"People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K."

[Dinner]

Really? You think the government should run a competitive business?

The post office does a pretty good job of competing by and large even though it has severe handicaps like having to deliver every where in the country even to unprofitable places in the middle of no where which FedEx and UPS won't touch. The Tennessee Valley Authority does a great job of competing against for profit power companies. The list goes on and on.

[Arrian]

Yes, I was referring to the provision that provided for payment for a counseling session (aka "death panels").

-Arrian

[Ramo]

Ramo, the health outcomes have to do with lifetime smoking, not current smoking. Please stop to think for a few moments. See, for example:

Preston, Samuel, Dana Glei and John Wilmoth. 2009. “Contribution of Smoking to International Differences in Life Expectancy.” Forthcoming in Eileen Crimmins and Samuel Preston, Divergent Trends in Life Expectancy. National Research Council. Washington, D.C.

That's a fair point which I hadn't considered before, but that isn't the language that you used. A careful time integration of some variable is not the same thing as a present tense value.

[Japher]

The post office does a pretty good job of competing by and large even though it has severe handicaps like having to deliver every where in the country even to unprofitable places in the middle of no where which FedEx and UPS won't touch. The Tennessee Valley Authority does a great job of competing against for profit power companies. The list goes on and on.

Seeing as neither the USPS nor the TVA are profitable I would say they do a horrible job a competing... if that's what you want to call it.

[Dr Strangelove]

Seeing as neither the USPS nor the TVA are profitable I would say they do a horrible job a competing... if that's what you want to call it.

When you consider what TVA does for the country, the country profits, or would you like a couple million hillbillies come migrate to your home town.

[KrazyHorse]

That's a fair point which I hadn't considered before, but that isn't the language that you used. A careful time integration of some variable is not the same thing as a present tense value.

You're a physicist, goddamnit. You should be smart enough to think about what I mean instead of what I say.