[FRIAM] capitalism vs. individualism

[glen]

No worries. I agree we need a swift kick in the ass. And I appreciated the joint repair story. Healthcare is one of the few topics that bridge political divides.

On November 11, 2019 7:31:39 PM PST, Eric Smith <desmith at santafe.edu> wrote:
>Very very sorry Glen
>
>You said “as a people”.  
>
>There was no need for my reply.
>
>E
>
>
>> On Nov 12, 2019, at 10:04 AM, Eric Smith <desmith at santafe.edu> wrote:
>> Not “as people”.  As Americans.  Important, I think, to acknowledge
>how malleable this is, and the role of culture (including
>institutions).
>> 
>> Live by the train systems in Japan for a while, and you are smacked
>in the face by the broken culture that Americans seem to believe is an
>irredeemable human condition.  Come back to a city like Atlanta, and
>the impulse to blame that “you people aren’t even trying” is all but
>irresistable.  A transition back to New York is still somewhat harsh,
>but not to the same degree.
>> 
>> The same can be said, for that matter, of cost control in the medical
>system.  A person to whom I am connected had a ligament-replacement
>surgery done to reconstruct a joint, with a week in-hospital (because
>the Japanese hate to take unnecessary risks of anything), by a
>specialst who has trained and worked for decades in both Japan and the
>UK, and the most-caring hospital staff.  It cost me 1000 dollars, and
>about 1/3 had been covered by national insurance.  I think in the US,
>without coverage (which is the relevant situation in this case), a
>similar quality of treatment would have cost me more than my whole
>after-tax income for half a year.
>> 
>> If those are the stress-testing cases, think of what the difference
>can be in behavior on the street, and in other ordinary interactions.
>> 
>> American culture needs a hard kick in the ass, and an admonition to
>grow up, because we no longer have the slack to live like this and
>survive it.  There are plenty of American people who are not the
>sources of that broken culture, and they already get kicked too much,
>so I don’t mean that.  But the view that, while there are problems that
>will remain to afflict people under any case, still so much better an
>effort _can_ be made.
>> 
>> I constantly think of the saying “You know the ship's only in trouble
>if the sailors stop swearing”.  Probably literally not true, but makes
>a point.  I wonder what it would look like if Americans woke up to
>realize that the ship is in trouble.


-- 
glen