Chrysler paid....
- Thread starter Charlie Zureki
- Start date
Re: Chrysler paid....
About the only "investment" I see in owning your own home is that it fixes your housing costs (mostly). This is provided that local property and school taxes do not go up exhorbantly and that you were able to get a fixed rate mortgage. Other than that, homes are mainly money pits if you keep up on the maintenance. Provided home prices rise steadily over time, you may get back out what you put into a home if you keep it for tens of years. Moving around a lot makes this very hard to do.
If nothing else is true, one axiom that seems to rule all is that in the name of security no expense will be spared. Or at least, in the name of security theater. I think most of these "policing" organizations do nothing but infringe on our rights to go about the country and live our day to day lives. Some of them are caught up in the task of doing big businesses' dirty work such as copyright infringement *cough* FBI *cough*. Some how along the way copyright infringements got turned into "violations" and changed from common law torts to federal crimes. All because someone lobbied Congress to do so. Getting back on topic, everyone in this country thinks that they have an unalienable right to be 100% secure. The truth is, we don't. The US Constitution provides that Congress provide for defense and general welfare, but IMO, the Fourth Amendment trumps any attempt to "predict" or prevent crime if it involves infringing on my rights. If you want to be secure in your person and belongings, see the Second Amendment.
Think about this... it's a felony (in some cases) to infringe on someones copyright but it's NOT a felony for a government official to circumvent someones right granted by the Fourth.
I'm not a fan of the National Health care plan. However, health care and all that goes along with it (medication, insurance, hospitalization, etc.) is a really hard problem. What no one seems to realize is that we all pretty much pay for the uninsured now in the form of higher costs. Federal law prohibits doctors and hospitals from refusing care, so to cover the cost, the health care providers just raise prices, which in turn results in higher insurance premiums for the rest of us.
Either we need to give priviate businesses (hospitals, doctors offices, etc.) the right to refuse care or we need a single payer system. I don't like either choice really (the compassionite side of me hates the former, the libertarian side of me hates the latter) but the current system is costly and is not the best in the world (as it once was).
However, like it or not, the rest of society bears the costs associated with supporting those that can't (or won't) support themselves regardless if the support is codified or if we just turn a blind eye to the situation. The sooner we realize that (on some topics) the faster we can make the system more efficient and less costly for the rest of us. Part of me still says that if you don't plan or save for your own health care and well being, it's no one's fault but your own. But if we all planned for the worst situation, I don't think even 5% of us could afford to save up that much money.
Not to get all moral majority on anyone here, but part of me strongly believes that our society is just broken. Most of what makes "good people" is their upbringing. Don't miscontrue this to mean that I support any one religion over another, or any religion at all for that matter. But family life just isn't what it used to be and people do not learn a sense of responsibility or self-support on their own. Left to fend for oneself, the only lesson learned is survival. Often, survival skills largely rely on taking advatage of others and/or a current situation or opportunity. If you are hungry, in the forest, with your only goal being to make it tomorrow, the last thing you are gonna think about is property rights. You are gonna kill whatever looks tasty using whatever tools or resources you can find. Society, family life, and community strips these primal urges or at a minimum hones them into useful things like drive, ambition, and work ethic. We all benefit from one another when these skills are used to their fullest. Of the three things I mentioned at the begining of the last sentence, I believe two are nearly extinct and the third (society) isn't on solid footing. In the face of this situation, greed, malice, and survivalism with begin to take root.
I'm not sure any local, state, or federal government can fix this. It's up to those of us that are adults to teach the next generation properly.
About the only "investment" I see in owning your own home is that it fixes your housing costs (mostly). This is provided that local property and school taxes do not go up exhorbantly and that you were able to get a fixed rate mortgage. Other than that, homes are mainly money pits if you keep up on the maintenance. Provided home prices rise steadily over time, you may get back out what you put into a home if you keep it for tens of years. Moving around a lot makes this very hard to do.
If nothing else is true, one axiom that seems to rule all is that in the name of security no expense will be spared. Or at least, in the name of security theater. I think most of these "policing" organizations do nothing but infringe on our rights to go about the country and live our day to day lives. Some of them are caught up in the task of doing big businesses' dirty work such as copyright infringement *cough* FBI *cough*. Some how along the way copyright infringements got turned into "violations" and changed from common law torts to federal crimes. All because someone lobbied Congress to do so. Getting back on topic, everyone in this country thinks that they have an unalienable right to be 100% secure. The truth is, we don't. The US Constitution provides that Congress provide for defense and general welfare, but IMO, the Fourth Amendment trumps any attempt to "predict" or prevent crime if it involves infringing on my rights. If you want to be secure in your person and belongings, see the Second Amendment.
Think about this... it's a felony (in some cases) to infringe on someones copyright but it's NOT a felony for a government official to circumvent someones right granted by the Fourth.
I'm not a fan of the National Health care plan. However, health care and all that goes along with it (medication, insurance, hospitalization, etc.) is a really hard problem. What no one seems to realize is that we all pretty much pay for the uninsured now in the form of higher costs. Federal law prohibits doctors and hospitals from refusing care, so to cover the cost, the health care providers just raise prices, which in turn results in higher insurance premiums for the rest of us.
Either we need to give priviate businesses (hospitals, doctors offices, etc.) the right to refuse care or we need a single payer system. I don't like either choice really (the compassionite side of me hates the former, the libertarian side of me hates the latter) but the current system is costly and is not the best in the world (as it once was).
