OT ish incandescent bulb ban

[geoff]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

I dunno - there are an awful lot of side effects which aren't generally reported

I employ a hypocondriac who is living proof thereof

[Owain]

AFAICS, a mix of public and private service provision, funded by private insurance, but the insurance schemes have to provide a non-profit universal access basic policy for everyone regardless of risk

[Tony Bryer]

I hope that I will not have to put the Australian system to the test, but if I have to go to the GP across the road I will have to pay A$64 (about £28) for a consultation. If I show the practice my Medicare card they will bill Medicare about half of this (the standard allowed fee: each GP sets their own charges and you effectively pay the difference) and Medicare will then credit this back to my bank account. A lot more bureaucratic than the UK system.

If I need non-accident ambulance transport to a hospital (e.g. I just collapse and an ambulance is called) I will be billed for this - about £200 AIUI.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think something like that is my preferred solution.

basic healthcare free, but a per consultation urcharge to keep the whingers at bay.

The trouble with the NHS is I have definitely seen the doctors finding extra reasons to waste your time, because the way its set up they get paid on a consultation basis I suppose.

It ought to be they get paid according to whose on their books: if no one consults them, the implication being they have done a good job, and can go and play golf ;-)

The trouble with the whole 'labour' thing is people get paid for time, not for results.

So there is an implicit bias towards filling as much time as possible with make-work.

Then you add more work with 'managers' to make sure the time is being filled.

I once did a computer installation. I had pre configured the machine, and it was one of those times that everything on site was in order. I was in an out in ten minutes. The customer was miffed 'I paid 350 quid for 5 minutes work!' (customers always exagerrate)

'No you didn't' I said 'You paid 350 quid for the 3 hours work I did before I set out, the two hours travel to and from your site, the three years of experience that meant that it only took 3 hours instead of six, and the implicit guarantee that if your site had been an absolute swine, and I had still been here tomorrow morning it would still have been 350 quid'

The whole trouble with public money is that no one is paid by results.

There is no incentive to be efficient. In public servants, its a simple matter of 'get paid, do work as laid down in rule book, make sure rules are followed (even if complete rubbish) or risk getting the sack'. Possibly.

The more people a manager employs, the more responsible the position seems to be, and the more money they demand to do it.

Even if health care means 'more sick people treated = more money to doctor' there is an implicit bias towards making and keeping more people 'sick'.

[M]

Following up to John Rumm

because the post i replied to was comparing US with UK

[The Medway Handyman]

Attempt & fail alas. They only serve to line the pockets of the makers.

[M]

Following up to Tim S

I read the the improved hygeine is largely to satisfy customer expectations and that the way to combat MRSA is to check incoming patients and quarantine those who carry it.

[M]

Following up to Tim S

probably same as France and Germany, by spending more. (and not on tory internal markets, as imposed on the NHS and causing much of the form filing complained about).

[meow2222]

Its easy to spot a lot 60% of it. History, geography, art, religion, latin, english literature... never learnt a thing of any use in any of them. Imagine what kids could learn if they didnt waste their time on all that.

too often is. And since you only need 60% to qualify, some folk just learn the irrelevant stuff and pass anyway.

NT

[meow2222]

that happens under every system

ie in private hands. (Most wouldn't be newly created.) Wealthy people are those able to accumulate wealth, ie normally those who demand a decent return on all their invsetments. Compare that with the government (both central and local)!

NT

[Huge]

You cannot make sweeping statements about a continent and expect to be taken seriously. Like the NHS, there are both diabolical and excellent aspects of the healthcare systems in the USA and these vary from place to place.

[meow2222]

A classic wrong answer. The options are:

- legislation

- taxation

- setting voluntary desirable standards

- not interfering, leaving it to the market

NT

[meow2222]

sure, the question is what the solution is

yes, as today - but there's no need. School should teach basic life skills, not turn out fools.

yup

Even when the govt has no clue what the social cost is? That is a good reason for the govt to just get out of the way. The trouble with most people is they never study basic critical thinking skills, and hence make the usual stream of mistakes, yet they're convinced they can reason well. The result is the level of bs we see in society today. Then some of them are desperate to force their ill considered ideas on people that can do basic reasoning, and thus are more likely to figure stuff out.

well.... theyre a lot harder to bleed dry and take basic human rights from. But thats not the kind of society I want to live in.

NT

[Dave Liquorice]

So I take it you have no wish to learn from our past mistakes or utilise previous knowledge, can't read a map or draw one and are intolerant of others world views?

Latin isn't directly taught these days, neither is English Lit but English is and part of that is reading and comprehension of the written word.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ah, but the last two take government as a mover of goalposts and a tilting of playing fields out of the equation.

I take it as a self evident truth that the government is there to do things that benefit the whole nation when and if all other methods have failed.

Which means I DID leave something out, .. what governments can do is

- legislate

- differentially tax

- educate.

'leaving it to the people' is not something a government does, its something a government not-does!

if that is the sole answer, there is no need for government.

I think that the dangerous ideological shift that has taken place in teh last ten years, is that government has made itself the entity that dictates standards to us, all standards.

That is a radical shit from earlier governments whose primary aim was to regulate society purely to keep it stable, free of civil war and violence, and safe against takeover by Foreign Powers.

I.e this government seeks to force us into its own vision of the future, whereas previous ones were content to let society develop as it might, only interfering if things got unstable.

Or to put it another way, the disaster of NuLaber has been to stop government being the mediators between the real powerful social entities, and seek to become the only real powerful social entity itself.

With a degree of incompetence I have never seen before. Well maybe going back to the 'Suez crisis'

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ah. That takes me back to the Case of Overweight Debbie, who presumably was tired of a life without a boyfriend.

One day I popped into where she worked, and was amazed, a blushing venus stood in the place of teh heap of suet of yore' Debbuie! you look gorgeous, What's the secret? What diets did you use?, What pills did you take?'

'Oh, I just stopped eating so much'.

Now work out how much money people spend on weight reduction...

[Huge]

No-one does. "Social costs" are entirely made up.

[Man at B&Q]

My heart bleeds. I seem to recall it wasn't too long ago you were telling us all how well you had done investing in commodities funds.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

Now that sounds sensible.

How much revenue do CGT, IHT, stamp duty? Does anyone know, or know where to look?

If they were scrapped, how much would be saved by sacking a few staff at the Revenue & customs? How much would VAT have to rise to make up the remaining shortfall?

Similarly, what would the effect on VAT be for each penny cut in income tax?

What about tax on savings? I imagine that's a larger figure.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

It most certainly is the Grammar school my kids attend.

And parts of the English curriculum are English Lit by another name.

MBQ