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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike M2 who wrote (16613)	3/8/2002 12:15:31 PM
From: LLCF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

You know, part of the problem with government is already that they don't deal with reality.... ie. it's tough enough for them to sit down and say: "What should government transfer payments be?" "What do [which products] people need to survive/be comfortable, etc.?" They can't even decide THAT let alone trying to make qualitative judgements of 'old' products vs 'new improved' products. I think Kyros's example in health care is a very good one. You've got absolutely new uncomparable products coming out practically DAILY... improving quality and length of our lives. How do you 'price' that?? Should you even try??? If a new pill lengthens life by 50%, you could argue that imediately the cost of healthcare has plummeted by that amount or MORE on a hedonic basis... real prices of every good in the economy has just been cut in 1/2 measured in price to the new wonder drug. Does it make sense now to cut everyones benefits by a like amount??? To print 50% more money tomorrow??? The government can't even decide whether or not [or which ones] to include the new stuff in the "basic basket"... replacing say 'tobacco'! Who is entitled to WHAT?? THAT'S where the rubber meets the road, all this other stuff is just a side show and IMO takes a lot of attention away from real issues. DAK