Rebane's Ruminations

The Public, Healthcare, and Politics – Scattershots

George Rebane

It was bit mind boggling to watch the news last night.  Hard to tell who is more expert at playing Pander the Public.

1. Reid and Pelosi are now vilifying the health insurance industry as being terminally evil for having their profits increase 450% over the last decade.  That’s it, just that their profits increased and they’re making a lot of money.  That statement is supposed to be enough to have us assemble in the town square after dark with torches and pitchforks.  Same drill as you’ll recall with the oil companies.  The revenues of both sectors went up significantly, but their margins stayed the same.  In fact, the insurance companies at 1.5-4% margins are lower than the SP500's average margin.  So if revenues go up because people are buying more insurance (due to reasons we can only guess, but you can bet there’s a tort lawyer in there somewhere), of course the amount of profit dollars go up because the amount of insurance coverage and the premiums collected has gone up.  So Reid and Pelosi think the American voters are idiots to jump at this bait, and start tarring up their torches for the night’s rally.

2. Bill Maher, arch leftwing commentator and showhost, states unambiguously that we Americans are all ignorant knuckledraggers, especially those who are religious.  Of course, he feels that way because we don’t see the left-leaning lights at the end of the tunnel, but you get the general gist of his argument.  He is joined by many commentators on the other side of the aisle who have more problems offering such explicit assessments, even though they do point out all the causes – bad educational system, excessive self-esteem, political correctness, revisionist history, etc. – why the last couple of generations are characterized by academics as being in the “post-intellectual” era.  And always-right Bill O’Reilly seems to be totally confused about the difference between a governor's "intelligence" and how regionally entrenched ideologies helped her/him in the governing of states like Alaska and Massachusetts.

3. Gotta love ol’ Barney Frank.  That guy really lets loose with some penetrating insights in unguarded moments.  Walking down one of the Capitol hallways, he said it plain and clear on camera that to get the country into a socialist single-payer system, we have to convince the sheeple to first accept the so-called ‘public option’.  Because, contrary to Obama’s lies from the podium that you get to keep your current health plan, everyone with half a brain knows that once the government starts competing with its own subsidized plan, and also plays referee in the health insurance derby, all private suppliers will be forced out.  Now why don’t the MSM make that little bit of Democrat strategy known in banner headlines?

4. And the Republicans are totally out of new ideas about how to regain power.  As usual, the Democrats are promising everyone who votes for them a free ice cream cone paid for by someone else.  The Republicans are sticking with their historical core message, and taking it to an electorate that no longer has much skin in the wealth creation side of the equation, nor understands how that core message will help them.  Both parties are on the same basic merry-go-round.  You get to be the party in power; you screw up in spades; your opposition points out all your bads and promises a new golden age; you get kicked out of power; then you work like the dickens to shove slats into the spokes of the other guys’ bikes, and hope to hell that they screw up so that the cycle can start all over again.  Meanwhile the country sinks into greater debt, dissonance, and ignorance.  But hey, if you’re a politician, the cycle works – what goes around comes around – you just have to do whatever you must to stay on the merry-go-round.

Stimulus Shortfall and Local Contributions

George Rebane

The above chart is getting a little boring as the weeks roll by.  Nevertheless it continues to be more and more revealing – ‘We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.’

To add a little interest to this weekly stimulus posting, I thought that a vignette or two from real life might be of interest.  We just got word from a British friend in her late sixties that she has been diagnosed with diabetes.  Appealing to the fine British socialized healthcare system for treatment, she was told that there will be no insulin or other medicines prescribed that we would consider normal here.  Instead she got a pamphlet telling her to join a health club for exercise, and a list of foods that she should now eat.  I presume that there will be some compensation for the health club fee, and that the pamphlet ended wishing her good luck with her new regimen.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is our intended low cost Obamacare future.

Moving right on, yesterday afternoon a knock on the door revealed a PG&E technician telling me that a very large part of one of our digger pines on the other side of the house just fell off and crunched up our fence.  He and his crew had been working on the power installation for our new neighbor when they heard this 60 foot long behemoth come tearing down.  I had not heard a thing.

