Who's Really Ignoring 47% Of Americans Today? [View article]
Not impressed with MENSA. Really intelligent people don't need to have their intelligence validated by some organization so they can brag about it to others.
Genuinely smart people are smart and they know it. More importantly, they don't need others to tell them how smart they are...
Intelligence versus persistence; persistence will win almost every time...
The Big Mac And Your Financial Health: Rising Burger Prices Show A Worrying Trend [View article]
About the Mayans the "big picture";
"their attention was evidently focused on the short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments, competing with one another, and extracting enough food from the peasants to support all those activities. Like most leaders throughout human history, the Maya kings and nobles did not have the leisure to focus on long-term problems, insofar as they perceived them...."
The Big Mac And Your Financial Health: Rising Burger Prices Show A Worrying Trend [View article]
Quality of food being served in restaurants has already been deteriorating over the past few years as portion sizes have decreased... I rarely bother to eat out anymore unless I have to.
BP's Eventual Bankruptcy Is Certain [View article]
This reminds of when big tobacco settled their lawsuits back in the '90s. Almost everybody predicted the end of big tobacco.
Big tobacco hired the best lawyers money could buy and essentially got away with a wrist slapping. The government wasn't stupid. They did not want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Among other things, think about the billions that would be lost in tax revenue. Nothing has changed. The same will happen here. Even Obama is not that stupid.
" I have always considered Nature as the preeminent designer and marveled at natural innovations over billions of years"
That is because it TAKES billions of years for nature to solve those problems via evolution. Give me a few billion years to solve a technical problem, I guarantee I could do as well or better. LOL
I'd have to say that history is probably on your side... Monetary unions never survive (such as the Latin Monetary Union and Scandinavian Monetary Union). I don't think it is possible to coordinate the fiscal policies and monetary policies of all the EU members in the long term. Also, the growth and stability pact has been a source of contention among EU members since the inception of the Euro.
I would bet that Ireland is kicking itself for joining the EU. England is currently eating their luch in terms of exports due to a week pound...
On Oct 23 09:39 AM chap08 wrote:
> No the UK will not enter the Eurozone. The Conservative party will > win the next election and will move away from, rather than closer > to, Europe. That means that it is a non starter for, I think, 5 years. > > > When that 5 years is up, it is possible that the Euro will no longer > exist. On balance I think that the Euro will survive, but failure > is a serious possibility. It is hard to see how the conflicting requirements > of say Ireland, Spain, Italy and Germany can be resolved without > major problems. The strength of the Euro is temporary, not permanent.
California: Leveraged to Gasoline Prices and Nearing the Breaking Point [View article]
pockyclips ...::
Even worse than importing resources is the fact that the manufacturing jobs in California are vanishing...
On Oct 16 08:57 AM pockyclips 2020 wrote:
> Things can only get worse. As long as we import resources instead > of using what we have, and moving toward renewables, we are on the > Highway to Hell. We deserve to be kicked in the arse.
The Changing Role of Financial Advisers [View article]
There's only one person on this planet I can honestly trust with my money...
ME!
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. You need to do your own due diligence. And I'm not talking about how you choose an advisor either...
It perplexes me how so many people are willing to trust some "advisor" with their financial future/retirement. With DIY, obviously there may be a learning curve, but frankly it isn't brain surgery either...
Gold Values Up, Financial System Down [View article]
How do we get from here to there?
Follow the money... Go to where the grass is truely greener. Years ago the rich moved to Ireland and gave up their US citezenship in order to avoid the higth taxes. Now Ireland is joined at the hip with the rest of europe since they gave up their own currency (and monetary freedom/destiny). England is probably "Eating their luch" when it comes to exports...
I'd guess these days the smart wealth is moving to some place like Dubai or Singapore?
