From Yahoo Politics.
"Many pay far less for health care than they would on premiums, and doubt that insurance would even cover them if they needed it."
...
"Many people who go without coverage have found that health care providers often will cut the price of a procedure if they know they'll be paid in cash rather than through insurance."
I myself have found this to be true. In a year without coverage, my doctor was all-too-eager to give me free drug samples when I could have paid for my own prescription. She never asked me--she just thrust packets into my hand and assumed couldn't afford it.
...
"If you pay with cash, they do give you a discount — it's the big secret of not having insurance," Jepson, 35, said."
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Fructose Boosts Blood Pressure
From HealthDay News. Now you see the need for a soda tax? This includes the high fructose corn syrup that's become "the biggest polluter" (in my opinion) of our food system.
Can you believe I actually found this stuff in a jar of DILL PICKLES? It's almost everywhere--mayonnaise, ketchup, sodas, salad dressings, you name it. I'm glad I read labels.
Can you believe I actually found this stuff in a jar of DILL PICKLES? It's almost everywhere--mayonnaise, ketchup, sodas, salad dressings, you name it. I'm glad I read labels.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Cost Savings Add to Value of Preventing Chronic Disease
From Yahoo Health. And they say preventative medicine wouldn't save ANY money!
"Preventing obesity would save $7,168; preventing high blood pressure would save $13,702; and preventing diabetes would save $34,483. However, the lifetime medical costs for a person who quits smoking would be $15,959 higher, the researchers noted in the news release.
"Our data indicate that primary prevention could improve the health and longevity of future cohorts of elderly persons in the United States at a relatively low cost," the researchers concluded."
See? Do I have the answer to the public option, or what?
"Preventing obesity would save $7,168; preventing high blood pressure would save $13,702; and preventing diabetes would save $34,483. However, the lifetime medical costs for a person who quits smoking would be $15,959 higher, the researchers noted in the news release.
"Our data indicate that primary prevention could improve the health and longevity of future cohorts of elderly persons in the United States at a relatively low cost," the researchers concluded."
See? Do I have the answer to the public option, or what?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Welcome to the Cavalcade of Risk #88--The "I Went for a Cholesterol Check This Morning, and All I Got Was This Lousy Band-Aid" Edition
As I promised in the comments section of the last Carnival, I'm getting on my soapbox and letting loose on the whole health care reform debate...nay, tragedy. It's a tragedy we even have to HAVE this debate, but I digress...
Affordable Health Care Begins at Home
I’m absolutely sick to death about the amount of whining that goes on about unaffordable health care, and I’m absolutely sick to death with our government’s proposed best efforts to handle this issue—always employing the “Let’s throw money and political power at the problem!” approach without even once considering the consequences (intentional or not), or what the effects of such decisions would look like years later.
Just like the obesity battle begins with the shopping cart, the battle for affordable health care begins at home, continues with the shopping cart, returns home, and maybe ends up at a hospital when all else fails. But the hospital should never be the starting point.
In order to see who should provide you with health care, go in your bathroom and stand in front of your sink. Now look up in the mirror. That’s right—it’s YOU. While you’re in there, wash your hands with hot water and soap—we don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
Okay—now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who your health care provider is, and taken the first step in providing disease prevention for yourself (by washing your hands), go out to your kitchen and stand in front of THAT sink. To your left, right, down below, and/or maybe overhead, there should be some cabinets with food items in them—reach over and pull out an item (can, jar, or box), turn it around until you see the nutrition label on the back.
If you’re suffering from hypertension, salt is your enemy, and it comes in two forms: table salt for shakers, and hidden sodium for food preservation. The government tells us that 140 grams of sodium per serving counts as “low sodium”—how much sodium does that item you just grabbed contain? If it’s more than 140 mg. per serving, you’re contributing to your own hypertension without even using a salt shaker!
