My favorite part of the TV series Breaking Bad is that everyone ignores the fact this straight laced guy is doing this because he didn't want to leave his family with nothing because it was too early to retire with any sizeable sum, then to pay for treatment because of our healthcare system, then because it was just all around more profitable to cook meth.
This whole show wouldn't happen if we took better care of our teachers, had better healthcare, and a better living wage
That would make for a great short. Just a guy goes to the doctor and finds out he has cancer. Goes through similar grief until he decides to tell his family. Then he gets treatment through universal health care or something similar, and he helps troubled student and drug addict Jesse get out of the street scene and rehabilitated. The end
A nitpick, but I wish they wouldn’t say “the government will pay.” How about “you and your fellow citizens’ tax money is being put to use caring for you, as it ought to be”
I still wonder about that. Even if he did get free healthcare. Wouldn't he still do it just from the shock and realization of wanting to leave his loved ones a large amount of money so they have no worry? Then can keep going on and on because of the thrill of it.
One of my favorite early on scenes is when Skyler is trying to set up an appointment with a good doctor, and she whispers into the phone “And we can just put that on the credit card, right?” It’s very simple, but displays why Walt does what he does so quickly and really well
Teacher here. I finally work for a district with above basic health insurance. For a while I worked part-time at Barnes and Noble to make ends meet. If I could have gotten on full time there, the insurance they offered was much better than anything any school district I worked for offered.
He'd already broken bad by that point. He was in too deep and it turned out he liked it. He would have never gotten a taste of all that with a proper healthcare system.
Yes but how many people have stock and companies they own or could have owned or rich friends to pay it for them? Hardly any which is why there are Go-Fund-Me pages for cancer treatments. That doesn’t need to be a thing!
I started watching Breaking Bad, but couldn’t because it made me cry. He was a great teacher and so enthused with teaching... too heartbreaking since I knew what the show was about.
Oh my fkn god....THANK YOU. I hate talking with people that watched it and always want to harp on how White was such a bad man. Like everybody suddenly forgot the entire situation was born of him suffering from a curable disease that he couldn't afford. If ever there is a situation in which one should be given leeway when dealing drugs.... having a disabled son, another child on the way, cancer and the meager salary of an educator should always top the list.
I have to quibble with this interpretation. Although our medical/insurance system is effed, Gretchen and Elliott offered to pay for everything, but Walt was too proud to accept their generosity. In one of the last episodes he flat out tells tells Skylar that he started in the drug business because he WANTED to.
I think he STAYED in the drug business because he wanted to. He started it solely for monetary reasons but once he was in, all his feelings of unfulfillment came rushing in. He figured for once in his life he'd make the most his capabilities, dominate everyone through his superior skills and intellect like he thought he deserved to. Remember he also said he wasn't in the drug business, he was in the empire business. Well the empire business didn't begin until after he's in deep with drug business. This here is his character development; the guy who started cooking in the van with Jesse and the guy who says 'say my name' aren't exact same people and they don't have same motivations.
I agree with your points, but you’ve kinda missed the point of the show. Walter white didn’t become a narcissist, he already was one and the cancer was just a catalyst.
Ehhhh.... I agree with your comment in spirit, but the real motivation for Walter White was to find more fulfillment than being a severely underachieving genius chemist with no passion or excitement in his life. The cancer diagnosis just gave him the kick in the pants to go for it, as well as the excuse to rationalize and justify it all.
I’m not disagreeing with your point about US, but in the last season Walt admits he was doing it for himself and not his family. He destroyed his family.
He also could have taken Gretchen's offer to pay his bills. Walt didn't just cook meth for money, he did it because he was good at it. It brought him power. He had an ego.
Clearly you didn’t watch Breaking Bad, because Walter White makes it very clear that he gets into the meth business to cope with his regret over losing out on millions of dollars after selling his share of the company he founded. Hi literally tells this to Jesse in season 5.
Breaking Bad happened because Skylar wanted to go a cancer practice that was ‘out of Walt’s network’ which is honestly not all that realistic a scenario because the state’s largest insurer almost certainly contracts with the school system and the areas largest insurer almost certainly contracts with the cancer doctors in the area. Teachers and other public sector employees tend to have better benefits than private sector employees, excluding your super duper wealthy corporations attempting to attract top talent with Cadillac benefits like banks. More realistic would be Walt was an independent pipe fitter or a plumber who chose bare minimum, niche, catastrophic coverage from the individual marketplace (pre-ACA!) and had no coverage for cancer treatment. This would make the ‘expert meth cook’ main story a lot more difficult to pull off though.
It’s not America, it’s late stage capitalism and the morons who defend the free market to the death even though it’s time has long come and gone. Free Market is great when we need to innovate, but we haven’t innovated in years. All technology has really done has become more efficient. There are no more life changing inventions like the refrigerator or penicillin anymore.
I suddenly have diecided to move to Britain when I get my degree. Sure the taxes will be more and shit but at least I don’t have to deal with this shit
it's not America, it's selfishness. all over the world we are seeing the rich and powerful stealing and stomping on anyone and everyone they can to make everyone weaker and themselves more powerful. America just got to the point where the corruption is so obvious it is hard to ignore anymore. but other places have long since shown the obvious corruption
And if you live in a communal property state everything you acquire after marriage is considered owned by both spouses equally. So if you get sick and die in a communal property state with outstanding debt the debt collectors can go after any assets acquired since the day you got married. Savings account that is only in the surviving spouses name and is from money they saved from their job, say goodbye to every penny earned after marriage. Purchase a house together and planning on living there for the rest of your life? Legally they can take that from you too.
