

What Would an Entrepreneur-First Political Platform Really Look Like? - lincolnq
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/what-would-an-entrepreneur-first-platform-really-look-like/261762/

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nostromo
A little from column D (healthcare not tied to employment, sensible
immigration policies), a little from column R (simplifying taxes, relaxing
certain SEC regulations, corporate tax amnesty), and a little from column
'completely neglected' (patent reform, internet freedom).

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eli
How would corporate tax amnesty benefit entrepreneurs?

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nostromo
acquisitions

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eli
Sorry, I'm still not really following.

You mean that big, international corporations would bring more cash back into
the US, which they could potentially spend more to acquire smaller companies?
Seems like a long shot.

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flxmglrb
Universal single payer health care would cause an explosion of
entrepreneurship the likes of which the USA has not seen in a long, long time.
In the current situation, anyone with a family or a chronic condition is
pretty much restricted to working a BigCorp job unless / until this happens.

~~~
anamax
> Universal single payer health care would cause an explosion of
> entrepreneurship

No, it wouldn't.

The fraction of folks with chronic conditions isn't high enough to support
your argument. Morever, the vast majority of them aren't shackled if they pay
attention. (Staying married and/or staying covered is adequate in most cases
and there are other ways to solve the problem.)

Do you really believe that there are a lot of good potential entrepreneurs
with chronic conditions who can't handle this?

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richardjordan
Your question is a straw man argument.

1) It's just not for entrepreneurs without coverage. Though that's not trivial
- healthcare costs are non-trivial even for relatively healthy people, and the
risks are very high particularly during a period where you're perhaps earning
less money because you're starting a business.

2) It's not just about chronic illnesses, all healthcare costs money. Most
people will have some expenses during any given year. It's a significant
additional risk.

3) To grow a company you need to hire people. People need healthcare. You
either are restricted to employees who can work without healthcare or you have
to pay a lot for it because plans are more expensive at that scale. Healthcare
is a challenge hiring older people with more experience.

There are lots of talented people who are discouraged from starting businesses
or from joining startups because of the burden and risks associated with our
staggeringly expensive, inefficient, employer-based healthcare system.

I have two children. I am divorced. Healthcare is always a concern when I
choose to start a company or move to a company. This is not an atypical case.

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anamax
> It's just not for entrepreneurs without coverage.

That was the claim. If you want to argue that said claim is wrong....

> healthcare costs are non-trivial even for relatively healthy people

Oh really? I've paid out of pocket for high-end healthcare plans while "old".
Housing was a much bigger issue.

More to the point, you're going to pay one way or another.

And no, the US govt is not an efficent middle-man. Yes, they can cut a check
cheaply, but the fraud admitted to by govt healthcare advoctes dwarfs the
administration and profit of private companies. Since the likely numbers are
higher....

No, you don't to point to other countries. We're stuck with the govt we've
got. Fix existing govt healthcare programs (starting with IHS) and we'll talk.

> 2) It's not just about chronic illnesses, all healthcare costs money

Yes, but it doesn't get any cheaper funneling it the money through third
parties.

> 3) To grow a company you need to hire people. People need healthcare.

And you're going to be paying for that, one way or another.

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Clotho
Roll back the bankruptcy laws to pre-2005 to reduce the cost of risk.

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richardjordan
This is a big one. The change of bankruptcy laws to benefit huge financial
institutions, that then got bailed out by the same tax payers against whom
they lobbied to get these draconian changes to bankruptcy laws passed was...
well not just shocking... not just a demonstration of how corrupt and off-
track our political system has become... not sure what the word is but it goes
beyond hypocrisy.

I remember growing up outside of the US learning quite explicitly that one of
the geniuses of the American system, a key factor in its dramatic success
compared to other countries, and a competitive advantage, was its bankruptcy
system that allowed people to try things; put in best efforts; but in the
worst case scenario get a fresh start.

Getting rid of that was insane and I worry about its long term consequences.
US entrepreneurs already face additional risks versus their overseas
counterparts - like lack of a healthcare system not tied to employers - and
taking away a major structural advantage they had is almost certainly going to
have a detrimental effect.

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te_chris
Seems like catching up to the rest of the western world on universal
healthcare would go a long way for you guys.

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jacques_chester
_Laissez-nous faire_ \-- Le Gendre.

That said, I can't help but wonder if public healthcare _would_ unshackle a
lot of employees from their employers.

Not that public healthcare is kittens and icecream. Here in Australia we spend
a lot of time fretting about waiting lists.

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nl
_Here in Australia we spend a lot of time fretting about waiting lists_

It might be worth pointing out that the waiting lists are typically for
_elective_ surgery.

This is mostly because our hospitals are overcrowded. There is no single cause
of that, but one big problem is that health systems are mostly administered by
the states but funded federally. The tension inherent in that model is pretty
unhelpful.

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jacques_chester
Well, yes. But there's also the curious fact that if you set the upfront cost
for something to zero, demand is higher than if you set some other price on
it.

I don't think the vertical fiscal imbalance is the causal thing here. People
want as much medical help as they think they can get.

