pirana

Heroin? Horse? Smack? Steam on a stick? Is that what we're talking about? Really? Better smiley this one. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

now this is something I thought I'd never ever see you write I'm just so extremely disappointed that rather than aim for sensible regulation that maintains the kind of downward price pressure that can only come from competition; they opted for first steps towards humongous expansion of a government system which has price fixing as it's only option for putting pressure on cost. And doing so at a time when we need to stimulate growth, not create a new $1 trillion dollar in debt, is unconscionable. I used to think of myself as pretty centrist, seeing neither party as more evil than the other. This administration is changing that. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Wasn't aware they made special provisions for themselves. Doesn't surprise me though, the MN legislature has been doing that for years, writing exemptions for political subdivisions into most of the mandates they pass. They also have a long history of exempting large employer groups via a loophole that was put in place for one specific powerful company many years ago. Basically, large self-insured groups act as their own insurance companies, but are not required to follow all of the rules. That does appear to be changing in small increments; but employers should be removed from the equation entirely. The teachers unions have been trying to form a self-insured statewide pool of their own for years in hopes of getting exempted from many requirements. You'd think at least they would get that adding more and more people to the exemptions list just means there are fewer to pay the tab. Apparently even teachers are capable of ignoring basic arithmetic when it comes to satisfying their own personal need versus contributing fairly to the whole. One example of how this manifests itself is in the funding for MN's high risk pool (MCHA). Self-insureds do not have to contribute, meaning that individual purchasers and small groups carry the burden of subsidizing the pool. I find it ironic that the bigger the company, the less chance they are required to contribute. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Small businesses are exempt, I thought. Correct me if I'm wrong though. ALL business is affected. Simple economics - Employees get paid more or are covered by insurance via emplorers - prices escalate. Employers do not have capital to expand, nor do home owners now, construction buisness goes under . . . pretty simple. I think we should go to a single builder plan; have the government take over the construction industry. Why not; housing is a basic need. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I can't believe he put his party's pet social program ahead of the economy. IMO, this is going to cost them big unless some miraclulous economic recovery takes place very soon. I've never aligned with either major party at any point in my life, but if this tanks the economy even worse; I'm prepared to vote straight Rep ticket the rest of my life to make sure they never have the opportunity to do it again. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Resistance? Sure about that? Looks like both sides were on the take, with a few more Dems than Reps. Insurance - Money to Congress McCain, John (R-AZ) $2,917,103 Obama, Barack (D) $2,505,802 7 of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20 are Democrats Health Professionals - Money to Congress Obama, Barack (D) $12,102,904 5 of the top 10 and 8 of the top 20 are Democrats Health Services/HMOs - Money to Congress: Obama, Barack (D) $1,483,372 6 of the top 10, and 10 of the top 20 are Democrats Yes, that works so well for Medicare - you know, run by the gov't, refuses more claims than the private insurance, and due to have a half TRILLION dollars in 'fraud and waste' cut out of it. Yes, Medicare is a poor comparison to commercial business. They have a captive audience, forced into narrowly defined benefit sets, with fixed pricing, coercion of providers, and shitloads of fraud. I doubt that providers rallying for single payer are hoping it mimics Medicare. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

That is false. No tax dollars go directly from the taxpayer to the providers of care; or to the providers of anything for that matter. Who do you think will administer an expanded Medicare? Little elves that work for free? I agree employers should be out of the picture; pay people what the market demands and let them make their own insurance choices. Hard to prove where costs will go, but creating an even more humongous government bureacracy will almost certainly increase admin costs; which right now run about 10% for any HCF organization that is run efficiently and responsibly. Savings from mandated maintenance/preventive care should be realized, with the big question being how much will that be countered by increased utilization. Increased access will most definitely result in more services; both necessary and unnecessary. Add to that the fact that cost of actual care continues to rise at a minimum double of wages, and as far as I know nothing is being done about price trend of services. Once this is realized, probably part of the next round of "advances" will be salary caps for docs. Can't wait to see how that goes over. It will probably resemble the fiasco that went down in MN when some bleeding hearts tried to mandate freezing or capping what insurance would cost while at the same time mandating dramatically increased benefits. Makes you wonder how some of our legislators ever passed basic arithmetic. That 900 billion has to come from somewhere, with the most likely sources (really the only sources) being costs to businesses that simply get passed on to consumers in higher prices and to wage earners as lower wages/fewer jobs. Wait and see is about all that can be done now; with my fear being that tweaking will only be in the form of expansion, more costs, more bureacracy, more restrictions, and less freedom to choose. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

