Arkansas City will not be the focus now, but we can still talk about the town. For now the blog is a blog in search of an identity. Considering what the new niche will be.
WARREN: The coarsening of our culture and the loss of civility in our civilization is one of the things that concerns me most about our nation. We don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable. The fact is, you can - you can walk hand-in-hand without seeing eye-to-eye. And what we need in our country is unity, not uniformity.
"Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger than lies," Benedict, wearing white robes in a symbol of new life, told the faithful in a packed St. Peter's Basilica.
He added that Greek society was built on cheating and scheming, saying “everyone does it” but that voters elsewhere in the euro zone were now calling Greece to account.
“The basic question is that a German has to increase working from 65 to 67 and that is to pay for Greeks retiring at 50. The 17th of June is the perfect opportunity to say either 'we’ll behave' or 'we’ll carry on cheating,'" he said.
If the root causes of income inequality go unaddressed, America will truly become a two-class society and look much more like a third world economy, Stiglitz warns. "People will live in gated communities with armed guards. It's a ugly picture. There will be political, social and economic turmoil."
The good news is Stiglitz believes this "nightmare we're slowly marching toward" can be avoided, citing Brazil's experience since the early 1990s as an example of a country that has reduced income inequality. Among other things, he recommends improving education and nutrition for those at the bottom of society, and eliminating "corporate welfare" and other policies which "create wealth but not economic growth."
Importantly, Stiglitz believes inequality of wealth and opportunity are hurting the overall economy, by limiting competition, promoting cronyism and keeping those at the bottom from reaching their potential.
"What I want is a more dynamic economy and a fairer society," he says, suggesting income inequality is ultimately detrimental to those at the top, too. "My point is we've created an economy that is not in accord with the principles of the free market."
"It's a matter of life and death for us," said Persefoni Mitta, head of the Cancer Patients' Association, recounting the dozens of calls she gets a day from Greeks needing pricey, hard-to-find cancer drugs. "Why are they depriving us of life?"
Greece, a member of the euro zone that groups some of the richest nations on earth, has descended so far that drugmakers are even working on emergency plans to keep medicines flowing into the country should it crash out of the currency bloc.
The emergency has grown out of a tangle of unpaid bills, with pharmacists and doctors complaining of being unable to pay suppliers until competing health insurers clear a growing backlog of unfilled state payments.
Greece imports nearly all its medicines and relies heavily on patented rather than cheaper generic drugs, making it vulnerable to a funding squeeze that would grow sharply worse if it were forced out of the euro after elections on Sunday.
Long queues have been forming outside a handful of pharmacies that still provide medication on credit - the rest are demanding cash upfront until the government pays up a subsidy backlog of 762 million euros, or nearly $1 billion.
"We're not talking about painkillers here - we've learned to live with physical pain - we need drugs to keep us alive," Mitta, a petite former marathon runner and herself a cancer survivor, said in a voice shaky with emotion.
Greeks have long had to give medical staff cash "gifts" to ensure good treatment. Nevertheless the health system was considered "relatively efficient" before the crisis despite a variety of problems including a fragmented organisation and excess bureaucracy, according to a 2009 report for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
But it has been unable to respond to the growing crisis. The European Union and International Monetary Fund, which provided a 130 billion euro lifeline to Greece in March, have demanded big cuts to the system as part of a wider package of austerity measures.
But powerful medical lobbies and unions have resisted fiercely. Caretaker Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos, in office until a new government is formed after the elections, has pleaded for a solution but been powerless to force a change.
"It is imperative that this matter is resolved immediately in order to prevent putting people's lives at risk," Pikrammenos said last week.
Revelation: 18 14-17
14"They will say, "The fruits you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered. 15The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand off a far, terrified at her tourment. They will weep and mourn 16and cry out.
"Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! 17In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!"
