Tuesday Linkage
Its Monday Tuesday afternoon — time for a quick linkfest:
• Mortimer Zuckerman: The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think (WSJ)
• Home Prices Play Big Role in Americans’ Decision to Move (Real Time Economics)
• Reset Chart from Credit Suisse has a Major Error (Healdsburg Housing Bubble)
• Shadow Banking: What It Is, How it Broke, and How to Fix It (Atlantic)
• McKinsey’s Cracked Crystal Ball (Slate)
• Paul McCulley asks, “What If?”
• Uncle Sam is $1 trillion in the hole (CNN/Money)
• Retrain your brain from ‘left’ to ‘right’ to fit into new economy (USA Today)
• Microsoft Has ‘Herculean’ Task in Taking on Google (Bloomberg)
• High-ranking insurance PR flack defects, explains dirty tricks used to fight universal healthcare (boingboing)
• Looking at the question WWPGD: Personal Finance According to Family Guy (Mint)
I miss anything noteworthy?
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July 14th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
and in Seattle area.. lots of ghost condos continue to cloud the real estate horizon
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009466104_bellevuetowers14.html
July 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Its Monday afternoon — time for a quick linkfest:
I miss anything noteworthy?
…Yeah, you got the day wrong…
~~~~
BR: Damn Cut & paste!
July 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.
Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.
That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.
EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity…”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html?test=latestnews
~~
“Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%. Mr. Furman, then in the Obama campaign and now at the White House, claimed this was wrong and that Democrats would merely raise taxes back to their Clinton-era level.
House Democrats are now proving that Mr. Boskin had it right, and before it’s over even he may have underestimated how high taxes will go. In the middle of a recession and with rising unemployment, Democrats have been letting it leak that they want to raise U.S. tax rates higher than they’ve been in nearly 30 years in order to finance government health care.
Every detail isn’t known, but late last week Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel disclosed that his draft bill would impose a “surtax” on individuals with adjusted gross income of more than $280,000 a year. This would hit job creators especially hard because more than six of every 10 who earn that much are small business owners, operators or investors, according to a 2007 Treasury study. That study also found that almost half of the income taxed at this highest rate is small business income from the more than 500,000 sole proprietorships and subchapter S corporations whose owners pay the individual rate.
In addition, many more smaller business owners with lower profits would be hit by the Rangel plan’s payroll tax surcharge. That surcharge would apply to all firms with 25 or more workers that don’t offer health insurance to their employees, and it would amount to an astonishing eight percentage point fee above the current 15% payroll levy…”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753106668435899.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
the Greens shoot..
July 14th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Foreclosures have been a major issue of the economic recession that has hit all countries across the world. The Bush administration overlooked the foreclosure issues of the average homeowners which the Obama administration is struggling to tackle with various initiatives.
Check out :
http://www.housingnewslive.com/blog.php
July 14th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
found this
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/07/consumer-protection-elitists-hardly.html#comments
July 14th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Wow. Consider MEH’s link and this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090714/sc_livescience/powerfulideasmilitarydevelopscybugspies
Do people realize what an arms race with things like EATR and cybugs will look like? We will all be *WISHING* we were facing Terminators instead.
Can you imagine if or when a theocrat gains control of the military machine making these weapons, whether it be in this country or another? (No disrespect to people’s hobbies. But, attention NRA members: the 2nd amendment is a Maginot Line.)
The world must move quickly in the direction of “open societies” with incredible checks-and-balances, before technology advances beyond our ethics.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s unrealistic. There is too wide a disparity between the have’s and have-not’s and between the know’s and the know-not’s. The have’s and know’s don’t want to share enough. And the have-not’s and know-not’s don’t know what they don’t know.
Instead, the best, brightest, most progressive people will probably seek self-preservation by building SS Botany Bays and getting the hell off the planet. I probably won’t have enough money myself to pay for the ticket. But, I’m trying my best.
Cue some Black Sabbath for the trip:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blacksabbath/intothevoid.html
…
Also, what happened to Google’s founders’ “do no evil” philosophy? Are they paying attention to this:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/more-on-google-vs-si.html#previouspost
?
Okay, MEH, how’s Clusty’s ethics?? If Google does this more often, I’m going to stop using them.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
better late than never?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aJwAyZM0oVFU
July 14th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
and of course GS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8149013.stm
July 14th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
wunsa-,
GOOG’s ‘do no evil’ was, very, brilliant agitprop/PR Spin..
re: clusty, I don’t know them A to Z, though, here: http://www.gpc.edu/~declib/web/
and, especially, here: http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=clusty.com gives some more background..
though, past that, your point about — “Do people realize what an arms race with things like EATR and cybugs will look like? We will all be *WISHING* we were facing Terminators instead.” is on to it.
The DoD has been R&D’ing this stuff for, easily, over, 40 years..started with ‘Radio’ RC in the ’10′s..
see: “The first machines to be operated by remote control were used mainly for military purposes. Radio-controlled motorboats, developed by the German navy, were used to ram enemy ships in WWI. Radio controlled bombs and other remote control weapons were used in WWII.
Once the wars were over, United States scientists experimented to find nonmilitary uses for the remote control. In the late 1940′s automatic garage door openers were invented, and in the 1950′s the first TV remote controls were used…” for starters..
ht tp://ww w.modellbahnott.com/tqpage/ihistory.html
sadly, the power-tripping command y control freakz, among us, always seem to come back when the People forget the Price of Liberty= Eternal Vigilance
ht tp://ww w.thefreedictionary.com/vigilance
July 14th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
and you just thought things were rigged against yiu
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2009/db20090714_952766.htm
July 14th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
MEH, is your outlook as dour as mine?
I see how society f’s up “simple” stuff like (a) mortgages, ripping each other off callously for short-term gain, and (b) various coup’s in the past that come back to haunt us. (Just to pick two. The list is endless.) Even though many will “see it coming”, I have little faith that society as a whole can avoid becoming too powerful for its own good and allow some nutjob — with popular backing — to cause some great calamity (one where there’s basically no place on the planet to hide).
