There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'
Isaac Asimov said this almost fifty years ago. It still doesn't answer the "why" but it shows how long (at least) this has been going on.
I unfortunately watched the 60 Minutes bit last sunday on farmers getting fucked over by trump (parents had it on). It ended with one of the farmers saying "he's a very smart man, I'm not gonna take that away from him." The thought of the mental state you have to be in to think trump is a genius is just soul-crushing.
"Dunning-Kruger 2028" would make an amusing yard sign.
Another factor is that insurance companies make money on the "float", meaning that they invest the premiums and keep the returns before paying out on claims. In times where rates of return on investment are high, they can be profitable overall even if claim payouts are larger than premiums collected. If medical costs are high then so are premiums and they make even more money off the float.
File a complaint with the Department of Redundancy Department.
True. In a sense, being a successful musician is more like winning the lottery. The best songwriter in the world isn't going to sell shit without a label behind them.
I think your point stands generally, but Paul McCartney is a billionaire and I don't think writing a bunch of pleasant tunes qualifies as "dark Machiavellian deeds".
This is libelous. His business practices were also shady in the '70s and '80s.
the judiciary system not understanding statistics (5 percent of all nurses have a statistically-significant high death rate)
There was a study years ago in Norway where they wanted to see if there were correlations between any disease and living underneath high-voltage power lines. They found that 5% of all diseases were so correlated ... when using an alpha of .05.
Where I live (Philly suburb) there was an incident where a guy driving a 12,000 gallon gasoline truck pumped out 4000 gallons at his first gas station stop and then decided he just wanted to go home rather than making the rest of his deliveries. So he ran the hose to the back of the station and dumped the other 8000 gallons onto the ground. This happened to be right above a creek and about 200 feet from an elementary school.
It just doesn't make any sense how anybody could be this stupid. He got 20 years in prison for it or something like that. He certainly deserved it, but meanwhile executives who manage to create far worse disasters never see a day in jail.
Don't discount the Saudis. They don't have wealth, they have a wealth faucet.
Specifically, in the medicaid wing of a nursing home.