Note: There is a raging debate about austerity in the US. Fellows like Paul Krugman have been leading the battle for a much bigger role of the government. What the Keynesians fail to understand is that governments are imbeciles about spending money.
But as if all these reasons still weren’t good enough, George Dorgan—a portfolio manager based in Switzerland—has put his finger on another powerful reason:
The first full-blown bailout Germany undertook, namely the integration of East Germany (only 17 million people), caused the German debt to nearly triple from €430 billion in 1989 to €1,200 billion in 1999, a decade during which even the US managed to reduce its debt for a couple of years. Germany greatly underestimated the integration costs. It led the country into a long phase of slow growth till 2006; and still now the west pays subsidies to the east. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus, and Greece might be better developed than the former communist GDR. But they count over 100 million people and might need even more time to adjust than the 20 years the former Eastern Germans needed.
Merkel hails from former East Germany and experienced firsthand how difficult the adjustment has been for East Germans—and how expensive for West Germans. Reunification wasn’t only funded by debt that will be around for generations, but also by a special income tax, the Solidaritätszuschlag—lovingly called Soli—introduced in 1991. And it’s still around as well. As George points out, the entire period until 2006 was tough on Germany—by then “the sick man of Europe.” This is what it took to bail out a country of 17 million people, raise the standard of living, and make its industries competitive in a globalized economy.
Bailing out in this manner the growing stable of Eurozone countries will be beyond the feasible. As with East Germany, costs will be underestimated, but will then balloon for years or decades. Merkel knows that. Hence her limits on how far Germany would be willing to go.
*Here's the real mindblower: The U.S. government spends more money per citizen covering a minority of its population than most European governments spend covering their entire populations.
*Like many other observers, I look at the U.S. health care system and see an administrative monstrosity, a truly bizarre melange of thousands of payers with payment systems that differ for no socially beneficial reason, as well as staggeringly complex public systems with mindboggling administered prices and other rules expressing distinctions that can only be regarded as weird.
*U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing.
*Yes, the ER will see you if you're in dire need. But by then illness can have developed into a more complicated -- and expensive -- ordeal. Or to the point where it's too late.
A 2009 study by a group of Harvard researchers published in the American Journal of Public Health reviewed a public health survey of 9,000 people in the 1980s. Following up in 2000 showed about 3% of the survey group had died. Even after controlling for age, income, weight, education, employment, tobacco and alcohol use, and physician-rated overall health, the researchers found those without insurance had a mortality rate 40% higher than those who did.
Why is complex. There isn't one single reason. But a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides key insight: The uninsured are three times more likely to claim problems getting needed care than those who have insurance. "Over 40% [of uninsured] do not have a regular place to go when they are sick or need medical advice, compared to just 9% of those with coverage," the report wrote. And that was in 2006, before the financial crisis. It's almost certainly higher today.
All of these issues are complicated and can't be given enough attention in one article. But we know the system is broken. We also know, for the most part, what works and what doesn't. Many aren't in favor of current reforms, but no one should be in favor of the status quo.
http://news.yahoo.com/rick-warren-coarsening-culture-concerns-231008674--abc-news-politics.html
ReplyDeleteWARREN: The coarsening of our culture and the loss of civility in our civilization is one of the things that concerns me most about our nation. We don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable. The fact is, you can - you can walk hand-in-hand without seeing eye-to-eye. And what we need in our country is unity, not uniformity.
http://news.yahoo.com/pope-holds-easter-candle-basilica-vigil-200034985.html
"Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger than lies," Benedict, wearing white robes in a symbol of new life, told the faithful in a packed St. Peter's Basilica.
http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-set-hear-challenge-arizonas-immigration-law-100124568--abc-news-politics.html
ReplyDelete"It costs us about 1.6 billion dollars a year in health care, incarceration and education," Brewer said. "It's out of control."
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/smallbusiness/1204/gallery.employees/?iid=HP_River
ReplyDeleteHe added that Greek society was built on cheating and scheming, saying “everyone does it” but that voters elsewhere in the euro zone were now calling Greece to account.