I don’t know what the odds are. Maybe they’re less — a lot less — than 50%. But, somehow, I fear it’s greater than, say, 10%.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Surtaxes on the rich. At this rate the only people left earning these salaries will be employees of GS.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7ZsDRJRtlAI
July 14th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
@leftback: Calling those who make $280K on either coast “rich” is laughable. I’m for taxing the crap out of robber barons on Wall Street, most of which make far north of $280K. Screwing the small business owner who struggles to make $280-$600K/year and are truly among are most productive citizens, is a really, really bad idea, which means it will likely happen. We should be incenting them to work more, not less.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
British conductor and wife end lives at Swiss clinic
http://tinyurl.com/ljndp4
Hefty debate in the comments
July 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
and this just in. the new RE scam. stolen property. done using paper work. and bogus signatures. requires only that the property not have a mortgage on it. can be done on any thing, such as the empire state building. or your house
July 14th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@wunsacon:
Google has been evil for quite a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google
July 14th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
lback/mannwich-
how else will the O man pay for health care? There was another proposal to tax health care benefits- but maybe that’s is included as well- and that they will require employers to privide health care means to me less employees and more unemployment- because employers will let people go as a result-
if it is to be done- it needs to be one payer- everyone in one pool- take out the insurers which are profit motivated- and let there be private medicine avialable for those who want it and can pay for it-
I am starting to think this whole heath care bill could unravel or if passed be a complete disaster if it just mandates health care for employees
July 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I recommend reading the link above to Paul McCulley’s “What If?”
a tidbit:
The United States is not presently suffering deflation in goods and services prices, although the core CPI has dipped slightly below the Fed’s putative 2% “target.” So the extreme measures that Krugman and Bernanke advocated for Japan do not translate fully to the United States. But they do translate a lot more than the consensus is even willing to discuss in politically correct circles.
America is in a liquidity trap, driven by private sector deleveraging borne of asset price deflation, meaning that private sector demand for credit is axiomatically flat to negative, despite a Fed funds rate pinned against zero. The only source of credit demand growth in the United States is the Treasury itself.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
My Top Ten Bars in Wrigleyville
1. Vines
2. Goose Island Wrigleyville
3. Casey Moran’s Pub
4. Pianoman
5. Moe’s
6. Uberstein
7. Bernie’s
8. Harry Careys
9. John Barlecorn (Wrigleyville)
10. Murphy’s Bleachers
July 14th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
From Reuters: Obama mulls rental option for some homeowners-sources
Under one idea being discussed, delinquent homeowners would surrender ownership of their homes but would continue to live in the property for several years … Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans.
The first idea might be OK, but until banks decide to renegogiate/lower principle, then we will continue to limp along like Zombies. Just another day in Zombie-land.
Eventually there will be so many people walking away, the banks will have wished just renegotiated principle, wrote off the loans, and moved on.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
@ahab: I’d probably be OK with a tax increase IF, and only IF, it were used directly to pay for a SMART health care plan. I don’t have much confidence there’s the will any more in this country to pass smart policy that works for many over the few (read: industry and lobbyists), however.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
wunsa-,
There’s a long answer to that, though, simply, I like Today, and Tomorrow, and, with that, I think things can get better. It’d be easier, for sure, if more peeps stopped Clucking, and started Chucking–what’s *Really going on..
July 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
@ahab/mannwich:
I am in favor of progressive Soak the Rich policies, especially above $1M/yr. Go for it.
If Lispin’ Lloyd & Co. want to make big numbers, they can pay big taxes. Go ahead, make my day.
LB has closed some longs, and it has been another satisfying day at Schadenfreude Asset Management.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Willid3 – Thanks for that! I am now the happy owner of the Empire State Building! ;-)
July 14th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
@ahab: Agree that the best solution is some option just cutting out the for-profit health insurers but you and I both know that will never happen unless we get some sort of revolution and/or outcry from enough in We The Sheeple to demand that it happen. Had a conversation with two of my doctor friends here in Minny. One is pretty conservative (the other more on the progressive side), but thinks that all health insurers should be not-for-profit companies if we keep the insurers in the mix. In recent years, the CEO (and doctor) of United Health Bill McGuire made over $1 Billion off of denying people care. As if that wasn’t enough, he backdated options to make even more money. As a doctor who took the hippocratic oath, he should be ashamed of himself.
But, hey, he “donated” $7MM to build a new park next to the gleaming new Guthrie Theater in downtown Mpls, so all is forgiven, right?
July 14th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
weird and tedious day for the markets imo. I was expecting some sort of pump into the close to blow it out of the tight congestion we saw all day and run the obligatory stops. In the end, I guess lots of traders may have been waiting for the same thing. Very, very strange price action all day…I’m expecting something dramatic tomorrow…I have no idea what data gets released or who is reporting numbers, but this action today was very odd.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@wunsa
“I have little faith that society as a whole can avoid becoming too powerful for its own good and allow some nutjob — with popular backing — to cause some great calamity (one where there’s basically no place on the planet to hide).
I don’t know what the odds are. Maybe they’re less — a lot less — than 50%. But, somehow, I fear it’s greater than, say, 10%.”
—
Dude – It may already be here…It just needs a little time to play out…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
@Thor
Watch out for those “friendly skies” :-)
July 14th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
@AT: Agreed. Do you get the feeling that a lot of people are just watching the markets right now and waiting for it veer outside of this range one way or another (possibly near end of summer)? I know that’s mostly what I’m doing, aside from small nibbles here and there but I’m just small fry. It just seems like your prediction (and lb’s, I think) that watching the markets this summer could be very tedious is playing out true to form, similar to last summer but even more so this year.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
@Andy T
“I’m expecting something dramatic tomorrow…I have no idea what data gets released or who is reporting numbers, but this action today was very odd.”
dollars to donuts you get a reversal…(which usually occurs on Tuesday or Wednesday of opex week)…
It’s up over 4% in 4 days…let it breathe!
July 14th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
“A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.”
