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[Smiling JOe]

I don't want to move to any of those countries. If they stopped making the list because of the complexity, perhaps it leaves too much room for slanting.

 

[fisher]

the postal service and amtrak cannot cherry pick their markets as fedex etc. if you could see the obvious, you wouldn't bother to illustrate your lack of knowledge.

Actually, I am quite knowledgeable about these things. Let me try to teach you a few things about the USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.

First point--USPS has the monopoly on first class mail. They basically own your mailbox and no one else is allowed to deliver to your mailbox. This means that FedEx, UPS, etc cannot deliver first class mail to your mailbox. Withoug the ability to deliver first class mail to every household, it is not cost efficient for UPS or FedEx to cover the nation door to door. It has NOTHING to do with cherry picking markets. The USPS cannot give this monopoly up as they know that FedEx, UPS, etc would put them out of business.

Second point--USPS provides employee benefits to its workforce that far, far exceed the benefits provided to employees in industry. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/usps/offices/domestic-finance/usps/pdf/Rand1.pdf These excessive benefits cost the USPS billions each year and add significantly to the operating deficit. (Excessive employee benefits is a one of the reasons that a government run healthcare option would be very expensive).

Third point--USPS is inefficient. The decreasing amount of mail due to in large part to faxes, email, etc. has caused a big dent in the revenue line for USPS. So, what have they done to cut costs? Not much and not nearly enough? Why do we need 6 day a week delivery of our mail? We don't. We probably don't even need 5 day a week delivery. Essential deliveries of critical information are now handled by fax, email, overnight mail, etc. What we get in our mailboxes these days consists mostly of junk mail like catalogs, offers for credit card, etc and bills. Not stuff that requires daily delivery. USPS could cut one, two or three days and save billions and billions in expense without hurting service at all. Why don't they do these things--BECAUSE ITS THE GOVERNMENT.

As for Amtrak, except for a few profitable, highly utilized lines. Please tell me the purpose of losing a billion dollars a year on this business. Again, operating unprofitable lines when there are plenty of other options for travel for the few people that actually use Amtrak such as bus, car and air makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But, then again, we are talking about GOVERNMENT running this business.

That is why we don’t need the government option. One huge disaster in the making.

 

[fisher]

Yet somehow we are only ranked #37.

So, if you had a very rare disease, or needed major complicated surgery and you had all the money in the world, would you go to one of the countries above the US on the list or would you stay right here to have your healthcare needs met?

I'm not sure what WHO used in the past to make the rankings, but I wouldn't go to any of those other countries to have my healthcare needs taken care of.

Come on--Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Costa Rica, Monaco (with a population of about 10 people in the whole country), Oman, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, are all above the US. Makes the list look very suspect to me.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I thought that Amtrak existed so that Joe Biden could take the daily train to Wa(r)shington, and talk about being a regular person.

 

[Bob]

Actually, I am quite knowledgeable about these things. Let me try to teach you a few things about the USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.

First point--USPS has the monopoly on first class mail. They basically own your mailbox and no one else is allowed to deliver to your mailbox. This means that FedEx, UPS, etc cannot deliver first class mail to your mailbox. Withoug the ability to deliver first class mail to every household, it is not cost efficient for UPS or FedEx to cover the nation door to door. It has NOTHING to do with cherry picking markets. The USPS cannot give this monopoly up as they know that FedEx, UPS, etc would put them out of business.

Second point--USPS provides employee benefits to its workforce that far, far exceed the benefits provided to employees in industry. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/usps/offices/domestic-finance/usps/pdf/Rand1.pdf These excessive benefits cost the USPS billions each year and add significantly to the operating deficit. (Excessive employee benefits is a one of the reasons that a government run healthcare option would be very expensive).

Third point--USPS is inefficient. The decreasing amount of mail due to in large part to faxes, email, etc. has caused a big dent in the revenue line for USPS. So, what have they done to cut costs? Not much and not nearly enough? Why do we need 6 day a week delivery of our mail? We don't. We probably don't even need 5 day a week delivery. Essential deliveries of critical information are now handled by fax, email, overnight mail, etc. What we get in our mailboxes these days consists mostly of junk mail like catalogs, offers for credit card, etc and bills. Not stuff that requires daily delivery. USPS could cut one, two or three days and save billions and billions in expense without hurting service at all. Why don't they do these things--BECAUSE ITS THE GOVERNMENT.

As for Amtrak, except for a few profitable, highly utilized lines. Please tell me the purpose of losing a billion dollars a year on this business. Again, operating unprofitable lines when there are plenty of other options for travel for the few people that actually use Amtrak such as bus, car and air makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But, then again, we are talking about GOVERNMENT running this business.

That is why we don?t need the government option. One huge disaster in the making.

U.S. Postal Service find ways to save money - May. 11, 2009 I learn nothing from your posts because the sureness of your positions are only exceeded by your lack of information. The USPS is mandated and obligated to serve every geographic location in the U.S. at uniform price/quality of service. It's origins are from the constitution. FedEx/UPS can do what they want, when they want. The private competitors can change their fee structure at will,whereas the usps can only adjust annually in may. the usps has not received tax dollars since the early 80s. amtrak is a different animal in that the northeast corridor is profitable, but service elsewhere, for the most part is not. Amtrak massive infrastructure needs have been underfunded for years........ By 2002, it was clear that Amtrak could not achieve self-sufficiency, but Congress continued to authorize funding and released Amtrak from the requirement.[47]

Amtrak's leader at the time, David L. Gunn, was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism. In a departure from his predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in the short term, Gunn argued that no form of passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured.[48] Highways, airports, and air traffic control all require large government expenditures to build and operate, coming from the Highway Trust Fund and Aviation Trust Fund paid for by user fees, highway fuel and road taxes, and, in the case of the General Fund, by people who own cars and do not.[49]

Before a congressional hearing, Gunn answered a demand by leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain to eliminate all operating subsidies by asking the Senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon which the citizens of Arizona are dependent. McCain, usually not at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply.[50]......

