[RANT] Commercial That Annoys You

[Dogbrain]

Any and all commercials that market something as "rebellious". Bah! If it were really rebellious, no gigantic corporation would be hawking it on network TV.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

The most annoying commercial on TV these days, to me, is the Juicy Fruit commercial (I don't know if you get it in the states). It's part of the commercial that the tune be so incredibly, mind-numbingly idiotic and annoying, which makes it even worse.

AR

 

[RPGgirl]

That's a good summary, Thornir; I've had to use something like it at my job, when I have to wind up explaining to little old ladies over the phone why, in general, (Wonderdrug) is so durned expensive.

I figure, personally, the best way to implement price controls here would be to, at the same time, subsidize R&D, to try to keep the pipeline of new medications coming. I'm not sure how likely this would be, but having the Medicare Part D drug benefit come along will make it much more likely some form of price controls will be put into place.

Brad

As a canadian, recently relocated to the US, my take on price controls and government subsidy for R&D ... as most know Canadian health care is cheap and accessible to all. Yes, but, because of the government capping the amount they will pay doctors, doctors are forced to see patients for some insanely short period of time (ie. ten minute appointments) in order to pay for their practises. In addition, because they don't have to pay, everyone and their dog trots off to the emergency room or doctors office everytime they hiccup or stub their toe, putting even more stress on an overburdenned sytem. In the US health care is expensive, but it definitely makes people think before going in. Also, you generally get to spend enough time with the doctor for him or her to find out what is actually wrong, and when you are scheduled for surgery, you generally get it. All of these things do not happen in Canada.

As far as subsidized R&D, who do you think pays for those subsidies? The tax payers ... in Canada, our government subsidizes the drug companies (and alot of industries for that matter) and the population now faces one of the highest tax rates in the world (next to some of the European countries). A couple of years ago, the organization that ranks the worlds economy stated that Canada is overtaxed and underfunded, dropping our credit rating to below that of most first world countries. It is not unusual for a middle class income to pay close to fifty percent of their income in direct taxes (ie. provincial and federal income tax).

Just my two cents on subsidies and price controls.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

As a canadian, recently relocated to the US, my take on price controls and government subsidy for R&D ... as most know Canadian health care is cheap and accessible to all. Yes, but, because of the government capping the amount they will pay doctors, doctors are forced to see patients for some insanely short period of time (ie. ten minute appointments) in order to pay for their practises. In addition, because they don't have to pay, everyone and their dog trots off to the emergency room or doctors office everytime they hiccup or stub their toe, putting even more stress on an overburdenned sytem. In the US health care is expensive, but it definitely makes people think before going in. Also, you generally get to spend enough time with the doctor for him or her to find out what is actually wrong, and when you are scheduled for surgery, you generally get it. All of these things do not happen in Canada.

As far as subsidized R&D, who do you think pays for those subsidies? The tax payers ... in Canada, our government subsidizes the drug companies (and alot of industries for that matter) and the population now faces one of the highest tax rates in the world (next to some of the European countries). A couple of years ago, the organization that ranks the worlds economy stated that Canada is overtaxed and underfunded, dropping our credit rating to below that of most first world countries. It is not unusual for a middle class income to pay close to fifty percent of their income in direct taxes (ie. provincial and federal income tax).

Just my two cents on subsidies and price controls.

Oh, yes. I have a lot of relatives in Canada and have heard the stories. My Great Aunt was diagnosed with cancer. She was considered a fairly high priority patient and so she was able to have surgery scheduled in three months. One of my Great Uncles was an anesthesiologist for at a hospital. At age 64 he was the youngest anesthesiologist on staff (one of only three total), because nobody wanted to take on that risky a career for the poor pay the doctors received (I guess he still had malpractice insurance to purchase, which was a huge chunk of his salary). There is a reason we have some of the best medical care in the world here in the US.

 

[RPGgirl]

Oh, yes. I have a lot of relatives in Canada and have heard the stories. My Great Aunt was diagnosed with cancer. She was considered a fairly high priority patient and so she was able to have surgery scheduled in three months. One of my Great Uncles was an anesthesiologist for at a hospital. At age 64 he was the youngest anesthesiologist on staff (one of only three total), because nobody wanted to take on that risky a career for the poor pay the doctors received (I guess he still had malpractice insurance to purchase, which was a huge chunk of his salary). There is a reason we have some of the best medical care in the world here in the US.

My father-in-law was diagnosed with severe heart disease and needed to go in for bypass surgery. After the waiting lists and what not for surgery, he ended up being scheduled six months after the original diagnosis. The day before he was supposed to be admitted, the hospital called him to say the OR had been double booked and his surgery was bumped until three weeks later. He died a week later of a massive heart attack, a month before his fifty third birthday.

My father, a pipefitter by trade and physicall fit, spent eight months going back and forth to the doctors office complaining of fatigue, sleeplessness, and general ill health. Each time the doctor patted him on the back and said take it easy, don't work too hard, take these pills, etc. At no point did an appointment last more than ten minutes or referred to a specialist. One day he came in looking yellow, and the doctor automatically assumed he had scirosis of the liver from drinking too much. My father told him he only had the occassional beer, but the doctor did not believe him, and put him off for a couple of more months. By the time, the doctor took the time to refer him to a specialist for exploratory surgery, they found massive scarring on his liver and it was revealed he had hepatitis C and needed a transplant immediately. It looked like the scarring had been there for twenty years or so, so they guessed he contracted it as a child. Less than a year later, two months after a transplant, he died because a nurse in the hospital on the transplant ward came to work with the flu. He wasn't even fifty.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Any of the Hummer commercials. As if driving a huge beast of a gas hog isn't irritating enough, they act as if being obnoxious while driving the damn truck is cool, because you've got a big truck and everyone will let you get away with it.

Sorry, but anything that is built like a tank and needs to have an extra safety grill built underneath the front end so it won't crush a normal sized car in an accident doesn't belong on the road.

I hate Hummers.

I don't think I could bring myself to purchasing a vehicle that sounds like it's named after a sex act.

 

[Dogbrain]

Those things are freaking scary man...

I can't stress enough that those things seriously freak me out. I'm not kidding.

So, are you saying that you don't like tha moooooooon?

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

"I don't want to be a famous artist, I just want to hold a paintbrush with less pain" --- which translates in my mind as "I want to be a loser who doesn't stick it out from the crowd and never does anything with my life." IMO, if you pick up a paintbrush, you should have aspirations to be a great at painting (not necessarily museum great, but good enough to sell your work if you wanted) or else you really have no business even lifting that brush at all. Go do something else you could be great at... Why people are willing to accept mediocrity for themselves and their loved ones is beyond me when there is clearly a choice.

Because the alternative is: DO NOTHING... EVER.

I have a lot of trouble with a Muscular Dystrophy related condition. Sometimes I can't hold a fork. Sometimes, I can't open my hands at all. On those days, I do not aspire to be the world's greatest writer. I would really just like to hold a pencil. On those days, I don't want to be Emeril Lagasse. I just want to hold a knife to make a sandwich for lunch.

I'm glad they make a pill I can take that lets me use my hands, even if I won't be writing war & peace or winning the Iron Chef competition.

Or even the Iron_Chef's respect, because he seems to think that being crippled means I'm not alowed to want to do something any healthy person can do without thinking.

 

[Ottergame]

Those damn Scion commercials. Or anything with canned techno or aimed at the "urban youth".