On Oct 06 05:24 PM Mark Bern wrote:
> Thank you to the author for saying much of what I've been thinking > (but in a much more concise and informative manner). I've had the > concern rattling around in my little pea-brained head that we are > on the verge of coming to a fork in the road. The path we take will > be of historic importance. > > User353732 has put the argument into a historical perspective in > a his or her usual eloquent style. Very well done! > > Let me try to put the argument into another form. The U.S. was already > a great nation before the Great Depression, but it did not ascend > to the height of its power and prestige until after WWII. A major > difference between then and now (I hope, but not necessarily) was > that, even though poor decisions were made throughout the Depression, > both home and abroad, what pulled us out was not good policy, but > war. We didn't decide to take the right path, that path was thrust > upon us. We even tried to stay out of the war and were willing to > let the Axis Powers take control of Europe. We were also overly tolerant > of the Japanese in East Asia and the Pacific. We were producing the > materials used in war and selling them at a profit (at the beginning > we even sold to both sides). We were in denial, believing that we > could avoid conflict if we didn't get involved. We didn't take a > stand until u-boats attacked our merchant ships and then, later, > Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. At that point, we no choice. Greatness > was thrust upon us and we measured up to the task. The rest is history. > > > Today, our leaders are not solving the problems that have beset our > economy. They have only done the best they could to stave off the > worst for awhile longer. Pushing the punishment off into the future. > Unfortunately, this time the future will become the present much > sooner than they hope. Crisis is still on the horizon, no matter > what the likes of Helicopter Ben, Timmy, BO, and the MSM tell us. > > > The banks still have huge amounts of nonperforming and under-performing > assets on their books. They are valuing these assets using proprietary > models that retains much of the original value of the asset whether > that value could be obtained in the market or not. They do so because > they can (since the accounting rules were changed to permit the deception). > Granted, some of those assets should not be written down because > they are still performing or are likely to re-establish better performance > levels in the future if the economy recovers and jobs become plentiful > again. Unfortunately, that day is further away than our leaders would > have us believe. It's there, somewhere in the future. But it's not > just right around the corner. > > Bernanke admits that unemployment will probably stay above 9% all > through 2010. Does that sound like a robust economic recovery? The > stress test that was performed behind closed doors by Treasury used > parameters that defined worst case as much more mild than where are > now, relative to unemployment, and we still haven't hit bottom. It > the holiday season is a bust this year (and how could it not be) > where is the catalyst to pull the economy out of its downdraft? > > > The stimulus, you say? If you hadn't noticed, the stimulus has not > been able to do much more than keep the economy from falling faster. > All that money hasn't been spent yet, but will it create jobs? Think > about it. Why is it taking so long for the Administration to let > loose of all those dollars? There are two probable reasons: > 1) The Administration is hoping that all of the spending won't be > necessary and intends to stop once the economy show positive signs > of improvement and sustainable growth (I only wish they were this > smart). > 2) The Administration is hoping to use all that stimulus money to > prop up their candidates with pork spending running up to the mid-term > elections (I suspect this to be the more likely objective). > > The problem with either plan is that the spending is not focused > on creating permanent jobs in the private sector. Everything is temporary. > It's not even addressing much of the deferred infrastructure maintenance > and improvements that will never be accomplished by local and state > governments such as sewer and water lines that are more than 100 > years old in many of our major cities. Many of such projects would > have taken as long as a decade to complete, creating much needed > jobs in construction. > > We are nearing the crossroads. Not our leaders. Us. Our leaders have > already decided on a path. It takes us down the road of mediocrity, > the loss of our reserve currency status in the world, and the further > loss of what is left of our manufacturing base. It include higher > rates of poverty, inflation well above normal, and the los of buying > power for the middle class; a lower standard of living for all but > the super rich elites. > > We need to take back the America we know and love. It's not a matter > of one party or the other. Both Republican and Democrat leadership > will just keep us heading down the path of impotence in the world. > We need to take the path that leads us back to the principles upon > which this nation was founded. We need to oust all career politicians > from office. We need term limits. We don't really need new ideas. > We need the same ideas that made our nation great. We need elected > leaders who we can trust. Ones who will vote exactly the way they > told us they would during their election campaigns. We need honesty. > We need fiscal responsibility brought back into our government and > into our business practices. > > How do we get from here to there? Become more active in the political > process. Do not trust those in office unless you have checked their > voting records and it conforms with their previous and proposed promises. > Demand term limits. If your representative won't accept term limits > they must be thinking more about themselves than of their constituents. > Elected office is supposed to be about "serving one's country." > > > If you agree and want to do more, consider going to goooh.com > for more information. Goooh is short for "Get Out of Our House!" > The concept has a lot of potential and its supporters are growing > significantly. > > Disclosure: I do not work for goooh.com. I haven't even joined yet, > but will soon. I just like the concept. Especially the part about > holding elected officials to a contract to do what they were elected > to do.
The Link Between Bankruptcies and Health Care Reform [View article]
enegola:
The hospitals can charge whatever they want. However, the insurance company typically has a set fee for reimbursement with a participating hospital that is "in network".
I was hosptialized for a week, two years ago. My bills were quite a chunk of change. The insurance company ended up paying about 30 cents on the dollar, because that was the fee schedule that was agreed upon between them. The insurance co.'s rarely actually pay those sticker shock prices we see on the initial bills.
However the uninsured do... If you're uninsured and need medical care, go to a hospital in Maryland. I believe it is illegal to bill uninsured patients more than 30% above the medicare reimbursement rate (which is typically a joke and does not even cover the cost). I read this in an article in The WSJ about 5 years ago...
On Oct 03 12:14 PM enegola wrote:
> Here's how health care "insurance" works. Hospials are in league > with insurance companies. They charge increasingly higher rates. > The "insurance" companies pay them without question. > > Next step? Since the "insuance" companies have to pay higher and > higher charges guess what? They just increase the premiums to their > " captive customers" > > There is just no restraint on how much a hospital can charge. My > cousin was just charged $30,000 for one day! Of course the "insurance" > company paid.
"GM's "prepackaged" bankruptcy filing on June 1 virtually wiped out shareholders and punished bondholders—as a reorganization should after a company fails."
GM union employees were handsomely rewarded with obscene buyouts among other things (and to a lesser extent The UAW) when it was arbitrarily decided that the bondholders should be subordinate to them.
Not only was this unethical, it was probably illegal. Is this the message we should be sending as taxpayers continue to reward for corporate failure? You're much more optimistic than I am about the future of GM's product line,,,
Fortunately, The US makes excellent cars. They're called Toyotas and Hondas.
Who's Really Ignoring 47% Of Americans Today? [View article]
Genuinely smart people are smart and they know it. More importantly, they don't need others to tell them how smart they are...
Intelligence versus persistence; persistence will win almost every time...
The Big Mac And Your Financial Health: Rising Burger Prices Show A Worrying Trend [View article]
"their attention was evidently focused on the short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments, competing with one another, and extracting enough food from the peasants to support all those activities. Like most leaders throughout human history, the Maya kings and nobles did not have the leisure to focus on long-term problems, insofar as they perceived them...."
Sound familiar?
Taken from Jared Diamond's The Last americans.
The Big Mac And Your Financial Health: Rising Burger Prices Show A Worrying Trend [View article]
Prepare To Short Gold [View article]
Very little is actually consumed.
Supply is enormous.
Production has increased dramatically over the past few years.
See:
http://seekingalpha.co...
The only saving grace for gold is that the fundamentals for fiat money are even worse...
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BP's Eventual Bankruptcy Is Certain [View article]
Big tobacco hired the best lawyers money could buy and essentially got away with a wrist slapping. The government wasn't stupid. They did not want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Among other things, think about the billions that would be lost in tax revenue. Nothing has changed. The same will happen here. Even Obama is not that stupid.
Book Review: The Blue Economy [View article]
That is because it TAKES billions of years for nature to solve those problems via evolution. Give me a few billion years to solve a technical problem, I guarantee I could do as well or better. LOL
The Next Bubble? [View article]
Will the U.K. Enter the Eurozone? [View article]
I'd have to say that history is probably on your side... Monetary unions never survive (such as the Latin Monetary Union and Scandinavian Monetary Union). I don't think it is possible to coordinate the fiscal policies and monetary policies of all the EU members in the long term. Also, the growth and stability pact has been a source of contention among EU members since the inception of the Euro.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I would bet that Ireland is kicking itself for joining the EU. England is currently eating their luch in terms of exports due to a week pound...
On Oct 23 09:39 AM chap08 wrote:
> No the UK will not enter the Eurozone. The Conservative party will
> win the next election and will move away from, rather than closer
> to, Europe. That means that it is a non starter for, I think, 5 years.
>
>
> When that 5 years is up, it is possible that the Euro will no longer
> exist. On balance I think that the Euro will survive, but failure
> is a serious possibility. It is hard to see how the conflicting requirements
> of say Ireland, Spain, Italy and Germany can be resolved without
> major problems. The strength of the Euro is temporary, not permanent.
The Secret Paulson-Goldman Meeting [View article]
Goldman's donations in the last election are probably paying off more handsomely than any other investment they've ever made...
California: Leveraged to Gasoline Prices and Nearing the Breaking Point [View article]
Even worse than importing resources is the fact that the manufacturing jobs in California are vanishing...
On Oct 16 08:57 AM pockyclips 2020 wrote:
> Things can only get worse. As long as we import resources instead
> of using what we have, and moving toward renewables, we are on the
> Highway to Hell. We deserve to be kicked in the arse.
The Changing Role of Financial Advisers [View article]
ME!
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. You need to do your own due diligence. And I'm not talking about how you choose an advisor either...
It perplexes me how so many people are willing to trust some "advisor" with their financial future/retirement. With DIY, obviously there may be a learning curve, but frankly it isn't brain surgery either...
I guess it comes down to rule or be ruled...
Gold Values Up, Financial System Down [View article]
Follow the money... Go to where the grass is truely greener. Years ago the rich moved to Ireland and gave up their US citezenship in order to avoid the higth taxes. Now Ireland is joined at the hip with the rest of europe since they gave up their own currency (and monetary freedom/destiny). England is probably "Eating their luch" when it comes to exports...
I'd guess these days the smart wealth is moving to some place like Dubai or Singapore?
On Oct 06 05:24 PM Mark Bern wrote:
> Thank you to the author for saying much of what I've been thinking
> (but in a much more concise and informative manner). I've had the
> concern rattling around in my little pea-brained head that we are
> on the verge of coming to a fork in the road. The path we take will
> be of historic importance.
>
> User353732 has put the argument into a historical perspective in
> a his or her usual eloquent style. Very well done!
>
> Let me try to put the argument into another form. The U.S. was already
> a great nation before the Great Depression, but it did not ascend
> to the height of its power and prestige until after WWII. A major
> difference between then and now (I hope, but not necessarily) was
> that, even though poor decisions were made throughout the Depression,
> both home and abroad, what pulled us out was not good policy, but
> war. We didn't decide to take the right path, that path was thrust
> upon us. We even tried to stay out of the war and were willing to
> let the Axis Powers take control of Europe. We were also overly tolerant
> of the Japanese in East Asia and the Pacific. We were producing the
> materials used in war and selling them at a profit (at the beginning
> we even sold to both sides). We were in denial, believing that we
> could avoid conflict if we didn't get involved. We didn't take a
> stand until u-boats attacked our merchant ships and then, later,
> Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. At that point, we no choice. Greatness
> was thrust upon us and we measured up to the task. The rest is history.
>
>
> Today, our leaders are not solving the problems that have beset our
> economy. They have only done the best they could to stave off the
> worst for awhile longer. Pushing the punishment off into the future.
> Unfortunately, this time the future will become the present much
> sooner than they hope. Crisis is still on the horizon, no matter
> what the likes of Helicopter Ben, Timmy, BO, and the MSM tell us.
>
>
> The banks still have huge amounts of nonperforming and under-performing
> assets on their books. They are valuing these assets using proprietary
> models that retains much of the original value of the asset whether
> that value could be obtained in the market or not. They do so because
> they can (since the accounting rules were changed to permit the deception).
> Granted, some of those assets should not be written down because
> they are still performing or are likely to re-establish better performance
> levels in the future if the economy recovers and jobs become plentiful
> again. Unfortunately, that day is further away than our leaders would
> have us believe. It's there, somewhere in the future. But it's not
> just right around the corner.
>
> Bernanke admits that unemployment will probably stay above 9% all
> through 2010. Does that sound like a robust economic recovery? The
> stress test that was performed behind closed doors by Treasury used
> parameters that defined worst case as much more mild than where are
> now, relative to unemployment, and we still haven't hit bottom. It
> the holiday season is a bust this year (and how could it not be)
> where is the catalyst to pull the economy out of its downdraft?
>
>
> The stimulus, you say? If you hadn't noticed, the stimulus has not
> been able to do much more than keep the economy from falling faster.
> All that money hasn't been spent yet, but will it create jobs? Think
> about it. Why is it taking so long for the Administration to let
> loose of all those dollars? There are two probable reasons:
> 1) The Administration is hoping that all of the spending won't be
> necessary and intends to stop once the economy show positive signs
> of improvement and sustainable growth (I only wish they were this
> smart).
> 2) The Administration is hoping to use all that stimulus money to
> prop up their candidates with pork spending running up to the mid-term
> elections (I suspect this to be the more likely objective).
>
> The problem with either plan is that the spending is not focused
> on creating permanent jobs in the private sector. Everything is temporary.
> It's not even addressing much of the deferred infrastructure maintenance
> and improvements that will never be accomplished by local and state
> governments such as sewer and water lines that are more than 100
> years old in many of our major cities. Many of such projects would
> have taken as long as a decade to complete, creating much needed
> jobs in construction.
>
> We are nearing the crossroads. Not our leaders. Us. Our leaders have
> already decided on a path. It takes us down the road of mediocrity,
> the loss of our reserve currency status in the world, and the further
> loss of what is left of our manufacturing base. It include higher
> rates of poverty, inflation well above normal, and the los of buying
> power for the middle class; a lower standard of living for all but
> the super rich elites.
>
> We need to take back the America we know and love. It's not a matter
> of one party or the other. Both Republican and Democrat leadership
> will just keep us heading down the path of impotence in the world.
> We need to take the path that leads us back to the principles upon
> which this nation was founded. We need to oust all career politicians
> from office. We need term limits. We don't really need new ideas.
> We need the same ideas that made our nation great. We need elected
> leaders who we can trust. Ones who will vote exactly the way they
> told us they would during their election campaigns. We need honesty.
> We need fiscal responsibility brought back into our government and
> into our business practices.
>
> How do we get from here to there? Become more active in the political
> process. Do not trust those in office unless you have checked their
> voting records and it conforms with their previous and proposed promises.
> Demand term limits. If your representative won't accept term limits
> they must be thinking more about themselves than of their constituents.
> Elected office is supposed to be about "serving one's country."
>
>
> If you agree and want to do more, consider going to goooh.com
> for more information. Goooh is short for "Get Out of Our House!"
> The concept has a lot of potential and its supporters are growing
> significantly.
>
> Disclosure: I do not work for goooh.com. I haven't even joined yet,
> but will soon. I just like the concept. Especially the part about
> holding elected officials to a contract to do what they were elected
> to do.
The Link Between Bankruptcies and Health Care Reform [View article]
The hospitals can charge whatever they want. However, the insurance company typically has a set fee for reimbursement with a participating hospital that is "in network".
I was hosptialized for a week, two years ago. My bills were quite a chunk of change. The insurance company ended up paying about 30 cents on the dollar, because that was the fee schedule that was agreed upon between them. The insurance co.'s rarely actually pay those sticker shock prices we see on the initial bills.
However the uninsured do... If you're uninsured and need medical care, go to a hospital in Maryland. I believe it is illegal to bill uninsured patients more than 30% above the medicare reimbursement rate (which is typically a joke and does not even cover the cost). I read this in an article in The WSJ about 5 years ago...
On Oct 03 12:14 PM enegola wrote:
> Here's how health care "insurance" works. Hospials are in league
> with insurance companies. They charge increasingly higher rates.
> The "insurance" companies pay them without question.
>
> Next step? Since the "insuance" companies have to pay higher and
> higher charges guess what? They just increase the premiums to their
> " captive customers"
>
> There is just no restraint on how much a hospital can charge. My
> cousin was just charged $30,000 for one day! Of course the "insurance"
> company paid.
The Five Most Effective Bailouts [View article]
GM union employees were handsomely rewarded with obscene buyouts among other things (and to a lesser extent The UAW) when it was arbitrarily decided that the bondholders should be subordinate to them.
Not only was this unethical, it was probably illegal. Is this the message we should be sending as taxpayers continue to reward for corporate failure? You're much more optimistic than I am about the future of GM's product line,,,
Fortunately, The US makes excellent cars. They're called Toyotas and Hondas.