Unhealthy Healthcare
2/13/2023
One of our readers recently emailed me a story that I think really tells the story of the failure of capitalism specifically in the healthcare system. This reader, who we will call Harry, (not his real name for the sake of privacy) has a disorder that he wished to keep private. He was prescribed an intramuscular injection to treat this disorder, and his medicaid would pay for the medicine, but it did not pay for the syringes. This was not an issue, since it would pay for a visit to the clinic that would administer the shot for him. However, due to a mistake by his insurance company, he was left without insurance for when he needed his next shot. This meant that he had to pay out of pocket. Now, the issue isn't the failure of the insurance company, but rather the price of the shot. It was $33. This wasn't the price of the medicine itself nor is it even the price of the syringe. This absurd pricing was for a nurse to inject a needle into his shoulder. Think about that for a second, this didn't even take a whole minute to do, and yet the price of it was $33. This is a clear failure of the free market.
-Carl Marks
New England Clam Chowder with Crowder
1/18/2023
Steven Crowder’s success is indicative of a failure of a society. If you’re unaware, Steven Crowder is a far right wing political commentator. One of those “edgy” Ben Shapiro-esque type of guys. Recently, Crowder was offered a contract worth 50 million dollars with The Daily Wire, a far right commentary group founded by Ben Shapiro. It just shows how crazy money is thrown around in the alt-right sphere. The fact that this guy could come to success in this world is insane. It clearly shows that capitalism is by no means a meritocracy, he only went to a few semesters of college. It also shows that good people clearly don’t succeed in this world considering Crowder’s crazy and common racist takes. 50 million dollars is an insane amount of money. It’s absurd when people say leftists are grifters when these are the contracts given to right wing influencers.
-Freedrik Angles
Educating the Educators
6/9/2022
Today, I want to share with our readers something that I did some research on recently. Nordic countries, specifically Finland, have some of the greatest education systems in the entire world. Why is that? It’s because they employ a more socialist mindset to the education system. The teachers in Finland are given the autonomy to make the best decisions for their students. Every student learns differently, and it makes more sense for the teachers who work with these students to decide how their education goes. Not a faceless school board, or parents who aren’t trained in education. Something that I found that made so much sense to me was that teachers in Finland are simply more respected than in other countries. The job of being the teacher of the future generation is a job that is worth a great deal of respect and responsibility. Their aptitude is assessed much harsher than they are in American schools, but because of the higher respect given to them, teachers are willing to work harder to obtain a more desirable job. Enough about the teachers, let's talk about the students. Finland has a multitude of socialist policies that greatly equalizes the populous. Free healthcare, education, and cheaper transportation has lowered the impact of the student’s socioeconomic background. That’s all I have to say about that, but I really think that we should take a page out of Finland’s book.
-Carl Marks
Lobby for Anti-lobbying
4/20/2022
It’s crazy to me how everyone just thinks lobbying is a normal thing. A bunch of people pretty much just buy off our politicians to do whatever they want them to do. It truly is the epitome of our capitalist system. It shows how people in a capitalist market prioritize money over everything else. Politicians succumb to money over honor. Lobbying also gives people with money so much more power and influence. People who can afford to donate insane amounts of money to a campaign get to control that campaigner. And it’s not regular people doing this stuff- it’s big corporations. Big corporations run our politics. Capitalism for you.
-Freedrik Angles
The People's Capitalist of China
2/22/2022
A lot of people think China is a communist country. Which at first glance is understandable considering its past political endeavors and the fact that it’s a one-party state in which the only party is the communist party. But it legit could not be farther from communist. First of all, communism is never once mentioned in the Chinese constitution, only socialism. Even more telling though is the terrible working conditions and lack of standardization of labor laws in China. Chinese workers routinely work terrible hours for low pay. There are crazy amounts of sweatshops throughout the country. Keep in mind these are for the profit of big corporations, and not the state like the communist title would imply. Obviously this is all contradictory to communist ideals, which prioritize workers rights. Tie all these things together along with the fact that private property is still around, and you get a hyper-capitalist dystopia, not a communist dictatorship. So overall, it's just baffling how many people think of China to be communist mayhem. Probably just deep-rooted xenophobia.
-Freedrik Angles