Out with the Old, Middle Men that is!

Our healthcare system has been breaking for years and two things can be pointed to as the cause.  One is inevitable greed of most human beings and the other is, or was the advent of the middle man or insurance industry.

Without rehashing all since I have to believe anyone reading this knows what has happened over the last few decades or certainly this past one let me say it is not an easy problem to fix.

However we have started on the road toward a great fix with the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) also known by many in the conservative camp in a demeaning way as ‘Obamacare.’

Many doctors are now saying they will not take on new customers as a result of the ACA pointing out that they will not be paid for their increased service to mankind for those unable to pay a fair price.

I agree with the doctors although not in the manner they think.

The cause of the decrease in income for the medical community is not the ACA nor the willingness of patients to pay but in fact the ever growing community of middle men also known as the insurance industry and their friends in that conservative camp.

Logic would tell us that if we had a life threatening illness the first person we should contact would be a doctor well versed in the illness and not an accountant well versed in how to maximize profits.

Clearly one of those two will suggest how to treat the illness and the other will quietly figure out whether or not your life is that important to his corporation’s bottom line.

So I would suggest that the best outcome for two of the three parties involved in the above scenario, that’s a 67% majority of interested parties, would be to rid ourselves of the medically uninvolved entity, the insurance industry.

Sadly the greed part of the initial paragraph might then kick in and doctors being human and possibly still carrying large medical school bills would seek to order many unnecessary tests in order to pad their bills.

I am not saying all would do it but the door would be open and some would surely enter, and after that the door might become a flood gate.

So the next step would be to have a watchdog enter the arena but not one with just profits as its goal.

That entity could and should be the United States Government.

Oh my God, did this liberal bastard just suggest socialized medicine?

You are damned right I did,

We have allowed the greedy right wing to usurp words and turn them into ugly things shunned by humanity instead of embracing them for far too long!

We already have socialism in many facets of our lives and we, all of us, including the right wing not only rely on it but thrive because of it and demand it!

Things such as our military, our nation-wide system of highways, our fire departments, the National Guard and our various police forces around the country come to mind.  Should we get rid of these socialistic bastions of awful expenditures as well?

Of course not, it would be idiotic.

So why do we draw the line there?

Well simply put it’s because those things are needed by the right wing and conservatives but they would rather not pay for health care for the majority of Americans.  Many of the dissenting group are quite well off and can pay for those things themselves as needed.

They extrapolate the NIMBY (not in my back yard) to be NFMBP, not from my back pocket!

Greed once again rears its ugly head.

The government could be a fair negotiator in talks with the pharmaceutical industry for lowering drug pricing while still keeping an eye on quality drugs.

The government could continue to be a watchdog over the excesses of the medical community while still allowing a fair income.

And the government could do this and more while not demanding ever increasing profits for its board of directors or shareholders who will then demand lower taxes on that profit!

And speaking of healthcare and insurance we come to the problem of an ever increasing and aging population.

How can we best take care of our elderly?

Read on please.

When Medi-Care Doesn't!

At this time of year we are subjected to ads and commercials advising us that Medicare open enrollment is now and it ends December 7^th. (Funny, that date sounds familiar for something. Hmmm.)

Those affected by this are naturally seniors and if lucky getting older every year while still under the protective arm of the Medicare system.

What the ads say however always annoys me to some extent.  They explain that you must compare plans and choose the one that’s right for you.  In other words the one blended specifically for that which ails you if you will.

You are told to do this by researching online and visiting various websites to compare costs and coverages.

The problem is that while many new seniors are in their mid sixties the majority of Medicare users are not.

The targeted audience is obviously those who have already been enrolled in Medicare. These people are less likely to be up on new technologies and less likely to have the skills needed to navigate the increasingly confusing internet.

So at a time in our lives that used to be pointed to as the Golden Years we are expected to spend more time perusing different health care plans all designed to confuse and hide certain facts so as to lure us into signing up for deals designed to make the insurer wealthier and drive customer crazy, or crazier after all these years.

