms, socialism comes in many different forms. Communism is socialism, for example. I understand what you are saying about the present day structure of the government in Russia. If you truly believe that's the way it is functioning, I have this swampland in Florida I'd like to sell to you. Oh wait, you can't afford that. Never mind. 
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
I have a friend, Andy Davie, you can look him up on Farcebook.
He lives in a country with socialized medicine.
Sounds great until you find out they don't cover most curable diseases.
He used different public funding sources to get enough money for an operation on his daughter.
They had to travel to a different country for her surgery.
The surgery saved her life, but she still has a long road to recovery, simply because it took so long to have something done for her.
Other's who saw his plea's have joined in trying to get the funds necessary to save their children with ailments their socialized health care and medicine does not cover.
Six times in the past four years Democrats have voted down reductions in the price of medicines, and also refused to let folks buy medicines from out of the country.
My 71 year old wife had to go back to work in order to buy some of the Insulin she needs, but doesn't earn enough to buy all that she needs. Also, working moved us up well above assistance level, not that she was getting any help before.
There is no reason for Insulin to cost over 250 bucks a tiny bottle. The patents on it ran out decades ago.
But big pharma keeps anyone from making it as generic by controlling the government and other producers.
Insurance companies do not cover Insulin either. But they cover things that cause diabetics to get worse.
He lives in a country with socialized medicine.
Sounds great until you find out they don't cover most curable diseases.
He used different public funding sources to get enough money for an operation on his daughter.
They had to travel to a different country for her surgery.
The surgery saved her life, but she still has a long road to recovery, simply because it took so long to have something done for her.
Other's who saw his plea's have joined in trying to get the funds necessary to save their children with ailments their socialized health care and medicine does not cover.
Six times in the past four years Democrats have voted down reductions in the price of medicines, and also refused to let folks buy medicines from out of the country.
My 71 year old wife had to go back to work in order to buy some of the Insulin she needs, but doesn't earn enough to buy all that she needs. Also, working moved us up well above assistance level, not that she was getting any help before.
There is no reason for Insulin to cost over 250 bucks a tiny bottle. The patents on it ran out decades ago.
But big pharma keeps anyone from making it as generic by controlling the government and other producers.
Insurance companies do not cover Insulin either. But they cover things that cause diabetics to get worse.
Re: Dematerialization and Capitalism
I think we here in America are going to learn a lot about the alternatives to the current Medicare system come next year and the elections therein. It's a big talking point for every viable candidate and the current administration wants to dump Medicare. We will see what we will see. One of the initiatives in the current congress is to pass a bill that will cut the costs of medicines for us old folks. Nice idea, but as you pointed out already they will be fighting some powerful lobbyists for the Big Pharma companies. I'm not real happy about the $400+ I have to pay for my blood thinners after I hit the donut hole, but I am happy they are manufactured in this country. I'm not bragging about patriotism here either. The standards for medicines coming from outside this country are mixed at best.
People do desperate things when they are desperate. There are a ton of Go-Fund-Me type projects that every bleeding heart on earth is pushing on the Internet. I do have compassion, but I also am cynical. I don't know if I'd give money to a stranger just because they say they need it. I know people in England where the healthcare system is funded by the government. I only know of one woman who said her hospital doesn't dispense one of the cancer drugs that are sold freely in this country. Even if they did, it would not cost her anything. Well, ok, they do pay taxes to support the system, but that's what we do too.
People do desperate things when they are desperate. There are a ton of Go-Fund-Me type projects that every bleeding heart on earth is pushing on the Internet. I do have compassion, but I also am cynical. I don't know if I'd give money to a stranger just because they say they need it. I know people in England where the healthcare system is funded by the government. I only know of one woman who said her hospital doesn't dispense one of the cancer drugs that are sold freely in this country. Even if they did, it would not cost her anything. Well, ok, they do pay taxes to support the system, but that's what we do too.