Now, if you happen to be a diabetic, check that same item for the “sugars” content and high fructose corn syrup. Any good dietitian will tell you that you should avoid high fructose corn syrup, and consume no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving PER DAY—how much sugar is in your chosen item? If it’s more than 6 grams per serving, you’re contributing to your diabetes without ever having touched the sugar canister!
You can go through your entire food collection and survey the damage you’re doing to yourself by eating this salt-and-sugar-laden food.
Congratulations—you’ve just completed Step 2 of a long road to illness prevention and providing yourself with health care reform: becoming aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat. Now you have two choices: either consume it and replace it with more healthful selections, or give it to a food bank and replace it with more healthful selections. Maybe now you’ll take the step of actually READING the labels while you’re still inside the grocery store! Now go wash your hands again.
All done? Okay, now let’s go to the computer and get on Google. Enter “foods with lowest sodium and sugar” in the search bar, and see what comes up—it’s likely to be fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy. Your next stop should be the grocery store, so go wash the computer cooties off your hands (you don’t know who else has been there), get your keys and checkbook, and I’ll meet you at the car. Meanwhile, you have just completed Step 3 on the road to better health and self-reform: becoming knowledgeable about healthful and more nutritious foods…now let’s go get some! Don’t hesitate to repeat this step as needed.
While you’re in the store, why not go over to the pharmacy area and peruse the smoking cessation products (if you smoke)? Stopping smoking is Step 4 of the Health Care Self-Reform project. Decide to quit and get some today.
Now that you’ve been to the store and presumably loaded up on (or at least brought home) some more healthful foods, and maybe some smoking cessation products, let’s head over to the hardware store in search of a faucet filter for your kitchen—you need to drink and make drinks with clean water, and some cities don’t do a good job of filtering the water (or maybe you’re on a well). Cutting down on water-borne contaminants does a wonder for your insides, as well as helping you complete Step 5 of your project.
With the new food, faucet filter, and maybe some smoking cessation aids, you head home…to install your new filter, and to wash your hands again. After taking these very important steps, you settle into a new food routine with your new-found nutrition knowledge. Later, you begin to wonder about fat, so you look up “good fats” in your search engine, check your cupboards and clean out the bad fats, then make notes for the next shopping trip. Mark off Step 6 and go wash your hands.
After eating your new food, and being on your new regimen for awhile, you notice some things: you have more energy, you probably lost a little weight, your skin may be clearer, your hair may be softer, and you haven’t been hampered by colds, sniffles, and sneezes like you used to. Not only that, but your family is improving as well—they, too, seem healthier, more energetic, and better behaved.
Perhaps by this time, you’ve directed your new energy toward your job duties, and your new vigor has earned you a raise, a promotion, or maybe you found a new job with benefits—now’s the time to take Step 7: go to a doctor or clinic (even a freebie clinic will do) to get your blood and urine analyzed (a CBC and urinalysis). Get a blood pressure check while there, and you’ll probably notice it isn’t as high as it used to be. Your blood test will likely also show normal-range blood sugar, but it’s the cholesterol and uric acid numbers we’re after. If the cholesterol’s high or out of line, keep eating in your new way, but increase your fiber. If you have a family history of gout or osteoporosis, increase your calcium. Other than that, keep eating those fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to get copies of the blood and urine test results—you’ll need them for Step 8.
As you earn and save more money, your next step is to locate a dietitian to look over your test results—he or she will then instruct you how to improve your eating so your test results will improve. Basically, it’s help in refining your eating—what to eat MORE of, and what to avoid. Once this is done, you can wash your hands and mark off Step 8.
Step 9 would be to consult with a doctor about any needed immunizations for you and/or your family—these should be kept current. At this point, you might be thinking that you feel so good, and your family’s doing so well, that you won’t be sick ever again. The same cannot be said for people around you, people you work with, people at your kids’ school, your spouse’s co-workers, customers, relatives, etc.—they all get exposed to others who may carry a communicable disease, and let’s face it, not everyone is on your new disease-prevention regimen. So far, it’s looking like H1N1 doesn’t really care what anybody eats, so get immunized and stay current if you can afford it. Wash those hands.
