RE: Man Uses $1m Win To Finally Visit Doctor, Gets Terminal Cancer Diagnosis, Dies
February 5, 2018 at 11:26 am
(February 5, 2018 at 11:14 am)alpha male Wrote: Sure. If we're talking about helping a part of the population, then children of poor parents, the elderly, and the disabled should get help.
Beyond financial criteria, I'd also say that people who take reasonable care of their health yet develop a serious problem deserve help more than people who engage in activities known to put their health at risk.
Alternatively, we could go to a single-payer system, which I've said that I don't oppose. But, Dems are no more eager to go their than Repubs. Dems just pay lip service to it. Well, some. Some don't even bother.
Quote:Research by Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, shows that “being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.”
His study found that people who earn less than $20,000 a year, for instance, spent more than a third of their time in passive leisure, like kicking back and watching TV. By contrast, those earning more than $100,000 a year (more affluent than wealthy), spent less than a fifth of their time in passive leisure.
Well it's good to hear you would endorse a single-payer solution. I didn't think you had it in you. Kudos!
As to your study, there are a lot of things that Kahneman might not have factored in. I noticed he said "passive" leisure... that may be a key word.
When you work hard every day in a factory or warehouse setting to make a profit for someone else (which I have done), it's a lot different than having business lunches and meetings from dawn to dusk in order to make more money for yourself (which I have also done). People in executive positions are often given better vacation packages so they can go to Italy and Greece for a couple weeks and unwind. People who work "in the trenches" are often disregarded as replaceable, and aren't offered such vacation packages so that they can "recharge their batteries" so to speak.
All I'm saying is, it's not such a simple issue as "wealthier people work harder." They often are treated like more than a machine to their employers. And on a large scale, the difference in treatment begins to show.
