NYC has laws that punish the poor for existing, allow people to piss in the streets and lets the homeless masturbate on public infrastructure/buses/trains to passers by, rather than get them the help they need by funding anything besides billionaires.
NYC is a example of a century of continued messes by wealthy, bigoted men... (and im not just talking the ghoul in a suit, "Garden Center" Giuliani)
its deeper than that, Cost of operation. Who pays the cleaning staff to disinfect those tiles so bacterial growth doesn't occur? Plastics and many cheaper materials are bio-inhibitors. They can be covered in fecal and urine waste and not be literal petri dishes for bacteria, fungus's and mold.
they also look plain (IE: "Industrial", currently a desirable artistic trait. When we live in a society that is all doomer and see's everything for its resale "potential") and last a relatively long times(plastic erosion is significantly slower than cheap tile). In a era where operating a business is less about making or selling products you believe in, but making sure your investors (bank/shareholders) get paid. its one major cost(staff) off the top.
More so when most businesses rent the buildings they use, they do not own them. You want to blame anyone, blame the landlords that charge based on location, not based on business profits + their own costs.
lol, i never said its a good solution, just the only reasonable one. The best solution is having government controlled public restrooms and regulating where dining institutions can operate their businesses to restrict them to areas where these restrooms are located.
Then have a always on-staff, thats well trained, well payed and lives in the local area. A Government personnel to keep them clean and paid for by tax payers, rather than wait staff that are forced to do it on top of their already demanding jobs of dealing with customers. Treat it as public infrastructure like roads and sewer and the problem solves its self. People generally treat public infrastructure much better than business infrastructure. They see business infrastructure as a outlet to their gripes with a businesses practices. Some one wants to vandalize? its suddenly not a business they are messing with, but a government facility... holds a lot more legal weight and punishment. Additionally staff have only one job, that bathroom facility, so if something happens, they are not going to miss it for 12 hours until some one complains...
Would it be worth if financially? yes. Most governments spend more per year on research groups to make policy decisions than staffing. Staffing costs are generally one of the lowest operation costs, and infrastructure pays for its self when you tax businesses for the use of it. Businesses ultimately save money, as its additional infrastructure they dont need to maintain or clean, and less operational cost.
Will it be done? no lol
Nearly every nation is trying to shift national operational costs to private industry as decades of corporations lobbying and pressuring has made it appear as if its cheaper to build it and sell it to them, then to operate it yourself. People are stupid and easily convinced against their own best interest, because they get situational biased based on the fact bad experiences are heavier than good ones mentally and businesses know how to placate them with sweet words and entertainment... We will own nothing and like it. its the future.
No the doctor says it costs this much, the hospital double it and says it costs this much, the insurance company says they will only pay this much
Doctors dont decide on costs of medications or procedures. Hospitals and Pharmacies do. When a doctor prescribes you a medication, their software only show the MSRP as a guide (and sometimes if your insurance covers the type, depending on the software). Pharmacies, when they order medication, only get to see the suppliers price and supplier availiblity. -- The price you pay is based on the Pharmacies markup from cost, usually around 23-40%, to cover operational costs and profit margins of around 3-17%.
The really messed up part is that Pharmacies in the US, are locked in by contracts to choose thier suppliers. This lets suppliers charge what ever they want to Pharmacies, and create artificial shortages at any time with impunity. Pharmacies can change suppliers after the contract is up, but, the supply system is so corrupt, its a case of bottom-up corruption. To fix it you would have to re-regulate the system from manufacturer to hospital. Allowing pharmacies to buy direct, prohibit supplier contracts/rebates, and regulating the costs of medications with caps at each stage would solve all of this. However, none of that can ever be done, as long as politicians have a option to make profit from the system too. They dont pay for medication or treatments, you do. They have no incentives to fix the system and every incentive to make it worse, which is why we see just that.
However, the biggest contributor to the cost from the medications manufacturers, They reap the most rewards. Want a example? Insulin. The cheapest medication in existence to produce, no licensing, extremely plentiful and cheap ingredient costs and scales easily. Its literally a pure-profit medication and one that some people depend on (and they actively prevent cures from being researched via lobbying and paid counter-research). Remember, most pharmaceutical CEO's are multi-millionaires. They are for-profit and they reap all of it you will tolerate without turning them into spaghetti.