If you can afford it (or eventually get coverage), do seek out the usual annual stuff: physicals, mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, CBC and urinalysis, and whatever else you or your family may need in the way of preventative care—this is Step 10. Whatever you do, don’t stop with Steps 1-9 on the way to 10, because you aren’t done yet!
If you’ve managed to come this far, you’ve reached the Bonus Round—hidden benefits to your eyes and teeth. All the good eating you’ve been doing has also worked on you (and your family’s) eyes and teeth too, making them healthier, easier, and cheaper to maintain—a slowing of vision degradation, and a slowing and even reversal of tooth decay and/or gum disease problems.
Now that you—emphasis on YOU—have learned how to take better care of yourself and others, do you still feel you need the oppressive hand of government (not to mention unwilling taxpayers) to provide you with something you provide for yourself, starting in the bathroom mirror? Affordable health care really DOES begin at home!
______________________________________________________
Now that this mere housewife is through blanket e-mailing Congress, blanket e-mailing websites, magazines, and newspapers, trying to figure out a safe way to get on her roof and scream it with a bullhorn, thinking about resorting to grafitti...and lecturing YOU, on to the ACTUAL carnival:
LIFE
Tom at Canadian Finance Blog sends us this trap alert with Insurance You Can Do Without--Cancer Insurance. On the article page, there are other types of insurance you can do without, such as mortgage life.
Russell Hutchinson at Chatwoods Consulting says that language is EVERYTHING, and your life may very well depend on it--he offers Language Counts--How Insurance Forms Could Be Improved.
Jaan Sidorov at Disease Care Management Blog learned a few lessons from LifeMasters, and warns us that "Disease management involves using nurses to counsel patients on how to better care for themselves. There are several companies that provide this service to health insurers, including one named ‘LifeMasters.’ That company got caught up in a Medicare Pilot called ‘Medicare Health Support’ that involved putting their fees at risk. That star crossed foray led to Chapter 11. In this post, physician Jaan Sidorov places much of the blame on a fickle Federal government and overly optimistic actuarial projections. He cautions other new fangled health services providers to think long and hard about the perils of doing risk-based business with the government."
LifeMasters--sounds like some sort of black leather-clad society of nurse-dominatrices. "Get that cholesterol down or I'll bullwhip you!" I'd like to position a bullwhipping dominatrix-nurse "life master" outside of every fast food joint...right at the drive-thru lane. What the hell--how about INSIDE every fast food joint as well?
Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents asks How Much Term Life Insurance Do You Need to Buy?
I've always been told you need enough life insurance to cover all living expenses for at least three years, because usually the surviving spouse gets re-married within that time. Not only am I wrong, but I myself am woefully under-insured. Check this one out!
HEALTH
Louise, a Colorado Health Insurance Insider (along with Jay Norris) wants us to know why mandatory health insurance makes sense. "... no matter how careful we are, we never really know what is around the bend when it comes to our health. Accidents can happen to even the healthiest people. Freak illnesses can strike otherwise healthy people. And when these situations arise for people who are uninsured, the cost is eventually borne by those who have health insurance." (link fixed, Jay)
Well, okay...I concede that maybe a high-deductible plan would be prudent for those situations, but I'm vehemently opposed to taxpayer-funded "drop of the hat" insurance for every sniffle and cough, or every drug-seeker, or every disease that could be managed or eliminated with a simple improved diet, which is what the Public Option would end up creating.
Jason Shafrin, our resident Health Care Economist, discusses Low Life Expectancy--Is Our Health Care System At Fault? I submit that no it isn't, because the patient usually doesn't arrive for treatment until it's way WAY too late...and you can throw in epigenomics as well. I just watched (again) a fascinating PBS documentary called The Ghost in Your Genes, and it explains that you are basically what your grandmother ate, and if she experienced feast or famine, through her eggs, it can lengthen or shorten YOUR life...Grandpa plays a role in this too, only it's what he ate or didn't eat around the age of 10.