ReplyDelete“The basic question is that a German has to increase working from 65 to 67 and that is to pay for Greeks retiring at 50. The 17th of June is the perfect opportunity to say either 'we’ll behave' or 'we’ll carry on cheating,'" he said.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-will-leave-europe-on-june-18-2012-5#ixzz1wG4uuWU8
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/american-dream-myth-joseph-stiglitz-price-inequality-124338674.html
ReplyDeleteIf the root causes of income inequality go unaddressed, America will truly become a two-class society and look much more like a third world economy, Stiglitz warns. "People will live in gated communities with armed guards. It's a ugly picture. There will be political, social and economic turmoil."
The good news is Stiglitz believes this "nightmare we're slowly marching toward" can be avoided, citing Brazil's experience since the early 1990s as an example of a country that has reduced income inequality. Among other things, he recommends improving education and nutrition for those at the bottom of society, and eliminating "corporate welfare" and other policies which "create wealth but not economic growth."
Importantly, Stiglitz believes inequality of wealth and opportunity are hurting the overall economy, by limiting competition, promoting cronyism and keeping those at the bottom from reaching their potential.
"What I want is a more dynamic economy and a fairer society," he says, suggesting income inequality is ultimately detrimental to those at the top, too. "My point is we've created an economy that is not in accord with the principles of the free market."
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/19/news/economy/states_pension_gap/index.htm?iid=HP_LN
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/greece-health-idUSL5E8HBEL920120614
ReplyDeleteFrom that article:
"It's a matter of life and death for us," said Persefoni Mitta, head of the Cancer Patients' Association, recounting the dozens of calls she gets a day from Greeks needing pricey, hard-to-find cancer drugs. "Why are they depriving us of life?"
Greece, a member of the euro zone that groups some of the richest nations on earth, has descended so far that drugmakers are even working on emergency plans to keep medicines flowing into the country should it crash out of the currency bloc.
The emergency has grown out of a tangle of unpaid bills, with pharmacists and doctors complaining of being unable to pay suppliers until competing health insurers clear a growing backlog of unfilled state payments.
Greece imports nearly all its medicines and relies heavily on patented rather than cheaper generic drugs, making it vulnerable to a funding squeeze that would grow sharply worse if it were forced out of the euro after elections on Sunday.
Long queues have been forming outside a handful of pharmacies that still provide medication on credit - the rest are demanding cash upfront until the government pays up a subsidy backlog of 762 million euros, or nearly $1 billion.
"We're not talking about painkillers here - we've learned to live with physical pain - we need drugs to keep us alive," Mitta, a petite former marathon runner and herself a cancer survivor, said in a voice shaky with emotion.
Greeks have long had to give medical staff cash "gifts" to ensure good treatment. Nevertheless the health system was considered "relatively efficient" before the crisis despite a variety of problems including a fragmented organisation and excess bureaucracy, according to a 2009 report for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
But it has been unable to respond to the growing crisis. The European Union and International Monetary Fund, which provided a 130 billion euro lifeline to Greece in March, have demanded big cuts to the system as part of a wider package of austerity measures.
But powerful medical lobbies and unions have resisted fiercely. Caretaker Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos, in office until a new government is formed after the elections, has pleaded for a solution but been powerless to force a change.
"It is imperative that this matter is resolved immediately in order to prevent putting people's lives at risk," Pikrammenos said last week.
Revelation: 18 14-17
14"They will say, "The fruits you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered. 15The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand off a far, terrified at her tourment. They will weep and mourn 16and cry out.
"Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and
scarlet, and glittering with
gold, precious stones and pearls!
17In one hour such great wealth has
been brought to ruin!"
***Welcome to a world without
GOD!
