Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 10 year old statement about Chinese pianos

Steve - +1

Turandot - +1

Steve: just to answer your question, I believe in universal healthcare. As far as I know, we are the only so-called first world nation that continues to ration health care based on wealth, as well as being the only first world nation that does not have universal health care.

So I don't need an alternative to universal health care.

Incidentally, or maybe not, this thread has provided a separate and additional reason to support health care for all: health care for all would erase some of the economic advantage that countries that do provide universal health care have over the United States, in terms of selling their products here. It would certainly help the price of pianos that are produced in this country!

Interested???

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...lf.jpg/280px-Brooklyn_Bridge_Postdlf.jpg

Thanks Turandot for taking your time and explain the way piano manufacturing works. Based on your advised I am now concentrating my energy toward purchasing a brand new K3 as suppose to chasing one from the used market.
Once again, I am thankful for all of your timely responses pointing me to the right direction.

Rank,

This thread isn't about universal health care, but since you went there let me just say that if you were in England and you were having a heart attack you would have to wait for hours BEFORE an ambulance showed up to your house to take you to the emergency room, and then you would have to wait several more hours IN THE AMBULANCE (it's called ambulance stacking) before you got into the emergency room. Once in the emergency room, they hospital has a 4 hour time limit to see you, so you could potentially wait 4 more hours before you even saw a doctor. That's because of Universal Health Care available to all lucky British citizens. To be sure we have problems with our health care system that need to be addressed, but I say no thanks on universal health care. I know this will probably spark a debate, but anyone who believes that universal health care is the answer to our health care problems is misinformed. All universal health care brings is a whole new set of problems worse than the problems we already have.

But Lance, you must agree that it has made the British piano manufacturing industry much more competitive worldwide. Why, just look at Kemble...er, wait...

I've never seen such a disgusting example of complete lies and fabrications.

I am in Canada.

My father had a heart attack, as have several friends of mine.
Ambulances come as fast as they come in the US and probably faster, and the care they get is exemplary.

Personally I've experienced some rather SERIOUS health issues last year (complete kidney blockage and resulting major kidney infection).
An ambulance came for me within 10 minutes (on two occasions) and I have been hospitalized three times (a week each time) due to my kidney problems (and recurring infections from a failing kidney) and I have had several operations (laser lithotripsy) correcting those problems.

Since this was my first serious illness I was absolutely amazed at the level of care that I received both in the hospital and at home. (I had ongoing home visits by a nurse two or three times a week that went on for months).

If I were in the US I would have lost my house, and then some.
The only thing that I have had to pay for here was any prescription drugs, and these were less than I would have had to pay in the US.

The ONLY minor issue that I had was that I had to wait a bit longer than I would have liked to get my initial operation.

If you want to hijack the thread and discuss universal health care it would be good if you did not lie through your teeth about the reality of it.
Simply because you've willingly swallowed the LIES you've been told by the corporate financial propaganda machine about single-payer health care that is no reason to spread those lies to others.

I generally abhor people going drastically OT as this but I will not stand by and watch someone spread such blatant lies about something that literally saved my life (and many other people that I know here).

Note: The CBC here once did a nationwide survey of Canadians and asked them what the number one thing they liked about the country.
The answer? Our health care system.

Well, I'm glad for you Canadians then. BTW I wasn't talking about Canada.

+1 Sparky.

Australia has a very good health system that every taxpayer contributes to. Nobody is ever left in an ambulance, nobody would have to wait for more than 15 minutes for an ambulance to get their their door in the case of a heart attack or stroke.

Our system, and Canada's by the sound of it, is light years ahead of the US system. People don't lose their financial security just to receive medical care. And if they don't have any financial resources, they don't go without care.

How anybody could suggest that the US has a superior system to a well run universal health care system really beggars belief. Of course, there are wealthy people who complain about the contributing more to our medical system, most of whom have private insurance over and above the government system, but most think it's the best solution for our country to make sure we don't have the horrifying outcomes of the US-style haves/have-nots system.

I don't know how it's implemented in every country but there are plenty of countries that do universal health care very well.

My feeling is we should get back on topic and leave a discussion of universal health care for another day on another forum. Besides, pianos are much more interesting than universal health care. So, how about them Chinese pianos?

I have a Chinese piano I love. Since I have only had it for 8 months I cannot tell you yet what it will be like in 10 years.

Jonathan

Chinese Pianos come with free healthcare???

I'm a little confused. How does universal health care (which I am for btw) and retirement represent a SUBSIDY? My assumption would be that it represents an added cost and therefore a relative disadvantage to costs.

Just to stay off topic for a moment: universal health care and government-funded retirement benefits are not really a subsidy, but they are sums that the manufacturer is not required to pay. Instead of building them into the price of a piano (or a car), the manufacturer can charge a lower price for whatever it is the manufacturer produces. It is true that these benefits must be paid for, but they will not be paid for as part of the price that the manufacturer charges.

isn't that a function of the country's choosen tax system. A VAT collects as part of the purchase price.

I am always curious of how pianos survive through time. For example, the Chinese versions or Korean versions or certain low-end makes. Most pianos made and sold on the cheap are probably forgotten and "disappear" without much exposure to technicians/tuners or anyone that registers info on the pianos. The Japanese have developed a strong couple of piano makers by examining longevity and advancing the way they build their instruments to match the ravages of time.

Wasn't part of the Chinese healthcare system based on piano makers also doubling the cases as caskets? I'd rather be buried in a Fazioli. Bet there are a lot of Chinese playing iron frames in heaven, instead of harps.

Steve: Americans do not pay a VAT on purchases of imported goods, at least not as far as I know. Let's say there is a VAT on pianos in China. A person in China who buys a piano in China will have to pay it. An American who buys a piano imported to this country from China will not. This means that Chinese pianos after import into the US have an even greater competitive advantage.

Before I get criticized here, I have no idea whether there is a VAT in China or not. It's just an example. It works better with European pianos, because there is a VAT in Europe that Americans won't pay on pianos imported into the US, but European pianos are already expensive, probably due in large part to the first world standard of living obtaining in European countries.

Staying OT, sorry, I live in the UK, sure we have problems with public health budgets but this is mostly pure and utter BS. You've been suckered buddy. I don't know the US political debate, but clearly facts don't matter. That is the same here too BTW.

I fear that you have been lied to by someone. On ambulances, let's compare London and New York to be fair to the the US (since response times are obviously lower in rural US communities because of geography). In London, 75% of critical calls arrive in under 8 minutes - the target is 10 minutes in New York. There are no waiting times for critical cases in London.

Infant mortality (deaths in first year after birth) is used fairly often to compare the effectiveness of healthcare systems. The US has reduced infant mortality over the last 40 years, but much slower than Europe. The US rate of 6.6 deaths per thousand is 50% more than the UK or South Korea, twice the rate of Portugal, Greece or Germany, but the US can be proud of being slightly better than Chile in its healthcare provision for infants.