So after a really rocky start this conference turned out to be fairly enjoyable. I learned some good things and planted a seed on at least two interesting potential collaborations (and that's what this conference gig is all about).
I tried to see if I could escape this city earlier than I had flight reservations for. But alas, I was informed that such a flight change would cost me another 200 loonies. You have to love a country that regards money as loony. Its a wonder how anyone here can consider capitalism as a sane endeavor.
"What? You want to what? You do realize that if you sell this amazing awesome thing of yours you'll get buried in loonies right?"
Now think of it, a pool stuffed with urine-soaked, blathering, sociopathic autists, all struggling to lick the sane smell right off your arm hairs. That's it, that's capitalism in Canada, buried in loonies.
Did I mention they have some awesome healthcare here?
I spoke with a woman on the plane over here who worked as a nurse practitioner in Canada. She used to work as a nurse in the US though and so had some high-quality perspective from which to compare the healthcare systems in the two countries. I've met many nurses and only met one who occasionally annoyed me. Anyway, she predictably mentioned how all the hype in the US about how socialized healthcare leads to shitty service and long waits for life-saving care is just that; hype. Contrary to what you learn on "South Park" Canadians are not stupid people. They know what triage means and understand that letting people die in the fat-rolls of beuraucracy is a human-rights crime. If you are sick, you will be treated. You might have to wait in line to get a tattoo removed, or to get some decent hair plugs, true. However, you can't really bitch about that with any moral authority though now can you?
Our conversation eventualy led us to the high cost of healthcare in the United States. That string of words trigged a Pavlovian response about how trial lawyers are the ones to blame for that.
Before I get into that though, let me say that I also told this nurse about a movie I watched with my wife before I left. You've heard of it, "Super-size Me", the documentary about a guy who hears about the big lawsuit against McDonalds and decides to look a little deeper. He learns that the court threw the case out because of one single fact, paraphrasing; no direct evidence existed to establish that the defendants (McDonalds) products caused the health problems experienced by the plantifs (obesity, diabetes, and liver disease). So the guy decides to find that evidence by eating nothing but Mickey D's for 30 straight days. Predictably, he adds 25% to his weight, and his blood tests show progressively more dangerous symptoms of liver failure. He gets sick on the shit a few times too.
So, when most people heard of people suing McDonalds for making them fat, most folks had the same Pavlovian response I did, "oh ya another American sue-happy shit-head ruining things for all the rest of us", and "suck it up grandma". But then I learned something that really steamed me. Congress introduced a bill that would protect the fast-food industry from any additional litigation!
Now wait a gosh darn minute there. I do feel that people who don't know better than to eat McDonalds every day are being just plain ignorant and may be getting what they deserve. But what if McDonald's really is doing something insidious? What if they have invented some new high-tech addictive substance that they infuse into every cheeseburger? We ought to be able to sue them for that right? What about more pedestrian things, like that warmed-over Big Mac I had in college that put me on the toilet for two days straight (I knew it tasted wrong). I could have sued then if I had a little more awareness of the situation before I finished eating the burger. I don't think anyone would blame me for milking Mickey's teet for some genuine, negligence-inflicted pain-and-suffering.
Okay, we all know Mickey D's and all the other mega-corps own Congress so this kind of bill shouldn't surprise us. It can make us mad, but it shouldn't surprise us. We all know that the mega-corps all own the media too, and that they spend a ton of money on advertising to make make us think in a way that will make us buy more of thier shit. There it is. That's the tipping point. We Americans are an individualistic lot. We believe our power as individuals is what makes this country great and that no other power is greater. Except maybe two indivuduals, and natural disasters, and highly addictive drugs, and OH SHIT! THEY HAVE US RIGHT WHERE THEY WANT US!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ultimately, we choose our own fate. McDonalds is what they are because of us, but McDonalds is also what they are because of them. And neither entity should be entirely devoid of responsibility for the transaction.
Now, getting back to other mega-corp pseudo-propaganda advertising induced thoughts about how the trial lawyers are to blame for the high costs of health-care insurance. If I was an insurance company, and politicians were making a ton of noise about socialized health-care as being an answer to high costs, I would want the american public to blame someone else. Now lets see, who is the perfect patsy for this little plan of mine? Well, again, if I'm an insurance company, I am in the business of making money, and the only thing that stands in the way of me making more and more more money is to pay out claims, and lessee, there is one group of people who seem to cost us a pile of money in claim pay-outs, who are they now...? Oh ya! Trial Lawyers! That's it, we'll raise premiums even more to pay for a massive media campaign to paint trial lawyers as the cause for high health insurance costs! People already think that Americans sue too much so it will be easy to plant this idea! If we are lucky, we might even get some legislation passed that will not only prevent socialized medicine, but also will put limits on the people's ability to sue, thus reducing the amount of money we insurance companies can pay out! Perfect!
Think about it, if trial lawyers were the real reason behind the escalating health-care costs, don't you think we would have heard about some major insurance companies folding up like a bankrupt airline? I haven't heard of any, in fact, I think these insurance companies have gotten pretty fucking fat. They could use some rendering. I say fire the whole damn industry and then re-hire the fuckers on civil servant wages in the new Department of Universal Health Care.
Wow. I was going to write about the city of Montreal and the nifty things about this place. Somehow the above seemed more important to me.
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