Soylent green shoots.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Here is one for Manhattan Guy and other fans of $COF puts. Trouble in Hipster Heaven:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/ny-magazine-billyburg-bust.html
@Andy T:
I couldn’t read anything today, closed ERX for profit and went to cash. Just didn’t feel good on either side.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Well, it’s difficult to tell what’s going intraday sometimes, but normally this sort of grinding action into the highs usually leads to something fairly volatile. Because of the nature of the grind, it’s either a diagonal “terminal” pattern that leads to collapse, OR it’s a “running” correction that leads to an explosive move….that’s why I say tomorrow should be sort of a wild day, at least for the very short term traders out there….UNFORTUNATELY, you can’t take a position until you see which way it breaks….
July 14th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
cvienne, I thought of you as one of the people who’d probably “sign up” for a Botany Bay ticket if or when it becomes feasible…
I’m not in a position where it makes sense — yet — for me to make the lifestyle choice you have. But, I do envy you for some of your choices.
Yes, you’re right: I can’t rule out the possibility that my worst fears become reality. “Not enough information to compute.”
July 14th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
>> UNFORTUNATELY, you can’t take a position until you see which way it breaks….
Sheesh! NOW you tell me…. ;-)
July 14th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
@Manny
“Do you get the feeling that a lot of people are just watching the markets right now and waiting for it veer outside of this range one way or another (possibly near end of summer)?”
JMO – but it seems to me that you’d need another rally in crude to get the markets going (as everything is back up towards it’s upper ranges)…I can’t see crude rallying at this point…If I’m wrong I’m wrong, but I ain’t going for that bounce…
One thing that’s happening while the market treads water is the VIX is getting cheaper & cheaper…
My “gut” tells me that the break you’re looking for will come BEFORE Labor Day (rather than after)…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
lback-
I don’t mind taxes for health care- I hope you don’t think that was my point- what I don’t want to happen is a mandate- that all employers must provide health care- will be a colossal failure in my mind if that occurs- because-
it will not address all the varying insurance schemes- it will not drive down costs- it will guarantee smaller employer’s cut staff- it will increase unemployment-
essentially all that will happen in that case is medicaid will become larger to insure the uninsured folks out there who don’t currently qualify for medicaid-
if it is to be done- it needs to be one payer- insurance needs to be removed from the equation and costs driven down-
clean and simple
July 14th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
@wunsa
I kind of straddle the fence (regarding my choices)…I have the LUXURY of being unencumbered to that end…
So it’s as much as a pastime as anything else…Most of the things I do are things that have BENEFIT whether times are good or bad…Armageddon Lite…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Anyone else heard the rumor that WFB is going to release all the foreclosures they’ve been sitting on within the next 30 days?
July 14th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Anyone know what made the SPY jump in the AH?
July 14th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
ahab: The whole point is to relieve employers of the responsibility to provide health care, thereby saving them a lot of money and aggravation, and to have a national scheme. There is still room for a private system alongside, where you opt to deal with the hospital as a private practice, either directly as an individual, or via an insurance scheme. This is what happens in the UK. There are a pile of special interests against a national system because it will hold down salaries for high end doctors and will also put a lot of the HMO crooks out of business.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Add Bank of American Merrill Lynch to the list of “the recession is over” folks…
http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/market-update-tuesday-jul-14-2009-18973/
… don’t let this dip slip past you like the March ’09 dip. Time to buy.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
@leftback: I posted that one specifically for you on last night’s Kudlow thread. Amazing stuff. Looks like South Beach in Williamsburg. Just stupid, stupid stuff.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
cvienne, how about intc?
July 14th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
cvienne: I think it may be the “great” numbers from Intel, you know, the monopoly that sells chips.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
@karen
Yeah I just saw that…I don’t have the TV on and just saw my screen & saw SPY pop…Then I saw the INTC News…
New ballgame…S&P gap up open (over 908-909), maybe in 914-916 range…At least now the REAL SHORT SQUEEZE begins :-)…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Biggest story of the day has to be that the government is looking into becoming landlords to homeowners in default rather than letting the houses go into foreclosure. http://contraryriches.blogspot.com/2009/07/landlord-in-chief.html
July 14th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
913 is 50% FIBO back to 956
923 is .618
Oughtta be fun!
July 14th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Looks like we could get our test of 923, the 61.8% retrace, tomorrow…this is going to be GREAT!
July 14th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
@investorpina
“Biggest story of the day has to be that the government is looking into becoming landlords to homeowners in default rather than letting the houses go into foreclosure.”
I wondder if they get a call from Big O when the rent is due…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Yes, and let’s see the dollar drop on a Cit bailout… that was about the weakest counter trend rally I’ve ever seen. And, they want to raise my taxes? I am livid today. They want to penalize employers and employees over health insurance? Let’s add the insurance industry to those with a big hook in the US Government.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@Andy T
“Looks like we could get our test of 923, the 61.8% retrace, tomorrow…this is going to be GREAT!”
—
Agreed…Another thing too is that I think you’ll be able to “learn” a lot about various stocks & sectors tomorrow…
The move will most likely be across the board, but I think the PRETENDERS will fall quickly back…
July 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Well…
c ya all later…
Gotta go to the gym…Then I got A LOT of homework to do!
July 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I say 916.
We gotta wait and see what INTC says for guidance. CC @ 5:30 pm EST.
Looks like too much pump too fast.
And thats all I have to say until tomorrow.
Peace yall,
-I-Man
July 14th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Watch for the weaklings in any rally, as they will be the best shorting victims…..
July 14th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
“Yes, and let’s see the dollar drop on a Cit bailout… that was about the weakest counter trend rally I’ve ever seen.”
karen. Yes, that looks a lot like a fourth wave triangle….just narrow range congestion….there are a lot of us waiting on that last leg down in the DX.
Amazing what a steamy pile of crap energy is with the dollar on its arse….there must be some real bad news coming for the energy markets soon….(CFTC? Massive builds?)
