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[Naturegirl1999]

When you could be bankrupted by a random medical issue at any moment, or when you have a bottomless pit of debt to fill in, spending money to keep the economy floating isn't exactly a top priority.

This is a good point, if insurance would DO ITS JOB, things wouldn’t be this bad

[Trekkin]

When you could be bankrupted by a random medical issue at any moment, or when you have a bottomless pit of debt to fill in, spending money to keep the economy floating isn't exactly a top priority.

This is a good point, if insurance would DO ITS JOB, things wouldn’t be this bad

Insurance is doing its job. Its job just isn't to ensure people can get medical care; its job is to maximize profit for shareholders.

[Lord Shonus]

I’m confused why people want bigger vehicles, they use a lot more fuel, and are more expensive. If my visual impairment didn’t keep me from driving, I would get a small car. At least I have a bike, so hopefully I can live near wherever I work

Personally, I don't fit well in a lot of smaller cars, like having enough cargo space to just grab most things I come across at Goodwill or yard sales, and feel more comfortable with an elevated view.

[Zangi]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/big-pharma-raising-drug-prices-even-more-in-2019-3400-hikes-as-high-as-879/
Best Murricah is still winning so much at drug pricing.

I reckon useless stuff is part of the economic engine, also one of the first organs to start feeling the symptoms.

[Naturegirl1999]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/big-pharma-raising-drug-prices-even-more-in-2019-3400-hikes-as-high-as-879/
Best Murricah is still winning so much at drug pricing.

I reckon useless stuff is part of the economic engine, also one of the first organs to start feeling the symptoms.

Are ther any canidates who will actually regulate pharmaceutical companies to keep prices affordable?

[Lord Shonus]

Most of the Democratic candidates are pushing some form of Universal Health Care, which (in any working form) will kill the out-of-control drug prices. The current out-of-control pricing is largely a result of too many insurance companies finding it more profitable to simply not cover prescriptions or to negotiate a "for us" price that doesn't affect anybody else. There are people who have Europe or Canada levels for most drugs because they are in the larger insurance groups that have the clout to demand those prices, but there are far more that don't have that luxury.

Any working universal health care system will have both the clout (from sheer size) and the mandate (to cut costs) to force that kind of price for every covered person, and such a system would cover enough people that whatever private insurance companies remain would also be able to demand such prices because they're covering the remaining part of the market.

[McTraveller]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

[Naturegirl1999]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

Wait...there are anti trust laws not getting enforced? Wow, so much for law enforcement, they are supposed to enforce all laws, not just the laws that happen to not hinter companies.

[Dunamisdeos]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

Wait...there are anti trust laws not getting enforced? Wow, so much for law enforcement, they are supposed to enforce all laws, not just the laws that happen to not hinter companies.

There are lots of laws that selectively do not apply to people with money. Corporations have lots of money.

[Naturegirl1999]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

Wait...there are anti trust laws not getting enforced? Wow, so much for law enforcement, they are supposed to enforce all laws, not just the laws that happen to not hinter companies.

There are lots of laws that selectively do not apply to people with money. Corporations have lots of money.

So the idea of the law applying to all is dead. Liberty is dead, and it’s probably been dead for a while. A question that’s been on my mind is whether we’re due for another r3volution, though it’s dangerous to discuss

[Dunamisdeos]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

Wait...there are anti trust laws not getting enforced? Wow, so much for law enforcement, they are supposed to enforce all laws, not just the laws that happen to not hinter companies.

There are lots of laws that selectively do not apply to people with money. Corporations have lots of money.

So the idea of the law applying to all is dead. Liberty is dead, and it’s probably been dead for a while. A question that’s been on my mind is whether we’re due for another r3volution, though it’s dangerous to discuss

I mean

If someone was going to bust down our doors for the things we say here, it would have happened a very long time ago. But yes, it is frustrating when wealthy folks get a free pass out of legal consequences.

[hector13]

Or, you know, we could actually enforce the existing antitrust laws...

Wait...there are anti trust laws not getting enforced? Wow, so much for law enforcement, they are supposed to enforce all laws, not just the laws that happen to not hinter companies.

There are lots of laws that selectively do not apply to people with money. Corporations have lots of money.

So the idea of the law applying to all is dead. Liberty is dead, and it’s probably been dead for a while. A question that’s been on my mind is whether we’re due for another r3volution, though it’s dangerous to discuss

I mean

If someone was going to bust down our doors for the things we say here, it would have happened a very long time ago. But yes, it is frustrating when wealthy folks get a free pass out of legal consequences.

Affluenza ftw, man.

[MrRoboto75]

TBQH we live in the shittiest cyberpunk society.  Tons of surveillance tech and everything's run by massive conglomerate corps, but I don't even get to have a robot arm.  It's bullshit.

[hector13]

You could, you’d just have to remove your current fleshy arm and be prepared to pay a lot of money for the robot arm, which probably wouldn’t be that great anyway.

[Frumple]

You could totally have a robot arm, yeah. It wouldn't be better than a normal arm at this point, and the hoops you'd have to jump through to get into that level of prosthetic development is hella' huge, but they're out there. Legs, too. Iirc there's even (pretty shitty) cybereyes, stuff with hearing, etc. Brain enhancement we've just gone the external peripherals route.

Basically the cyberware future is now, we're just in like... backstory land prior to the fancier stuff, and also rolling with tech that's not mainline sci-fi/cyberpunk of yesteryear (external enhancement existed as a plot point going pretty far back, but it wasn't exactly super common).