"King Salmon" Salamander mug w/ fish tail handle (1991)

“Kitty practicing the lion dance for the Chinese New Year” 

>Japan bombs Pearl Harbor which brings America into World War II

>The draft for WWII creates a labor shortage in the US

>Because of the labor shortage, companies start significantly raising wages.

>FDR is worried that if wages go up too fast it could create runaway inflation, so he signs an executive order creating the National War Labor Board, which standardized salaries during the war in order to stabilize prices.

>Companies wanted a way to compete for talent in a limited labor pool despite not being able to offer higher salaries, so they started offering benefits packages to attract workers, the cornerstone of which was health insurance

>After the war, companies didn't want to give up their role in providing health insurance because it served them well in terms of both recruiting and retention (i.e. you're less likely to quit your job if it means losing your health insurance)

>This model becomes increasingly common across the US to the point where private health insurance companies are paying for the majority of healthcare expenses in the US

>Because the majority of healthcare costs were being paid by insurance companies rather than the people receiving care, hospitals began massively inflating the sticker price of their services with the expectation that the insurance company would negotiate those numbers down (as private insurance companies are want to do)

>Insurance companies take advantage of the increase in sticker prices by increasing premiums and passing off more of their costs to the consumer while continuing to negotiate down the actual price paid to hospitals

>This cycle repeats until the average hospital bill is completely divorced from any of the actual costs of the service