Picture a ninety year old surfing the web and charting the available plans and you will realize how ripe for fraud the entire thing is!

This is all related to my next post (or actually the one I posted first so that it would appear below this and thus look as though it was in correct chronological order.)

Hopefully you read that one first but if not go back and read it again.

How Much is Enough?

Let’s say you had an almost unlimited supply of money that allowed you to spend $1 million a day, every day from now until the day you died.  Aside from the fact that it would be much harder than you might think bordering on impossible how much would you end up placing back in circulation to help the economy?

For the sake of this experiment I will use a man who is lucky enough to have the absurd fortune noted above at the early age of 30.

Since I am proposing that he can spend faster than a drunken sailor, apologies to the USN, he will be able to have the finest medical care known to man and his life expectancy will be therefore be higher than the average human.

If this person could live to the absurd age of 110 he would have been spending the allotted amount for roughly 29,220 days as he took his penultimate breath.

His final earthly bill could be rounded up slightly to $30 billion.

THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS!

So if this lucky individual had more than 30 billion dollars in his mattress when he hit the ripe young age of 30 saving for his retirement would appear to be rather stupid.

He could literally go crazy and make every day of the year for the rest of his life Black Friday and still have enough left in his estate to make his heirs super wealthy.

I am not saying he should go on an 80 year spending bender but then again why not?

Our lives are finite and unless you really believe that life is a game to be won by the person who dies with the most cash why not enjoy yourself while you're here?

When a person of ridiculous wealth hoards his cash or spends only with thoughts of amassing more money at the expense of the well-being of others, or of the entire planet for that matter one could consider that man evil.

But if his evil ways were unintentional he may not realize he is hurting humanity.  If this is the case we must extend him some pity and try an intervention.

One might suggest he get psychiatric help but a good analyst would cost money and he might consider the return to be monetarily unattractive.

Do any such people exist at this time?  Are there any extremely wealthy people who spend only to make more without regard to the world that spawned them and allowed them to become wealthy in the first place?

Do birds fly?

Do fish swim?

Is the Pope Ital, I mean Catholic?

Keith Olbermann may choose his “Worst person in the world” on a daily basis but mine happens to hold the crown constantly.

He is the older of the two brothers with the last name of Koch.

He and his younger sibling inherited and now run Koch Industries.  The conglomerate employs over 70,000 people (20,000 outside America) in various capacities but their main source of income is from petroleum.

According to all reputable scientists not on the Koch payroll or Fox Network so-called experts, the burning of fossil fuels causes global warming, and it's doing so at an alarming rate.  If left unchecked it will eventually destroy the planet and life as we know it.

This is not a ‘Chicken Little’ statement but a logical extrapolation of historic events using records dating back hundreds if not thousands of years.

Charles Koch, through corporation is a major contributor to political causes aimed at keeping the status quo that allows the corporation to continue its path of destruction.

To be fair his younger brother David has donated money to the arts, most notably having his name appear on a theater in Lincoln Center, New York.  He is considered a quiet philanthropist of sorts.

As a Libertarian David naturally supports legalizing marijuana dude and gay marriage so he is not completely without reason or compassion.  But his political views, along with his older brother Charles tend to negate much of the good he seems to do.

Can you believe how
much money we have?
I mean, DAMN!

Charles de Ganahl Koch naturally wishes to repeal all taxes.  He says he wants smaller government with no oversight or regulations as they tend to get in the way of profits.

Of course larger more constricting government would be okay as long as it is on his terms and only places shackles on the little people.

Charles’ only donations and efforts go to Conservative causes aimed at squeezing every last penny out of the hands of the average American.

He is a major contributor to such right wing leaning anti-social groups as the Heritage Foundation, the fear mongering Cato Institute and the absurdly named Americans for Prosperity.  He has said that he considers President Obama to be the worst kind of Socialist out to attack prosperity and economic freedom.  He considers Warren Buffet and George Soros to be idiots for giving to causes that promote the public welfare.  Helping the little people?  What idiots!