However, like it or not, the rest of society bears the costs associated with supporting those that can't (or won't) support themselves regardless if the support is codified or if we just turn a blind eye to the situation. The sooner we realize that (on some topics) the faster we can make the system more efficient and less costly for the rest of us. Part of me still says that if you don't plan or save for your own health care and well being, it's no one's fault but your own. But if we all planned for the worst situation, I don't think even 5% of us could afford to save up that much money.
Not to get all moral majority on anyone here, but part of me strongly believes that our society is just broken. Most of what makes "good people" is their upbringing. Don't miscontrue this to mean that I support any one religion over another, or any religion at all for that matter. But family life just isn't what it used to be and people do not learn a sense of responsibility or self-support on their own. Left to fend for oneself, the only lesson learned is survival. Often, survival skills largely rely on taking advatage of others and/or a current situation or opportunity. If you are hungry, in the forest, with your only goal being to make it tomorrow, the last thing you are gonna think about is property rights. You are gonna kill whatever looks tasty using whatever tools or resources you can find. Society, family life, and community strips these primal urges or at a minimum hones them into useful things like drive, ambition, and work ethic. We all benefit from one another when these skills are used to their fullest. Of the three things I mentioned at the begining of the last sentence, I believe two are nearly extinct and the third (society) isn't on solid footing. In the face of this situation, greed, malice, and survivalism with begin to take root.
I'm not sure any local, state, or federal government can fix this. It's up to those of us that are adults to teach the next generation properly.
Re: Chrysler paid....
I understand that Homeland Security also investigates copyright violations and immediately intervenes in the case of pirated streaming video. There's a Firefox extension that finds the replacement streams and Homeland inSecurity is trying to make them remove it from their list of extensions.
While I think copyright works need to be protected and enforced, why Homeland inSecurity? The answer is, they're who has the ability to reach out to ISPs and backbone providers and shut down a domain, either at the source or by not routing it's traffic... and this probably extends to entire networks and subnets as well. Think about that for a second.
I understand that Homeland Security also investigates copyright violations and immediately intervenes in the case of pirated streaming video. There's a Firefox extension that finds the replacement streams and Homeland inSecurity is trying to make them remove it from their list of extensions.
While I think copyright works need to be protected and enforced, why Homeland inSecurity? The answer is, they're who has the ability to reach out to ISPs and backbone providers and shut down a domain, either at the source or by not routing it's traffic... and this probably extends to entire networks and subnets as well. Think about that for a second.
Re: Chrysler paid....
The insurance companies negotiate preferential rates with hospitals and providers so it's the sorry pukes like me who choose to go without insurance who really get raped if and when we try to buy some services.
I got a MRI a few years ago and I estimate I paid 4-5x what it would have cost, had I travelled to different state where there was still some competition (based on looking at advertised rates on the internet). Surely the insurance company doesn't pay what I paid.
We already have the worst of single payer, with insurance companies taking the patient out of most pricing decisions with drug companies blunting the few that are still present (prescription costs). We should probably make it harder for drug companies to pay down the patient's share of any prescription co-pays, as that blunts the insurance company attempts to inject some market pricing discipline into those patient decisions.
We have a classic resources distribution issue.. Historically free markets are the fairest and most efficient way to allocate limited resources. We do not have a free market now, and the government operating it as a non-proft does not mean they will be more efficient than the for-proft insurance companies. just look at the difference between UPS, FEDEX, and the post office, (Note the post office lost $8.5B last year).
Private companies that self insure can purchase insurance for extraordinary events/years. Consumers don't have as many options.
I am not optimistic that the government left to their own devices can fix anything..we need to continue the recent adjustments, but we can only fire 1/3rd of them every two years. There is more work left undone.
“That government is best which governs least;” Thoreau
JR
Bzzt... It's actually worse than that...
The insurance companies negotiate preferential rates with hospitals and providers so it's the sorry pukes like me who choose to go without insurance who really get raped if and when we try to buy some services.
I got a MRI a few years ago and I estimate I paid 4-5x what it would have cost, had I travelled to different state where there was still some competition (based on looking at advertised rates on the internet). Surely the insurance company doesn't pay what I paid.
The entire world has been hit by a similar demographic (aging population), and new mitigations against late life afflictions, that wildly increase health care costs. The socialized health care in other countries are under similar cost pressures, resulting in cut backs in services and different strategies to ration care. It's like that old joke about the eggs costing more if they actually had them... We can get you free healthcare you just need to get on this list and wait.
We already have the worst of single payer, with insurance companies taking the patient out of most pricing decisions with drug companies blunting the few that are still present (prescription costs). We should probably make it harder for drug companies to pay down the patient's share of any prescription co-pays, as that blunts the insurance company attempts to inject some market pricing discipline into those patient decisions.
We have a classic resources distribution issue.. Historically free markets are the fairest and most efficient way to allocate limited resources. We do not have a free market now, and the government operating it as a non-proft does not mean they will be more efficient than the for-proft insurance companies. just look at the difference between UPS, FEDEX, and the post office, (Note the post office lost $8.5B last year).
Health care insurance should be just like car insurance... If we have some extraordinary health event, the insurance kicks in, but routine sniffles and the like should be paid for out of pocket Millions of patients actually buying their own healthcare per event would create a competitive marketplace response.
Private companies that self insure can purchase insurance for extraordinary events/years. Consumers don't have as many options.
I am not optimistic that the government left to their own devices can fix anything..we need to continue the recent adjustments, but we can only fire 1/3rd of them every two years. There is more work left undone.
“That government is best which governs least;” Thoreau
JR