the cancer that is capitalism...

[galeniko]

s

[smoothasf]

Marry a dentist

[mass243]

There is no one but yourselves to blame.

Everyone could've joined the more fair world while it still existed.

[polychronopolous]

Move to Cuba

[Raymondo]

There is no one but yourselves to blame.

Everyone could've joined the more fair world while it still existed.

And then we'd eat meat maybe once a week and drink powdered milk.

gee, I wonder why people didn't want to join in 

[mass243]

mass234 what do you mean with that?

[mass243]

And then we'd eat meat maybe once a week and drink powdered milk.
gee, I wonder why people didn't want to join in  

 

[_bruce_]

Expertise is expensive do you prefer a communist who just pulls your teeth?
To change such problems the whole system would have to emphasize on different issues.
In "my" system teeth/health-issues would be well funded but one had to cut back costs elsewhere.

[mass243]

that wasnt optimal either was it.

in that system, the generals and commisars were the 1% exploiting the rest.

True 

[_bruce_]

that wasnt optimal either was it.

in that system, the generals and commisars were the 1% exploiting the rest.

That's it - insert any system you like.
Only option is a focus on individual potential/self sustainability and remove any development of parasitic energy early.

[hrspwr]

 the only 24/7 available in the city, and it was emergency case

 If you had more dental offices they would have to lower their costs to stay in business, thats how a free market should work. I don`t see how capitalism is the blame for your high dental bill, it would seem lack of competition is the reason why things are expensive.
 If you could open a dental office of your own and charge $650 per extraction you would have all the business until the competition lowered their prices.
 I had to have a tooth pulled a while back, cost was $135.00 plus $9.00 for the pain pills afterwards. We probably have 10 dentists in this town.

[flipper5470]

Oh..ok..you want a 24/7 dentist who will pull your tooth whenever you need it pulled but then you don't expect to pay a premium price for that level of access? 

[Coach is Back!]

so, ive had to have a tooth extracted.

the dentist did a 360degree xray, about 8 lidocaine injections-which admitedly,felt awesome,lasted very long-and the extraction itself took maybe 10seconds.

so far, so good.

now the ridiculous news, he charges 700usd for this

this is in switzerland btw.

i know in the uk you have to get lucky to even get an apointment within a month, but its "free"

this is one of the more expensive dentists here, the only 24/7 available in the city, and it was emergency case, my tooth was half open, the nerves hanging out, whole packs of painkillers didnt do anything anymore.

but even at the cheaper ones, theyd charge 300-400 for a tooth extraction.

isnt this somehow wrong?isnt this too much money for what it is?

this is probably one of the girls who took part in student protests some decades ago, about how unfair life is to them.

that is all.

You mean he made a profit? the bastard!!

BTW, whats the tax rate in Switzerland? How much of that does he actually keep as a profit?

[littledumbells]

  Don't call a plumber at 2am and expect a $100 bill either. Would you offer a service and not charge a premium for o'dark thirty calls?

[Coach is Back!]

i went there during normal times, i called him at 4am but he didnt feel like working until 8 am.

coach, the tax rate at this income level would be something like 30-40%, maybe a bit more bc hes a german immigrant, they pay extra tax to german govt.its a shared office by 6 dentists, i dont know how they share profits,i bet they know how to get around taxes, tax avoidance is actualy legal in this country.

ppl, my point is, 700usd for a simply tooth extraction, its not like he revised half my mouth.

this stuff used to cost 3times less in this town.

even if half goes to taxes, he earned 350net for 10minutes of me there.a lawyer got nothing on him,lol

No, he actually earned a lot less than $350.00. You're forgetting this is not only considered a surgery it's a business and since it's a business he not only pays taxes but insurance and overhead. Also, if he does split profits it's even less. Lets say he isn't splitting profits. He would be probably be clearing less than $200.00.....if that. When people say this or that is a lot, think about it in a business sense....take out from the original price, overhead (rent, lights, staff, supplies, insurance, equipment lease, anesthesia, meds, etc), taxes, etc.

[Voice of Doom]

What "Capitalism"?  There has never been a "free market" in history only various degrees of State managed "free markets".

1. Why do things "cost" more every year?
 Because of Inflation.
2. What's inflation?
 An increase in the supply of currency in the market
3. How does that drive "costs" up?
 Because you have more currency chasing fewer services.
4. Who controls the supply of currency in the market?
Government backed private Central Banks
5. Why do they inflate the currency?
 Because currencies are debt based monetary systems without end.  The citizenry give their wealth to the Central Banks to have then loan it back to the people at "interest".  That "interest debt" must be paid off with the same currency.  Since borrowing that currency to pay off interest also costs "interest" the people will never be able to "zero" out their debt.
6. Why would the people allow a system like this to exist?
Because humans are stupid.  Also, because Central Banks have the rule of government force behind them.  That government force is "authorized" to take your property and confine your life to prison if you fail to render taxtion that allows the government to "pay" your interest debt to the Central Bank every year.
7. Why don't the people revolt?
They have at various times inhistory.  The French Revolution and the American revolution are prime examples of this.  
8. Don't Central Banks fear this?
Absolutely!  To reduce popular revolt Central Banks conspire with governments to keep interest rates lower than market forces would dictate.  This lets businesses borrow cheaper than their financial capabilites allow.  This skews the market towards large businesses with political connections.
9. Doesn't this reduce the people's wealth slightly every year.
Yep.  But a side effect of the cheap money is that people's wages also tend to "increase" every year.  This creates an illusion of wealth because humans are dumb.  They tend to think more about their quantative currency holdings rather than the purchasing power of their currency holdings.  "Look ma, I got a wheel barrow of currency to buy this load of bread!"  I'm wealthy??
10. Services are products of human energy but technological advances have helped reduce resource input while maximizing output. So the amount of energy it takes a dentist to provide a service vs 100 years ago is much less.  Yet the service "costs" more.  

