Two interesting thoughts from recent discussions
Thoughts from recent talks with friends/coworkers:
- If we went to government funded healthcare, it would likely have an impact on lawsuit cases. Instead of the astronomical lawsuits for injury claims, it is likely one could no longer sue for hundreds of millions for their medial care – since that care would be ‘freely’ available. Now, they could probably still sue for loss of limbs/ability to work/anguish/etc. They might also still be able to sue for special care needed for rehab or the like – depending on where govt care ended… But the burden of payment on these injuries would shift to the government (us) where it might be much more reasonably paid for (discounted rates) and half of it wouldn’t go to the lawyers.
- Having the tight urban growth boundary around Portland that we do (a line around the city where nobody can build houses outside of) has arguably kept it from experiencing a lot of the recent mortgage collapse pain or falling prices. The price of housing is a local phenomenon – primarily dictacted by demand, incomes, and availability. An urban growth boundary has kept availability lower than other places (no urban sprawl), and even if demand or average area income drops, the boundary keeps availability tighter and helps cushion any downturns.
One thought on “Two interesting thoughts from recent discussions”
Hey Matt… Long time no see… Have you ever wondered why the wealthy Canadians come to the US for health care? Probably because they don’t like the waits and service provided by their “free” socialized system. It is also delivering miserably in Europe. I’m glad the US is last to jump on some global trends and I hope this one is seen as a bad one and avoided.
It sounds like the urban restrictions may have avoided the current mortgage issues, but what influence has that had on the poor to obtain homes or to become home owners? How bad is this current credit crunch? I hear reports of record forclosures, but that is still a fraction of a percent and even HUD need not worry as the losses are being made up by those who pay higher rates for FHA backed loans.
Sounds like the stories are being fed to us by a media that needs to paint a gloomy picture of the executive office to hide the epic failures of the legislative branch.
God Bless…