Comments by "whyamimrpink78" (@whyamimrpink78) on "Ben Shapiro: Don’t Cut Military Spending Cut Social Security" video.
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"So, because there are SOME caveats to that 45,000 study means that not a
significant amount of people die to lack of health insurance in the US?"
I am not saying no one dies due to lack of insurance. My point is that you cannot get accurate numbers. You are just throwing out a number while not putting it in perspective. There is a lot to it. This is why people get their PhDs in statistics. Also, define "significant". 45,000 is 0.01% of the population. 30,000 die a year in traffic accidents, do we ban driving? Also, what is that number in other nations? Where are those studies? You have nothing to compare it to with other nations. And if you say that number is zero in other nations then you are lying or have no clue what you are talking about.
"YOU REALIZE that if you are poor, you also have lower access to health-insurance, and thus have a higher chance of dying?
That quote that you keep re-posting actually vindicates MY ARGUMENT, not yours. "
Being poor is not an excuse to be obese, or to smoke. The point was even if they had access to healthcare or had insurance they would still die due to being in bad health.
"Also, that health professor was in NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM saying that the
findings of her study were incorrect, wildly incorrect or not
significant, she was saying that there is a caveat, but not one that
debunks the study."
It isn't debunking the study, it is showing a limitations. I am not completely dismissing the study, and neither is that professor. It is that there are limitations and you have to recognize that and realize that number may vary and may not be a major issue. You can't just throw numbers out there, you have to put them in perspective.
"I consulted Canadians on Quora, and they are all saying that the you get
shipped off for care immediately if it is not an elective medical
procedure and it is urgent."
Then why do people die waiting for heart surgery?
"Therefore, many of the ''deaths'' in the Canadian system are in elective procedures. "
How is that elective if they died?
" but rather factors that are not accounted for such as old-age."
So it is fair for you to bring up other factors such as old age but I can't such as poor health habits? You have double standards.
"but ironically, you deride the Havard Study for being misleading while
the study you keep re-posting (from a conservative think-tank) is
actually MORE misleading."
It is a counter argument. Do you just read studies that support your ideas? Or do you read opposing viewpoints? I am not saying that book has all the answer or that it is 100% correct. It is an opposing viewpoint. Healthcare is much more complicated than just saying "45,000 people die a year". Ok, and......30,000 die a year in traffic accidents. We can ban driving and make that number to be zero. Or with that 45,000 number, how do you make that number to be zero? You are not providing any context.
"Not to mention, you proclaim that there are caveats to the US study, but
magically none to the Canadian wait-times system study that you cite? "
I agree there are caveats as there are in every study. I am trying to pull people to the middle on this issue. Too many here throw out that 45,0000 number with zero perspective or zero idea what they are actually referencing. They saw a number and ran with it. They do not question it. That is a problem.
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"No less arbitrary than some insinuation that a military budget be capped by percentage of GDP rather than fixed cost. "
As the economy grows so does government spending including the military. That is why we look at percent of GDP. The federal government spent around $360 million in defense in 1970. We have not even doubled that even though our GDP has gone up 20x. A larger economy means more workers and thus a larger military.
"The arbitrariness of a measurement doesn’t inherently make it weaker.
The Commonwealth Fund grouped its analyses by quality, equity, access,
efficiency, and healthy lives. Those are metrics that can have a
substantial effect on the lives of millions."
It is arbitrary an vague. As I said anyone can do a legit analysis on the data to come up with their own rankings where the US can be number 1. What make the CWF so special?
"When comparing to developed nations in the aggregate (i.e. multivariate analysis) the U.S. healthcare system fails to compete."
How so?
"“The report does reveal bright spots: Americans are more likely to
survive cancer or stroke, and if we live to age 75 we're likely to keep
on living longer than others. But these advances are dwarfed by the grave shortcomings.”"
What shortcomings? And how do they "dwarf" cancer survival rate?
Also, did the CWF factor in obesity rates, smoking rates, type II diabetes? Did the CWF factor in exposure to sunlight? Did they factor in overall health habits such as how active people are? There are many factors involved in this you cannot ignore. That is what makes these analysis vague and these rankings arbitrary.
"On the issue of military spending, the main takeaway is that waste
exists in the system, and that waste should be cut. Justifying military
spending as percentage of GDP does nothing to address the actual waste."
I agree there is waste and I agree it should be audited. But that applies for every program, including SS and medicare.
" Put another way, if we could defend our nation just as well with half the budget why not cut it at least somewhat?"
Because it isn't that easy. You can't just cut the budget in half. It still represents around 3% of the overall economy.
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Jonathan, welcome back. Maybe you have time to answer this question you failed to answer. Why isn't productivity connected to education?
Now on to your comment.
"First problem you are arguing, you are attempting how much we should spend to how much a country uses in comparison to their GDP. This statistic is completely useless when trying to argue how much we can or should spend, or arguing what should be increased or decreased. As always, I have to explain the simplest things to you. "
It isn't how much we should or should not spend. People are constantly pointing at the dollar value without putting it into perspective. For over 50 years we have been cutting defense spending when you look at it in terms of percent of GDP.