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-the-growth-of-the-60-age-group-as-a-percentage-of-total-us-population-1990-2030-2012-6
ReplyDeleteAlmost 25% by 2030!!
http://www.businessinsider.com/fha-broke-its-own-rules-by-loaning-14-billion-to-risky-tax-debtors-2012-6
ReplyDeleteNote:
There is a raging debate about austerity in the US. Fellows like Paul Krugman have been leading the battle for a much bigger role of the government. What the Keynesians fail to understand is that governments are imbeciles about spending money.
Read more: http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2012/06/another-stinker-for-obama.html#ixzz1z5lPOwFo
But as if all these reasons still weren’t good enough, George Dorgan—a portfolio manager based in Switzerland—has put his finger on another powerful reason:
ReplyDeleteThe first full-blown bailout Germany undertook, namely the integration of East Germany (only 17 million people), caused the German debt to nearly triple from €430 billion in 1989 to €1,200 billion in 1999, a decade during which even the US managed to reduce its debt for a couple of years. Germany greatly underestimated the integration costs. It led the country into a long phase of slow growth till 2006; and still now the west pays subsidies to the east. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus, and Greece might be better developed than the former communist GDR. But they count over 100 million people and might need even more time to adjust than the 20 years the former Eastern Germans needed.
Merkel hails from former East Germany and experienced firsthand how difficult the adjustment has been for East Germans—and how expensive for West Germans. Reunification wasn’t only funded by debt that will be around for generations, but also by a special income tax, the Solidaritätszuschlag—lovingly called Soli—introduced in 1991. And it’s still around as well. As George points out, the entire period until 2006 was tough on Germany—by then “the sick man of Europe.” This is what it took to bail out a country of 17 million people, raise the standard of living, and make its industries competitive in a globalized economy.
Bailing out in this manner the growing stable of Eurozone countries will be beyond the feasible. As with East Germany, costs will be underestimated, but will then balloon for years or decades. Merkel knows that. Hence her limits on how far Germany would be willing to go.
Read more: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/6/28/the-long-memory-of-the-sick-man-of-europe.html#ixzz1zBcT4Egk
http://www.businessinsider.com/ben-bernanke-is-bankrupting-the-social-security-trust-fund-2012-7
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/07/06/3-health-care-misconceptions-that-never-die-.aspx?source=ihpsitth0000003
ReplyDeleteFrom that article:
*Here's the real mindblower: The U.S. government spends more money per citizen covering a minority of its population than most European governments spend covering their entire populations.
*Like many other observers, I look at the U.S. health care system and see an administrative monstrosity, a truly bizarre melange of thousands of payers with payment systems that differ for no socially beneficial reason, as well as staggeringly complex public systems with mindboggling administered prices and other rules expressing distinctions that can only be regarded as weird.
*U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing.
*Yes, the ER will see you if you're in dire need. But by then illness can have developed into a more complicated -- and expensive -- ordeal. Or to the point where it's too late.
A 2009 study by a group of Harvard researchers published in the American Journal of Public Health reviewed a public health survey of 9,000 people in the 1980s. Following up in 2000 showed about 3% of the survey group had died. Even after controlling for age, income, weight, education, employment, tobacco and alcohol use, and physician-rated overall health, the researchers found those without insurance had a mortality rate 40% higher than those who did.
Why is complex. There isn't one single reason. But a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides key insight: The uninsured are three times more likely to claim problems getting needed care than those who have insurance. "Over 40% [of uninsured] do not have a regular place to go when they are sick or need medical advice, compared to just 9% of those with coverage," the report wrote. And that was in 2006, before the financial crisis. It's almost certainly higher today.
All of these issues are complicated and can't be given enough attention in one article. But we know the system is broken. We also know, for the most part, what works and what doesn't. Many aren't in favor of current reforms, but no one should be in favor of the status quo.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-poverty-track-rise-highest-since-1960s-112946547--finance.html
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/mormon-black-tension-romney-naacp-standing-ovation-2012-7
ReplyDelete