• @Starbuck@lemmy.world
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      126 months ago

      But they had better profits, so it’s worth it. Unless you’re sick or poor, in which case who cares

      • @kautau@lemmy.world
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        66 months ago

        Not to worry! The competition of the elderly and terminal who are living there will allow them to just pack their bags and move to another place easily and without impact to their wellbeing because of their freedom of choice in this wonderful free market guided by the invisible hand

  • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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    6 months ago

    It’s almost like privatizing public services is, somehow, a bad idea. But, but, but… capitalism…

    E: jokes aside. The findings in these studies, while obvious to some (possibly most) people, are extremely important. Feelings without supporting data, are just opinions. Feeling with supporting data, are facts. Because of this study, we now have facts to fight against further privatization of public services.

    • @Lianodel@ttrpg.network
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      216 months ago

      I don’t know, I’m starting to get the sneaking suspicion that “good” and “profitable” aren’t synonyms. It’s almost as if there is often a financial incentive to make things worse…

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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        106 months ago

        Right. Like they deliberately make good things into shit. I wish there was a good term for this phenomenon.

        • @mkhopper@lemmy.world
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          116 months ago

          Greed.

          No, no. Unabashed greed.

          No, take it all the way. Fuck the little people to support my unabashed greed.

        • prole
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          36 months ago

          It’s called “rent seeking.” Even if some ya sci-fi author tried to coin a new term, there is nothing new about this type of behavior.

      • @SecretSauces@lemmy.world
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        46 months ago

        Quality, especially in a service like healthcare, often doesn’t mean profit. It’s all about “how low can i make my overhead costs to make my good/service just BARELY passable, then take it one step lower”.

      • @kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        46 months ago

        I’m starting to get the sneaking suspicion that “good” and “profitable” aren’t synonyms.

        They’re polar opposites.

        Maybe one day there will be politicians with the balls to actually do something about it.

    • @chitak166@lemmy.world
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      36 months ago

      You don’t need supporting data to understand businesses will do whatever will maximize profit.

      This intrinsically means charging the most while providing the least.

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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        56 months ago

        Not to understand, no. But to fight it in a legal court, you need data and fact.

    • d00phy
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      126 months ago

      Glad this was the top comment for me. Don’t need to scroll any further.

    • admiralteal
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      6 months ago

      Many of these hospitals were capitalist before the takeover too – they just were beholden to local owners rather than big national firm owners.

      Local ownership is a VERY powerful check on the power of capital. Communities can hold sway over owners beyond what is reflected the general ledger of the business. And one of the reasons big national brands are good at out-competing local business is precisely BECAUSE they can ignore these social costs – even externalize them – and reap further profit for the exercise.

      Even if you’re anticapitalist as fuck, this is why it is still important to buy and support local business whenever possible. Because the less local the business is, the less it cares about its customers and employees’ welfare.

      And when local owners get greedy and want to sell to big firms, it’s very important to hit them with as much social punishment as possible. Friends don’t let friends sell their businesses to hedge funds.

      • Alto
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        316 months ago

        Local ownership can cut both ways. Local businessmen reach a certain level of wealth and power and can essentially take over the entire town. It’s how you end up with situations like the Murdaughs.

        However you look at it, the overconsolidation of wealth always has negative impscts.

      • @gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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        6 months ago

        Also a lot of hospitals were not for profit. It may upset the atheist crowd here but they were run by religious organizations as charities. Not that they didn’t make money, but everything was reinvested back into care.

      • prole
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        16 months ago

        They also reinvest in their communities, whereas big corporations siphon up all the capital, and abscond.

  • @Rooskie91@discuss.online
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    586 months ago

    Privatization is the biggest scam of the 20th and 21st centuries. It has ruined every service it’s touched and made them all more expensive. The exact opposite of what Neoliberal clowns keep telling us.

  • @Jerkface@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Just a reminder that the point of researching the validity of things we intuitively know to be true is to provide the empirical data and expert analysis that can be used in, say, legal decisions or legislative processes.

    • paraphrand
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      6 months ago

      Thanks Jerkface.

      I hate comments that are like “duh, we fucking know! Thus XYZ report or research is a waste of time and money!”

    • @nous@programming.dev
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      66 months ago

      empirical data … legislative processes.

      Haha good one. The only data that matters to those in charge is what makes them more money, and the business friends more money and the lobbyists more money. Other data is basically irrelevant with the current asshiles that are in charge.

    • @unreasonabro@lemmy.world
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      46 months ago

      we should try getting to the point where common sense is applied before legislation is passed! that’d probably save some fucking money

  • @blazeknave@lemmy.world
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    156 months ago

    It’s not even feelings… Their missions are diametrically opposed. Hippocratic oath vs returns to shareholders should be regulated

  • Snot Flickerman
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    136 months ago

    I remember reading about this in an architectural monthly like 10 years ago or more:

    It didn’t matter how “high-end” the building they were constructing was, they were always using the cheapest building materials available and long-term viability of the structure was a sincere afterthought.