The workplace isn’t fair. People get promoted who don’t deserve the extra boost. Some get bonuses and earned every cent. If the workplace was fair how would we ever get things done. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Just my 2 cents.

In terms of the tax and fairness issue I think that we do have a system that is fair in some respects, but not every respect. As was pointed out, the reason that our tax system is bad but not unbearable is that one day we could benefit from it too. It would be entirely different if our system allowed no mobility because it was based on some arbitrary, unalterable phenomena – like who our parents are or what our natural hair color is. That would definitely constitute an ‘unfair’ system.

I do think there needs to be a grown up debate about when the cost of medical treatment is too much – and that’s even more important in the UK because of our state funded medical care.

And I’d also argue that insurance premiums, people’s bad choices, and the cost of health care are not necessarily correlated.

And just a last note – I actually find all the situations fair (not sure about the last one, but definitely the first two).

Meg does have a valid point on the problem with the health care industry. Since this isn’t my blog, I will just say that the health care industry will have to undergo a complete renovation in order to decrease prices (not just announcing the prices to the masses).

Few people would advocatethat society (i.e. each and every taxpayer) spend $20 million dollars on a series of surgeries to keep a 98 year old car crash victim alive. But where’s the line? What about spending $5MM or $2MM? I think it helps to consider what the sick person would be willing to spend if he/she actually had to pay for the medical care, even assuming even that they had vast financial resources. Say that 98 yr old actually had $20MM in the bank. Do you think he/she would rather blow it all to potentially stay alive for another year, or go ahead and die and leave all that money to family and/or charity? Almost any rational person would choose the latter.

If people had any idea what their medical treatments actually cost, few would ever be willing to pay for many of them – which of course would drive down costs. But instead the government and insurance companies cloud the whole system and pay for the excess. I dont’ think they should do that except in very select cases. And it’s not just about the crazy costs of keeping people alive who should simply be allowed to die. I also don’t want my insurance premiums to continue to skyrocket so that millions of people can opt for expensive lifetime medications to prevent things like allergies and indigestion just so they can keep their pets and live off fast food.