Super-healthy but short life? Blame the grandparents. I urge you to watch the PBS/Nova show when it comes on again. I even wrote about it when I first saw it.
This is why I get angry over health care reform--we ALL have the power to control our own health destinies, as well as future generations, if we simply stop eating to please our tongues and start eating to please our grandkids--no government intervention needed!
Our good friend Hank Stern asks, "Have you stopped beating your insurance yet?" Apparently, there are a handful of states denying coverage to abused spouses--these must be the same states denying coverage for women who've had a C-section, but I digress. From a risk perspective though, can this be a bad thing?
AUTO
Colin at The Truth About Insurance asks us How Much is Car Insurance For a 16-Year-Old? The answer: too much, and necessarily so--their frontal lobes, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, isn't fully formed until age 25 (the age of insurance "adulthood"). But there are other factors listed in the article that may well serve to lower an already high insurance premium.
Silicon Valley Blogger at the Digerati Life wants us all to Lower Your Car Insurance Premiums--Cut Premiums in Half!
These are all the usual, run-of-the-mill suggestions, but I'd like to add one off-the-wall suggestion: join the military, or marry into it. Active duty service (from either spouse), as well as federal civil service (either spouse) gets you a ticket into GEICO land. At the rate that D.C.'s hiring lately, plenty of new people probably already enjoy this non-employer perk. As for all the ones who AREN'T employed right now, the military ought to be lookin' real good--free health care, low commissary prices for food, credit union eligibility, free uniforms, free relocation services around the globe...the list goes on.
TSW at The Smarter Wallet brings us Auto Insurance Quote Do's and Don'ts. "Astute consumers who spend the time performing their due diligence can save thousands of dollars on insurance premiums over the long term."
Tom at the Canadian Finance Blog makes a re-appearance with another warning of Insurance We Can Do Without--Auto Glass Insurance. What would we do without Tom watching out for us? Oh, I know--some of us would be pestering Congress to ban roadway rocks and small debris!
"No one enjoys getting chips or cracks in their windshield, but is it worth getting insurance for this?"
MONEY
Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents (again) wants to know "Is Municipal Bond Insurance Dead?"
I myself am saving my venture into muni territory until Obama gets on his Universal Savings high horse and declares all currently tax-sheltered retirement accounts to be taxable. Instead of merely rolling over my stuff into one of HIS prescribed Treasury bond accounts (you see where this is going? We're going to be made into the next bond buyer of last resort), I'm planning on using triple tax-free munis and zeros as my way out of Obama-land.
Banker Saver asks "Are You FDIC Insured? Make Sure Your Money is Safe." I would say this is doubly worth checking into, since Sheila Bair, the current head of the FDIC, is looking to borrow money from the banks to fund her ever-shrinking pool of insurance funds, thanks to so many banks going under this year (and more to come, I'm sure).
And lastly, an article from the "Oh No You DIDN'T!" Department--this one is highly suspect of being straight-up illegal, so read about it, but don't try it at home: David Gross of The Picket Line is Taking the Risk out of War Resistance Tax With Mutual Insurance. He adds, "Getting dinged for penalties and interest can make the risk of being caught for tax evasion not seem worth the attempt. But what if there were some form of tax resister insurance to spread the risk around? (There is, for some resisters anyway.)"
There is a little thing called the 16th Amendment that makes income tax collection legal, as well as ever-expanding powers being currently granted to go overseas in search of catching tax evaders, so I DON'T recommend you start evading now--that why Congress put so many loopholes into our tax code...so you can evade (or avoid) taxes LEGALLY! Evasion is illegal, but avoidance is not--just so you know.
Okay--I'm done with the carnival, but I want to leave you laughing since I berated you coming in. This little ditty was sent to me this morning by my B-I-L:
Bubba Had shingles. Those of us who spend much time in a doctor's office should appreciate this! Doesn't it seem more and more that physicians are running their practices like an assembly line? Here's what happened to Bubba:
Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said: 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.
Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Bubba what he had..
Bubba said, 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examining room.