As far as Doctor treatment costs. Doctors generally make very little, even private practice doctors, the "practice" is the same as a hospital, they rarely operate it themselves and they only get to dictate their rates. ofcourse the rates are negotiable and why insured patients generally pay less, than uninsured patients as they cant negotiate with the doctor directly, only the practice which will never budge unless you get a lawyer involved...
When you are at a hospital however, thats when things get reaallly messy. You have all of the above costs, plus the hospitals surcharges on each of those on top of it. In the US, Hospitals rarely receive much outside funding (and as of 2026, they are receiving the least amount in US history, since treatment regulations existed). They are required by law to treat anyone that walks in the door. Whether they have insurance or not. They eat 80% of the cost of treating most patients in the end, and thats before the hospitals Board gets paid. Remember, hospitals in the US are For-Profit. Who makes up the hospitals board? Retired doctors, Lawyers and Investors. Basically a bunch of old men, that dont have any costs of living...
So why is it so expensive? Every time a hospital needs to use a vial of Morphine for example, it has to be disposed of at the end of the day (Usually, depends on the hospital). The safety regulations on medicine and equipment make operation costs high, and profits low by design, So the cost per-patient goes up. So every time they have to eat the cost of some one without insurance in the US medical system, the debt goes up.
Most US Hospitals have more debt than nearly any other industry. It makes it VERY hard to get loans and even harder to maintain operation. Its why most rural hospitals close and most big city hospitals are insanely expensive. Its hard to keep up with the costs of operation, and debt repayments when you rarely make a profit and are constantly taking on debt to pay the board.
Remember, the bulk of a hospitals real operation cost is paying the board. While they may not make as much as you think, they make far more than they should and get even more through pharmacutical and medical instrument manufacturer kick-back deals. (Remember Prozac and Viagra... most of their marketing budget was spent on this... that is just one example in the last 20 years)
This is why countries with universal healthcare systems are generally doing better and its cheaper to operate. Germany and AU still have private + public systems, and while they are still as not as good as some European countries, the regulations on medication, and medical equipment prevent the free-for-all of price fixing like the US has.
The US has one of the worst medical system ratings in the world, remember that. The only things that used to get high ratings was the reconstructive surgery sector. That has even died off from corruption over the last 20 years.
I believe the discounted candy bar was 8 dollars originally. I remember it as $4, some where around 2008... This meme is old... Only thing older is the CEO's and politicians that have increased the cost year after year...
You really don’t need to live - american politicians & insurance companies ftfy;
Remember, Right to birth, not right to live. Unless you do exactly what they want and breed many more. your only important till your no longer useful.
chance of success: 30% Payout: $5 (after lawyer fees, and splitting with other class-action plaintiff's)
the meds for pets don’t have the same safety regulations as the ones for humans
Depends on the meds. Most medication for animals is from the same production line as humans, its just overflow stock or stuff that didnt meet the quality standards.
Human medicine is tightly controlled, not by governing bodies, but by the manufacturer. They artificially limit availability to create shortage in human medicine, as this produces the highest profit. How is simple, the stuff that doesnt meet the quality standards gets immediately labeled and shipped as pet medicine (this creates a surplus keeping costs low), but the expiry dates are kept intentionally very short (Which expiry on most medication is mostly a lie, fyi). This ensures constant rollover.
The rest is stored, unlabled except for a printed internal production run number, to identify when it was produced. Its labled as-needed to control where it is going. This keeps prices high and gives them room.
This is why 80+% of pet medication is the same quality and standards as human medication, but doesnt have the markup. the ~20% is the actual stuff that didnt meet quality standards. So while you could just use pet medication, without quality testing each vial or dose(in the case of pills), you run the risk of contaminants.
The solution: Price regulation like other countries do. The problem is the manufacturer has too much control over the pricing. They may still try to reduce production, to control the price, but regulation can fine them over this as well. Its all easy solutions and it all involves preventing corruption.
I mean, digital receipts and signs would take care of both those problems lol
Most parts of the world, public restrooms cost money.
I mean most ceos went to uni for business and paid others to do their course work it seems. Then got hired on the vibes.
Shareholders care about only one thing, and its not the company or its employees. Of course maniacal idiots are at the top of the list for CEO, their too narcissistic and lack empathy to care.
perfect example of "coffee is hot" signs/labels. I think we all deeply understand the sentiment that the general public, is in fact, generally willfully inconsiderate to themselves and others, when they want something lol
Unless you physically impede some one, to disrupt their flow, they will not think twice about desire fulfillment in today's society... Everyone needs to pee, but not everyone respects your need to pee.