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.
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.
The Unbearable Lightness of Obama - The president didn't know the NSA was spying on world leaders, but he's found time for at least 146 rounds of golf.
The government offers me a $40,000 check to go on electronic medical records. I won't do it. Who would open up to me if I did?
For the same reason, I keep minimal notes anyway and just enough to refresh my memory. From The
Electronic-Medical-Records Wreck-Doctors have their own Obamacare nightmare to deal with:
As I’ve mentioned previously, my own primary-care physician in Colorado Springs quit her regular practice and converted to “concierge care” because of the EMR imposition. Dr. Henry Smith, a Pennsylvania pulmonary doctor, also walked away. “Faced with the implementation costs and skyrocketing overhead in general,” he told me, “I finally threw in the towel and closed my practice.” He said, “As EMRs proliferate, and increased Medicare scrutiny looms, medical documentation is evolving from its original goal of recording what actually was going on with a patient, and what the provider was actually thinking, to sterile boilerplate documents designed to justify the highest billing codes.”
Many docs today are spending more time on computer screens than they are with patients.
What do women want? All sorts of things. Women are all different. I think we only tend to hear about the angry women. Guys shy away from them. Most guys are drawn to females with sweet, affectionate temperaments. NB: I am not a belligerent asshole, but I am no metrosexual asshole either. Like all guys, I can be a stupid, annoying and selfish jerk at times.
Can Brewing Beer Be as Simple as Brewing Coffee?
Friction Physics Reveals Details Of How People
What is 
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American progressivism is 
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How Americans