Unjerked Podcast

Unjerked E34 Prisons Part 2

Unjerked E33 Prisons Part 1

Unjerked E32 Healthcare Costs Part 3

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why are there supply constraints? Do these cause issues?  This is Part 3 of 3 episodes.
We first discuss the constraint on the supply of doctors due to the bottleneck of residency slots funded by the government. Because of the unprofitability of residents for hospitals, most of the supply of residents relies on subsidies from the Center For Medicare Services. Unfortunately, the annual number has been held constant since the 1990s. This leads to increased salaries for doctors which contribute to higher healthcare costs. Then we discuss certificate of need laws, which restrict the supply of hospitals in many states. Afterward, we discuss hospital administrative bloat, which is notably higher than in most other countries.
We then go over some broader healthcare topics in the United States. These include the role of food subsidies, which tend toward refined simple carbs in the United States. We talk about the structural issues caused by an aging population, the difficulties with rural healthcare, and the negative effects private equity can have in the industry. Then, we discuss various possible solutions to reduce costs, to include increasing residency slots, negotiating drug prices at the governmental level, and more. Finally, we critique some common arguments seen online and why the are generally not valid.
0:50 Supply of doctors and residency bottleneck
4:28 Certificate of need laws
7:11 Hospital admin bloat
9:35 Food subsidies
10:50 Aging population
11:28 Rural healthcare
12:48 Private Equity
15:45 Possible solutions
24:52 Task shifting
25:41 Problematic counterarguments (2)
This is the Unjerked Podcast!

Unjerked E31 Healthcare Costs Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go?  This is Part 2 of 3 episodes.
We first go over some online arguments and claims related to healthcare. These include claims that the health system is either too free market or not free market enough, the high cost of admin, the theater of hospital cost negotiation, the role immigrants play, the lack of preventative medicine, profit motives, insurance being a scam, and more.
Next we talk about market failures in the healthcare system. These include the steep demand curves due to the critical nature of healthcare, information asymmetry, opaque pricing, the inability to shop for the best service during an emergency scenario, and more. Then we talk about how most vital industries (water, electricity, food, etc) are regulated due to similar market failure risks.
Then, we talk about how high drug prices in the US exist because of the lack of drug price negotiation due to politics. We then discuss pharmacy benefit mangers and the role they play in the drug market. Finally, we discuss the fee for service and pay for value systems, and how the current pay for value system could be leading to unnecessary scans and procedures.
0:40 Online arguments about healthcare
7:25 Initial responses to online arguments
12:09 Market failures
19:25 How other vital industries are regulated
22:08 Drug price negotiations
28:50 Pharmacy Benefit Managers
31:26 Fee for Service vs Pay for Value
This is the Unjerked Podcast!

Unjerked E30 Healthcare Costs Part 1

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go?  This is Part 1 of 3 episodes.
 
We first discuss the history of universal healthcare, starting in the late 1800s with Otto von Bismarck's reforms in Germany. Then we go over the concept of an insurance death spiral, and why insurance systems across industries are often mandatory. We then talk over the various systems, to include the Beveridge model, Bismarck model, National Health Insurance model, and out of pocket model. Afterward, we discuss why universal healthcare does not lead to authoritarian government control. We discuss how Americans put more money toward health spending than any other nation, while having worse health outcomes compared to peer nations. Then, we discuss where exactly your healthcare dollar goes. Major factors include higher drug spending, higher doctor salaries, and more administrative bloat.
 
3:16 Top level causes
6:24 Start of universal healthcare
8:40 Insurance death spiral
11:51 Beveridge model
12:40 Bismarck model
14:45 National health insurance
15:35 out of pocket
15:49 US system
17:11 why universal healthcare does not lead to autocracy
20:06 GDP spend on health vs outcomes (2)
21:57 Increasing spend over the years across most countries
24:03 avoidable death per 100k
25:51 GDP per capital vs healthcare spend
26:38 Health spend per capita per year
27:09 Where your health dollar goes
29:53 What is driving higher costs in the USA
35:02 Who owns hospitals in the USA?
 
This is the Unjerked Podcast!