July 14th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Second that motion cvienne….off to the gym….tomorrow is going to be a fun day….get some rest.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
re Zuckerman WSJ article-
sobering and well worth reading- many good observations- as indicated by the observation that follows-
“the economy will barely grow if it does at all, and it may well oscillate between sluggish growth and modest decline for the next several years until the rebalancing of excessive debt has been completed. Until then, the economy will be deprived of adequate profits and cash flow, and businesses will not start to hire nor race to make capital expenditures when they have vast idle capacity.”
July 14th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Well, after 32 years as an MD, I am watching the healthcare debate with interest. The only thing I would wonder about is how little thought has been given to how y0u will no longer be master of your healthcare fate. We had this discussion a week ago, and I think by this time I’ve seen most of the good and bad of nearly everything medical. One fact I do know, however. If you are on a government program, you have no control over how your illness is treated. You will be treated as the government mandates. That means you better be a square peg, because if your illness falls out of the normal, you will probably be unhappy. You will be treated within government standards for your illness. Timelines will be government timelines. Standard therapy will be standard. Period. The amount spent on your illness will be determined in Washington.
…And I see the good (cost control) and the bad (everything else but cost control) of these ideas. Good luck. My market luck 98-00 means I can be dispassionate here, and do what I please. If it is onerous, then me and the wife and the canoe will be a 24/7.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Bruce – the amount spent on my illness right now is determined by my health insurance. God forbid I’m out of a job, I’d have to pay for my own insurance and that wouldn’t be pretty considering I have a pre-existing condition (hypertension) and a family history of early death due to heart disease.
Don’t forget that we already have a government run health plan, it’s called Medicare. Do they generally determine treatment and amounts spent on care now? My grandmother recently died and I thought the treatment she was given the last six months of her life was pretty good on Medicare . . . .
July 14th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
@Bruce: None of us really have been “the master of our healthcare fate” under the current system controlled by the insurance industry, which I consider the root of all the problems. Under the current system, my wife and I would go bankrupt without her employer-sponsored coverage (or some employer-sponsored coverage). Most insurers won’t cover me (due a chronic illness) outside of some group plan or they make it so expensive it’s a non-starter for us. I’m not saying the feds are going to do the right thing with their “fixes” but the current system clearly doesn’t work anymore on so many levels.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
@AT,
there are a lot of us waiting on that last leg down in the DX.
Count me in that group, I’m going to load up when it occurs.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Health care is the sort of issue that keeps me from being a libertarian. I have no love for big inefficient government funded bureaucracies, but I also find big inefficient non government bureaucracies to be just as problematic….
July 14th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
@evienne
People should be hopping mad that the governement is going into the landlording business. Besides being extremely inefficient at everything they do, they will soon disincentivize people from wanting to buy their own home or pay their own bills. The gobernment interfering in everyday life has got to stop!
http://contraryriches.blogspot.com/2009/07/landlord-in-chief.html
July 14th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
If you guys notice the incidentals of the plans or ideas put forward, rationing (by any other name) is going to be a big part of it. What do you think the givebacks by pharma, the hospitals, the doctors, outpatient clinics, and so forth amount to?When lefty talks about British public and private plans, why do you think those private plans sprang up? It is because those who could afford better care in the UK system and didn’t like the care until the government sponsored plans wanted it…Yes, under medicare the last days of your life in the hospital can be ok…but you guys don’t realize how much underfunded care we have now. Do you really think you are going to get care like a BCBS plan under government auspices? I suggest you put on you carefully manufactured sceptic glasses, as we do here so often, and take another look…
July 14th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
skeptic…or maybe he meant septic….
July 14th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Futures up huge after Intel report. Hope Oil will trade up tomorrow so I can sell $UCO. Don’t short this market fellows until you see a clear signal. Had a great trading day otherwise.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Mull this over tonight…there are many fewer hospitals now than 30 years ago…and there will be even fewer in 30 more years…care will be administered more and more in regional centers..ok with you? Even if you live in Moosehide, Maine? It is just the way it will be…
Do you think as many will be employed by small business if everyone employed has to be covered by a plan? Do you?
What if you are fat, have diabetes, smoke, have AIDS, and on and on….should a small business hire you if you are one of 8 employees, and by hiring you the cost of insurance doubles for the business owner?
Are you happy with a surtax on those making above 300k ? Really? I think when the income tax was originated the happy talk was it would never go above 1-2% of income or some equally inane number.
Think if we have unemployment above 10 per cent for the next 3 years that there is any way in hades of paying for this? Do you?
We mulled this over the other night. I would suggest that you look at both sides of the equation…not only what can go right, but what can go wrong…..
You wouldn’t invest without looking at all the angles..
July 14th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
@Bruce: So what would you do about this issue if you were king for a day? Leaving it alone in its current ragged, dysfunctional state is a not an option, in my mind.
From what I’ve read, other countries (e.g. France, Amsterdam, even Canada) seem to have pretty functional health care systems overall and far better outcomes. Why not just copy theirs and put some of our own twists on it to make it our own (e.g. ensure that there is some measure of lifestyle accountability/incentives and out of pocket contributions from users)? Why do we already spend about double what these countries do and yield worse results?
Let’s face it – our primary care is NOT among the best in the world if millions of working people don’t have affordable access to it.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Karen,
If they get desperate enough, we may get a stamp tax. But only if they figure out a way to exempt GS.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I agree with Manny on this – Bruce, I respect your opinion on this matter but so far all I know of what you think is about how any change to the current system is going to be bad. What are the alternatives? Doing nothing has clearly only made our situation worse. I was speaking to a friend (who is a nurse) over the weekend who was recently in the hospital for three days. He had insurance, but the billed rate to his insurance for three days in the hospital (ICU) was 300,000K. Does that not sound egregious to you?
Also, I was watching The Little Couple last night, not sure if anyone’s seen it but it’s cute – the couple are little (I forget what PC term we’re supposed to use today). The husband was going over all of his doctors bills, they have insurance but he was having to pay $25,000 out of pocket for a $60,000 hip replacement because his insurance classed the procedure as elective – without the hip surgery he would not have been able to walk. Now, can you tell me how that is not already rationing of health care?
