The plane(t) has been hijacked by billionaires, and we're all passengers

[Wanderfound]

@ulasaw

I’m thinking of the vast wealth that was
created for land owners
by slaves.
Which was then inherited by and increased
for generations.

As Akala puts it:

“Columbus didn’t set off with this big old plan to create in the 21st century the industrialized world that we see before us today, of course he didn’t,” Akala says.

“He wasn’t that clever a man. He set off, he murdered a whole bunch of people, committed genocide, and out of a whole series of historical circumstances, and accidents, and some planning, this world system of European-based capitalism evolved – along with white supremacy.”

Fundamental in all of this was the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, Akala says: “There was an interesting program on the BBC of all places a few weeks ago, called ‘Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners,’ by David Olusoga, which outlined something historians used to consider controversial. Eric Williams wrote a book in the 1940s called ‘Capitalism and Slavery’ and he put forward the thesis that Transatlantic slavery was really the foundational moment in the formation of European capitalism.”

The BBC’s program effectively confirmed Williams’ thesis, drawing on extensive research by banker-turned-historian Nick Draper.

But, as Akala puts it, “It’s not rocket science. Imagine if Apple Macintosh didn’t pay a single one of its employees. It’s already the richest company in the entire world.

“Imagine it only paid the most senior management and it didn’t pay anyone else – no-one who worked in the stores, none of the people who made the products – no-one, only Steve Jobs and his cohorts. It would be an infinitely richer company than it is today. Now imagine a whole nation of companies that applied that principle. So it’s not difficult to see how Europe became so wealthy.”

[anon73430903]

The Daily Heil is not a trustworthy source for anything.

[tlwest]

@Entity447B

A hybrid system, like the already-mentioned parallel system in the UK, ameliorates this particular issue quite well - at least for those who can afford private care.

I have to say that I am NOT in favour of a hybrid system for several reasons

1. Political support for an expensive system is always tricky. It’s very easy for hybrid systems to start leaking users at the high end as wealthier users seek better health care (often with only marginal better results, but simply more pleasant or timely).
   This means that the people who are primarily paying for health-care aren’t the one’s using the service. What incentives does someone earning lets say $100K whose taxes are paying for 2 other people’s care have to vote to keep increasing their tax load if they don’t even use the service?
2. One of the ways that a universal healthcare system benefits people is that they aren’t guilted (by themselves) into massive end-of-life costs that have almost no chance of success. They simply aren’t available.
   When you are told “I’m sorry, there’s nothing that can be done,” for a loved one that’s both a tragedy, but also, the end of your responsibility.
   I consider a system without meaningful alternatives more merciful than a hybrid system where you are always aware that there’s something that could have been done, and you chose not to make the sacrifice.
3. I think the sense of social solidarity is much stronger when one feels that our lives are all equally valuable from richest to poorest as is evidenced by the effort that will be made to preserve them. Of course, reality doesn’t match the sentiment - but the sentiment is there and it is important.

So no, I don’t favour a hybrid. The cost of amelioration of tragedies like above is, in my opinion, way above the benefits. The happiness with Canada’s system is what it is in large part because meaningful alternatives aren’t easily found. (Despite stories, going to the US for treatment is very rare and certainly not front most in most Canadians minds.)

[GilbertWham]

Oh, not this blather again. So does the UK FFS. I am ten minutes walk from a private hospital. There are private health insurers who advertise on the damn TV. Almost every highly-paid consultant in the NHS also does private work. There is no terrifying Evil Socialist Edifice stopping people from obtaining healthcare outside of the NHS. I mean, there’s a terrifying capitalist one, because it’s really expensive, and most people’s wages are shit, but that is the one and only barrier.

[anon15383236]