Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Thursday, March 19. 2009Thursday morning linksShining Path Maoists embrace Capitalism. And shame on Amherst College: I guess they are the new Maoists. How come Lefties refuse to discuss ideas? All you get from them are insults, ad hominems, and censorship. 40% of US births are out of wedlock. Aren't we progressive? The gays want marriage, and the heteros don't. Pretty funny about our Irish President being so teleprompter-bound that he thanked himself for hosting the party. Is he smart, or just slick and handsome? Village for sale in England. Does it come with serfs? Health information technology does no good. But it sounds good. How can you be against something called health information? The War against Farmers' Markets. Next it will be a War against Tag Sales. Related: What if the kiddies decide to chew on their bicycles? Toys dangerous until proven safe Prof B argues against bringing back the uptick We hope you disagree with some of our political views, because, if you agree, you might be a Terrorist. In Missouri, anyway. Here's where the tax increase is supposed to come from. It doesn't note that those "low-income tax cuts" are government checks to those folks. Related: Obama's climate plan could cost us $2 trillion. It is insane. The Fed throws another trillion at the economy. Economists: Spending spinning out out of control. The Journo-list thing is beginning to bother me. When the press is in cahoots with the government, we're in trouble. From Dino's A TV Show for Morons:
Experiment with Lesbianism. Why not? I can relate: women are appealing. Keeping Christians out of the UK. Right thing to do. You never know when those Christian wackos might decide to blow people up in buildings and subways.
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The point of the new health technology isn't better productivity. It's merely a waypoint to government control of our individual and collective health services. Central Planning.
I'd be willing to sit around and wait patiently for these man-made global warming nuts to come to their senses. But not if it's going to cost us trillions of dollars to address a man-made non-crisis. We have to be more proactive about point out the basic silliness and self-importance of those folks who claim that man and his evil factories, and cows and their farts have anything at all to do with global warming.
It's nuts, folks. Truly nuts. Marianene Professor B has his own bout with muddy thinking.
Let me say that I am not opposed to short selling, which serves several purposes including market liquidity. While he is right that the uptick rule and naked shorting are two different matters, he is wrong in his conclusion that the uptick rule is not needed. First, naked shorting is when stock that is not owned is sold without having been borrowed. In theory, more shares can be sold that there is float (i.e. outstanding shares). Traditional short selling requires that the shares are borrowed before being sold. Naked short sales are a material issue for markets, investors, traders and regulators. Here is an article from Bloomberg that discusses the impact of naked shorting in the demise of Lehman Brothers. (It also mentions the uptick rule controversy.) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aB1jlqmFOTCA&refer=home Second, the uptick rule serves a completely different function. Simply put, the uptick rule provides for more orderly markets. When a stock begins to decline and is vulnerable from a fundamental or technical perspective, short sellers (naked or legitimate) pile on exacerabting the downward price action. Momentum trading works in both up and down scenarios. The uptick rule slows this process down because it requires a buyer, who by definition believes the stock is undervalued, to step into the process. This is important for orderly markets and enhanced liquidity. Today, shares trade in any number of ways from the traditional exchanges like the NYSE, NASDAQ and LSE to ECNs and dark pools (opaque markets often favored by hedge funds and are attracting as much as 15% of volume). The fact that naked shorting and the uptick rule are issues is just another example of the incestuous relationship between big business (this time Wall Street and hedge funds) and government. It's more cronyism. These practices if left as is and unchecked is simply a license to steal from small, long-term investors. It is important that both of these requirements are put in place and enforced. The SEC spends more time on ineffectual matters than on the things that would create orderly, liquid markets that benefit all investors. I aplogize for the long post, but it was necessary. "These practices if left as is and unchecked is simply a license to steal from small, long-term investors."
My apologies for the grammatical error. "Is" should be "are". I was writing on the fly and did not stop to proof read. I have been in and near healthcare my entire adult life. I've worked with paper records and computerized systems. I don't know that computerized systems will necessarily standardize care. But I like the idea of providers being able to punch into a system and check labwork, imaging, and other providers' notes. I also think that computerized pharmacy is the way to go. Patients are safer when we get pens away from people writing notes or prescriptions.
I'm inclined to agree with that. I find it quite shocking to leave my high-tech job for a doctor's appointment to find him scribbling away in a folder that ends up God-knows-where with someone's personal information on it. While I'm not crazy about my personal info flying around cyberspace either, my financial info is already out there, which makes me feel far more vulnerable. Of course perhaps that's because I've never had a health problem that would expose me to serious risk if it was "found out". And it would certainly make my life easier if the doctor could just electronically notify the pharmacy of my prescription before I get there rather than me carrying a piece of paper (like some note from my mother) to the store and then standing around like an idiot for 15-30 minutes (or more) waiting for the pharmacist to fill it.
And of course there's always the occasional local news story about piles of insurance or doctor records being found in a dumpster somewhere. Which only concerned me because most health info has my social security number on it for some stupid reason. Ok, ok, we are hooking up the Digital Box to the tv. The instructions tell us to do something on their computer website--but the site has been changed. Called their "live help" support and got to speak to some guy in Manilla, Phillipines. Not to worry--yesterday I need to change a flight reservation with Delta airlines and first got someone in Jamaica, then they switched me to someone in Montreal. All of that to change a flight from LAX into ATL (no international connections). Finally, when I called United Airlines for a change in the connecting flight, I was connected to another guy in Manilla Phillipines. I don't understand why--is this some kind of strategic military free trade exchange? Why can't we just keep the service industries here in the states? No manufacturing involved?
You link to http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=14554 but it, along with all of Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom stuff, has "gone fishin'." Is this yet another consequence of the campaign directed against Jeff by the lefties, who were inspired by that female at the U. of Arizona? Anybody know?
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