 

[Bob]

the airlines are all having blowout years due to the recession....would you argue business dynamics and fuel costs can make efficiency turn on a dime? or would you keep spewing that private vs government bile?

 

[fisher]

Yet somehow we are only ranked #37.

Did you happen to look at how the WHO came up with its rankings?

I did. Here are a couple of links. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper28.pdf and http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/whr00_en.pdf

Here are some interesting things about the study.

The quality rankings take into consideration such things as literacy and income per capita (how does this impact the QUALITY of healthcare).

The results of the survey were weighted as follows—

Health-- .24 (hard to determine exactly how this was measured)
Health inequality-- .25 (health care accrues more to those enjoying good health already?????)
Level of responsiveness-- .13 (how well the healthcare system responds to healthcare needs of its people)
Distribution of responsiveness-- .16 (who gets proper care on a timely basis)
Fairness of financial contribution-- .25 (who pays the tab--country scores higher the more the government pays for the healthcare of its citizens)


Guess where the US ranked in each of these categories

Health— 24
Health inequality— 32
Level of responsiveness— 1
Distribution of responsiveness— tied for third with 35 other countries
Fairness of financial contribution— 55


I'm not sure how everyone else feels, but my number one consideration is the quality of the care I receive. The US ranks numero uno in the responsiveness of its healthcare system to the needs of its people. Thats right NUMBER ONE in the same WHO study that ranks us 37 overall. We were tied for number three in distribution of responsiveness (are all people able to get the same level of responsiveness out of the healthcare system).

The lower overall ranking comes about because responsiveness was the least important measure considered by WHO. On the other hand, financial contribution to cost played a huge role in the rankings and the US ranked 55. So, the fact that someone receives crappy care in Columbia (82 in responsiveness) is offset by the fact that the government pays for almost 100% of the cost (number one in financial fairness) of the crappy care. So, Columbia ranks higher than the US by delivering crappy care at no cost to the patient.

Now you know the rest of the story. But, if you want to move to Columbia or any of the other countries above us on the list, feel free. The quality of the ACTUAL HEALTHCARE in those countries is worse than in the US but at least it will be cheap.

Take a look at the data. You will find that the US really is at the top when it comes to what matters in providing quality healthcare.

It appears that WHO, like the UN, would like to find ways to discredit the US in any way that it can.

So, anytime you hear a liberal use that ranking of 37, you better take it with a huge grain of salt.

 

[LuciferSam]

Actually, I am quite knowledgeable about these things. Let me try to teach you a few things about the USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.

First point--USPS has the monopoly on first class mail. They basically own your mailbox and no one else is allowed to deliver to your mailbox. This means that FedEx, UPS, etc cannot deliver first class mail to your mailbox. Withoug the ability to deliver first class mail to every household, it is not cost efficient for UPS or FedEx to cover the nation door to door. It has NOTHING to do with cherry picking markets. The USPS cannot give this monopoly up as they know that FedEx, UPS, etc would put them out of business.

Second point--USPS provides employee benefits to its workforce that far, far exceed the benefits provided to employees in industry. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/usps/offices/domestic-finance/usps/pdf/Rand1.pdf These excessive benefits cost the USPS billions each year and add significantly to the operating deficit. (Excessive employee benefits is a one of the reasons that a government run healthcare option would be very expensive).

Third point--USPS is inefficient. The decreasing amount of mail due to in large part to faxes, email, etc. has caused a big dent in the revenue line for USPS. So, what have they done to cut costs? Not much and not nearly enough? Why do we need 6 day a week delivery of our mail? We don't. We probably don't even need 5 day a week delivery. Essential deliveries of critical information are now handled by fax, email, overnight mail, etc. What we get in our mailboxes these days consists mostly of junk mail like catalogs, offers for credit card, etc and bills. Not stuff that requires daily delivery. USPS could cut one, two or three days and save billions and billions in expense without hurting service at all. Why don't they do these things--BECAUSE ITS THE GOVERNMENT.

As for Amtrak, except for a few profitable, highly utilized lines. Please tell me the purpose of losing a billion dollars a year on this business. Again, operating unprofitable lines when there are plenty of other options for travel for the few people that actually use Amtrak such as bus, car and air makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But, then again, we are talking about GOVERNMENT running this business.

That is why we don?t need the government option. One huge disaster in the making.

I can think of plenty of times in recent memory where six day delivery of mail was of great value so that I could receive critical documents quickly that couldn't be handled by fax or email. They weren't so critical as to warrant the expense of overnight mail, but was still important to receive them as soon as possible.

 

[fisher]

the airlines are all having blowout years due to the recession....would you argue business dynamics and fuel costs can make efficiency turn on a dime? or would you keep spewing that private vs government bile?

There are too many airlines keeping competition stiff and prices too low. Some need to go out of business and will in the future. Declaring bankruptcy and restructuring several of the airlines has only delayed the inevitable.

 

[fisher]

I can think of plenty of times in recent memory where six day delivery of mail was of great value so that I could receive critical documents quickly that couldn't be handled by fax or email. They weren't so critical as to warrant the expense of overnight mail, but was still important to receive them as soon as possible.

What is so very urgent that you don't want to spend $10 or $15 bucks to expedite but instead will leave it up to the 2 to 5 day window typical of the USPS?

Why don't we remove the monopoly granted to the USPS and see if FedEx and UPS can do it better and cheaper?