My first thought upon seeing the headline was that perhaps this could be due to a workforce that has abandoned or has been abandoned by other industries- providing an influx of enthusiasm, competition, variety, and desperation.
But, then I read:
> We document that, after remaining almost constant for almost 30 years, real labor productivity at U.S. restaurants surged over 15% during the COVID pandemic.
So I wonder if it’s a combination of workers getting better tips and more people buying takeout meals?
> american people are overwhelmingly of the former type
HMOs, later PPOs, etc. in the U.S. seemed like a good idea, but health insurance wasn’t available or affordable for the minority. But there’s Medicaid, Medicare, the ACA, and much more, so the U.S. government has subsidized care and assistance.
Another “workaround” for unaffordable health insurance is going to an emergency room at a hospital, assuming you can get there, but many can. It’s slow as hell, but being seen in hours can be better than being seen in months. The downside is that this results in crippling debt for some. Bankruptcy can be declared, but then your credit is shot, and if you’re poor you may need credit.
Healthcare quality overall is quite good, though, even for the minority. It’s far from perfect, but compared to rest of the world, it’s not the worst place to get sick.
Now- why did an activist president, house representatives, and senators get elected that are cutting funding for global and U.S. healthcare? I can’t imagine it’s not the fault of foreign actors and the ease of manipulating 50% of the country through Fox News and social media. You wouldn’t believe how different the belief sets are here between that group and the rest. It changed radically in the last ten years.
The rest of us are far from indifferent to what’s happening. We just don’t know how to fix it. Protesting probably won’t change it, though we protest. Boycotts probably won’t change it, though we boycott. We don’t have enough in the government to even impeach, and what good would that do? They own all three branches of government. They used Gerrymandering and fired election officials, replaced leaders, subordinates, and did mass layoffs to ensure all future victories. They kicked certain news media out of the W.H. and are considering shutting other media companies down.
It all happened so quickly. Much more quickly than in the past in Germany or Russia.
> Once I have that arranged, I can think about giving again.
The cost of gutting healthcare is going to go way up. It’s much more costly to fight 10 pandemics that are affecting 90% than it is to maintain vaccinations and control of 10%. That 10% affected becomes 90% affected quickly without assistance.
> I like my kerning to sit in that sweet spot where people don’t notice it but once you point it out it gives them an unsettling feeling wherever they see it.
Kerning lets letters be spaced more uniformly, which is easier to read for most of us.
It also allows letters to crowd each other like friends in a wacky group photo, a tree overhanging a sidewalk, or a cat's tail doing its weird contortions. Fonts are fun.
It’s worth the trouble I think, but there are options if you’d rather not support it.
But, then I read:
> We document that, after remaining almost constant for almost 30 years, real labor productivity at U.S. restaurants surged over 15% during the COVID pandemic.
So I wonder if it’s a combination of workers getting better tips and more people buying takeout meals?