Upon inspection, we all confirmed that ‘yep, that was one helluva widowmaker’, and making things right is gonna provide some real fiscal stimulus to Nevada County.  I immediately called Curtis Roberts (Roberts Tree Care) who has done a great job handling our tree work for several years now.  Curtis came over right away and confirmed that this indeed would be a great fiscal stimulus for our community (multiplier effect and all that), and pointed out that the stimulus will probably be much bigger given that the remainder of the giant digger should also come down.

After some noodling on how that would be done, I agreed on the scope of the proposed stimulus package, which at this stage had expanded to hiring a crane to gently lower the huge limbs of this giant tree that stands almost a hundred feet tall and is about fifty feet from the house.  More good news for local businesses, and I had yet to include the stimulus for the responsive gentleman from Gold Country Fence who also arrived, and promised that he could make the whole thing look like it never happened.

I wonder if I can put in a proposal for a wee bit of that $787 billion for which Obama seems to have trouble finding stimulating projects - talk about shovel ready.

Let’s Not Forget Global Warming

George Rebane

Obamacare is on everyone’s mind these days.  Having more time to look at the five (yes, five) separate bills going through congressional committees makes most people now start holding their noses – the longer we look at it, the more it smells.  But we can’t overlook the other source of perhaps an even bigger disaster – Cap and Tax – the special interest designed energy bill that is supposed to combat anthropogenic global warming (AGW).

Both Obamacare and Cap and Tax are two sides of an economic holocaust that add to the ongoing growth of socialism in the country where government meddling in the private sector is now rampant and increasing.  The result of impementing this program will be a devastation on our land equivalent to our having lost WW2.  But there is still hope that the socialists in Washington will fail as America begins to pay attention.

More Americans than ever are beginning to discover that no poor country takes care of its people or its environment.  A good quality of life is a benefice that only well-to-do countries can provide.  The world overflows with supporting evidence for this truth.  But one of the enduring tragedies of socialism is that it cannot see the relationships between economic growth, levels of wealth, a healthy environment, and improved quality of life for all people under systems of governance based on liberty.  (I hope we’re all past the stage where we confuse democracy and liberty.)

The Heritage Foundation has a new 40 minute video on AGW that is worth watching.  It covers the science part of the Team Gore AGW claims, and goes on to consider the economic impact – especially on the world’s poor – implementing the currently touted AGW policies.  It concludes by offering some productive alternative policies that answer the hysteria still sweeping the developed world.

(Visit NC Media Watch for your daily dose on AGW and things related.) 

Pension Pranks and Ponzis - Part 1

George Rebane

OK folks, here’s the drill.  Today, almost all government and union pension plans are in trouble.  Bottom line, they are under funded.  And having heard that explanation, you are supposed say, ‘Oh, alright.’ and act as if you understand whether you do or don’t.  Since all institutional pension plans sooner or later become playpens for major mischief, we’ll try to demystify some of the fundamentals of how a pension plan works.  Who cares?  All of us do, because there will be major grabs for your wallet by about everyone out there who believes you still have a wallet.

A legitimate vanilla pension plan works by first setting up an account into which the worker and/or employer put money on a regular basis while the worker works for the employer.  The money in the account is invested, and, hopefully, continues to grow as you work.  The fancy term is that it accrues at some rate of growth through interest, dividends, capital appreciation, and, of course, worker/employer contributions.

When you quit working for the employer, hopefully your account may still continue to grow until you retire.  It all depends on what you do with it after you quit.  If/when you retire, then the amount in your account will begin to be drawn down.  How it gets drawn down depends on what kind of bet you want or are allowed to make.  That ranges anywhere from grabbing the money and managing your own affairs from then on, to having a monthly check sent to you by some financial management outfit in charge of a lot of retirement accounts like yours.

