I would prefer the stagflation and trains, personally.
That's a problem stemming from government regulation that prevents competition in diabetes insulin.
> trains
I'd prefer trains, too. But the government makes it far too expensive to build lines and operate them.
Regulation affects everybody a great deal, whether you're aware of it or not. In this case, insulin regulation has created a single supplier and prevented the market from working.
It's amazing how neo-liberal see government the source of half of their problem. When generally speaking, the true source of their problems is just corporations trying to fuck them up and do business as usual.
We have insulin regulation in most of Europe and Japan.
And still insulin cost there less than 10$ and close to 100$ in USA.
Why ?
Taxes make up the difference.
Taxes are not 1000% higher in USA than they are in France or Germany.
The main reason are patents, lack of generics, lacks of leverage of insurers in the American health care system and lack of regulation.
One of the main insulin provider in the USA is currently Sanofi. Sanofi is a french company. And the same insulin in France is under 10$ and currently reimbursed at 100% by the government.
Why ? Because in France the health coverage is state managed. And when the state negotiates the prices (paid by tax payers), the industry shut up and accept them.
This is the same in most of Europe Switzerland excepted.
oh wait...
Rail, healthcare and rent prices might be bright spots in Japan, but I hardly would consider a regression in real wages and living standards to be "doing fine". Your not doing fine if you can't afford to support yourself and a dependent.
Japan per capita GDP was 44k in 1995 and 33k in 2022.
People die in of diabetes in the US because they eat too much bad food.
"You are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are not physically active and are overweight or have obesity. Extra weight sometimes causes insulin resistance and is common in people with type 2 diabetes. The location of body fat also makes a difference."
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overvi...
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html
And if you want cheap insulin, you can buy it for $25 at Walmart.
The issue is people, generally, see diabetic and don’t ask, just assume. Millions are not type-2, many are due to pregnancies, old age too, or damage from disease. But even with obeisity/inactivity it is a risk factor and generally has a genetic component too. Plus, one the beta cells are gone, they are gone.