We 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.
Australia
snubs global climate talks, as Greg Hunt stays home to repeal carbon
tax
- See more at:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/australia-snubs-global-climate-talks-as-greg-hunt-stays-home-to-repeal-carbon-tax/story-e6frg6xf-1226754823154#sthash.sPLMCFKF.dpuf
Australia
snubs global climate talks, as Greg Hunt stays home to repeal carbon
tax
- See more at:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/australia-snubs-global-climate-talks-as-greg-hunt-stays-home-to-repeal-carbon-tax/story-e6frg6xf-1226754823154#sthash.sPLMCFKF.dpuf
She has some paranoid ideas but I'm sure her memories are accurate. I suspect that Barry's being gay and doing drugs only adds to his David Bowie-style rock star image. Who cares? It's just interesting that there is nothing real there, on the surface, but, again, who cares? People did not elect a friend.
People ask me, as a Physician, whether or how I would reform healthcare. (What they mean, it turns out, is not to reform medical care but to change how medical insurance works. Nobody really wants medical care in the US to change because it is the best and most caring in the world, by far, thanks to our free choices, national prosperity, brains, and freedom in general.)
It's become clear to me that people are divided into two basic camps on medical insurance: those who want to insure cheaply against major expense and those who want what amounts to pre-paid medical care. In any event, it is stunning to me that 85% of Americans were content with their medical care situation pre-Obamacare so I'm not sure that represented any crisis requiring massive Federal intervention and control.
As someone whose bias is against government getting involved further in our lives, if I were King here's what I would do about medical insurance - free it up:
1. I'd permit medical insurors to create national markets for insurance, like MLS does with real estate. They would be happy to do so were they free to do that.
2. I'd make medical insurance portable across state lines, and detach it from employment. If any employer wants to chip in, or if a union contract requires a business to chip in, fine. They could offer vouchers as a benefit, if they want to.
3. I'd demand that insurors insure everybody who wants to buy some, creating high-risk pools just as they do for auto insurance if needed.
4. I would permit the freedom to sell any kind or style of medical insurance people might want with whatever sort of coverage they want to buy. Or not to buy, if they want. It's a free country, and people are free to be foolish or to trust in the benevolence of others.
5. Regarding Medicare and Medicaid, I would fold them together somehow as means-tested charities for the poor, run by states or municipalities.
(As an off-topic aside, let me tell you the problems with many government-paid Medicaid patients and charity patients: they miss appointments, they are not appreciative and treat you like a servant, they will not make morning appointments, they resist advice, their fees do not pay the rent so docs have to limit their numbers - and they are prone to lawsuits against you. I know about this, because I do around 10-15% charity work in my office as my form of tithing, volunteer one day/week in a charity clinic, and teach for free 1/2 day/week. Just another greedy doc. )
Addendum: A reader asks about tort reform. Good question. God knows how much of medical expenses are CYA by docs and hospitals. The reality is that medical care is an art, and that any medical decision can be challenged or questioned if somebody wants to sue their doc.
" If you want to provide public services to a lot of poor people, you need a lot of rich people to pay taxes. And if you provide such services, immigrants will pour in, and the most diligent and cleverest of them will fight for the available spots in the best schools. We’re seeing the fruits of New York’s success every day. There’s nothing wrong with New York that a million Asian immigrants wouldn’t fix really fast."
And for what? Eighty-five percent of Americans were happy with their health care before Obamacare, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index — higher than almost any other product or service polled, with even Amazon coming in at 88 percent satisfaction. Even uninsured Americans were as satisfied with their health care as Canadians were with their national health care.
If Obamacare is fully implemented, at least 129 million (68%) will not be able to keep their previous health care plan either because they already have or will lose that coverage by the end of 2014.
One comment: It's not "health care," it's "medical care," and it's not even "medical care" - it's medical insurance. People want valuable stuff for free. That will never happen. I am still waiting for my free legal care.
One more link. Somebody put this together for laughs: My Cancellation
Kennedy’s murder was a national tragedy, to be sure, but an
honest assessment of his record shows that our lawless and reckless
35th president was anything but a national treasure.
I have missed meaningful paper gains in the past year by being out of equities. I must be a lousy gambler. I steer clear of casinos. Zero Hedge explains what I have been seeing this year: The worse the economic numbers are, the higher the markets go. That's because lousy real numbers make the Fed afraid of quitting QE (which they should have done more than a year ago) and want to print money like crazy.
The American Psychiatric Association is confused about the PC answer to that question. It must be difficult to be both multiculturally-sensitive and yet PC in the American way, given that pedophilia seems quite accepted in Muslim areas along with recreational homosexuality, rape, etc.
Trading is not investing, but people make money doing it. This is a fascinating view of a growing part of Wall St. and world markets, and interesting people too. (H/T Exposing Wall Street's Hidden "Code")
The problem now is not the delivery system of the program, it’s the program itself. Not the computer screen but what’s inside the program. This is something you can’t get the IT guy in to fix.
