USA! USA! We’re (Almost) #1 in Machines That Go Ping

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Monika Bauerlein,
CEO

Dear MoJo Reader,

Have you been following the news less? A lot of people have, and that can be good, but it can also spell trouble for those of us in the news business. We're about to find out, because Mother Jones has a $350,000 fundraising goal right now. In "Slow News Is Good News," I try to reset after several chaotic years and make a longer-lasting case for why our nonprofit journalism matters. I hope you'll read it and that you'll pitch in if you can.

Have you been following the news less? A lot of people have, and that can be good and bad. It's unnerving, because Mother Jones has a $350,000 fundraising goal right now. In "Slow News Is Good News," we try to reset after several chaotic years and make a longer-lasting case for why our journalism matters. Please read it—and please pitch in!

I was fiddling around looking for something unrelated, and happened to run across this chart from the latest OECD “Health at a Glance” report. We’re #1 in health spending, of course, and we pay inflated prices for just about everything. But what’s equally interesting is what we spend all that money on. More doctors? Nope. More nurses? Not really. More hospital beds? Nah.

So what do we spend our money on? Technology, baby! Who cares about having plenty of doctors as long as we have lots of machines that go ping? The Japanese may be serious technophiles too, but at least they also have plenty of hospital beds and reasonable spending levels.