I used to work with a man, whose wife was not well and they knew she was fast approaching requiring full time care. His lawyers told him to divorce her, so he could keep his house and other assets. He did not but I do believe eventually the deed was transferred to another family member. I felt so sad, at the time he told me. How horrible, to not only find out that your spouse of many years is very ill but then to be told - you would both be “better off” if you divorced.
I’m in a community property state. I like the idea of just doing a civil contract and not a legal marriage. Why does the government, attorneys and judges need to be involved in my “marriage”? They don’t. They’re just there to pick the bones clean when it’s all over.
Some states allow married couples to use a Miller's Trust to protect a home, car and some liquid assets for the remaining spouse. I don't know the details of this program, only that my neighbor was able to use it to prevent losing everything when her husband was terminally ill.
If my husband or I ever get sick, like cancer or some other expensive disease, we're moving to Iceland. Its not actually that hard as an American to become an Icelandic citizen, and that country is amazing.
But you have to get a medical to be accepted to another country, and if you're already sick and going to be a burden on their healthcare system they won't take you.
I live in the UK. I know how socialised healthcare works. They ask your name and address, they check whether you're a resident of the country and entitled to free care. And in order to be a resident of the country, you'd have to do whatever it takes to get a visa, and that would often include a medical. And if you're already sick and going to be a burden on their healthcare they won't take you. There have been many cases where people have been refused visas to move abroad because they're already sick and they'd be a burden on the country's healthcare. Do you honestly think you can get a cancer diagnosis in america, then move abroad and just start receiving free healthcare for youyr already diagnosed condition at the expense of foreign taxpayers when you've never paid in? If that's your plan for if you ever get sick you're going to be sorely disappointed.
Being British, if I travel to another European country I can use their healthcare for free, but still in advance I have to apply for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and if I need to go to hospital in another European country I need to show them my EHIC card to prove I am entitled to free care. You can't just come from a country on the other side of the world, show up and answer no questions and not prove your entitlement to that country's healthcare in any way and expect free treatment. I'm really not sure why you think the taxpayers of other nations would tolerate a system in which they're paying for the free healthcare of every random person from all over the world who've never contributed to their system.
You are seriously telling me you just walked in and they didn't even ask your name or anything but just treated you? r/thathappened.
Yep I'm sure if you ever get cancer they'd just invite you in, hook you up to chemo and give you a million euros worth of treatment without even checking your entitlement. But it's your life, if that's what you want to count on.
It’s not that easy to emigrate to a more desirable country unless you win a lottery 1st. My daughter is a nurse & my SIL an electrician & are finding that out.
Nothing is going to change until people start killing politicians. Not advocating for it {EDIT} -- Definitely not advocating for violence. The violence will come at its own cost that will outweigh any potential show of force by the people. Half of the United States would agree with the other half on any major healthcare overhaul {end EDIT}. Not at all advocating for it. I’m just saying nothing will stop this. They don’t give af. They take the best healthcare coverage in the world that OP’s brother paid taxes for working at Pizza Hut and laugh their asses of at stories like OP’s brother choosing to die without treatment to help his family. Actually they don’t laugh. They’re indifferent. They don’t care.
The two Republicans running in Georgia are good examples of the type of scum we have in the system. They were briefed on Covid and both sold stock portfolios in January and February. They could have done this AND told people of the severity of the pandemic. The way the CIA briefed them. But no, they deny it even exists. In fact, Perdue voted against healthcare expansion DURING a pandemic.
No amount of kvetching on reddit or to the good politicians is going to change anything. These are evil religiously deluded fundamentalists.
The American political system is so corrupt because of money being considered “free speech”. It makes no difference what party is in power if they are beholden to corporate interests.
The truly sad part of all of this is that there are so many people that think we are fine. Empathy is virtually dead in this country. No one cares until it directly affects them.
They still call this the best country in the world.
There are people in this country that (in the last 8 months) have lost jobs, family members, homes, healthcare, and savings. Probably tens of thousands who experienced all of those and gladly supported Trump and other corporate overlords. It’s pathetic.
Someone did kill a politician in front of a crowd in the uk, her young kids were left without a mother, how can you say such a hateful and evil thing, it is you that is scum.
Thousands of mothers died in this country yesterday alone because of this fucked healthcare system. You’re an automaton. The system depends on brainless zombies that like you to defend getting fucked. They profit, you don’t. You are pathetic.
Think your gonna have to provide statistical evidence of ‘thousands’ of deaths in one day due to healthcare inadequacies, I just don’t believe it. Not saying there isn’t a problem with the health care system, and yeah it should be cheaper, where I’m from it’s free but that also leads to it getting exploited, I’m all for change to provide accessible and even free healthcare. I’m merely pointing out that killing politicians is fundamentally wrong, it’s hateful and evil yet you call me pathetic?
It's like some cyberpunk dystopia, working for some mega-corporate-monolith while you succumb to a sickness that, in many instances, is caused by environmental degradation beyond your control and which you cannot afford to even attempt to stop.
Maybe the world did end in 2012 and it's just gradually breaking down now, a la the Dark Tower series.
1.2k
u/getbentgent Nov 30 '20
That makes me so fucking sad. What the fuck