Solar is much more "energy rich" than wind. Solar power is basically taking the energy directly from the photons which come from the sun. The photovoltaic cell is a simple and elegant solution. Power is harnessed in an efficient manner with low maintenance needs. There is still much room for improvement and if we can increase the efficiency it will become more practical.

Wind power on the other hand involves kinetic energy and mechanics. It requires expensive and complex machines that require maintenance and are inefficient. Men have been harnessing the wind for millennia, I think we have just about beaten that horse to death. Wind power just doesn't have enough power.

Nice post, I wish I had been there last night.

"These factors do not really determine current (medicine) prices at all. Rather, they are fixed by the demands of stockholders who, driven by a desire for profit, push the company to determine its prices based solely upon the material desires of the shareholders and the company's stock market value."

That is just simply not true. It is true that new drugs on the US market are expensive. However, if they just priced them at whatever they wished, no one would buy them. Insurance companies would simply not list them on their formularies. Patients would refuse to pay. Even prices for very expensive medications, like darbopoetin for example, are negotiated with insurance companies. No elderly patients could afford the over $1,000/month expense without help. However, George Bush famously has forbidden Medicare Part D from collective bargaining.

"McCain recently wrote in a medical journal that healthcare should be deregulated... he wants healthcare policies to compete across state lines.
On the surface, this isn't a bad idea..."

That is a horrible idea both on the surface and in depth. Anyone have any credit cards from banks based in Delaware? If so, you know what I mean.

Francois also seems to be totally unfamiliar with actuarial tables.

Nice try, but your expert let you down.

Have fun!

Anyone going to the Inauguration? I wrote my congressman for tickets, my fingers are crossed...

For example, his insistence on how the "market determines the price of medicine and the price of major medical treatments" in the US is false. He is either misunderstood or is over-simplifying the situation. The price of major medical treatments is not determined by the market, it is more complex than that with several entities and regions contributing to the price. The main determinant of price is Medicare. No other entity determines that price of treatments more than Medicare. Medicare sets a price and the major insurance companies then follow suit for the most part. But there are also variations in price from region to region and state to state. For example, Alaska is an expensive state.

An example of setting the price of treatments is the screening colonoscopy procedure. A couple of years ago, Medicare dramatically cut the reimbursement for this procedure, and then most insurance plans followed.

"Medicine" which I take to mean "medication" or pills, is an entirely different story. I honestly don't know how that price is determined. However, in the US, drug companies only have a limited time to sell their drug until the patent runs out and it can be manufactured by others. This induces a plan to make as much money as possible in the limited time they have. There is also a lot of collusion between the drug companies and the insurance companies with prices being negotiated. But I don't know much about how that works.

I am not saying the US Healthcare system is a good one. Hell, it isn't even a system in the true sense of the word. However, the problem is vast and complex and before we can solve the problem we really need to know what the problem is and what is causing it. Your expert really does not meet that criteria.

Well, I would simply call that bullshit.

Comparing the US Healthcare system to the system of Japan and France is meaningless without also comparing the government, the culture, and the genetic makeup of the populations.

If you don't like the US system now, just wait for a few years from now when it gets really bad.