They said if you liked your insurance you could keep your insurance—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said they would cover everyone who needed it, and instead people who had coverage are losing it—millions of them! They said they would make insurance less expensive—but it’s more expensive! Premium shock, deductible shock. They said don’t worry, your health information will be secure, but instead the whole setup looks like a hacker’s holiday. Bad guys are apparently already going for your private information.
80+% of Americans were comfortable with what they had, before all of this. That's a high % for anything.
On paper, the $4,955 family is poor. But so were the Polynesian beach combers. Poverty is relative. From the perspective of a white male capitalist, the $4,955 family is ridiculously poor, but its life is actually comfortable and worry-free compared to the $110,729 family.
Just imagine federally-managed and controlled legal insurance. After all, legal access and justice is a real right. At Jacobson:
The great Obamacare reform is turning into the great thrust of tens of millions of people onto Medicaid.
The problem is, fewer and fewer doctors are willing to take Medicaid patients because the reimbursements are so low.
I have met numerous doctors who tell me they either refuse Medicaid patients or restrict them because the reimbursements do not cover their costs. They also double and triple book, because so many Medicaid patients who make appointments don’t show up. As to Medicare the payments currently are bearable, but only because private insurance payments for other patients make up the shortfall.
Increasingly, doctors are abandoning the government payment train wreck, and going all cash or some hybrid. This all was foreseeable and was foreseen.
The millions of new Medicaid patients will have insurance, just no doctors to see them. That is a feature, not a glitch, to those who want single payer. Obamacare is proceeding accordingly to plan.
Socialism requires government force.A key tactic is to break and disrupt things,and then to jump in with a forced plan to fix it.
It's interesting that, in most of the discussion of medical care, the source of the heavy costs are neglected: expensive procedures and hospital care at the end of life. An office visit to an internist or family practitioner is still inexpensive.
OCare is not about health care, or even health insurance - See more at: http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=51795#sthash.L2U40FPJ.dpuf
We
keep saying it but it bears repeating: OCare is not about health care,
or even health insurance - See more at:
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=51795#sthash.L2U40FPJ.dpuf
We
keep saying it but it bears repeating: OCare is not about health care,
or even health insurance - See more at:
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=51795#sthash.L2U40FPJ.dpuf
No "Tea Party" exists. It's just a lot of people with similar views. Include me in.
That was an American flag, remember. The Prof. says:
We aren’t seeing a right-leaning populist surge today because of Alger Hiss; we are seeing it because many Americans believe that President Obama’s liberal and technocratic agenda represents a threat to a way of life they value. We are seeing it because many Americans blame the establishment of both parties both for the financial crisis and for the vast transfer of resources to the wealthy that came after the crash. We are seeing it because whether you look at foreign or domestic policy, the technocratic suggestions of the Great and the Good have not been helping ordinary Americans much for the last 20 years.
Will a Mayor DeBlasio return NYC to its dystopian past? Sultan Knish sure thinks so: It's DeBlasio Time
If he's right, I'd advise our readers to explore some of the wonderful neighborhoods of the city asap. Right now, it's a lovely, vibrant, youthful, colorful and safe place to visit, thanks (mostly) to Mayor Giuliani. It is drawing all of the ambitious young people of America and the world, and it's packed with tourists too. That's why it's expensive.
Those on the inside know that, when Dems talk class warfare, they are always winking at the bankers and at the ultra-wealthy, and hoodwinking naive populist voters. (I have nothing against the bankers. They are necessary for almost everything, but it would be fine with me if their politics were more balanced.)
I think many citizen supporters of the ACA are well-intentioned -- they believe that this program will increase insurance coverage, reduce prices, and make Americans better off. After all, that's what they've been repeatedly told by their leaders. I don't believe that advocates of ACA among the political class are well-intentioned at all, nor do they believe what they've said about it. That's why Congress specifically insisted on exemptions for themselves and their staffs. That's why union leaders and some big businesses have been crying for exemptions. That's why Obama himself is exempt. They know it is a bad plan and also know the implementation is being bungled badly. But their goals never were to fix problems in health care and to make Americans better off. Their goals have always been power and wealth, to be had at the expense of the America people.
Excuse me, but they are trying to follow your law, Mr. President. This is like blaming the banks for giving the high-risk mortgages that the government forced them to offer.
In my case, I do not want the government standard insurance. I want my cheap, old-fashioned major medical with a high deductible. It makes sense to me, and I like to pay my doctors.
But so are many or most of the 500,000 gay guys in New York City, of every skin color. A lot of it is about stylin' and profilin'. There is some mileage in that.
Pick One: Marriage Culture Or Government Culture
A reader sent that pic of his pup Dexter retrieving a Woodcock. Many dogs will not pick up a Woodcock - something about their odor.
Friction Physics Reveals Details Of How People
What is 
Photo of one of the Maggie's Farm fact checkers via 
American progressivism is 
Mead: