Miscellaneous News

manqiangrexue said:

US healthcare system is perplexing. It makes no sense to me. The bills are absurdly high but most people aren't expected to pay them unless you volunteer your insurance.

Shortly after returning from Kazakhstan with my third child, he became ill with respiratory distress and hypothermia. We brought him to the pediatric emergency room where they immediately did a massive workup on him because he had heart failure, acidemia, sepsis, etc... We later found that it was all because he got the flu during international travel. He ended up in NICU for a week and transferred to regular care for another few days and the bills have just been trickling in. So far, we're over $190K for just the emergency rescue during the first night with the NICU and regular care bills not here yet, so probably $250K-$300K or something. Our family healthcare caps our financial responsibility at $9K so we're all fine.

The other day, my father in law took a nasty fall and sustained a near skull-deep laceration above his brow. We took him to the ER where they did a head&neck CT scan, found no serious damage, and stitched him up for discharge. Minimal work on their part. We realized something odd at the hospital, which is that they didn't ask for ID or proof of address, essentially meaning that you are whomever you say you are and the bill goes wherever you say. Anyone can fill out made-up info and they'd be impossible to bill. But we didn't. The bill was $5K. My wife called and said that he's uninsured asking if they can discount the bill. They asked for his income and seeing as how he's retired and from a small town in HeiLongJiang, he was well below the threshold for financial aid. They told her it was free, totally free and gratis. My wife said the point is that we want to pay for just our healthcare and not subsidize those who did not pay, making our bill higher. She said we can pay a discounted bill, suggesting maybe $800 or something for just a scan and 6 stitches and they said that's not going to happen because that'll F up their finances. They don't want our $800 when they can send the full $5K to the government for tax deduction as a charitable contribution.

China, Kazakhstan, most other countries, you just go to the hospital, and you pay for the services you order for yourself. The bill is fair, and no one can push costs onto others. It makes sense. American healthcare just doesn't make sense.

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Nvidia reportedly raises GPU prices by 10-15% as manufacturing costs surge — tariffs and TSMC price hikes filter down to retailers​

A new report claims that Nvidia has recently raised the official prices of nearly all of its products to combat the impact of tariffs and surging manufacturing costs on its business, with gaming graphics cards receiving a 5 to 10% hike while AI GPUs see up to a 15% increase.

As reported by Digitimes Taiwan (translated), Nvidia is facing "multiple crises," including a $5.5 billion hit to its quarterly earnings over export restrictions on AI chips, including a ban on sales of its H20 chips to China.

Digitimes reports that CEO Jensen Huang has been "shuttling back and forth" between the US and China to minimize the impact of tariffs, and that "in order to maintain stable profitability," Nvidia has reportedly recently raised official prices for almost all its products, allowing its partners to increase prices accordingly.

Despite the hikes, Digitimes claims Nvidia's financial report at the end of the month "should be within financial forecasts and deliver excellent profit results," driven by strong demand for AI chips outside of China and the expanding spending from cloud service providers.

The report states that Nvidia has applied official price hikes to numerous products to keep its earnings stable, with partners following suit. As an example, Digitimes cites the RTX 5090, bought at premium prices upon release without hesitation, such that channel pricing "quickly doubled."

The report notes that following the AI chip ban, RTX 5090 prices climbed further still, surging overnight from around NT$90,000 to NT$100,000, with other RTX 50 series cards also increasing by 5-10%. Digitimes notes Nvidia has also raised the price of its H200 and B200 chips, with server vendors increasing prices by up to 15% accordingly.

According to the publication's supply chain sources, price hikes have been exacerbated by the shift of Blackwell chip production to TSMC's US plant, which has driven a significant rise in the price of production, materials, and logistics.

There is some hope that the measures could be temporary; however, following the news that the US and China have agreed on a trade deal that should cut tariffs by 115%, thanks to a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs. As with latent price increases being passed on to consumers, however, it could be some time before prices start to fall.

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siegecrossbow said:

Oh boy…

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sndef888 said:

So it seems like Duterte has won a mayor seat and his children are also winning big, albeit only in local office

VP Sara Duterte's impeachment is also looking less likely now

Anyone here follow Philippine politics? Is this the start of a political comeback? Does he have a chance of toppling the American dog Marcos?

