A few of my friends are military. They actually seem to like the VA, but maybe Minnesota VA is not the same as other places. 2/3 of people wanting something does not mean we get it either.
My dad’s a vet, with cancer, thanks to the agent orange. And they just let his medications run out, all of the time. It takes weeks to get refills. Some of it you can’t just stop taking. Apparently, they can’t keep a good doctor either. It’s the same story every year or two “Doctor so and so left to go into private practice. She got sick of the extra layers of bureaucracy and red tape.”
My Grandfather, a WW2 vet went through the same shit decades earlier.
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I don’t doubt it. There was all the press a few years ago about the wait times and poor service. I believe MN was reported to be one of the better states for the VA though.
It is pretty bad that we can’t take better care of vets.
Also, I don’t necessarily buy into the argument that we will lose healthcare access in a large way if we get M4A. We have about 45 million without insurance out of 330 million. The 45 million still get some healthcare, just not as much. Doesn’t seem like 13% extra will make the waiting times grow exponentially like some seem to believe.
Here is the article showing polling on M4A.
My dad who passed a couple years ago went to the VA. He was drafted during Vietnam. They diagnosed him with COPD. So, when the one doctor left, the next one they assigned him was a Gynocologist PA. Instead of a pulmonologist. I truly understand your frustration. Screwed up meds and appointments. I have dealt with it all. .
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We’re going to get a federal jobs program or UBI in the near term is my prediction.
You guys wanna know why I don’t normally post in my local forums? This is the level of stupid that takes place:
“We want a full Wuhan-style lockdown! The government is a failure!”
“That’s too extreme. Come the fuck on. There’s no evidence of widespread community transmission.”
“Oh yeah? That’s because the government doesn’t dare test the entire population! From what I’ve calculated, we will see at least 50 percent infected with the virus because most cases are asymptomatic! Government fail!”
“If 50 percent of the fucking population has the virus, then we should open everything up and have coronavirus parties for everyone under 40. Why would there be a need for a lockdown?”
“FIFTY PERCENT MAN! THAT DOESN’T SCARE YOU? PARTIES? LOL! GO CARRY TRUMP’S BALLS!”
“Because that would bring the mortality rate down to 0.0001 percent, you dumb fuck!”
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Sounds like Maryland. 95% of our deaths are 50+ years-old. 87% 60+ years old. I think the latest studies have shown a high correlation between death and underlying conditions. Maryland’s governor is a cancer survivor, is 63, and obese. It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re shut down until 2021.
What is near future?
Hard to say. If it wasn’t an election year I’d say by the end of the year, but there’s no way the Dems want a massive entitlement like UBI with a Republican signature on it if they can help it. My guess, we’ll limp along with stop gap measures until the following year.
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The vocal minority of dumb fucks are going full socialist over here. They want MARTIAL LAW and a full lockdown where only one person in the family with a permit is allowed to go out and buy groceries once a week. All this while they’re going out and taking photos of people not wearing masks and ratting on neighbours with family visitors to the government.
Crazy. I can’t imagine actively trying to fuck over random people let alone my neighbors.
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Oh, they’re taking videos and posting them on a special government app for snitches and then boasting about it on forums. I’ve been trying to describe to local people how socialists behave for a long time here because I’ve seen this shit before back home long ago. Now it’s all playing out in real time again.
I think UBI is better than never ending unemployment benefits, at least that would stoke less division and resentment. But something is inevitable.
I think the unemployment rate will continue to rise even after the economy “opens back up.” I don’t presume to speak for everybody, but around my area people are acting the way they should have a month ago. People are wearing masks, not going out as much, social distancing.
“Open the economy up” tomorrow, and people will still be working from home, and avoiding going out as much as possible. Nobody is eating in a restaurant. A lot of people are going to be unemployed and don’t know it yet.
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I think it might be okay if they get rid the majority of other programs, but I’m not sure they can or should get rid of unemployment. People abuse it without question, but people that want to work and that work hard will still need it.
I agree, I think we’re going to see a significant shift in the labor market. I used to think large scale automation was 10+ years off still. Now I think it’ll happen much sooner. It’ll be on the top of a lot of businesses list of capital investment projects to mitigate against these types of situations, which is another reason I think UBI is inevitable.
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Yeah the issue is how much of the economy is dependent on people’s behaviors. The “economy being open” doesn’t mean theme parks, casinos, restaurants, cruises, hotels, tons of other examples are magically fixed. I’m not going to any of those places for quite a while. Less about my health and more about the health of the people I’m around.
I think some people think opening the economy back up takes us to Dec 15, 2019 or something. It’s going to be a long damn time before a lot of industries recover. Open or closed is going to have a minimal effect on a lot of businesses.
A company is likely going to have to have a lot of capital to automate. Smaller companies are likely going to have trouble with the expense. The companies that have the capital to automate may become more efficient to the point that the smaller ones can’t compete any longer.
Basically, do you see a situation where companies consolidate or close down if they don’t have the capital to invest? I would say we are in for another wave of smaller companies disappearing. It has happened with the big box stores, and websites like Amazon in the past. This could be the driving force in the next wave.
Ya, I think eventually smaller companies will struggle to automate and compete, but, for now, I’m not sure it’s more cost effective to automate vs. use low skill labor. Until automation + maintenance is cheaper than labor + benefits there’s really only a couple of reasons to automate the types of tasks we’re talking about: a) protect against productivity/supply chain reductions during these types of situations and/or get ahead of the automation curve so to speak.
I think more medium to large organizations will invest because of b.
That’s why I’m only leaving the house while wearing a tyvek suit and gas mask. Nursing homes are usually in the top-5 in listings of “Healthiest Places.” If the ‘Rona can get them, just think what it’ll do to us.
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This article suggests the actual deaths from the flu is vastly lower than what’s reported.
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