>
><< As for lines, it's not a big problem. We don't face chronic shortages.
> >>
>
>A little bit of a detour from the main point, but at the hospital where I
>work I've noticed that we regularly get notices that there is a shortage of
>certain drugs (some of the steroid drugs & antibiotics), and that we should
>substitute drug X for the short ones. It's not a BIG problem, because
>there
>are substitutes, but it surprises me. I asked the pharmacist why, & she
>didn't know. It appears to me, though I don't know for sure, that it was
>the
>cheaper generics that were usually on the shortage notices...
Right. I do not say that capitalist America is the best of all possible worlds. That is why I am a socialist. There are problems with the quality of goods and services it delivers. But the point is comparative. There were always severe shortages of everything, except vodka, in the Soviet system. American capitalism does worse at provinding basic necessities for people on the bottom than did the Soviet system, but it is far more efficient to provide lots of high quality goods, not without any hitches, but in general. jks
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