Why is this??

[tbombz]

open, but well regulated, markets are the only practical way for an economy and society to sustainably provide for itself.

communism is a very nice theory, i would absolutely love to live in a smoothly running communistic society like the one described in the book "Utopia" (if you havent read the book i encourage you to do so, the society truly is a Utopia if one could ever exist)

but in reality we must use the profit incentive and the market system to distribute goods and services.

this isnt to advocate for  laizzes faire or  trickle down economics either..   on the contrary taxations and regulation are both quite necessary to sustain the economy, to prevent cyclical recessions/depressions, to ensure the freedom of individuals to operate unoppressed and in a system where oppurtunity for upwards mobilization is possible... etc..

[delta9mda]

No, he actually earned a lot less than $350.00. You're forgetting this is not only considered a surgery it's a business and since it's a business he not only pays taxes but insurance and overhead. Also, if he does split profits it's even less. Lets say he isn't splitting profits. He would be probably be clearing less than $200.00.....if that. When people say this or that is a lot, think about it in a business sense....take out from the original price, overhead (rent, lights, staff, supplies, insurance, equipment lease, anesthesia, meds, etc), taxes, etc.

educate em coach

[Psychopath]

Your real problem is not making enough money to afford living comfortably in elite first world nations.

[deceiver]

As a guy who lives in country ruined by 50 years of communism I find anyone from US who wishes he lived in our world incredibly stupid. Go fucking check how cool it is to live in Poland right now, the aftermath is quite awesome. Everything is as expensive as in US and we earn 4x less than you do. What we do live right now is some twisted bullshit not even close to real capitalism, it's more of a "democratic socialism".

I will run away from here to US hoping that you won't turn into the very thing I'm running from. Just look at what you used to be 30 years ago when everyone in your country believed in Friedman and even our fellow bodybuilder-governor encouraged everyone to read his books.

[Big N]

Marry a dentist

Lol

[tbombz]

As a guy who lives in country ruined by 50 years of communism I find anyone from US who wishes he lived in our world incredibly stupid. Go fucking check how cool it is to live in Poland right now, the aftermath is quite awesome. Everything is as expensive as in US and we earn 4x less than you do. What we do live right now is some twisted bullshit not even close to real capitalism, it's more of a "democratic socialism".

I will run away from here to US hoping that you won't turn into the very thing I'm running from. Just look at what you used to be 30 years ago when everyone in your country believed in Friedman and even our fellow bodybuilder-governor encouraged everyone to read his books.

just one correction - you lived in a country ruined by 50 years of failed attempts at central planning and government ownership of big industry. 


simply labeling your country communist doesnt mean it actually is so. just like  the nazi's labeled them selves socialists, while they were nothing but fascists.   

communism has never actually been implemented anywhere in the world. its basically impossible to put into acyion, because it requires complete cooperation by everyone , the entire country and all of its peoples devoted to the same goal, and a mode of leadership free of corruption that is equally devoted to the country and the goal of social prosperity and shared wealth..... all of these things are impratical and leave the communist theory to be just that - a theory.

[MikMaq]

just one correction - you lived in a country ruined by 50 years of failed attempts at central planning and government ownership of big industry.  


simply labeling your country communist doesnt mean it actually is so. just like  the nazi's labeled them selves socialists, while they were nothing but fascists.  

communism has never actually been implemented anywhere in the world. its basically impossible to put into acyion, because it requires complete cooperation by everyone , the entire country and all of its peoples devoted to the same goal, and a mode of leadership free of corruption that is equally devoted to the country and the goal of social prosperity and shared wealth..... all of these things are impratical and leave the communist theory to be just that - a theory.

Yeah I tried explaining that to a libyan friend one time completely didn't get it.


The lack of political diversity in our society is a huge problem, the chinese are revolutionizing the world, by doing what makes sense to them it's dam sad.

Also gdp(ppp) shows that the poles do pretty well considering they started from scratch not more than a generation ago.

[MikMaq]

i see what youre saying with this, but before i adress or even read every point, dont you think an unregulated free market would be a very dangerous thing?

but good post, let me adress this later on

The only dangerous thing is when new political ideas are not being tried, as we stagnate cough  cough USA.

[mass243]

Fukin' Switzerland might be the closest thing to democracy and overall well-being there has ever been.

Fukin' great country. Them must I serious respect give.