If I had been given the opportunity to invest privately instead of paying into SS; I'd have done it in a NY minute. But since I was forced to pay in, damn straight I'm taking the check. And if I'd have been allowed to put that money in my 401K along with my own personal savings - I'd be genuinely comfortably retired today. But then someone like dreamdancer would come along and expect me to give them my savings - just cuz. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I do not want the government in the health care business at all. I do want them to regulate health care financing in a responsible manner. Health care itself is way too fucking expensive (in the USA I think about twice as much as developed world average). Have they done anything at all about that? No. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Difficult to say without either reading the entire thing or finding a source for a good non-biased summary. It appears that in some respects we got some moves in the right direction. Having intimate knowledge of only MN, USA; many of the "highlights" I've read about are largely redundant. (In MN you most definitely can not be cancelled for filing claims, can not be rated up individually for filing claims, can not have claims denied for pre-x as long as you maintain continuous coverage, etc). So extending the sensible rules some (maybe most) states already have in place is very good. Way short of comprehensive federal regulation, but I suppose you gotta start somewhere. Eventual removal of lifetime maximums is also very good. I read some stuff on strict out-of-pockt annual maximums, but it appears they've put some convoluted rules in place related to copays, coinsurace, drugs, etc. Should have been kept simple but they probably bowed to special interest pressure. I've not heard of anything sigificant being done for actual cost of care. If all they are doing is extending the current practice & pricing model to the whole population; then hang on to your wallets. Instead of reducing the role of the employer, they added more rules - so a big failure there. It was to be expected given the reluctance of large employers to get out of the insurace business. Employers have no role to play in this game. Personal opinion only, penalties on the individual level is total BS. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Nice cut and paste, and I certainly agree with that expert's summation. My main criticism was your characterization of surpluses as sudden. On a geologic time scale, yes, they were sudden. On the scale of recorded human history, nothing sudden about them. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Yes. We do eat them over here. We've even got McDonalds and Burger King. Unbelievable, eh? Yes. You can do that too. You can pick any President, decide whether he either rules or sucks and put it on a T-shirt. A) You're wrong. I'll let you work out why. B) What does the conversation we were having have to do with people visiting other countries? This is barely even a tangent, it's completely unrelated. Talk about random. Do you even know what point you're trying to make? My deepest apologies for those particular exports. (The fast foods as well as Bush). The one weasels it's way into the lives of kids from lazy parents, using toys and cartoon characters, the other actually lost the election but stole the results. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Don't forget the flying reindeer. Oh wait, we fess up to our young about that one before they reach puberty. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Your rants are grounded in nothing but emotion. Get help. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Hopefully we will not see the day when one of them takes a bite and finds out they taste like shrimp cocktail. If that happens, look for someone somewhere on some school board to advocate a biology text revision declaring humans to not really be human until they can attain a 100 word vocabulary. (Be about 4th grade in some states). Until they have met vocabulary requirements, they'll be fair game. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Everybody believes in what they are trying to do; that's why they do it. (And I don't necessarily mean their publicly stated reason, but their self-motivating reason). I do believe most everyone (other than the mentally infirm) act with good intent. Unfortunately, intent only makes a person honorable, results confer competency. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Fine. Palin has nice tits. You've seen them. I'm jealous. I actually have seen her legs; a touch thick, but still within range. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

OK, I give up; what fears do they have? Or should they have? Or, . . . tell you what; why don't the people who believe they have fears (fears grounded in their whiteness) just tell us what they are? Unless this is just another senseless troll across Lake IMO, then please disregard. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Remember Fathe Guido Sarducci's College of Theology? God is Everywhere. That's it, you pass, here's your degree. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Just like your KSM trial and your NIST report, you are happy for a result to be written before it actually happens. Rhys. If this goes to court and your Truther friends lose then will that settle it for you? Trying to get a straight up answer from Truthers, not loaded with nonsense or emotional appeal, is like asking the end-of-the-world crowd for a date. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I can't verify the site but this graph seems to get help put things into perspective visually. When people are talking about the super rich we're talking about a scale that most people don't seem to comprehend. That's why statements like "the wealthy pay most of the taxes" is accurate, yet misleading as it only takes a small percentage of their total income to make a substantial contribution. http://www.lcurve.org/ Zoom in first, then out for perspective. Heh. heh; that site said 95 yard line. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I was wondering where you got your economics; now I'm wondering where you get your history. There was nothing "sudden" about huge agricultural surpluses. They began to occur as farming methods improved, which took place in fits and starts over several millenia. You are correct though in that the successes of early agriculrure were the foundation for civilization, the beginnings of commerce, and the founding of the first things we would eventually call states. Wrong about that leading to warloards though. They were not dependent on agriculture, or even on others that practiced agricultrure. They were just as happy to slaughter other nomadic foragers and herders as they were to slaughter city folk. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I could care less what their hidden (or not so hidden) agenda is; but if someone wants to marginalize Jeffreson, they are one sorry ass stupid mother fucking idiot. Hopefully this is just a stunt being played out by some fucktard individual, and will not come to pass. Very sorry for any kids and their families that might have to be subjected to such BS - wherever they live. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

this is a closed economy - all 100 units of money have been loaned out. now the bank expects 110 units back. where does that extra 10 units of money come from? It's called economic growth; for which zero is not an option. If your model rests on ZEG, it is all wet. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Sorry, but you are, and this has become, entirely too silly. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley