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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	7/30/2009 12:38:38 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

KT, We certainly need health care reform, but not the version the democrats were pushing. That would triple the problems facing this country in 20 years. We have to be caring enough to make sure that those incapable of caring for themselves are cared for in the most efficient way possible. But we also have to mature beyond our delusions, fantasies, and idealism and understand the basic laws of economics. To start, we need greater freedom of choice among insurance plans with options tailored to specific needs (not one plan fits all or limitations about which state you can buy from etc...). There should be no insurance at all for regular checkups, simple colds, sore throats, and basic tests etc... (kind of like auto insurance). (fewer claims, lower insurance and other costs etc...) "Basic healthcare" for everyone, but beyond which you are on your own to either pay for it with cash, get it via work, or buy private insurance etc... Some incentive for consumers to be cost conscious as well as trying to get the most and best care possible. Basically, financial incentives and more information available online to give consumers greater power to make wise and cost effective choices. Tort reform. Grow up and understand that spending several hundred thousand dollars on the last year of life for a terminally patient to squeeze out an extra 6 months is retarded even if it's you, your mother, wife, husband, child etc... Sometimes you have to let go and most of the time the sooner the better for the patient too. That would be a pretty good start "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all of those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics. "--Thomas Sowell

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	7/30/2009 1:29:46 PM
From: marcher	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

"...educate the citizenry that the "huge, unsustainable cost" of a health program is already being spent..." i doubt that education of citizenry is the pivotal issue here. seems more likely that this is about risk avoidance (fear of loss) and which side is able to make the other side seem most risky. this sort of subconscious emotional response best explains why citizenry chooses what it does. return to kahnemann/tversky and "framing" of position. at a fundamental level, survival, we are emotional rather than rational beings. scare and manipulate. cheers! --marc

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	7/30/2009 3:29:06 PM
From: GuinnessGuy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Mike, -you wrote 3. It has to be corporate America. The big firms like the concept of being the "big daddy" without whom there is no health care. It is very similar to owing your soul to the company store in the 19th century. Though it increases their costs, directly, it lowers their cost, indirectly, by allowing them to pay lower salaries than they would without this big stick of health care they are carrying around. Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of conservative and moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats is also the leading recipient of contributions from that health insurance organization - at least according to what I saw on the news. So, yes, item #1 is a big one. But I also heard someone on CNBC mention that the high cost and non-availability(due to medical preconditions) of health insurance is stifling entrepreneurial innovation by discouraging workers at big companies from leaving their safe corporate positions to start new innovative companies. I hadn't thought of that before but that makes perfect sense. Had I known insurance rates were going to do what they've done back in 1995 when I made my decision to leave SLB, I would have thought twice about leaving. Maybe three times... Carrying that line of reasoning a bit further, the insurance situation also discourages people from joining start-up companies. Maybe not so much the youngest, but the older ones with valuable experience would have to hesitate signing on knowing the odds of a start-up surviving. If the above is correct, then we are facing a double whammy as we really do need to be constantly innovating given the loss of our manufacturing base. But it also gives the big companies a lot of motivation to fight this bill as they don't want to have their top people leaving. So, yes, I agree, item #3 is also a big factor. craig

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	7/31/2009 3:56:19 AM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

>>It looks like health care reform is dead. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Once you see the Republicrooks calling a living will a govt. bureaucrat calling you to ask when you want to die, you know that the stink machine has gone into high odour. A big part of the failure is the inability of the Democrats, including the President, to educate the citizenry that the "huge, unsustainable cost" of a health program is already being spent. It's just being spent in a much less efficient, unhealthier way. So, the question is, who profits from this American tragedy? << i find it amazing that the demicans, who have total filibuster control of the congress, blame republicrats for their own failure. yes, the republicrats are against this bill, but they don't matter. literally. all the demicans have to do is hold their own house in order. that is the big failure here. although, i'm hearing the demicans are starting to give in and so a bill could be passed w/o a single republicrat vote.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	7/31/2009 10:57:28 AM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

#200+ billion in debt auction doff and TBT is down about 4% over the week. i'm impressed they pulled this bond coup off. when it doesn't work, though, it gets ugly.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	8/17/2009 12:54:55 AM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

You were right! I'd move to Canada if I wasn't too old to learn a new language. <g> Tom

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (119029)	8/17/2009 9:40:37 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 132070

Stephen Hawking both British and not dead Obama health reform critics face inconvenient truth By Cade Metz in San Francisco In perhaps the most amusing effort to discredit US President Barack Obama's plan for nationalized health care - if not the most ridiculous - US financial newspaper Investor's Business Daily has said that if Stephen Hawking were British, he would be dead. "The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof, are legendary," read a recent editorial from the paper. "The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror script... "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless." The paper has since been notified that Hawking is both British and still among the living. And it has edited the editorial, acknowledging that the original version incorrectly represented the whereabouts of perhaps the world's most famous scientific mind. But it has not acknowledged that its mention of Hawking misrepresented the NHS as well. "I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS," Hawking told The Guardian. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived." The best you can say about Investor's Business Daily is that unlike US radio talk host Rush Limbaugh, it has not compared Obama's health care logo to a swastika. ® Free whitepaper – Reducing messaging and web security costs with managed services