Key Points

  • President Joe Biden said the federal Medicare program should negotiate prices for at least 50 prescription drugs each year, up from the current target of 20 medicines.
  • That proposal is one of several new health-care policy plans Biden will outline during his State of the Union address Thursday.
  • But the fate of his new proposals will be in the hands of a divided Congress, making it highly uncertain whether they will pass into law.
        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I said GDP is the sum of all incomes. That’s a basic axiom of macroeconomics, but you disagreed.

            • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Because it includes investments and so it is a better indicator of need than wage.

              There are plenty of people who have small wages/salary, or even zero wages/salary, and instead rely on investment income.

              For example, most landlords. Or retired people. Or the idle wealthy, like the various unemployed children of billionaires. Jeff Bezos has a salary of roughly $80K at Amazon. But he is way better off than someone with a salary of $90K.

              If you look at wages instead of overall income, you might think some of those folks are struggling when they absolutely aren’t.

              • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Sounds like you’re admitting a rising GDP doesn’t help people below the median. You completely lost the context of the conversation.

                • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Some of those people are definitely below median, like many retirees struggling to live off their life savings.

                  But in general, a rising GDP does not target people below median income. That’s exactly why Democrats prefer additional spending that is specifically targeted towards those people.

                  • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    Jesus you are obtuse.

                    … or we could increase the median?

                    That amounts to increasing GDP, given that GDP is the sum of everyone’s income. Which is something that pretty much every government tries to do.

                    I didn’t bring up the GDP. You did.