[Steve_American]

Free Stuff is Good, Actually |Unlearning Economics
1hr, 25 mni., but worth the time.

He uses a lot of evidence, like studies, to back up the claim above. He is not an MMTer.

If you can read faster than view there is a transcript. Click in the 3 dots to the right of "Download", then click on "Show transcript", then scroll down to click on "Show transcript" in a new place. The transcript is to the right of the TV screen with time points noted.

Remove the [==] to see it.
https://www.you[==]tube.com/watch?v=LQIxbwfMVlM&list=TLPQMjgwOTIwMjN56b0DLKaXUg&index=22

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[Wellsy]

He is an interesting YouTuber. He seems to not be convinced by Marxist economics although sympathetic to economists who find Marx’s analysis compelling.
He does well also to show how economic data clearly show a gender gap in things and how complex a comparison between countries is when you realize that a quantitative flattening of things simply misses a lot of detail.

He does well to summarize things but I quite enjoy bis discussions with economists in their particular area of study and their thoughts economics as a whole.

[Truth To Power]

Free Stuff is Good, Actually |Unlearning Economics
1hr, 25 mni., but worth the time.

There is a difference between free vaccinations and free gender reassignment surgery, free elementary education and free chocolate bars. Free stuff only makes sense when the stuff does not have to be allocated to prevent waste.

[Steve_American]

There is a difference between free vaccinations and free gender reassignment surgery, free elementary education and free chocolate bars. Free stuff only makes sense when the stuff does not have to be allocated to prevent waste.

One lesson that you apparently didn't learn from the covid pandemic is that the nation needs extra hospital beds sitting there unused in normal times so that they can be used in a pandemic. These beds and the staff to service them need to be paid for even when they are not being used, so they are there when we need them on short notice like during a pandemic. The Gov. is much better than private corps at paying for things like extra hospital beds because it doesn't need to make a profit.

So, Gov. provided healthcare paid for with Gov. spending, partially matched** by revenue from taxes, is a good use of "free stuff" because it is the most efficient way to deliver healthcare to all residents or just legal residents. It cuts out the middleman who was making obscene profits by selling high to people to want their kids to stay alive. Medical bankruptcy hurts the families of those made bankrupt and must be paid for somehow by everyone else because the insurance comp. or hospitals are not going to eat the loss. So, we all are already paying more than we need to for healthcare.



Notes
** . . MMT has shown that taxes do not fund Gov. spending for nations with their own fiat currency. Taxes give a value to the fiat currency, and they free up resources so the Gov. can buy them without causing inflation by having a bidding war with some private user of those resources.
. . . If you hand deliver actual cash to the IRS to pay your taxes, the IRS immediately shreds the bills so they can not be stolen. Almost all Gov. spending is done with direct deposits or checks. It almost never spends paper bills. So, the Gov. spends by making key strokes on a computer. If you paid with a check, The Gov. processes the check, mostly to debit your account. The only reason it add the amount of the check to the Gov. acc. at the Fed is a hold over from the days of the gold standard and to keep a record so it can calculate how much it is adding to the money supply. The Gov. issues the dollar it does not need your dollars to spend dollars. It is exactly like you don't need your IOU that you gave to someone to give another IOU to someone else.

[Truth To Power]

One lesson that you apparently didn't learn from the covid pandemic is that the nation needs extra hospital beds sitting there unused in normal times so that they can be used in a pandemic. These beds and the staff to service them need to be paid for even when they are not being used, so they are there when we need them on short notice like during a pandemic.

No, the criteria for who gets a bed just change. Any industry has some spare capacity to accommodate unexpected high demand.

[Steve_American]

No, the criteria for who gets a bed just change. Any industry has some spare capacity to accommodate unexpected high demand.

This is total bullsh!t.

The US ran out of hospital beds and so did Italy, and all or most other nations.

[Truth To Power]

This is total bullsh!t.

The US ran out of hospital beds and so did Italy, and all or most other nations.

No, they just failed to get ahead of the curve on prioritizing patients who needed to be in hospital beds at that moment vs those who were occupying hospital beds but did not actually need them. It's called "triage." Most countries that have public health care have large numbers of terminal elderly patients occupying hospital beds who won't and can't actually benefit from hospital treatment. They just don't have enough more appropriate places to keep them, like hospices, because people are reluctant to be realistic about their end-of-life situations. It's not an easy problem, but maintaining some substantial number of -- how many? -- unoccupied hospital beds against the possibility that they will be needed in an emergency is not a reasonable solution.

[Steve_American]

No, they just failed to get ahead of the curve on prioritizing patients who needed to be in hospital beds at that moment vs those who were occupying hospital beds but did not actually need them. It's called "triage." Most countries that have public health care have large numbers of terminal elderly patients occupying hospital beds who won't and can't actually benefit from hospital treatment. They just don't have enough more appropriate places to keep them, like hospices, because people are reluctant to be realistic about their end-of-life situations. It's not an easy problem, but maintaining some substantial number of -- how many? -- unoccupied hospital beds against the possibility that they will be needed in an emergency is not a reasonable solution.

OTOH, how many unoccupied sickbay beds does the typical US aircraft carrier have in peacetime on a typical day? How many doctors and nurses doing nothing? How many crew dedicated to damage control with almost nothing to do?

Excess hospital beds is not a good solution in your opinion. OK. I disagree.

According to you, filling them with dying elderly people is a better solution.

[Truth To Power]

OTOH, how many unoccupied sickbay beds does the typical US aircraft carrier have in peacetime on a typical day? How many doctors and nurses doing nothing? How many crew dedicated to damage control with almost nothing to do?

Well I suppose a war would keep them busier. What next, arson to keep firefighters busy??

Excess hospital beds is not a good solution in your opinion. OK. I disagree.

According to you, filling them with dying elderly people is a better solution.

Triage is a better solution. Besides, there are already emergency hospital beds available through disaster preparedness agencies, including the military. Maybe just make sure they are being run competently.