These 2 gentlemen have donated large sums of money
to help the needy and are therefore considered
morons by Charles Koch & company

Charles Koch is 77 years old and has a net worth of just under $38,000,000,000.  Instead of funding Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker and others in their efforts to destroy unions and ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens in his quest for more money what if he were to start spending like that drunken sailor we spoke of earlier?

The elder Mr. Koch could spend twice our example tossing out 2 million dollars a day while living to the incredible age of 120 and still die with $7 billion unused cash in his custom built mahogany coffin.

Quietly trying to help
America, Americans
and the world. In other
words another moron
per Charles Koch

I don’t expect to change anyone’s beliefs nor do I claim to have all the answers but I do know that in order for all of us to have a wonderful life the Mr. Potters of the world must not be revered as Gods.  They must be pointed out for what they are, greedy self-serving spiders weaving webs of woe for all who oppose their agenda.

I know this post will not cause Koch Industries to change their ways but if more of us point out that these self-proclaimed emperors are wearing no clothes perhaps our government will start to act in a more responsible way.  And hey, you never know, Charles might even start spending.

Divine Error Forgiveness

To err is human; to forgive divine.

Or is it?

On the face of it this should be good news since we, as humans all make mistakes.  But not all mistakes are forgiven lightly nor should they be.

For example mistakes that harm others or considered crimes are rarely if ever forgiven no matter how divine the guilty party feels it would be.  Do the crime – Do the time.

To many, debt forgiveness sounds like a way for people who lived above their means to get away without paying for that which they bought.  They feel it would be a crime if these people were forgiven for living recklessly; buying expensive cars on credit then claiming a hardship that stops them from being able to make the payments.

Obviously the outcome must be payback the debt or lose the car.  But suppose instead of a car it was your home?

In effect loan forgiveness sounds like theft of goods and services after the fact allowing you to live in the home debt free.

But what about the people or institutions that loaned you the money or gave you the credit to buy that stuff in the first place?

If they knew the borrower was incapable of paying back the loan should they be held accountable as accessories to the crime?

After all they created the vehicle for your debt if you will.

When the economy turned and we entered the recent depression these credit givers and debt creators were bailed out by our government!

(Some on the ‘right’ might like to change the name to the GIVErment but that’s another story.)

The money lenders were given tax-payer cash to become whole again.

And our government allowed them to live and prosper debt free by forgiving their evil ways.

But now those evil people and corporations are back using the same tactics that nearly killed our economy again AND demanding the public pay back THEIR debt.

Our debt was paid back by our government with our money!

Look at it this way, say you bought a large screen television but as you were loading it into your car your mother in law paid for the thing.  A month goes by and the store sends you a bill for the entire amount!

You would complain that the TV was paid for and the store would respond, “But not by you!”

This crime reeks of the same double dealing done behind the closed doors of DC all the time and it must stop.

I do not propose that everyone who bought stuff over the last five years be forgiven their debt.  But if the banks, institutions or corporations from whom the people took out student loans or a mortgage on their primary residence were bailed out with public money because the debt turned out to be bad then those loans should be considered paid!

I recently heard someone say that corporations are people my friend.  Well corporations were bailed out without any strings attached so how about making people corporations, my friend?

It’s goose – gander time guys!!!

Of course we would all like to have it both ways but realize that there really is no free lunch.

So why did the bailed out institutions get away scot-free?

Why are the middle class and poor being vilified?

Why do the wealthiest get more tax breaks than the average guy or gal on the street who actually work for a living?

Basically the question is what makes them better than us?

The answer should be a divine – nothing, my friend, not a blessed thing!

Addendum to LIPA Grade of F

Amid all the hardship and heartfelt prayers and good wishes for those who lost so much as a result of Super Storm Sandy sits one remaining fact - 2 full weeks after the storm hundreds of thousands are still without power.  And many will not have it  back by Thanksgiving!
On Long Island where we can boast the highest power rate in the country there are still ONE EIGHTH OF A MILLION CUSTOMERS  WITHOUT POWER!

