>In a message dated 1/18/02 4:00:18 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>owner-lbo-talk-digest at lists.panix.com writes:
>
><< 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...
And the USSR rationed by queue, we by price. The 40m without health insurance are experiencing a shortage. The thousands sleeping on the sidewalk in NYC tonight are experiencing a shortage. There's plenty to criticize about Soviet planning, but let's not overlook our own problems in the process.
Doug