Cable companies are not an example of a free market. - #119484111 added by Yardie at Breaking Bad

#1 - okamiterasu

Reply +64 123456789123345869

(07/02/2014) [-]

Why Are American Health Care Costs So High?

the guy who wrote fault in our stars explains why healthcare is ****** up

#21 to #1 - misterobotunicorn

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(07/02/2014) [-]

you could have just said John Green...

#47 to #21 - okamiterasu

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(07/03/2014) [-]

If i had said john green, then many people might not have know who he was. however, by attaching him to a recent movie, it gives him more credibility regardless of if people know of him

#18 to #1 - Yardie

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(07/02/2014) [-]

He's pretty much on the money, but still completely lacks an understanding of what free market means. If socialism isn't working, then a different version of socialism probably isn't the best solution.

#23 to #18 - skorve

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(07/03/2014) [-]

The socialism is working relatively well, compared to us.

Free market is like communism - in theory, it's a good idea, but then people come along and **** it up. I recently learned that cable companies (I think Time Warner and Comcast) completely avoid the areas the other work in. Say you live in Florida, where Time Warner does cable (not sure on actual boundaries) - they could charge you high prices because there's no competition because they can slaughter any new/small companies and Comcast decides not to offer cable there, specifically so that Comcast can do the same thing somewhere else. It's an unspoken (or probably spoken at some point) deal.

I know it's a bit off topic, but it represents this: Free market doesn't really work all that well in practice.

#45 to #23 - undeadwill

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(07/03/2014) [-]

Under free markets nations experience great prosperity and standards of living improve

#33 to #23 - Yardie

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(07/03/2014) [-]

Cable companies are not an example of a free market. Cable and phone companies are some of the most Government involved "private" companies that exist in the US.

Monopolies like that can't exist in a free market. Licencing, protectionism, bail outs, all of it done by Government through the use of force. That's a form of socialism.

The free market worked very well in practice. The industrial revolution marked the highest growth in living standards than any other time, and came from a time where markets, although not totally free, were more free than any other time in history. Healthcare as we know it today didn't even exist until the industrial revolution.

What have we seen in recent years? Increases in Government intervention and stagnation in living standards. Correlation does not mean definite causation, but it's definitely a big hint that you need to look deeper into things.

There are many reasons why Socialism doesn't work fundamentally and there are even more books on the issue.

The problem with Capitalism is that people confuse it with Cronyism (which is fundamentally the opposite of a free market despite being called Crony Capitalism by the mainstream), mainly due to the insane amount of propaganda in favor of Socialism. A lot of Socialist and Communist literature take advantage of this and straw-man or appeal to emotion their way to victory.

#46 to #33 - undeadwill

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(07/03/2014) [-]

master race free market

#40 to #33 - freedombirdman

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(07/03/2014) [-]

Excellent statement Yardie, couldn't have said it much better myself.

#11 to #1 - infinitereaper

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(07/02/2014) [-]

thank god someone is speaking up on these blatantly obvious issues that somehow seem to escape the public eye

#9 to #1 - ayumu

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(07/02/2014) [-]

I'm kind of hoping the american white girl society nerds over this book more so that people find this video and get a better understanding of how healthcare works.

#7 to #1 - pebar

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(07/02/2014) [-]