Seaside Heights Boardwalk
and CUSTOMERS ruined by
Sandy & insulted by LIPA

Understand that 125,000 customers means on average four times that many humans are without heat or electricity since power companies consider the house to be the customer and not the actual family that resides within.
And that is an important distinction because it points to the fact that large corporations such as LIPA (Long Island Power Authority for those lucky enough to NOT know who this is) don't care about people nearly as much as they do about the money they receive from a customer!  And that customer could be a robot as long as it pays the bill.
But here is the key point I must make:
Before during and just after the storm started its massive take down of the entire northeast corridor of America LIPA realized it was in trouble.
They made calls for help from out of State crews which is the right thing to do in an emergency.
BUT!!!!
LIPA's union demanded that the crew members join the union before coming to help.
The particulars to the LIPA demands are in many papers and I will not bother to repeat them here but I provide this link to view them.
I have one question - What would have happened if New York City demanded that all 'First Responders' stop at the border of Manhattan to show their union cards or citizenship cards or any ID card before rushing to the World Trade Center on 911????  These heroes risked and many lost their lives without thinking about anything other than helping those in need.
I am all for unions as we need them to counterbalance the greediest owners of large corporations who use any excuse to squeeze workers for more cash but when self serving stupidity clouds your agenda perhaps you must sit back and agree that you have seen the enemy, AND HE IS YOU!

HOW'M I DOING?

Mayor Ed Koch was famous for walking around the city of New York asking anyone he could stop, "How'm I doing?"

He usually received favorable reviews but occasionally got a more typical New Yorker to tell him a thing or two.

Nobody ever asks that question anymore but after, or rather while the disaster that is Super Storm Sandy still has so many of us in the cold and dark I decided to grade a bunch of people and groups intimately involved in the aftermath.

Let me know what you think.

LIPA:

With full knowledge of an approaching Super Storm the CEO of this now British owned former American utility I like to call LIPASUCTION did nothing to prepare for it.  In fact he even had the nerve to say that LIPA was, "Grossly undermanned" at the time of the storm.

Power outages started Monday night but the storm did not abate enough for clean-up until Wednesday.

But instead of calling in for extra crews many LIPA workers bickered with local tree removal services to determine jurisdiction.

Did someone say, While Rome burned?

Over a half a million customers or maybe 2 million humans were still in the dark for the weekend.  And a cold weekend it was with temperatures dipping below freezing.

All this from a utility company that charges the highest rates in the nation!

I wonder if that CEO had power in his home?

LIPA - GRADE F

Con Ed:

Far more damage was done to the Con Ed infrastructure than its inept cousin on Long Island.  Tunnels and relay stations were flooded under record amounts of water yet that company was able to repair and restart power much faster.

Con Ed will still come under scrutiny for pre-storm preparedness but should not be punished for the effort and results.

CON ED - GRADE C+

AT&T:

Home phone service was of course at the mercy of the power companies but Cell Phones were another story.  Some texts were getting through while most were not.  And if you were silly enough to try to call someone during the furst day or two you were treated to an "Emergency calls only" message.  After a week cell service is still spotty.

But to their credit they did send all customers a text of apology and kept us informed as to progress or the lack thereof.  Something the CEO of that foreign company fron Great Britain never even thought of doing.

AT&T - GRADE C+

Gas Stations:

This group gets a mixed grade.  While many tried to do their est during a tough situation others saw an opportunity to make a fast buck.  At several stations I observed the price jump 30 to 40¢ in one day while lines were as long as half a mile.  I understand that we have a supply and demand economy but gouging is gouging and these criminals should suffer some proper pump pain from the authorities when the smoke clears.  Anyone affected please keep records and let the public know when the power returns.

GAS STATIONS: A FOR THOSE WHO CONTINUED AS USUAL - F FOR THE GOUGERS

State & Local Officials:

These slap happy back slapping phonies spent so much time praising one another at every news conference concerning the storm I nearly threw up! And after telling the public what a great job Joe Blow did and getting the praise right back all they really did was pander and threaten the utility companies with future scrutiny and fines if they don't get the job done.

I realize they could not do everything but I would have rather had them work behind the scenes to get the power companies working and have their subordinates relay any messages of progress to the public.