Now many on the left love to push the narrative of inflation and how everything is becoming expensive. So why shouldn't military spending? Yes, we are spending more on defense in terms of dollar amount. But in comparison to GDP we aren't. The economy is growing while defense spending is not at the same rate meaning we are scaling back defense spending.
"This is because every country has drastically different Gross domestic products in quantity, and the military power isn't demonstrated by how much you spend in GDP rather how much you spend in actual dollars which allows you purchasing power of military technology, soldiers, etc, which is what we measure as military power. "
Then why when it comes to healthcare you look at GDP? Why the different standards? Also, you have to look at GDP in military. A smaller country means less of a demand for a military. That means less tanks, jets, soldiers, etc. You talk about GDP and GDP per capita with everything else, but now all of a sudden when it comes to defense you don't? Why are you moving the goal posts?
"That is you can have two countries Country A: Spends 95% of their GDP on military Country B: Spends 5% of their GDP on military If I ask you, what country is more powerful and who is a larger threat, any idiot will understand the answer is...You can't tell, because you have no idea what their percentage actually stands for."'
Change defense to education. Country A spends 95% on education where Country B spends 5%. Country B has a plethora of doctorates which drives the cost of education down due to an over supply of professors. Country B is clearly more educated if Country A has less doctorates per capita which leads to limited classroom spots and thus higher prices.
"If I then said Country A GDP = 10 billion Country B GDP = 2 Trillion Then you would say Country A = .95 * 10 billion - >9.5 billion Country B = .05 * 2 trillion -> 100 billion Now which one is a bigger threat? Oh look, country B would most likely be a far larger threat since they are spending more than 10x the amount even though their percentage is far less. "
How big is country B? The US has a GDP of nearly $20 trillion. Our size alone makes us powerful. We can cut all defense spending and have everyone fight with the guns they own and we can beat a country like Mexico Canada with a weak military due to the fact we have 6 times more people.
"The reality is, the GDP that other countries spend has no actual relevance in terms of power. "
It does as GDP is the overall economy and is also the limitations in the economy of that country. If you are going to make that claim then stop making the claim of comparing healthcare costs and education in terms of GDP. The US spends more in pure dollar amount in education compared to other countries thus we have a way more powerful education system. Agree?
"The United States doesn't need to spend more in military because they are already a power house when it comes to it. GDP% does not determine strength of military as example above because it doesn't tell you how much that actually is."
I never said the US needs to spend more. However, you have to compare with GDP percent, there is no other way. We spend more than most countries for one simple reason, we have the largest economy in the world. Just like we spend more in pure dollar amount on education than every other country because......wait for it.......we have the largest economy in the world.
"Theres a reason why people advocate increasing costs in healthcare, education. It's because we are suppose to attempt to increase them to help the public that is paying the taxes."
Why education? Remember, education has nothing to do with productivity according to you. It will be a waste. Also, we spend more on healthcare at the federal level than we do on defense already.
"Increasing military more and more is a giant waste of money since we are already the strongest at it."
And we spend more on education and healthcare compared to the rest of the world, so maybe we should cut that as well. Especially considering how education has nothing to do with productivity.
"Comparing GDP % as if it demonstrates any type of military capability is beyond moronic."
Except many sources give it as such.
"Anyways, I have to go back to my studies,"
Why waste your time? You are not going to be any more productive.
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"That's a moronic statistic to measure defense spending. "
No its not as it is a set comparison to a standard. GDP is going up, defense spending isn't.
"When you spend more money on the military than the next 8 nations combined,"
A very deceptive stat. First off, when you look at percent of GDP and you combine the GDP of all of those nations, they spend around 2.5% of their GDP on defense, we spend 3.5%. Yes, it is higher, but only by a difference of 1%. We spend more on education than Germany, the UK and France combine. Should we cut education spending? Or is it that our GDP is so much larger then them that it only makes sense that we spend more then them combine?
"To just compare the percent of GDP that defense spending had 58 years
ago with the present is a overly broad, misguided, and down right
stupid."
But comparing defense spending to 8 combined countries with a fraction of our GDP isn't? France has a GDP that is 1/10 of ours, how can you compare raw dollars at that point. Again, we spend more on education then France, is that bad?
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"Look up the fact I just offered you so that you might confirm for yourself that is, indeed, a fact. If your indeed a doctoral canddiate, I'd like to imagine that you have a basic understanding of reading comprehension, which leaves 'willful ignorance' as the only reason why you're playing dumb"
What do you want me to look up?
"I can also offer this; from the 2012 Texas State Republican campaign platform:"
Care to give a name?
"You think it's not for everyone? Alright, then why shouldn't it be an option? Seriously, if you actually believe that the right is full of intellectuals, giving them an education can only help your cause,"
Define "education". It comes from more than just college. After a K-12 education one can teach themselves. One does not need college to be educated. You can buy books and read the or read them online. There is more to college than an education. The value of college is developing connections as in professors and colleagues and peers, and showing employers you are willing to invest time and money into a long term goal. Also, it helps you learn life skills such as time and money management.
I see why many leftists get a college degree and fail. They have no idea how to approach college.
"The only reason to oppose the option is anti-intellectual distrust of an educated populace."
There is an argument to be made that "education" can be a form of indoctrination. You can't think for yourself so you need government funded education to do it for you.
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