THE CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE - #281

THE CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE ©

AN IRREVERENT VIEW


Time Line: June 28, 2010
Date Line: Chicago IL

My morning newspaper reports pending business regulation by the legislature.

Nineteenth century America had little regulation and no FDA. It was the hey-day of patent medicines and do-it-yourself electroshock therapy. One such nostrum, (Hop Bitters), advertized itself as “The Invalid’s Friend and Hope”. The product, a mixture of water, caramel coloring, was 110 proof. If that failed to fill you with hope, you were probably beyond the reach of science in any century.

It was the time when a travelling tent show operator, saddled with 25 hernia-trusses (taken in trade for admission in the last town) predicted a sell-out at his next stop on the circuit. In response to a query asking how he knew that, “Doc” replied,” If I have trusses to sell, I assure you there will be an epidemic of hernias in Moose Jaw Idaho tomorrow.”

The 19th century was a time of growth and building of national capacity and international markets for the US.

The government looks after us today: a hernia is given the respect it deserves. No longer does one buy a $1.50 truss to alleviate the affliction. In our century, hernia is cured by an outpatient procedure. I recently learned, (at first hand), and can report that the costs including electro-cardiogram and blood tests, were $19,876.55.

The procedure took 45 minutes: total time in the hospital was 5 hours. Of those hours, 3 were spent waiting for the surgeon, 45 minutes were spent in the OR, and the rest spent in recovery. That makes the cost $9,938.27 per hour for medical services.

Mind you, there was no cause for complaint about the procedure. The surgeon was skilled; the facility modern and squeaky-clean; the nurses caring and efficient, and the experience not horrible. Someone should be able to explain why the same procedure costs $3,500 in India where it is performed by equally skilled surgical teams trained to the same standards as their US counterparts. The equipment, drugs, and antibiotics used are made by the same companies (probably in India).

The situation doesn’t augur an answer to the problem of our negative trade balance with India. We can’t equalize our trade balance by in-sourcing Indian surgeons and nurses and sending their US counterparts abroad.

We have not done a good job at that sort of trading in the past because economists and politicians were clueless about dealing in human beings. For that we needed negotiators like the owners and managers of professional sports teams: people experienced in the practices of slavery, where you sell high priced talent for lower cost replacements and get cash to boot.

If Don King had been the Czar of outsourcing, we’d be living in a world where a Mercedes Benz would cost Americans $4.995 and Germany would pay us $24,200 for a Ford Fiesta. Instead we have the fact of today.

Once an opportunity and a capability are ceded to a competitor it is unlikely it will ever come back. When we import bright young scientists from India and China, it is not in exchange for jobs we sent those countries. It is not to reduce prices at home: it is for a fleeting profit to a few companies. Our prices rise, and our currency is worth less. In short order the new arrivals want to earn enough to be able to live here and the cycle starts all over again.

If you are lucky enough to have a goose that lays golden eggs, you can’t eat it for dinner and expect to lay the eggs yourself. In the current mood for “regulation” of business activities I wish someone would pay attention to keeping what remains of our flock of geese alive.

Howard Stamer