Debt and ataraxia

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Eighty percent of Americans have some form of debt — from student loans to credit card. Some people born before World War II, are still paying off mortgages and credit cards. 90 percent of them, now retired, are carrying debt later into life. Studies show that subsequent generations carry even larger burdens.

Baby boomers on average have far more debt than their parents did at the same age. And 13 percent of boomers are still paying off student loans, either for their children, or because they went back to school later in life.

Generation X — those born between 1965 and 1980 — are on track to be even more indebted. As a group, they’ve reduced their mortgage debt in recent years, but the average Generation X-er still has $88,000 in debt. And now they face their own kids’ college costs, which raises another question — will they be able to help their children in the way that they would like to?

Millennials are different because fewer of them are taking on mortgages. Half of them have less than $1,000 in liquid assets, which suggests that they are not doing as well financially as their parents. In any case the subprime mortgage crisis may have made younger generations more skeptical about taking on debt. (based on an article on th NPR website).

My father never actually owned anything in his life. He rented his total of 28(!) homes (sequential I must add) until I insisted he benefit from the huge increase in property prices, an increase he had largely missed. Everything he did he did on straight bank loans. “Always use other people’s money if you can”, he would say. For myself, I try to follow Epicurean teachings: seek pleasure, not pain; strive for peace of mind, not big houses and fancy cars. Partly because of my father’s version of consumer economics, I loathe being in debt to anyone. Avoiding it as much as possible gives you a feeling of independence.

Cryonics: being frozen for 100 years

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To the New Scientist

From Margaret Kettlewell
Imagine getting a call from Life Extensions R Us in 2116. They have just revived your great-great-great uncle Kevin, who died in 2020. His pancreatic cancer is cured, though he still has some arthritis. Before being frozen, Kevin set up a trust fund on which he proposed to live after his revival, but 90 years of poor investment has left its value after inflation the same as your children’s pocket money. They would like to know when you will be along to collect him. (Bournemouth, Dorset, UK)

Freezing peopleseems to me to be a giant waste of time and resources. Epicurus might have suggested that we look after the living before we freeze the dying.

Thought for the day

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“Why may not a goose say thus: ‘All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon, the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me; I have such an advantage by the winds and such by the waters; there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me. I am the darling of Nature! Is it not man that keeps and serves me?’. (Montaigne, Book II, ch. 12. “Apology for Raimond Sebond”.)

Syrian refugees

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Despite Mr. Trump and other fear-promoters, 8,000 Syrian refugees have been resettled in 38 American states this year, in communities that are able to absorb refugees, and organised by nonprofit groups, faith-based communities, and volunteers. The figure is set to rise to 10,000 by the end of the year.

Michel Gabaudan, president of Refugees International, an advocacy organization based in Washington, said there are multiple checks that begin with the United Nation’s refugee agency. UNHCR identifies those who are most vulnerable which typically includes single mothers and children. The total of Syrians admitted to the U.S include 78 percent women and children.

The U.S. security checks are stringent, he said. “I would even dare to say that if you are running an organization that wants to harm this country, there are much easier ways to come to the U.S. than to come as a resettled refugee.” (NPR, August 2016)

Canada has taken 25,000 refugees, with no problems of terrorism. The 10,000 is a drop in the ocean compared with the total US population of over 300 million. What Britain has been doing is to take refugees from established refugee camps. This allows the authorities to monitor the activities and attitudes of potential resettlement candidates and to (hopefully) avoid those with sinister motives. Meanwhile, it is truly hard to object to the small number of refugees reaching the US, especially since they are mostly women and children. Some still manage to do so. Where is Christianity in all this?

Medicare, a success story

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Medicare, just over 50 years old, is a great success. Older Americans on Medicare are spending less time in the hospital and living longer. The cost of a typical hospital stay has actually come down over the past 15 years, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers looked at the experience of 60 million older Americans covered by traditional Medicare between 1999 and 2013, and found that mortality rates dropped steadily during that time, and people were much less likely to end up in the hospital. If the rates had stayed the same in 2013 as they had been in 1999, there would have been almost 3.5 million more hospitalizations in 2013.

The average cost of a hospital stay has dropped too, from $3,290 to $2,801 in inflation-adjusted dollars over the 15-year period for patients in the traditional Medicare program. 
The improvement is put down to measures designed to boost patients’ health, from prevention programs to advances in medical care, and also to shifting from hospitals to less expensive outpatient clinics.

Costs really are being contained, but more and more people are turning 65 and becoming eligible for the service. That growth continues to drive up the overall cost of the program, even as that average cost per illness or hospitalization comes down. And as older Americans live longer lives, they use Medicare for more years than previous generations did. (based on a NPR article in 2015).

So why not gradually extend Medicare downward in age until everyone is included in an efficient health system? This (a single-payer system) was proposed during the debate on Obamacare, but it was fiercely opposed by insurance companies and doctors, and you can understand why. Medicare does remunerate doctors at a very low rate, and many doctors are refusing to accept Medicare patients. I have some sympathy with them, but nonetheless recall the British National Health Service before the Neo-Liberals started to wreck it. Medicare is to similar the old NHS – inclusive of all income groups, efficient, and doing good while it is doing it.