A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles..' So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.
An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, 'Where?'
Bubba said, 'Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload 'em??'
...and we wonder why our health care is so high! Poor Bubba.
Go ahead--laugh 'til you pee. David Williams of Health Business Blog is coming in to clean up the mess I left behind.
Affordable Health Care Begins at Home
I’m absolutely sick to death about the amount of whining that goes on about unaffordable health care, and I’m absolutely sick to death with our government’s proposed best efforts to handle this issue—always employing the “Let’s throw money and political power at the problem!” approach without even once considering the consequences (intentional or not), or what the effects of such decisions would look like years later.
Just like the obesity battle begins with the shopping cart, the battle for affordable health care begins at home, continues with the shopping cart, returns home, and maybe ends up at a hospital when all else fails. But the hospital should never be the starting point.
In order to see who should provide you with health care, go in your bathroom and stand in front of your sink. Now look up in the mirror. That’s right—it’s YOU. While you’re in there, wash your hands with hot water and soap—we don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
Okay—now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who your health care provider is, and taken the first step in providing disease prevention for yourself (by washing your hands), go out to your kitchen and stand in front of THAT sink. To your left, right, down below, and/or maybe overhead, there should be some cabinets with food items in them—reach over and pull out an item (can, jar, or box), turn it around until you see the nutrition label on the back.
If you’re suffering from hypertension, salt is your enemy, and it comes in two forms: table salt for shakers, and hidden sodium for food preservation. The government tells us that 140 grams of sodium per serving counts as “low sodium”—how much sodium does that item you just grabbed contain? If it’s more than 140 mg. per serving, you’re contributing to your own hypertension without even using a salt shaker!
Now, if you happen to be a diabetic, check that same item for the “sugars” content and high fructose corn syrup. Any good dietitian will tell you that you should avoid high fructose corn syrup, and consume no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving PER DAY—how much sugar is in your chosen item? If it’s more than 6 grams per serving, you’re contributing to your diabetes without ever having touched the sugar canister!
You can go through your entire food collection and survey the damage you’re doing to yourself by eating this salt-and-sugar-laden food.
Congratulations—you’ve just completed Step 2 of a long road to illness prevention and providing yourself with health care reform: becoming aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat. Now you have two choices: either consume it and replace it with more healthful selections, or give it to a food bank and replace it with more healthful selections. Maybe now you’ll take the step of actually READING the labels while you’re still inside the grocery store! Now go wash your hands again.
All done? Okay, now let’s go to the computer and get on Google. Enter “foods with lowest sodium and sugar” in the search bar, and see what comes up—it’s likely to be fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy. Your next stop should be the grocery store, so go wash the computer cooties off your hands (you don’t know who else has been there), get your keys and checkbook, and I’ll meet you at the car. Meanwhile, you have just completed Step 3 on the road to better health and self-reform: becoming knowledgeable about healthful and more nutritious foods…now let’s go get some! Don’t hesitate to repeat this step as needed.
While you’re in the store, why not go over to the pharmacy area and peruse the smoking cessation products (if you smoke)? Stopping smoking is Step 4 of the Health Care Self-Reform project. Decide to quit and get some today.
Now that you’ve been to the store and presumably loaded up on (or at least brought home) some more healthful foods, and maybe some smoking cessation products, let’s head over to the hardware store in search of a faucet filter for your kitchen—you need to drink and make drinks with clean water, and some cities don’t do a good job of filtering the water (or maybe you’re on a well). Cutting down on water-borne contaminants does a wonder for your insides, as well as helping you complete Step 5 of your project.
With the new food, faucet filter, and maybe some smoking cessation aids, you head home…to install your new filter, and to wash your hands again. After taking these very important steps, you settle into a new food routine with your new-found nutrition knowledge. Later, you begin to wonder about fat, so you look up “good fats” in your search engine, check your cupboards and clean out the bad fats, then make notes for the next shopping trip. Mark off Step 6 and go wash your hands.