STATE & LOCAL OFFICIALS - GRADE C-

President Obama:

He seems to have done what he could and exerted pressure where it needed to exerted to make sure we did not have another "Heck of a job Brownie" type situation.  He even received praise from that big New Jersey body in the Governor's office.  I forget his name but I think hje was on the "Sopranos" at some point in the past.

PRESIDENT OBAMA - GRADE A

Romney and his Party:

Using the disaster to vilify the President for a supposed poor response and then asking common folk to open their pockets to help disaster victims because "It's the private sector that must help out their neighbors" he once again shows his hand. This is the man who wants to privatize FEMA and make the States pay for their own clean up.  I wonder what the Governor of Jersey thinks about that.

Of course the useless flip flopping anti-human corporate hack could not do anything to help with the clean up and repair of the north east anyway so I cannot completely fail the jackass.

ROMNEY & HIS PARTY - GRADE D

Fox News:

Seizing on every aspect of the disaster this filth ridden phony news service blamed everything that went wrong during the storm on President Obama.  This sad bunch of American terrorists is, however the only voice listened to by many under educated Americans who believe the Kenyan high school drop-out living in the White House should be deported.

FOX NEWS - F--

Mayor Mike:

Billionaire Bloomberg possibly fearing a failing grade from yours truly finally came to his senses and called off the NYC Marathon a day before it was set to take place.

Having runners jog by devastated neighborhoods with homeless hungry cold New Yorkers was probably not the picture he wanted seen by the world.

And taking Police and generators away from the recovery effort would have been a brainless thing to do as well.

But the Mayor has been visible and on top of the clean-up effort in the city and for that and not claiming he was the greatest as did some silly 9-11 guy a while back gives him a boost in my rating system.

MAYOR MIKE - GRADE B-

Governor Cuomo:

Promising to go after the inept LIPA and their board members after the blackouts are repaired is mere pandering and typical of every politician since time began. But the jury is still out as to whether or not he will do as he promises and perhaps place these criminally negligent morons in jail - preferably on the Green Mile.

GOVERNOR CUOMO - GRADE C+ (Reviewable)

Firemen, Cops, First Responders:

Constantly running against the tide and into harms way to protect and serve and search and rescue these true heroes do a job that boggles the mind. Surely they deserve salaries higher than any idiot useless third baseman for a baseball team!

FIREMEN - COPS - FIRST RESPONDERS - GRADE A++

MTA & LIRR:

Irealize the scope of the disaster made service impossible but once it started and they were able to get one line up and running I wish they had placed more than one train per hour into the city. It would have given many more people a feeling of progress and hope and kept many more off the roads so the inept utility companies could have done more work.

Still they did get service up faster than I thought they would and for that I thank them.

MTA & LIRR - GRADE B-

Regular New Yorkers and others:

I salute all of the volunteers and regular folk who came to the aid of their neighbors.  Anyone who helped someone else is a hero in my estimation.

REGULAR FOLK - GRADE A

And Finally:

Whoever invented Daylight Savings:

Just what we needed - an extra hour to sit in the cold and dark while the power never cam back in the North East!

Thanks guys!!

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS INVENTOR - GRADE F

My Letter to Newsday

Dear Newsday,
I am a 28 year subscriber to Newsday.
I have had many letters published and seen one of my "Expressway" op eds appear in the paper.
I was part of the 1969 remembrance issues and was proud to see my ugly puss in the paper talking about the Amazins of '69.
That is what makes the following so hard to say and do.
I HEREBY CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION TO NEWSDAY!
I would never tell others who to support or vote for but I expect the same in return.  I cannot support Willard Mitt Romney or anyone in the party that ruined America for the middle class and threatens to take us back to the dark ages before science proved awful things such as evolution and global warming - Not just climate change!
Anyone sitting in the dark after yet another record breaking storm waiting for FEMA to help get their ives back knows what a disaster Romney's 'privatize FEMA' stance will be should he get control of our government.
My current salary is half what I was earning before the Bush debacle ruined the World economy and must be frugal with what I have left.
So for this and many other reasons I cannot support the Republican Party of 'NO' and refuse to spend money on a subscription knowing that some of that money is going toward his campaign.
I will miss Newsday but I would miss my freedom more.
Sincerely,

I cannot understand how the Republican candidate is within 30 points of a real, caring President but then many in the country are deluded and terrible misinformed.  The man's policies will take us back to the awful days of the Bush era.