Somewhere along the line you start thinking about the ‘what ifs’, like what if there’s less there than I had planned?  Boy, that cuts to the chase real fast.  If there’s less there to fund the payments that you expected, then doesn’t that big financial management outfit have to make up the difference?  Definitely not; all those guys are responsible for is what is known as ‘best efforts’ in investing and managing your account while not intentionally robbing you blind (although that part is not always as hard and firm as it should be).  So who is responsible for cutting you the retirement check you were told to expect when you signed on?

Ruminations - 27jul2009

George Rebane

Isn’t the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office wonderful the way it diplomatically exposes the lies of Obamacare.  Team Obama and the congressional Dems keep rolling out the bull pucky on how national healthcare will not increase deficits and actually be a “stimulus” (Pelosi) to the economy.  Then the CBO sits down in front of the microphone and presents some eye-popping numbers that quietly say ‘No it won’t.’  And then the liars turn up the volume and scream even louder into the Sunday talk shows, and today the CBO again said, ‘No it won’t.’  Your move el Presidente.

Didn’t we all get good grades in our high school civics class?  Don’t they teach that stuff any more where they tell you what our Constitution says about our three branches of government and their separation of powers?  If memory serves, Congress as the legislative branch has the power to decide what laws the country needs and write them; the President in the executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws; and the Supreme Court as the judicial branch is supposed to interpret the laws and make sure that they and their execution are cool with what is called for by the Constitution.  Where does the President come off telling Congress what laws to pass, and how fast it has to get the job done?  Doesn’t anyone inside the Beltway read that hallowed founding document any more; the document which is supposed to be the basis on which our civil society rests?  Maybe the last question has its own answer – civil society?

Every jurisdiction is cutting back spending today.  And the spending cuts are most visible in areas where the public comes in contact with government provided services.  A reader noticed that the Nevada City Post Office parking lot (probably not city property) is not up to snuff and wrote “While I don't live in Nevada City, I do visit the Post Office once a day. I don't know who has the responsibility for the up-keep of the parking lot, but no matter it's a blight on the City. There is always some pretty horrible trash in and around the hedge that borders the parking lot and the sidewalk, and the vegetation needs a good trim job. This does not present a pretty picture of the City. As a thought, some one of your future articles in The Union might suggest that a couple of the people that hang out at Callahan Park could make a positive contribution by frequently policing the place and even the Park itself.  Is this asking too much of them? Of course, how to get them to do it is another matter. Thoughts?”  Good idea, but the vision of old snowballs in Hell comes to mind when I think about when this will come to pass.

The clamor for Obama to make his birth, school, and public service records available continues on a number of fronts (for example, here).  Since we know so little about him, it sure is puzzling why the man doesn’t just do what the other Presidents have done before him.  If there’s nothing to hide, why continue paying hundreds of thousands to lawyers to file denial petitions across the land.  If there’s a reasonable answer for this secrecy, I haven’t heard it, and would sure like for someone to point it out.  Mighty strange that he’s making it seem like there’s a big dark revelation hiding somewhere under a rock.

 

Singularity’s Apprehensive Approach

George Rebane

‘Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man’ is the title of an uneven yet revealing piece in the 25jul09 NYT by John Markoff.  The article was apparently motivated by a quiet (‘secret’ sounds too sinister) conference at Asilomar on Monterey Bay sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence last February.  It was a quiet conference in comparison to the concurrent announcements at the time that preceded the opening of the Singularity University this summer.  RR’s Singularity Signposts section has kept readers up to date on this and other events that herald the Singularity as the epochal new age of Man.

The February conference was lead by Microsoft’s Dr. Eric Horvitz who also happens to be the current president of AAAI.  According to the NYT, the conference was motivated by a growing cohort of well-read people from many areas who were now “impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence”.  It focused the discussion of “a group of computer scientists … debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.”

The attendees seemed to agree that “there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors. … The researchers also discussed possible threats to human jobs, like self-driving cars, software-based personal assistants and service robots in the home.”