I know we went over this the other night, but I’;m sorry, I just do not believe that it is acceptable that we live in a society where people have to choose between life, death, and bankruptcy. We should not have a system where ability to pay is what guarantees your health care, if only because if health care costs keep rising at their current rates much longer, more and more people will not be able to afford health care. What is the end result of that? A class of wealthy individuals who get health care and the rest of society who does without because they can’t afford to pay $2,000 for an office visit.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Manny:
I agree it needs to change. But I read over the ideas today at lunch. A surtax won’t fly, there aren’t enough people making over 300k. Public and private plans…you and I know how that will work out, business and peeps will go to the cheapest one…
more in a minute…wife made blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream today…back in 15..
July 14th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Mmm, blackberry pie, my favorite.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
re health care-
insurance companies need to be cut out of the loop- end of story- that means no mandate to employers- and universal one payer system- and I am not even in favor of changing anything- I have insurance- however if we are to go down that road- let’s don’t slop it up with mandates and broader coverage for medicare/medicaid- insurance companies are then alive and well and true cost containment is out the window
OT
if purchasing GOOG tomorrow after let’s say 10:00-and then let it ride the whole day- then sell at close-
what do you think the chances are you would be in the money? especially after the boost it will get after intel’s numbers reported today-
predictions?
July 14th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
@ahab: 10 a.m. might be too late to get it at a good price for trade, IMO. Of course, I’m probably wrong, so doing the opposite of what I say will probably work for you and many others! ;-)
July 14th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
wife has things for me to do..tomorrow…
July 14th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
mannwich-
I like to let things settle down a bit before I buy anything- so I always have a rule to wait until after 10:00- not really scientific- but the first half hour of trading is always a chaotic mess-
I am thinking that the market will advance tomorrow- possibly in double digits- and that also- since GOOG reports Thursday (time not specified) that to then sell at the close will get me the added dimension of folks trying to get in on the GOOG action for Thursday-
what think ye- everyone welcome to comment
July 14th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Health care — today’s WSJ had a couple of good pieces in it illustrating the lethal weapon that health care insurance is today. And on the PBS News Hour this evening, they had a segment about how family care docs are opting for specialist roles for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they are pressured to cram through so many patients that they feel like factory machines, and are unable to do what they regard as a decent job — also, the money sucks compared to specialist practices.
Now, I ask you — all of you — to step back and map the flow of money throughout our health care system. There is no need for additional taxes, we already have about the most expensive health care system on the planet, and we’re only covering half the people.
I contend that the system is broken, even worser than our miserable and corrupt financial industry.
Here’s one possible flow of money … Patient X goes to his family physician for some complaint. Family doc sends him to the doc’s affiliated diagnostic facility — might be a major hospital, might be a lab owned by a partnership the doc is part of. A large amount of tests are run, that collect huge amounts of data. A lot of things are turned up that pose zero risk at present, but might in the fullness of time develop into something serious, or even not-so-serious. Let’s say some small kidney stones are detected, non-cancerous intestinal polyps, and a worrisome bit of elevated blood pressure. Say the patient is also at least 20 pounds overweight (that’s an easy one, fitting most Americans). That data goes to the patient’s insurer, who shares it with every other insurance company on the planet. That forms the basis for a lot of “pre-existing conditions”, so that in the future, if anything comes of those things, the insurers can deny coverage. Great way to limit risk for the insurer. Also, all those test end up costing about 5 grand, which is covered by the insurer without question (think of it as an investment). And the docs and testing folks are motivated to run all the tests, because they might be needed to defend themselves against rapacious lawyers, and well, just because we can. And nobody can reasonably argue that having more data is not better than having less data (it all depends on what you do with that data). So the patient (or his/her employer) pays a ridiculous amount in health insurance premiums, which are justified by the high cost of diagnostic care and the threat of malpractice lawsuits. That money funds the diagnostic facility and the insurer, with possibly a small piece going to the doc.
The tests establish future deniability of coverage, so that by the time the patient passes the age of 50, they are virtually uninsurable, and they pose a heavier burden for their employer’s health care plan, raising the chances for the employee that their cost to the company might reach the layoff level. And I didn’t even get into the hierarchy of specialists, that also generates huge amounts of data about the patient, while running up the overall tab, which is ultimately paid by the patient, either in the form of reduced wages or out of pocket.
Who do you think ultimately pays for the most expensive health care system on the planet? Look to see who’s going broke — not the insurance companies, not the hospitals, not the labs, not the suppliers or the drug companies, and not the docs. It’s the patients.
This is a story about a health care system that has been perverted into a machine that is designed to treat only the young and the very wealthy. We don’t need more money, we need a new system. If one looks at the gargantuan volumes of money that flows through the health care industry, and consider that a huge fraction of the people in the system are getting either substandard care or no care at all (due to the shortage of primary care docs, a lot of small rural communities do without), it is beyond obvious that we already have more than enough money flowing through the system — and this is with approximately half of the people not contributing to it, because they cannot afford the payments — to do a better job of delivering health care TO EVERYONE than we are doing today.
All that needs to happen is for the various participants to sit down, spend a lot of time understanding the problem, take a look at how other nations have organized their national health care systems (virtually every nation has a national health care system, and no two work exactly the same), note what works, what doesn’t, what the trade-offs are, and agree on a better way of doing things than the way we operate today.
But instead, what we have is every faction in the health care industry preparing to defend their turf, to make sure that THEIR business does not get screwed by a national health care system. That attitude virtually guarantees the very result they are determined to prevent, by leaving the decision-making in the hands of the ignorant, the politicians who care not a whit about health care, and only about getting re-elected.
Frankly, at this point I’m ready to see the walls of our health care temple toppled, bringing the roof down on the lot of them. I’ll move to another country.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
He’s a tid-bit — in Switzerland, health care insurers are required to cover everyone, expanding the pool of payers, and they are regulated and are not-for profit. They also have for-profit secondary insurance policies, for people that want to move up the ladder to more luxurious care (all of our health care facilities are luxurious, at least the ones around where I live). Our health insurers are regulated also, to ensure that they make healthy profits, instead of making sure they do not exclude people or gouge people with exorbitant billings and then deny coverage.