You remember that time, right?  The time when corporations were allowed to run rampant and ruin the world?

But the ill-informed people who sit in front of their televisions or listen to the radio and only hear Fox or Rush are one thing.  How can a supposedly well-informed newspaper be so ffoled as to believe any of Mitt's lies?

And that is why I can no longer read that rag.  I never called it that before but they have shown me the error of my ways.

I'm done with them and I hope all caring intelligent people will join me in dropping them.

The More You Have The Less You Are!

In general it has been my observation that people with less give more of themselves to those in need than those who are well off.
Maybe they are sheltered from the reality of the day to day lives of billions of people who merely wish to live and enjoy their time upon this Earth without worrying that the next guy will steal everything they own.
The average person wants a leader to at least understand how much a quart of milk costs and how the rising cost of gasoline affects their lives.  The average mother or father wants their leaders to understand how important a good education for their children is and that they should not try to hinder that in any way.
And for the most part, without using the terrible word socialism, the average family wants to know that should they need help from their government it will be there for them and not vilify them for needing assistance!
But for some reason the more people make or have or, for that matter steal and hide, the less likely they are to give to the needy.  And that goes for individuals as well as government.
The mentality of these cretins starts to lean toward that of a miserly greedy selfish being who can think of only one thing, amassing a larger fortune and keeping it hidden from the tax man.
But don't think this phenomenon is just an American trait, although we seem to have some who have perfected it and even used it to get themselves in position to be elected President.
No, this is a human, or as some may argue a sub-human trait that transcends physical borders.
This week a tiny article surfaced that did not draw much attention in the States as it did not concern the upcoming election or a useless 'Page Six' celebrity.

What's a few million among friends?

The article is about the former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. 
This 76 year old billionaire - let me repeat that in a slightly different order of words - HE'S A BILLIONAIRE AND HE IS SEVENTY SIX YEARS OLD - was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in jail for the heinous yet rampant crime of TAX FRAUD!
One might ask which came first, the obscene fortune or the scheme to make it by cheating on his taxes.
I posit that it has to be a hybrid of the two but no one can argue that the two do not go hand in hand.
In America we have all kinds of proposals to help our economy and many include an arbitrary income of $250,000 above which taxes should be raised while leaving those with less alone to muddle through their daily lives unscathed.
In that spirit I ask what is the level of income, or theft, or hidden assets, above which one turns to a life of crime.
For surely tax evasion is a crime.
But that crime is multiplied ten fold when the criminal is a career politician and especially when that career criminal politician is running for President on a platform that hinges on his success in business!
This type of ploy is worthy of the highest Chutzpah award!
For those not familiar with the term it emanates from the case of the young man brought to court to face the charge of killing his parents.  He pleads with the judge, "Have mercy your honor, I'm an orphan!"
The wealthiest Americans are using a small, to them, portion of their wealth to keep or place the most friendly, wink wink say no more politicians into office.
These soon to be bought and paid for political puppets will continue to allow the wealthy owners of government free rein as they seek out more and more lucrative tax shelters and tax havens and tax friendly countries in which they can park their money far from the reach of the IRS.

The Bain Brain will prove a to be a drain
on society and the bane of every
American's existence!

One need only look at the "legal" way Mr. Willard Mitt Romney has amassed a fortune most humans can only dream of and yet pay a lower tax rate than the writer of this blog or 98% of America!
And the fact that he is close in the polls and could even win the Presidency without once setting forth an agenda for our future but constantly spewing lies about his past is enough to make any normal human sick.
When Italy has finally said enough and is throwing their long time criminal in jail please don't tell me that America is about to hand theirs the keys to the kingdom!!!