The central idea of the Singularity is the ongoing “intelligence explosion” as proclaimed by Dr. Ray Kurzweil and others.  The inevitable result of this explosion is a world in which ever smarter machines will design ever smarter machines – and this explosion is already well on its way.  The result, for the instant we call the Singularity, will be the arrival of peer intelligence (‘what if your computer were as smart as your spouse?’), and then we enter the unknown post-Singularity era.  All the rules will change.

American Sharia - Progress Report (updated)

George Rebane

The Muslim presence in North America and the US is assuming the trappings of Muslim penetrations into other western lands.  Primarily this means that the new comers are beginning to behave as settlers and not as assimilating immigrants.  We recall that settlers take and transplant their culture into the lands that they settle.

Americans are beginning to show all the resilience of our European forebears in handling Muslim settlers.  This is a pattern that we have already become comfortable with in accepting the Reconquista of our Mexican neighbors to the south.  To illustrate, this YouTube video shows the progress that the Muslims have made in America.  (H/T to RR reader) 

The standard response of the apathetic and uninterested is to explain that such incursions are just isolated and don’t signify an expanding encroachment of their target culture.  Today’s anti-American political correctness encourages these episodes as visible steps toward eliminating America as a beneficial world hegemon with its own culture, and, most certainly, confirming its approaching end as a sovereign nation-state.

Some of us bloggers who note these happenings - happenings that are even too hot for Fox News to handle - often reflect about why we post these little littanies.  Who will be informed, convinced, or (gasp!) activated from reading such commentary?  Maybe no one - for lovers of liberty it is not a hopeful present in which we live.  Perhaps, such words are meant for the anthropologists yet to come who will study the death of nations and cultures.  After all, as the price of memory plummets, we can be fairly certain that ‘what goes on the web, stays on the web’.

At the end, no one should be able to complain – ‘Why wasn’t I told?’

[update] And the beat goes on.  Now we find out that HB1388 passed and will allow the feds to spend over $20 million to bring over a passel of Hamas supporters from Gaza.  We will welcome them with more rights, benefits, and privileges than you and I have.  The MSM, of course, put this under its highest classification for news - 'Shhhh!'  H/T to a RR reader for another shovel-ready stimulus while little ol' Nevada County is sucking on the wrong end of our straw for a $60K drop out of almost $8 million that we have applied for.

Nevada County ARRA Funding - or Not

George Rebane

'A nation ignorant and free, that never was and never shall be.'  Thomas Jefferson

Cato on Obamacare Lies

George Rebane

Sometimes we small town commentators are viewed as holding extreme views.  And maybe we do when compared to people who are too busy to pay attention.  But what’s coming down from this socialist cesspool in the District of Columbia has not been seen in generations, perhaps ever.  The lies are historic and they are consequential to our republic.  We are not alone in trying to spread the word.  Here’s the latest from the prestigious Cato Institute - 'Perils of Obamacare - The Three Big Lies'.  (all emphasis in the original)

§§§

Writing in the New York Post, Cato senior fellow Michael D. Tanner outlines the three big lies of Obamacare:

1)      "If you like your current health-care plan, you can keep it."
“In the end, millions of Americans would be forced out of the insurance they have today and into the government plan. Businesses, in particular, would have every incentive to dump their workers into the public plan. The actuarial firm the Lewin Group estimates that as many as 118.5 million people, roughly two-thirds of those with insurance today, would be shifted from private to public coverage.”

2)      "You will pay less."
The Congressional Budget Office has made it clear that the reform plans now being debated will increase overall health-care costs. … The final health-    care bill is expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. That means much higher taxes, and not just for the wealthy.”

3)      "Quality will improve."
“Anyone who thinks a government takeover of the health-care system will improve quality of care has only to look at the health-care programs the government already runs: The Veterans Administration is overwhelmed with problems, Medicaid is notorious for providing poor quality at a high cost — and Medicare has huge gaps in coverage.”

Suffering from AB32? Take one AB118

George Rebane

AB32 is California's chronic killer as most RR and NCMediaWatch readers know.  Recently our Assemblyman Dan Logue along with 28 co-authors introduced AB118 as an antidote.  Russ Steele has an update and lots of contact information for the relevant electeds.  Please take a look here.