Yes, that enforces a form of rationing. So does our system. So does EVERY system. Each system rations using different criteria. Ours uses criteria that treats only a few, and at great expense. Not a terribly popular system in a “democracy” — more in line with our status as a banana republic.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Here’s my “Unanswerable Question of the Day”:
WHY is healthcare so expensive? Everybody keeps on about “how do we pay for” but nobody seems to care about “where is the money going?”
(In passing, in “my” opinion, any time there’s a law forcing you to pay a private “for-profit” company, it’s a tax and a rip-off. If it’s a “not-for-profit” it’s still a tax and just a different kind of rip-off.)
July 14th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-water-testing-14-jul14,0,4303601.story
Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water
Pharmaceutical chemicals aren’t on list of substances in water that require public notice
By Michael Hawthorne | Tribune reporter
July 14, 2009
Annual water quality reports mailed to Chicagoans this month didn’t say a word about sex hormones, painkillers or anti-cholesterol drugs, even though city officials found traces of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances in treated Lake Michigan water during the past year.
Like other cities, Chicago must notify the public if its drinking water contains certain regulated contaminants, including lead, pesticides and harmful bacteria.
But pharmaceutical chemicals, which have been detected in drinking water across the country, are not on that list. So Mayor Richard Daley is technically correct in stating that the “pure, fresh drinking water” pumped to 7 million people in Chicago and the suburbs “meets or exceeds all regulatory standards.”
Drinking water standards haven’t been updated for years, in part because little is known about how pharmaceutical concoctions might affect public health. But researchers and regulators are concerned about the potential effects of long-term exposure to these substances, which are designed to have an impact at low doses.
Related links
2008 investigation: Tribune tests your water
Water testing Photo
Chicago water: What was found in it “We’re just scratching the surface with what’s been detected to date,” said Dana Kolpin, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey. “And we don’t have a clue about what these mixtures can do.”
Chicago officials didn’t start conducting their own tests until last year, after a Tribune investigation found small amounts of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated chemicals in samples of the city’s tap water….
July 14th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
@bergsten 9:33 pm
“WHY is health care so expensive?”
Follow the money. Who gets rich, and who goes broke.
Doesn’t have to be malicious, only requires that a system evolves into the twisted thing that ours has become.
I tried to post a decent example flow of events to illustrate how things work (or conspire to ruin the patient) in the current system, but WordLess conspired to prevent my post from appearing.
Just follow the money, watch what happens, and you’ll see where the problems lie.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Mark – Great story! I saw a documentary on the BBC not long ago about the drinking water in London as well as the water flowing into the waste treatment plants. Their findings were similar. In waste treatment facilities one of substances found in the greatest amounts was cocaine. There was also a documentary on US drinking water on PBS not long ago that also addressed the increasing number of pharmaceutical drugs found in drinking water that are not even tested for – this was especially the case for new classes of drugs.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
bergsten Says:
July 14th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Here’s my “Unanswerable Question of the Day”:
“WHY is healthcare so expensive? ”
Insurance, in general, is a huge scam. Lost in the debate here is that some Americans actually “choose” to not be insured, not because they don’t have the money, but because they would rather pocket the massive premium each month and then pay out of pocket for the occasional broken leg. Also, I think if you saw a chart of medical costs you would see a huge correlation with when “big government” got involved in the process.
I’ve had times in my life when I’ve had great insurance paid for by a big company and I’ve had times when I had no insurance at all, or self-insured. I can tell you this: When my family had health insurance from a big company, we went to the Dr. for every damn sniffle or cough. When we didn’t have health insurance, it’s amazing how little we went to the Dr!
The whole thing is a scam….younger, healthier people are paying a huge tax (via health insurance premia) to much older people who have the bulk of the health care costs. The vast majority of expense in this nation goes to treating people in their last few years of life. The bottom line, sadly, is that we spend way too much money on the older folks who only have few years to live. Some huge moral and ethical discussion will be needed first in order to solve our true problems.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
And here’s my conclusion — from the never top be seen “forbidden” post (who knows why) –
All that needs to happen is for the various participants to sit down, spend a lot of time understanding the problem, take a look at how other nations have organized their national health care systems (virtually every nation has a national health care system, and no two work exactly the same), note what works, what doesn’t, what the trade-offs are, and agree on a better way of doing things than the way we operate today.
But instead, what we have is every faction in the health care industry preparing to defend their turf, to make sure that THEIR business does not get screwed by a national health care system. That attitude virtually guarantees the very result they are determined to prevent, by leaving the decision-making in the hands of the ignorant, the politicians who care not a whit about health care, and only about getting re-elected.
Frankly, at this point I’m ready to see the walls of our health care temple toppled, bringing the roof down on the lot of them. I’ll move to another country.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
@AT: The problem (well, one of many) is that uninsured pay A LOT more for the same services that the insured receive. You’re right though. Health insurance is indeed a MASSIVE scam, one of many heaped on the American public by big business working in concert with their lobbyist and political cronies at the expense of the rest of us. To me, it’s obvious that we’re smart enough to come up with a pretty workable system, but we no longer have the will to crush the special interests because they’re all in it together. There is no will to come up with a system that works for We The Sheeple until WTS gets angry enough and likely resorts to mass outbreaks of violence.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
@ Andy T — if you look at the demographics of who is being served by our health care system, by and large the only elderly who are being served are those who are covered by Medicare, as no one short of millionaires can afford the private insurance alternative. Doctors and hospitals HATE Medicare, as it enforces pricing that is below cost.
So of course the elderly use the heck out of it. But with a ton of people losing their jobs now (and with them, their health insurance), there is a VERY LARGE demographic that is between the ages of 30 and 65 who cannot afford private (larcenous) insurance, and are not eligible for the cheaper-than-it-has-any-right-to-be Medicare.
