Thread

1. shoobiedoo · 1789687401 · focus · HN ↗

   This article calls it a "quiet emergency" but even as a foreigner living in Japan there are alarm bells everywhere. And the government buying 150 F35's is just a slap in the face when there's a massive chunk of the population that is, very quickly, going to need extra care.

   I looked into becoming a care aid myself as I'm tired of office culture in Japan and have some experience in that field. I was shocked to see that they start at less than 10USD, and working your way up takes years, decades even.

   Continuing to kick this can down the road is going to be an absolute disaster.

   1. rightnutwingjob · 1789689669 · focus · HN ↗

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      1. PostOnce · 1789692682 · focus · HN ↗

         These people are over 100, and have been paying tax to the Japanese state since before world war 2. They lived through world war 2, and they rebuilt japan afterwards.

         You're proposing to tell them they haven't "done enough", saved enough, paid enough tax, worked enough, sacrificed enough. You're assuming they all have kids to care for them.

         20-something billion dollars can pay for a lot of medicine and care that F-35s can't deliver.

         Defence is necessary to protect the people. But so is everything else. Medicine, food, affordable housing, education...

         If the state wants tons of money and sacrifice, then what is the point of protecting it if it provides nothing in return?

         This extends to everyone else in the developed world: if we're fucked anyway, why bother doing all this stuff the government wants? To protect the assets and incomes of the rich? So we can give all our life and labor to the lords and landlords?

         I'm not buying it, and I doubt the centenarians are either.

         1. rightnutwingjob · 1789716203 · focus · HN ↗

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            1. kiwih · 1789739808 · focus · HN ↗

               That's one anecdote, here's another: I live in Australia. My wife and I have both used Medicare multiple times - in fact, we've never used our private health insurance (despite the government requiring us to have it). Medicare delivered my child safely via C-section, and saw them through all their important health checkups after. Our total out of pocket was a couple of hundred dollars for some early extra ultrasounds.

               As for disability, my cousin is on NDIS. She is severely mentally handicapped - despite being 22 years old, she has the mental age of a 4 year old, and she will never improve upon this. Her NDIS plan makes sure that she is cared for and looked after while her parents go to work. In fact, NDIS even found her a "job" to give her purpose, she is able to sweep a local mall daily.

               Now, are there flaws with both Medicare and NDIS? Of course! NDIS is filled with corrupt providers and a hopeless bureaucracy. It would save a lot of money if the state just managed it directly and had the providers on the books instead of enriching pointless middleman businesses. Medicare, meanwhile, would probably do better if I didn't have to waste a portion of each paycheck on a private provider there's no point in using. I'd rather just pay that portion as extra taxes to better fund the hospitals that the private insurances send you to anyway if your job is too complex.

               If you aren't convinced of Australia as an example of actually a relatively good system, I'd encourage you to live in the US for a while, and try it out there. I lived in NYC for nearly four years and had a few health scares. Nothing was ever scarier than the bill :-)

               1. rightnutwingjob · 1789874956 · focus · HN ↗

                  Why should I have to pay for your disabled relative?

                  That just makes no sense, sorry.

                  1. kiwih · 1789878665 · focus · HN ↗

                     The good news is that you're likely paying a fraction of a cent on your taxes for my particular cousin alone. The good news is that fraction of a cent allows her family, including me, to be productive members of society. If your family, or even you yourself, become handicapped - perhaps through a sickness or an accident - we will be happy to return the favor with the fractions of a cent of our taxes that would go to you. A rising tide lifts all boats, and we all benefit when the least amongst us are well looked after.

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