So, Barney, why don’t you invite Clyde in to keep warm - just today - just for New Year’s Day? Aren’t you ashamed to see him trying to keep warm over a lighted trashcan?
Yeah, ONE per cent of one per cent of 1% of 1% of your monthly income could probably house Cyde in a luxury hotel for the winter.
The private pharmaceutical industry concentrates on inventing little blue pills that will keep men.. ‘strong’ (Call a doctor if you remain.. ‘strong’ for more than four hours).. products that can be advertised on television.
The customers, having heard of a new disease then ask their doctors to prescribe the newest wonder drug.
The drugs are largely underwritten by private medical insurance plans - which go up another 9% next year to cover the new costs (and ensure the insurers always-healthy profits).
Drugs that cure diseases? Too speculative, unmarketable because they generally affect smaller numbers of people, and can’t be mass marketed. Those are left to the government to develop with grant money.
Any drug that helps the elderly is also a problem, because it’s paid for by Medicare, and then the government is always whining about holding down costs - limited profit potential there.
Barney’s got a great gig, billions in profit for inventing drugs for ailments that you have to advertise to get people to want it. All underwritten by our own health insurance cartel. The customers get it coming and going.
throughout this strip Clyde has proven that is by far the more intelligent of the two. Which by default means that his situation is a consious choice, yet so many insist that they know what is best for him. I have known a few like him, and they guard their independence and freedom fiercely. Doing what makes tem happiest of the lifestyles they have tried. rejecting your ideas of happiness in favor of a lifestyle of their own choosing.
Clyde is sane enough and smart enough that, if he wished to change his life fundamentally, he could probably do so. That’s not the case with all his homeless friends, of course; Dabney (for instance) probably doesn’t have a lot of options. As ponytail says, though, striving for some of the creature comforts he might enjoy would require giving up many of the freedoms he values.
We’ve never been given Clyde’s backstory. Perhaps at one point he lived a more conventional life, and suffered some great misfortune to land him where he is now. Or perhaps he simply woke up one morning and decided to quit the rat race. Either way, he’s at peace with his condition, although not always “comfortable”. Barney, however, despite his riches, has been shown to question his own priorities from time to time. He wonders whether Clyde knows something important of which he (Barney) is unaware. Barney doesn’t fully understand his friend Clyde, but I believe Clyde understands Barney very well.
Night-Gaunt, I’ll grant that what you say is true in general, but perhaps not in particular as it pertains to Clyde. There are some aspects of his life that he seems to actively enjoy, such as freedom from obligation, from restriction, from convention. He even enjoys sleeping in the open, at least when the weather is nice.
Yes, it comes down to his adaptability, but past strips have shown that he’s moved beyond mere acceptance of his situation to an appreciation of it. Clyde being a fictional character he may of course be an exaggeration, but happiness is not dependent upon absolute conditions. “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
Good lord, I’ve been declared “dead wrong” by someone who appears to have got their expert information from Glenn Beck’s University of I Don’t Remember.
arye uygur almost 14 years ago
So, Barney, why don’t you invite Clyde in to keep warm - just today - just for New Year’s Day? Aren’t you ashamed to see him trying to keep warm over a lighted trashcan?
Yeah, ONE per cent of one per cent of 1% of 1% of your monthly income could probably house Cyde in a luxury hotel for the winter.
randayn almost 14 years ago
How is Barney responsible for Clyde’s bad decisions in life?
And what makes you think Clyde would accept such charity?
Hillbillyman almost 14 years ago
Clyde is a typical homeless person…He likes it!
Hillbillyman almost 14 years ago
Clyde is a typical homeless person…He likes it!
shmlss almost 14 years ago
likes it? LIKES IT???
Charles Brobst Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Lower prices. Raise wages. You don’t need any more billions.
junco49 almost 14 years ago
randayn
“Bad decisions” ?
Are you for real? Is that what you think poverty is?
Living in ignorance IS bliss I suppose! Atlas shrugged his humanity.
Ayn Rand founded about the stupidest religion ever.
I hope you remain comfortable and contented. It will give you much in common with fortunate cows.
Dirty Dragon almost 14 years ago
The private pharmaceutical industry concentrates on inventing little blue pills that will keep men.. ‘strong’ (Call a doctor if you remain.. ‘strong’ for more than four hours).. products that can be advertised on television.
The customers, having heard of a new disease then ask their doctors to prescribe the newest wonder drug.
The drugs are largely underwritten by private medical insurance plans - which go up another 9% next year to cover the new costs (and ensure the insurers always-healthy profits).
Drugs that cure diseases? Too speculative, unmarketable because they generally affect smaller numbers of people, and can’t be mass marketed. Those are left to the government to develop with grant money.
Any drug that helps the elderly is also a problem, because it’s paid for by Medicare, and then the government is always whining about holding down costs - limited profit potential there.
Barney’s got a great gig, billions in profit for inventing drugs for ailments that you have to advertise to get people to want it. All underwritten by our own health insurance cartel. The customers get it coming and going.
ponytail56 almost 14 years ago
throughout this strip Clyde has proven that is by far the more intelligent of the two. Which by default means that his situation is a consious choice, yet so many insist that they know what is best for him. I have known a few like him, and they guard their independence and freedom fiercely. Doing what makes tem happiest of the lifestyles they have tried. rejecting your ideas of happiness in favor of a lifestyle of their own choosing.
my_discworld almost 14 years ago
what’s with the little single snowflake in the second panel? some kind of symbol?
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Clyde is sane enough and smart enough that, if he wished to change his life fundamentally, he could probably do so. That’s not the case with all his homeless friends, of course; Dabney (for instance) probably doesn’t have a lot of options. As ponytail says, though, striving for some of the creature comforts he might enjoy would require giving up many of the freedoms he values.
We’ve never been given Clyde’s backstory. Perhaps at one point he lived a more conventional life, and suffered some great misfortune to land him where he is now. Or perhaps he simply woke up one morning and decided to quit the rat race. Either way, he’s at peace with his condition, although not always “comfortable”. Barney, however, despite his riches, has been shown to question his own priorities from time to time. He wonders whether Clyde knows something important of which he (Barney) is unaware. Barney doesn’t fully understand his friend Clyde, but I believe Clyde understands Barney very well.
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Night-Gaunt, I’ll grant that what you say is true in general, but perhaps not in particular as it pertains to Clyde. There are some aspects of his life that he seems to actively enjoy, such as freedom from obligation, from restriction, from convention. He even enjoys sleeping in the open, at least when the weather is nice.
Yes, it comes down to his adaptability, but past strips have shown that he’s moved beyond mere acceptance of his situation to an appreciation of it. Clyde being a fictional character he may of course be an exaggeration, but happiness is not dependent upon absolute conditions. “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
Dirty Dragon almost 14 years ago
Good lord, I’ve been declared “dead wrong” by someone who appears to have got their expert information from Glenn Beck’s University of I Don’t Remember.
Besides, I’m not dead yet.