The Daily Valet. - 10/17/19, Thursday

✔️ Medicare for All (and Electric SUVs for Some)

October 17, 2019

Thursday, October 17th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

What a week ... is it Friday yet?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today's edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

What Is “Medicare for All” Exactly?

A closer look at the hot-button health care proposal

Even if you're not watching the Democratic candidates for president closely, it's unlikely that you've escaped the phrase "Medicare for all" or single-payer health care. And it's worth taking seriously. It's the signature proposal from candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and other front-runners (Buttigieg and Harris) have signed on.

The promise is that everybody would be insured under a government-run health care program, which replaces almost all other existing public and private plans. Health care usage would likely rise sharply nationwide because it would now be "free" (without even a co-payment) and America would spend less over all on health care (at least that's what they say). It sounds good. Great, actually ... but the devil is in the details.

According to new figures published in The Atlantic, the plan being touted by Warren and Sanders would require $34 trillion dollars in additional federal spending over its first decade in operation. That’s more than the federal government currently spends for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid combined during the same period.

Which means that taxes are going up for somebody ... a lot. In recent history, only during the height of World War II has the US government tried to increase taxes that significantly. By Warren’s own estimates (PDF), which even some liberal economists consider too optimistic, her proposed funding source of a wealth tax on personal fortunes exceeding $50 million would raise just $2.75 trillion over the next decade. When you do the math, that’s less than what would be required to fund her plan for just one year. And without a realistic way to pay for it, this seems more like fantasy than reality.

But who's to say we shouldn't try? Proponents of "Medicare for all" argue that health care is a right and that even for those who have insurance through their jobs, deductibles are rising faster than wages and customers can face surprise hospital bills from out-of-network doctors and specialists. The current system is clearly lacking

Of course, there's plenty of special interest working to help protect the bottom line of the established health insurance industry. Years of focus groups have proved that terms like “socialized medicine” and “government-run health care” scare many Americans and that most of us respond favorably to terms like “choice” and “competition.” And they're focusing on that.

The fact remains though that we spend more on health care per person than any other developed nation. Countries that have universal coverage (though not always a pure single-payer system) often satistically have healthier populations overall than the US. Which suggests that there should be some workable path toward guaranteeing health care. But it's not going to come easy ... or cheap.

Well, That Got Ugly

Trump lashes out and Democrats walk out

President Trump essentially washed his hands of the Turkish assault on America’s Kurdish allies, saying: “That has nothing to do with us. The Kurds know how to fight ... and they’re not angels.” House Republicans disagreed and joined Democrats in condemning the administraion’s decision to withdraw from Syria in a House measure that passed by a 354-to-60 vote.

After the vote, congressional leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, met with Trump at the White House. The meeting quickly turned ugly, with Trump calling Pelosi a “third-rate politician" and tweeting out a photo that looks like a Renaissance painting. Democrats walked out and Pelosi later said that the president seemed “very shaken up” and was having “a meltdown.”

In an attempt at diplomacy, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Turkey today, hoping to persuade the country’s president to pull back his offensive.

↦ In His Own Words: Trump said he'd written a “very powerful letter” of warning to Turkey's president after he pulled American troops. Yesterday, the White House released it.

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One Hell of a Drug Deal

Major drug distributors and manufacturers are trying to settle before a trial begins on Monday

The nation’s three largest drug distributors and two manufacturers are trying to settle thousands of opioid-related cases before Monday, when opening statements are scheduled for the first federal trial to determine responsibility for the opioid epidemic. The deal, worth nearly $50 billion in cash and addiction treatments, would release them from a rapidly growing list of more than 2,300 lawsuits in federal and state courts.

The manufacturers are Johnson & Johnson and Teva. The drug distributors—Amerisource Bergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health—handle about 90 percent of the country’s medicines.

↦ FYI: The opioid epidemic has led to 400,000 deaths in the United States over the past two decades.

The Mayflower Sets Sail Again

But this one is autonomous and will rely on AI to cross the Atlantic

Now here's a cool piece of news you can tuck away and bring up at Thanksgiving instead of trying to talk politics.

A fully autonomous ship named "Mayflower" is set to voyage alone across the Atlantic next September to mark the 400-year anniversary of the trip of the first Mayflower. It will use artificial intelligence to avoid sea obstacles thanks to IBM's PowerAI vision technology, supported by radar, lidar and optical cameras.

According to Tech Crunch, the ship will be decked out with solar panels, as well as diesel and wind turbines to provide it with its propulsion power, as it attempts the 3,220-mile journey from Plymouth in England, to Plymouth in Massachusetts. And it's not just a stunt. If it's successful, this new autonomous seafaring technology will likely change the way we research the ocean, not to mention overseas shipping.

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The “gentleman nomad” stack

Building your own vintage arcade cabinet

The importance of locker room etiquette

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Volvo’s First Electric Car Is a Cool Crossover

And it’ll ring in under $48,000 after tax credits

Volvo unveiled its first all-electric car, a reasonably-priced battery-powered version of its award-winning XC40 SUV crossover, dubbed the XC40 Recharge. It kicks off the company's promise to make all-electric models at least 50% of their global sales by 2025 (with hybrids making up the rest). According to Wired, the company is also aiming to reduce its emissions by 40%, targeting manufacturing processes and even the shipping of new vehicles from its factories. Perhaps it's a mea culpa of sorts for that emissions fiasco a few years ago?

Visually, little sets the XC40 Recharge apart from its dinosaur-juice-powered brother—the biggest giveaway is the sleek, blanked-off radiator grille. Inside, there's the usual handsome Nordic interior design, along with an integrated Android-powered infotainment system, meaning Google Maps and Google Assistant, even without your phone.

Under the proverbial hood, the all-wheel-drive powertrain delivers 408 horsepower that goes from 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. And while there's no EPA range yet, under Europe's WLTP format, it can go 248 miles between charges and the company says the US range will be over 200 miles.

↦ Learn More: Check out the Volvo site for all the technical info and millennial-styled photos of the handsome electric SUV.