November 4, 2017

USA! USA! We’re (Almost) #1 in Machines That Go Ping

I was fiddling around looking for something unrelated, and happened to run across this chart from the latest OECD “Health at a Glance” report. We’re #1 in health spending, of course, and we pay inflated prices for just about everything. But what’s equally interesting is what we spend all that money on. More doctors? Nope. More nurses? Not really. More hospital beds? Nah.

So what do we spend our money on? Technology, baby! Who cares about having plenty of doctors as long as we have lots of machines that go ping? The Japanese may be serious technophiles too, but at least they also have plenty of hospital beds and reasonable spending levels.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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