The question is WHY is Medicare priced the way it is? Because politician set the prices, and the elderly vote in every election. In the land of the Best Government Money Can Buy, the only thing that trumps lobbyist money is getting re-elected.
And reason that the medical community did not see this coming is that they are too busy defending their shrinking beachhead of profit, rather than banding together to design a better system that works better for everyone. The AMA, the drug/hospital/insurance lobbies, they all kick and scream and oppose ANY CHANGE WHATSOEVER, which throws the ball back into the laps of the politicians, who happily please the large aging demographic — the Medicare crowd — who will vote them back into office so long as Medicare can keep them alive to get to the voting booth.
If the health care industry had or would band together to develop a better system, that would treat EVERYONE, there would be plenty of money without a tax increase (we already spend more than any other nation), provided everyone participated, and rational judgements were made about allocating resources.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Of course “rational judgements” depend on one’s perspective. If you are the individual being treated, then no amount of effort is too much. And that is the problem — there is no direct connection between the cost of treatment and the result for each patient. The “system” intervenes, with two systems, a public and a private system competing for resources, and Gresham’s Law takes hold, with the bad system (Medicare) driving out the good (which keeps jacking up its prices to be able to afford to operate at the level of luxury to which the docs, hospitals and insurers have become accustomed.
Once you recognize that we have two systems, and consider Gresham’s Law, what is happening becomes obvious.
But to try and eliminate Medicare is politically and practically impossible, so we will either replace it with a comparable (but better) system that includes everyone, and makes intelligent decisions about how resources are allocated, or private insurance will become increasingly expensive and eventually disappear completely.
The medical community is fighting tooth and nail to preserve the status quo, and that is exactly the strategy that will lead to their worst nightmares becoming fact.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
#@$%#@ You all! You’ve dragged me back into this inane “discussion”.
And you especially, Bruce — as I recall you were the bomb-thrower who derailed the last innocent financial thread into health care madness. And here again.
OVER AND OUT.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
@Andy T: “Some huge moral and ethical discussion will be needed first in order to solve our true problems.”
Good luck trying to goad Americans into a moral/ethical discussion. We are talking about a nation full of people who are upset about some form of government spending; but everyone seems to have his/her favorite pork that they won’t let go of under any circumstance. No one seems to be capable of stepping back and realizing just how unethical it is to enforce compulsory confiscation through taxes + inflation in order to pay for programs that don’t have 100 percent of public support.
Democracy without any limits on government is just a big scam in which politically connected entities can be subsidized by the masses as long as they can convince at least a small majority to go along with the subsidy (or, worse, you don’t even need a majority now because we have “bi-partisan” bills now where they compromise to ram through twice as many subsidies).
But oh look! Britney didn’t wear underwear to the bar again and I can see her…
Bread and circuses… The ciruses will never cease, but we could run out of bread.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water
Pharmaceutical chemicals aren’t on list of substances in water that require public notice
I wonder if you get the same results from bottled water considering the media has had a campaign pushing us in the direction of drinking tap water and ‘shaming’ us out of drinking bottled.
I suppose on the flip side all the poor people who can’t afford prescription drugs need only to drink tap water to get everything they need. They could start calling the tap water ‘prescription enhanced’ or something. There must be some way to spin this :)
July 14th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
My parents are gobbling up health care dollars like tic tacs. My mother paid very little in yet she’s been on dialysis for 5 years, has had radiation for cancer, hip surgery, and is almost totally blind. But she takes zoloft so she’s actually pretty upbeat. My father can see a little, but has had several toes removed, but is in great shape (ie alive) having chain smoked for 56 years. He finally had to quit so his whole leg wouldn’t fall off. He’s worth about $5M, but doesn’t pay hardly anything. Actually I kinda like the present system even though its totally insane.
I’ve been helping take care of them for about 5 years. My sister decided to get involved so she went with me and our father to the foot doctor. You should have seen her face when they took the bandages off. She turned kind of green. You’d think she’d never seen a piece of raw hamburger on the end of someones leg before. She never went again. What a wuss. I’ve seen and done some things that would make the average person throw up and then faint. Learned a lot about medicine and doctors though.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I like the idea they had back in the ’90′s for a medical savings account tied in with catastrophic insurance. The savings account would be a yearly amount that you would spend with each visit to the doctor and if you had something really bad happen to you you had the elephant policy. Not only would that keep people accountable for doctor visits and health costs(because they were allowed to keep any money they saved at the end of the year from their accounts) but it would also cover anybody outside their jobs etc. following the person around instead of being intermittent and tied to whether or not you were working. People argued the downside would be that people might not go to the doctor in order to save money which might drive up health costs over the long run. I’m sure with a little tweaking that could be overcome
July 14th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Told you my question was “unanswerable.” So let’s try again…
Not, “why are MY costs so high, when THEIR cost is so low.” Not, “the way we are paying for it is wrong, disjointed, unfair, unequitable, etc.”
WHY IS HEALTHCARE SO EXPENSIVE? WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING (NOT, WHERE IS/SHOULD IT COMING FROM)?
(I’d submit that the trouble started when insurance companies extended past “catastrophic coverage” into a Costco / Price Club business model, cheating business, the medical profession, and patients in the process. But this is just goading you all on.).
So, gang, why is a cotton ball $100?
July 14th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Constant – I for one, really appreciate your posts on health care issues. Please don’t ever stop!
Tanman – Great story, you managed to bring a little comedy into what is otherwise a fairly grim task (taking care of ailing parents). Having been there myself, I can totally relate. And of course, it goes without saying, enjoy your parents while you still have them! I’ve already lost both of mine.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Mannwich Says:
July 14th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
@AT: The problem (well, one of many) is that uninsured pay A LOT more for the same services that the insured receive.
I’m not so sure about that one. If you have the cash to pay, but no insurance, there is always a different rate. My experience has been it’s cheaper if you don’t have insurance. There always seems to be the rate “if you have insurance” and then the 30% off rate if its out of pocket and you have the cash up front. In fact, for certain procedures (obviously not emergency) I’ve actually haggled down some rates for dental work. Those guys definitely overcharge.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Thor,
Thanks. In a pinch I had to give my father a bath. We were joking around and I said “I promise not to do anything illegal”. He replied “don’t forget this is Alabama. Its all in the fambly.”
