Jamezz
Well-Known Member
Welcome to idiocracy!
Donald Trump
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Welcome to idiocracy!
J
JAZZGASM
Guest
Well, true. Gotta keep in mind the government interplay with healthcare though. In 1965 medical costs starting spiking and never dropped, largely due to the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid. Increased demand, reduced supply. 1974, ERISA passed, making lawsuits tougher due to federal preemption, and state laws to increase protection void except for certain exceptions. Over the next 20 plus years lots of laws to increase patents on drugs, even those in production for over 100 years, increasing costs even more. The PPACA, requires certain coverage, removes preexisting conditions, etc. This is a small summary. The US private Healthcare system has so much government oversight I would not say it is privately run.
Red
Well-Known Member
I think that's been Trump's strategy from the start. Reality TV is the dominant template on TV as it is, and the public is accustomed to it as a result. He just turned the cameras on himself, the media gladly obliged, they had to cover his outrageous proclamations, and he turned the election cycle into an episode of Survivor. In some sense, that seems to be exactly what happened.
D
Deleted member 848
Guest
And yet it's the most inefficient healthcare system in the developed world-- while curiously also being the least public healthcare system in the developed world. And we're just talking about efficiencies right now! We aren't even addressing access, or the fact that 1/3rd of filed bankruptcies in America being due to healthcare bills!!
Cappy_Smurf
Well-Known Member
I'm not religious, but from the stories I remember, Trump seems like he fits the prophecy to a tee that describes the coming of the anti-christ.
Red
Well-Known Member
Therapeutic to find a way to laugh. Here's Stephen Colbert last night.....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MZj1b...O5B4wxOEYN7R7S75-WVEM3EQlfe6E6QIEpvZN1l6KVcQg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MZj1b...O5B4wxOEYN7R7S75-WVEM3EQlfe6E6QIEpvZN1l6KVcQg
fishonjazz
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Miggs
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Last night was the first GOP debate I've watched since the first one. I'll preface my following comments by saying I've always thought Trump was a joke. He ****ed the USFL. His casinos have mostly gone under. He's been sued (and filed for bankruptcy I believe) more times than I count. And his general manner of speaking in superlatives is nauseating. So with recent developments, I was excited to watch last night. And despite the fact that he was getting attacked from basically every single angle, I thought he handled each attack very, very well. I was a little shocked tbh. The one major stumbling point was when the mediators said that Trump has stated he would save the country 300B (or something) on the EPA (or it may have been something else) and yet the mediators pointed out that the country only spends 78B annually on it. It was completely confounding. And yet that point just seemed to come and go. I can honestly see why people would like him. What he says sort of sounds good and genuine. It's not and the guy is a bumbling moron imo but it sounds good, I'd guess especially to those who don't know any better. It has to be the uneducated R's that are currently siding with this clown, no?
I thought the other three men all did well too. I've heard Rubio's been bad but I thought he was strong last night. Ditto for Cruz. I like Kasich a lot but he seemed to desperate with his "look at my resume" rhetoric.
I thought the other three men all did well too. I've heard Rubio's been bad but I thought he was strong last night. Ditto for Cruz. I like Kasich a lot but he seemed to desperate with his "look at my resume" rhetoric.
Red
Well-Known Member
I believe in his segment on Trump by John Oliver, posted earlier in this thread, it's pointed out that Poltifact, with its "truth meter", found that 77% of Trumps "facts" ranged from false to "pants on fire liar" false. This Oliver posed in contrast to Trump followers frequently resorting to "he tells it like it is" as something that appeals to them.
Joe Bagadonuts
Well-Known Member
Trump is a very skilled salesman. If you were impressed by him in last night's debate (where I thought he looked pretty bad) you should see him in his campaign rallys where he is in control of the entire situation. It's pretty easy to see why people who are pissed off at the status quo, but who don't care to understand the real problems or put any serious thought into what he says, are attracted to him.
The thing you're referring to as EPA I think was actually education. After that they trapped him on another set of stupid statements regarding Medicare/Medicaid drugs. Then they showed how inconsistent some of his statements were. He really got hammered on the off-the-record NYT statements, and I think it became pretty clear that he said some stuff in that interview that he cannot afford to allow his supporters to hear.
When he gets caught he does a pretty smooth job of covering his tracks by simply making stuff up on the spot (he claimed the disparity in the drug numbers was because he was never talking about only drugs in the past, but about all government negotiations) or he starts pouring on the insults. At the beginning of the debate he apologized for insulting Rubio, and then the next thing he was slamming him with the Little Marco stuff.
Trump's success in this election is symptomatic of how short people's attention spans have become. Our electorate is proving themselves just as incompetent and unqualified to elect a president as they are to select an NBA All-Star team.
Red
Well-Known Member
Yeah, not a fan of that genre. Keep hoping it will just run it's course and TV executives will come up with something other then shows contributing, at least at times, to the dumbing down of America. Instead, Trump lowers the bar right from the start, throws his opponents completely off guard, until eventually they too descend to the level he has set, and the electorate is left watching the nomination process presented as a Realty show. I sure would like to think we are better then this!
Red
Well-Known Member
And who could ever imagine, that we would "allow" our election process to arrive at a point, where a candidate, the front runner in the GOP race, would, in the course of the debate format, brag about the size of his penis? As Trump did last night, and in response to Rubio obliquely referencing the size of Trump's penis a few days earlier.