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GulfLander said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1922127000711659634

Where did the french "expert" studied CN?

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siegecrossbow said:

So essentially it is a scam designed to punish honest people.

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supersnoop said:

You are basically making the arguments in favour for a single-payer system. If the fee schedules and expected procedures are straightforward, then the opportunities for this kind of manipulation become minimized.

Of course the primary con is usually long wait times.

Even in China, you are just looking at primary care, going to see the doctor for more minor things, people just pay for that no problem because it is usually straightforward. Can some poor farmer pay for some major surgery if it comes up? This is why the government implemented it's own insurance system as well. There is corruption too (human nature), the only difference is the punishment is much more severe if you get caught.

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Saudi Arabia Rolls Out Custom Mobile McDonald's for Trump Visit​

It's well known that President Donald Trump loves a Big Mac. During his first term, he famously served fast food at White House banquets, and during the 2024 campaign he wore an apron and handed out fries at a McDonald's stop staged for cameras.

As the Saudis work to impress Trump during his trip to Riyadh this week, they're focusing on even the smallest details—like his fondness for the Golden Arches—by setting up a custom-built mobile McDonald's truck designed to support the presidential visit and the throng of journalists in tow.

Trump's four-day trip across the Middle East marks his first major international mission since returning to office. Landing in Riyadh on May 13, he was greeted personally at the airport by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—a ceremonial gesture reserved for close allies.

Far from a traditional diplomatic tour, Trump's second-term kickoff is saturated with real estate contracts, defense procurements, and eye-popping investment pledges. The president has thrown out numbers ranging from $500 billion to $2.5 trillion in potential investments.

As part of a carefully choreographed and unusually personal welcome, Saudi officials rolled out a full-size, mobile McDonald's truck ahead of Trump's arrival—a nod to his well-documented preference for the fast-food chain.

The glossy, double-staircase trailer—branded in Arabic and English—was parked outside a media hub called "Media Oasis," where journalists were hosted amid video screens showcasing Saudi mega-projects like the futuristic NEOM city and the upcoming 2034 FIFA World Cup.

It was unclear if the president was planning to eat from the truck.

A mobile McDonald’s, still shuttered, sits in the parking lot of the 'Media Oasis' set up for journalists. X / Mordechai Wagenheim
"Yes, it's a mobile McDonald's here in Riyadh," i24 journalist Mordechai Wagenheim posted on X, sharing footage of the truck.

Trump's reception was filled with symbolic detail. American and Saudi flags fluttered throughout the capital, and an all-American fleet of police vehicles formed a visible security perimeter around key sites. Most notably, Trump was greeted on the tarmac by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself—a rare diplomatic honor.

Typically, foreign leaders are received by lower-ranking officials unless a message of alliance is intended. The crown prince's decision to meet Trump personally stood in stark contrast to President Joe Biden's 2022 visit, when a provincial governor met Air Force One.

In the tightly controlled Saudi press, the visit was hailed as a new chapter in U.S.-Saudi relations. The White House released a press release announcing a $600-billion commitment from the Saudis to invest in the United States.

President Donald Trump, during a brief appearance with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the start of a bilateral meeting, said: "I really believe we like each other a lot."

Khalid al-Falih, Saudi investment minister, said at a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum: "Our bilateral relationship is one of the world's most significant geostrategic bonds, with economic cooperation and business partnerships at its core, and serves as a force for peace and global prosperity."

Mona Yacoubian, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Newsweek: "Trump's trip to the Gulf is a harbinger of this administration's foreign policy over the next four years: transactional rather than transformative, personality-driven, and crowned by headline-grabbing economic deals."

After his first stop in Saudi Arabia, President Trump is scheduled to visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—two of the richest nations in the world—to sign what he hopes will amount to over $1 trillion in investment and trade agreements.

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FriedButter said:

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The Indians might be lashing out over western siding with Pakistan. The non-Indian media in general was mostly focused on what the Pakistani POV said during the military phase and then the IMF pushed through with the Pakistani loan.

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Lavrov: Preparations underway for Putin's visit to India​

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India's export growth may face a serious challenge after the new US-China tariff deal. As China regains trade favor with the US, India risks losing its short-term trade advantage.

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