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[kiwibear]

what is the percent utilization of those expensive machines? are they typically backlogged and operated 24/7 or do they often sit idle?

 

and what percent of the cost is the machine usage itself versus the staff overhead to analyze and process the test results?

 

thanks

 

 

 

Down here in Kiwiland, the machines are only flat out for about 10 hours a day, around conventional working hours. The rest of the time people are on call for emergency scans.

 

There is a chronic, worldwide shortage of both radiographers (the ones that work the machines) and radiologists (the ones who interpret the results), so it becomes a practical impossibility to go to a full 24/7 utilization. I suspect more of the machines are running truly 24/7 in the US.

 

Once the overhead of buying the machine is out the way, the staffing would be by far the highest cost input into each scan.

 

Some of the bigger radiology centres in the USA have mind-boggling numbers of scanners operating fairly flat out. But again the question is what they are being used for - by NZ standards, which are roughly in alignment with the UK and Australia, a lot of the scans ordered in US would be questioned or rejected by the radiologists as being unneccessary or a waste of money. However, both the highly litigious nature of American medical practice, and the private system (which mean any radiologist is happy to do any scan at all that is requested as it means extra dollars in pocket for him/her) mean that there are powerful incentives to do far more scans than are medically sensible or indicated.

[psyche doctor]

I blame the current crisis on capitalism and the immorality of our society.

 

There is not, and never has been in the modern era, any such thing as free market capitalism. It is an ideal which does not exist. Never has.

 

You can't have it both ways. You blame government for repealing good laws that were created by government. Those repeals were sought, bought and paid for by capitalists. Then you blame government for not interfering earlier to stop the unfettered growth of derivatives, instruments created by capitalists to benefit capitalists.

 

First you argue for restraints that the government imposed, then you blame government for repeal. Then you blame government for interference after their attempt at laissez faire failed miserably, and led us to this point.

 

Furthermore, to argue that the biggest crooks are in government is to ignore the fact that those offering the bribes are in the private sector. Government is merely a reflection of the society that spawns it. We live in a society that is infused with filth and corruption. The only morality that the people believe in is expediency. People do whatever they think they can get away with, and the rest of the people don't care enough to do anything about it. How many millions committed fraud in their own mortgage applications because everyone was doing it?

 

You thought that under law that bondholders are always the first to get paid? Are you a lawyer? In bankruptcy I thought the court decided who gets what.

 

These mindless attacks on government reflect nothing more than a deep seated bias that ignores the facts.

 

Capitalism always ends up destroying itself and everything in its path. It does so through a constant concentration of power. So does every other social and economic structure. It is the nature of things. That's why we have antitrust laws. Which George Bush decided should not be enforced. Free market capitalism and all that.

 

But you are right about one thing. We don't have capitalism any more. We have corporate fascism. The only way to bust the corporations is for people to decide that they will no longer tolerate the outrageous, immoral behavior that they have participatedin , or allowed, or enabled themselves.

 

And it's not going to happen. We are freaking doomed. Capitalism has already failed.

 

God help us all.

 

By the way, are any of you class action lawyers? I want to sue Verizon for stealing hundreds of millions from their wireless customers, yours truly included. I just discovered this theft today in my own account. Again, another example of a corporation stealing whatever it can because it can.

 

I'm going to put a stop to it. Please use the contact form to get in touch with me.

 

I will never agree with your political views or your views on capitalism and you will never agree with mine. But you are very wrong in your post and have put words in my mouth. First, I never said that I agreed with unfetterred capitalism. If you read the posts, I clearly stated that government does have a role in a capitalist system to uphold written laws and provide a fair playing field. Regardless of who influenced government or paid them off, it was still government that repealed many of the laws that led to this fiasco. They (government) changed the laws, they made the decision regardless of external pressures - in the end, they called the shots and are calling the shots to this very day. I have no deep seeded bias against the government. My problem with the government is based on facts and the list is too long to describe. Government is going to prolong this depression and you know it. I read your letter that you wrote to your congressman and, if I read it right, you feel the same way, that the government's response to this crisis is wrong. Mindless attack on government? I don't think so. Just like my trading style, I have no bias towards government, just responding to the facts. And it wasn't the courts who decided the fate of the bondholders, I think that decision (pressure) came from the president, himself. I think you have a bias and that bias comes from the fact that you know that I am a conservative, something you are opposed to. Hey, but that's fine. You are entitled to your own opinion, right or wrong, but I think you were unfair in some of the things you said in your post regarding me. By the way, I never said that wall street wasn't oozing with crooks. I never ignored that FACT! I even stated that, but it is my opinion that Washington has it's fair share or even more. You blame capitalism! What about the Fed, which has caused bubble after bubble. Bubbles by themselves breed corruption. What about the FED! We are doomed without capitalism.

[Jimbo]

THE LAST BUBBLE

 

Trasheries

 

Actually someone should invent an instrument where you can go long commodities and short trasheries.

[DrStool]

The Fed is incompetent, but, the old system was no better. It was no more than a series of booms, busts, crashes and bubbles. The frequency was such that the governing class decided that it would be better to have a central bank than to not have one. Not knowing what the last 90 some years would have been like without the Fed, it is difficult to argue that things would not have been just as bad or worse without it.

 

You can't have it both ways. We live in a corrupt world. We are the world. Our institutions reflect us.

 

When you get right down to it, the majority of us here, myself included, are not producing anything tangible that adds to the well being of society. Perhaps the intangible benefit we produce is worth something, I don't know. But it behooves us, when we are not working at trading or market letter writing or message board posting, to do something that will accrue to the good of society.