July 15th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Andy – I think the cash/insurance rate might depend on the state. Just a guess. I know here in CA that when you have to pay on your own the rate is usually higher. I didn’t have insurance for a year between jobs and have been going to the same doctor for years. He charged me 250 for an office visit – I notice on my insurance claims that come in now that the doctor charges the insurance company $300 and that the “negotiated rate” my insurance company actually pays is around $150.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:03 am
My recent experience is that a $25 co-pay and a $40 negotiated insurance rate gets it done for a GP, when a non-insurance charge would be $150. But I haven’t seen many statements in a while. They don’t even bother sending them. I know physical therapy last year was knocked down substantially. And the knee injections were really expensive for the synvisc, which did not get knocked down much, but the doctor’s charge did.
So yeah, someone walking into the office without insurance gets tagged. In fact some doctor’s won’t even make an appointment for someone without insurance. I have personal experience with that. They won’t say they don’t take non-insurance patients. They will say they don’t have any openings. A friend had that happen. I called within hours had an appointment for the next day. Described the symptoms, got the prescript. F’em.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:28 am
“…For banks not willing or able to cross state lines, mergers that let you strategically expand your services into new markets may be the way to combat new entrants. You want a partner that can generate new customers or that can add services to “make current customers stickier,” [Tad Gage, executive VP of Chicago-based Capital Insight Partners, which specializes in raising capital for community banks] says. A bank that can “generate more core loans and deposits … will have a leg up on everybody else.”… If private equity is involved, the metric studied most is loan loss reserves, particularly in relation to non-accruing and non-performing loans and the local economy, Gage adds. “Demonstrating the ability to bring those in arrears up to current, the ability to work with customers and not rely on a write-off” are what investment bankers seek.
It’s clear. Private Equity has already run their screens. They know who they want. The clearance for banks to operate across state borders will be the signal to small banks that they either sell out to the elite players, or be drowned in a sea of new competitors.
You are about to witness a major league, sophisticated takeover of pretty much the entire banking system by the insiders. For most small banks, it will be difficult if not impossible to compete….”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/all-interstate-bank-barriers-coming.html
~~
“…I used to think that alcohol was the most dangerous legal drug but I can’t say for sure anymore. I don’t know if Edgar Bronfman still kills more people than the corporations based in Basel, Switzerland. What I do know is that over a million people are presently locked up in the Prison Industrial, ‘McPenitentiary’ Complex for entrepreneurial activities related to prohibited comestibles . They’ve got a flashing banner on their website which says, “Over one million served”.
Putting people in prison for association with illegal drugs is the way the big guys deal with the competition. The illegal drug industry is controlled by the men in suits, which is the reason the quality has been so bad for so long.
I realize that a lot of people use illegal drugs to escape from the possibilities of their bright, shining future in this “best of all possible worlds” but there are others whose shamanistic intentions for self-inquiry pose a definite threat to the quid pro quo, status quo of, “You’re my bitch and she’s my ho,” assembly line- hamsters on a treadmill- legal drug existence in the Brave New World. As at any time in recorded history, visionaries had better watch their ass. The civilians in the mix are usually watching someone else’s ass and that’s how they come to hear the steel doors slam behind them, once the effects wear off.
I’ll have to digress a little here for the sake of illustration and explanation…”
http://zippittydodah.blogspot.com/
July 15th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Very disappointed The Atlantic is joining the smear campaign against Matt Taibbi’s journalism:
http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/07/matt_taibbi_gets_his_sarah_palin_on.php
July 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@ bergsten 11:18 pm
“… why is a cotton ball $100?”
Same reason that we have $30,000 hammers and toilet seats in military contracts. The price competition is on the package as a whole, with line items being pretty much completely unregulated and not subject to price competition.
This also occurs all over the drug industry, with individual pills priced the same, regardless of the dosage! So an 80 mg simvastin (generic statin) pill costs the same as a 10 mg pill.
The price mechanism in the health care industry is totally fubar’d.
As to “WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?”, IMHO, the bulk of it is going to health insurers, who have totally abandoned the notion of spreading risk over the population in favor of excluding anyone from coverage who might pose the slightest risk, and graduated billings to the rest, depending on the amount of perceived (not actualized) risk.
Second in my list of villains, is the hospital and specialist industries, with a huge number of specialists setting up their own clinics (Bruce, take note) instead of using the facilities at their affiliated hospital. This results in massive overbuilding, which costs money, and somebody’s gotta pay for it. Bear in mind that insurers always are first in line to get their slice of the ever-expanding torrent of money flowing into the health care field.
And hospitals are growing like topsy, as well.
This is all reminiscent of the situation in the airline industry, back in the pre-competition days, when fares were regulated. The airlines back then competed on service instead of on price.
What is different in the health care industry is that providers ARE permitted to compete on price, but the trend to do ever-greater amounts of plumbing into the condition of the patient, via CAT scans, MRIs, a horde of molecular biology blood tests that detect a huge number of conditions in parallel, etc, etc.
And is this a bad thing? After all, isn’t knowing more better than knowing less? It all depends upon to what uses that data is put to. In today’s health care industry, it is used to justify ever-higher health insurance premiums and to support the need for further testing, a positive feedback situation in which the element of judgement and reasonableness is totally absent.
And yes, malpractice awards are an element in the mix as well, but to my way of thinking they are far below the amounts of money that is poured into the above monetary flows. And I think that malpractice awards (and many verdicts) are ridiculous.
The cure for all this?
1) take control out of the hands of the politicians, by way of an informed population and an honest, introspective health care industry willing to manage patient costs as much as they manage their health care.
OK, you can stop laughing now.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
What better way to attempt to make a name for yourself than to criticize the wildly popular article by Matt Taibbi. That guy is an idiot. And the less he is mentioned elsewhere, the sooner he will sail away into oblivion.