Say Anything Blog

So...what’s the point?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

<a href = “http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002001.htm">As the author states:</a>

The very real problems with the health-care system mask a simple fact: Without it the nation’s labor market would be in a deep coma. Since 2001, 1.7 million new jobs have been added in the health-care sector, which includes related industries such as pharmaceuticals and health insurance. Meanwhile, the number of private-sector jobs outside of health care is no higher than it was five years ago.

But the pressures of globalization and new technology have wreaked havoc on the rest of the labor market: Factories are still closing, retailers are shrinking, and the finance and insurance sector, outside of real estate lending and health insurers, has generated few additional jobs.

Perhaps most surprising, information technology, the great electronic promise of the 1990s, has turned into one of the biggest job-growth disappointments of all time. Despite the splashy success of companies such as Google (GOOG ) and Yahoo! (YHOO ), businesses at the core of the information economy—software, semiconductors, telecom, and the whole gamut of Web companies—have lost more than 1.1 million jobs in the past five years. Those businesses employ fewer Americans today than they did in 1998, when the Internet frenzy kicked into high gear.

Ahhh, the a in the ‘<’.’>’ is the link.

Good to know.

So we’re adding lots of health care sector jobs...what’s the matter with that?

Are those jobs not good enough now?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

The very real problems with the health-care system mask a simple fact: Without it the nation’s labor market would be in a deep coma.

This is a straw man argument.  We are always going to have a “healthcare system”, even if it’s witch doctors or herbalists.  The real question is what would employment look like with a free market system as opposed to the present highly-socialized one?

Why separate out one category of workers, anyway?  Do they include ambulance drivers and prescription drug manufacturers in the category of “healthcare workers”?

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

...the core of the information economy—software, semiconductors, telecom, and the whole gamut of Web companies—have lost more than 1.1 million jobs in the past five years. Those businesses employ fewer Americans today than they did in 1998, when the Internet frenzy kicked into high gear.

I guess this guy never heard of the dot.com bubble, which burst at the end of the Clinton admin.  Duh.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

The real underlying story here is that a very large segment of the population is at the age where increased healthcare costs are starting to happen, and so there will be job growth in that area for about 20 years, then it will crash.  Duh.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

Looks to me like we need to be focusing on increasing production and manufacturing jobs. Healthcare is a vital industry, and so are manufacturing and production and agriculture. Looks like more scare-mongering to me.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Let’s see for the reasons stated above, the Health Care industry is sucking more money out of the economy.

It only makes sense that other industries are going to contract as Health Care grows.

It also may be that the productivity is not growing as fast in Health Care as the rest of the economy.  That makes sense as the industry is litigated both through the government and the courts.

That always stifles innovation.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

nformation technology, the great electronic promise of the 1990s, has turned into one of the biggest job-growth disappointments of all time.

It’s called productivity.  The benefits in IT make workers more productive in other idustries.  If a workers is more productive they can earn more.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

The growth in the healthcare industry is due to real demand growth.  If we had private enterprise healthcare, the job growth would be even greater.  This is because the AMA controls supply, and has been doing it for over a hundred years, through regulations limiting the number of approved medical schools and how many slots are available in each one every year.  Not only that, but regulations controlling both the number of nurses and the scope of their permissable duties are in place.  As the Boomers age, healthcare demand will continue to grow, and will properly command a lot of the capital.  Type 2 diabetes treatment and meds are an exploding growth industry.  The money and other resources are flowing to where they are most needed.  It’s just fine.
BTW, the healthcare industry is not “sucking more money out of the economy”.  It is adding more to the GDP, although not as much as it would if it were totally in private enterprise.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

BTW, the healthcare industry is not “sucking more money out of the economy”.

Admittedly it’s not a great economic term.  And I certainly shouldn’t have cast that in a bad light.

However as the population ages they shift their spending more to health care.

That’s going to lead to more jobs in health care and less job growth elsewhere.  That’s not a bad thing of course.

People living longer with a better quality of life is a good thing.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

TW: That is the reality of the times; after twenty years, that growth will be gone, to a great extent, and something else will have taken its place.  It is true that, due to socialization of the healthcare “industry”, the capital is being misallocated, but it is still there.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

TW: Just think about it: what will happen as the illegal population ages? Just another reason to expel them.
By “misallocation”, I meant that in any socialized organization, more money goes to bureaucracy and administration than would with a private enterprise operation.  Due to the penetration of the insurance industry into health care, the number of employees filling out paperwork has increased tremendously, and while that looks good in terms of job numbers, they are not producing anything; they are simply part of the overhead cost of an inefficient system.  That inefficiency is increasing over time.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

R108, you’re right there.  Plus the regulation by litigation wastes so many dollars thru lawyers, insurance and defensive medicine.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

TW: True.  That money could be a lot more productive in the economy.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

What this comparison shows is two things: 1) the health care industry is not cyclic (the demand does not fluctuate with the economy), and 2) as our population is growing older, the demand for health care is increasing (eminently payable by many of these elderly, hence the increase in supply and hence employment).

Other than this, there isn’t any point to the comparison at all, as far as I can tell.  In particular, this is easily debunked:

The very real problems with the health-care system mask a simple fact: Without it the nation’s labor market would be in a deep coma

Here’s the comparison with and without the health service sector.  Mostly removing the health sector just shifts the curve down, which is what you’d expect because it accounts for less than 25% of the total job growth 2003-2006.  The economy even with out the health sector by no means is “in a deep coma”.

Basically, somebody fished through statistics on the bls.gov website and found a sector that had a monotonic growth pattern, then assumed that this monotonic growth implied that it was driving the economic.  It’s complete bunk. 

We could quickly find another statistic, armed with knowledge of which sectors are not typically cyclic, such as the financial market and get a similar trend, replete with a similar total job growth.  PANIC!

Carrick: Great analysis; it is also true that the definition of “the health care industry” is somewhat vague and open to interpretation.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

Robert108, let’s not even get into the issues with the BLS’s methodology!  Let’s leave it at “improvements to the current paradigm could be made.”

Carrick: You think there might have been an agenda there?  No way!  (snicker snicker)

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.

Heh!

I’m pretty sure that this particular meme started on a leftard website (maybe even with the DNC). Of course it’s reached critical mass now, because they’re still trying to argue that “no, what you are seeing with your eyes is not the truth.”

Unfortunately for them, this only resonates with people suffering from BDS.  For the rest of us, we start with the question “is this really true?” and quickly come to the conclusion that the Business Week’s own graph contradicts its main point.

I mean ... really? The curve for total job growth is much steeper.  Only a liberal (=numerically challenged) would read this graph, and accept the articles conclusions.

Lies are all they have; the truth is in favor of the President’s policies and the free enterprise system.

"Give the lefties a pile of money, and they’ll spend it buying votes.” - Rush Limbaugh on the “bailout”.