After eating your new food, and being on your new regimen for awhile, you notice some things: you have more energy, you probably lost a little weight, your skin may be clearer, your hair may be softer, and you haven’t been hampered by colds, sniffles, and sneezes like you used to. Not only that, but your family is improving as well—they, too, seem healthier, more energetic, and better behaved.
Perhaps by this time, you’ve directed your new energy toward your job duties, and your new vigor has earned you a raise, a promotion, or maybe you found a new job with benefits—now’s the time to take Step 7: go to a doctor or clinic (even a freebie clinic will do) to get your blood and urine analyzed (a CBC and urinalysis). Get a blood pressure check while there, and you’ll probably notice it isn’t as high as it used to be. Your blood test will likely also show normal-range blood sugar, but it’s the cholesterol and uric acid numbers we’re after. If the cholesterol’s high or out of line, keep eating in your new way, but increase your fiber. If you have a family history of gout or osteoporosis, increase your calcium. Other than that, keep eating those fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to get copies of the blood and urine test results—you’ll need them for Step 8.
As you earn and save more money, your next step is to locate a dietitian to look over your test results—he or she will then instruct you how to improve your eating so your test results will improve. Basically, it’s help in refining your eating—what to eat MORE of, and what to avoid. Once this is done, you can wash your hands and mark off Step 8.
Step 9 would be to consult with a doctor about any needed immunizations for you and/or your family—these should be kept current. At this point, you might be thinking that you feel so good, and your family’s doing so well, that you won’t be sick ever again. The same cannot be said for people around you, people you work with, people at your kids’ school, your spouse’s co-workers, customers, relatives, etc.—they all get exposed to others who may carry a communicable disease, and let’s face it, not everyone is on your new disease-prevention regimen. So far, it’s looking like H1N1 doesn’t really care what anybody eats, so get immunized and stay current if you can afford it. Wash those hands.
If you can afford it (or eventually get coverage), do seek out the usual annual stuff: physicals, mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, CBC and urinalysis, and whatever else you or your family may need in the way of preventative care—this is Step 10. Whatever you do, don’t stop with Steps 1-9 on the way to 10, because you aren’t done yet!
If you’ve managed to come this far, you’ve reached the Bonus Round—hidden benefits to your eyes and teeth. All the good eating you’ve been doing has also worked on you (and your family’s) eyes and teeth too, making them healthier, easier, and cheaper to maintain—a slowing of vision degradation, and a slowing and even reversal of tooth decay and/or gum disease problems.
Now that you—emphasis on YOU—have learned how to take better care of yourself and others, do you still feel you need the oppressive hand of government (not to mention unwilling taxpayers) to provide you with something you provide for yourself, starting in the bathroom mirror? Affordable health care really DOES begin at home!
______________________________________________________
Now that this mere housewife is through blanket e-mailing Congress, blanket e-mailing websites, magazines, and newspapers, trying to figure out a safe way to get on her roof and scream it with a bullhorn, thinking about resorting to grafitti...and lecturing YOU, on to the ACTUAL carnival:
LIFE
Tom at Canadian Finance Blog sends us this trap alert with Insurance You Can Do Without--Cancer Insurance. On the article page, there are other types of insurance you can do without, such as mortgage life.
Russell Hutchinson at Chatwoods Consulting says that language is EVERYTHING, and your life may very well depend on it--he offers Language Counts--How Insurance Forms Could Be Improved.
Jaan Sidorov at Disease Care Management Blog learned a few lessons from LifeMasters, and warns us that "Disease management involves using nurses to counsel patients on how to better care for themselves. There are several companies that provide this service to health insurers, including one named ‘LifeMasters.’ That company got caught up in a Medicare Pilot called ‘Medicare Health Support’ that involved putting their fees at risk. That star crossed foray led to Chapter 11. In this post, physician Jaan Sidorov places much of the blame on a fickle Federal government and overly optimistic actuarial projections. He cautions other new fangled health services providers to think long and hard about the perils of doing risk-based business with the government."