Unjerked E29 Are We Worse Off Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about whether we are worse off now than we were in the past. In what ways are we better off than we were 70 years ago or 140 years ago? In what ways are we worse off? Overall, are we as a society in a good or bad place right now?  This is Part 2 of 2 episodes.
Unlike the first episode, the second episode goes over ways in which we are worse off. The include a dropping personal savings rate, rising housing costs, and rising healthcare costs. There are also rising existential risks in terms of climate risks, pandemics, and more. We also discuss the growth of misinformation and mental health issues due to social media. Finally, we discuss probably the largest way in which society is becoming worse - the loss of social bonds in terms of friendships, relationships, and more. We then discuss the rise in deaths of despair, growing mistrust in institutions, and more.
Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tunein, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, or Boomplay
0:30 Personal savings rate
1:46 Households that are cost burdened in terms of housing
5:11 Healthcare costs (2)
8:43 Existential risks
13:56 Social media (2)
14:35 Friendship and human connection (2)
20:51 Substance abuse (2) (3) (4)
22:44 Deaths of despair
23:26 Lack of trust in institutions (2)
26:15 Fertility
32:00 Follow up discussion on mistrust of institutions
40:18 Are poor American wealthier than medieval kings?
47:56 Climate anxiety
52:00 Decline of US GDP
54:51 Inequality & debt crisis
 
This is the Unjerked Podcast!

Unjerked E28 Are We Worse Off Part 1

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about whether we are worse off now than we were in the past. In what ways are we better off than we were 70 years ago or 140 years ago? In what ways are we worse off? Overall, are we as a society in a good or bad place right now?  This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.
 
4:03 Crime
4:42 War and Conflict (2) (3)
8:21 Health 
9:02 Infectious disease
11:05 Cancer deaths
12:24 Metabolic disease
16:38 Addictive food 
17:59 Global health development
20:26 Health insurance coverage
21:00 Real median household income
24:26 Real disposable per capital personal income
25:00 Food as percent of budget
26:19 Debt servicing as percent of household budget
27:42 Financial obligations ratio
28:37 Household debt to GDP
29:23 Transportation as percent of spending
30:17 Level of education
30:57 Global real GDP per capital
31:50 Minority rights
32:40 Regulation
32:51 Lifestyle: travel
33:45 Technology
35:00 Nuclear war
37:00 US Inequality
39:41 Global inequality 
41:35 Consumer debt service payments as percent of disposable personal income
42:17 Democracy
43:38 Misinformation
45:16 Happiness and sense of purpose 

Unjerked E27 Local Vs National Politics Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about local vs national politics.  This is Part 2 of 2 episodes.
We first discuss comparisons in spending patterns and budgets between local, state, and federal governments. These include discussions around public housing spending, social insurance, law enforcement, national security, and more. Then we discuss the different tax structures at the local and national level. This includes the higher amount of revenue coming from payroll and income tax at the federal level, compared to more revenue from property and sales taxes at the local level. After this, we discuss some of the reasons behind the lack of interest in local news. This includes a drop in local news, lack of interest in less salient local issues, the transient nature of young people, and more.
Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tunein, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, or Boomplay
 
2:31 Local vs federal incarceration
4:53 Public housing spending
5:43 Social insurance
6:21 Law enforcement
8:45 National security budget
11:07 Fiscal responsibility of federal vs local
13:36 Taxes (2) (3)
19:46 Federal transfers (2)
21:00 Drop in local news
25:00 Local politics is not interesting
25:53 Transience of younger people (2)
28:50 Accelerationist argument
32:40 Supremacy clause in practice
36:23 Social issues at the national vs local level
 

Unjerked E26 Local Vs National Politics Part 1

 
William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about local vs national politics.  This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.
We first discuss our thesis on why local politics matters - it has more control over our lives than we think, and it's the pipeline into running for national office. We discuss the massive number of uncontested elections in the United States, and the low participation rate in local elections. Specifically, we discuss how the Presidential election has the highest participation rate, followed by other federal elections, then state elections, then local elections. We then discuss the constitutional basis for state vs federal political power. Specifically, we discuss the role of the 10th amendment as well as the supremacy clause. Then we discuss the concepts of home rule and Dillon's rule, the role of states and municipalities in incarceration, the number of government employees at each level of government, and the budget size of each level of government.
Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tunein, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, or Boomplay
 
0:52 Thesis on local politics
6:16 Voter participation rate
11:35 Uncontested elections
13:50 Participation in elections depends on size of municipality
16:02 Pipeline into federal politics
19:26 Constitutional basis for state vs federal (2)
22:25 Dillons and home rule (2)
25:48 Prison population
33:44 Number of government employees (2)
36:15 Budgets
 
This is the Unjerked Podcast!

Unjerked E25 - Trade - Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about trade and industry.  This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tunein, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, or Boomplay
 
0:52 Specialization
2:05 Higher real output
3:48 Trade freedom and GDP per capital
4:08 Rust belt and social disintegration
5:17 Price vs quality competition
10:14 Targeted education?
10:55 Can we compete on quality in industrials
13:10 Difficulty of competing on price
15:31 Modular nuclear in Appalachia?
16:12 Comparing the loss of agriculture jobs to loss of industrial jobs
19:05 Reddit/Twitter arguments
29:48 Tariffs
34:35: Neo-mercantilism & Autarky
36:06 Other solutions?