LifeMasters--sounds like some sort of black leather-clad society of nurse-dominatrices. "Get that cholesterol down or I'll bullwhip you!" I'd like to position a bullwhipping dominatrix-nurse "life master" outside of every fast food joint...right at the drive-thru lane. What the hell--how about INSIDE every fast food joint as well?
Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents asks How Much Term Life Insurance Do You Need to Buy?
I've always been told you need enough life insurance to cover all living expenses for at least three years, because usually the surviving spouse gets re-married within that time. Not only am I wrong, but I myself am woefully under-insured. Check this one out!
HEALTH
Louise, a Colorado Health Insurance Insider (along with Jay Norris) wants us to know why mandatory health insurance makes sense. "... no matter how careful we are, we never really know what is around the bend when it comes to our health. Accidents can happen to even the healthiest people. Freak illnesses can strike otherwise healthy people. And when these situations arise for people who are uninsured, the cost is eventually borne by those who have health insurance." (link fixed, Jay)
Well, okay...I concede that maybe a high-deductible plan would be prudent for those situations, but I'm vehemently opposed to taxpayer-funded "drop of the hat" insurance for every sniffle and cough, or every drug-seeker, or every disease that could be managed or eliminated with a simple improved diet, which is what the Public Option would end up creating.
Jason Shafrin, our resident Health Care Economist, discusses Low Life Expectancy--Is Our Health Care System At Fault? I submit that no it isn't, because the patient usually doesn't arrive for treatment until it's way WAY too late...and you can throw in epigenomics as well. I just watched (again) a fascinating PBS documentary called The Ghost in Your Genes, and it explains that you are basically what your grandmother ate, and if she experienced feast or famine, through her eggs, it can lengthen or shorten YOUR life...Grandpa plays a role in this too, only it's what he ate or didn't eat around the age of 10.
Super-healthy but short life? Blame the grandparents. I urge you to watch the PBS/Nova show when it comes on again. I even wrote about it when I first saw it.
This is why I get angry over health care reform--we ALL have the power to control our own health destinies, as well as future generations, if we simply stop eating to please our tongues and start eating to please our grandkids--no government intervention needed!
Our good friend Hank Stern asks, "Have you stopped beating your insurance yet?" Apparently, there are a handful of states denying coverage to abused spouses--these must be the same states denying coverage for women who've had a C-section, but I digress. From a risk perspective though, can this be a bad thing?
AUTO
Colin at The Truth About Insurance asks us How Much is Car Insurance For a 16-Year-Old? The answer: too much, and necessarily so--their frontal lobes, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, isn't fully formed until age 25 (the age of insurance "adulthood"). But there are other factors listed in the article that may well serve to lower an already high insurance premium.
Silicon Valley Blogger at the Digerati Life wants us all to Lower Your Car Insurance Premiums--Cut Premiums in Half!
These are all the usual, run-of-the-mill suggestions, but I'd like to add one off-the-wall suggestion: join the military, or marry into it. Active duty service (from either spouse), as well as federal civil service (either spouse) gets you a ticket into GEICO land. At the rate that D.C.'s hiring lately, plenty of new people probably already enjoy this non-employer perk. As for all the ones who AREN'T employed right now, the military ought to be lookin' real good--free health care, low commissary prices for food, credit union eligibility, free uniforms, free relocation services around the globe...the list goes on.
TSW at The Smarter Wallet brings us Auto Insurance Quote Do's and Don'ts. "Astute consumers who spend the time performing their due diligence can save thousands of dollars on insurance premiums over the long term."
Tom at the Canadian Finance Blog makes a re-appearance with another warning of Insurance We Can Do Without--Auto Glass Insurance. What would we do without Tom watching out for us? Oh, I know--some of us would be pestering Congress to ban roadway rocks and small debris!
"No one enjoys getting chips or cracks in their windshield, but is it worth getting insurance for this?"
MONEY
Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents (again) wants to know "Is Municipal Bond Insurance Dead?"
I myself am saving my venture into muni territory until Obama gets on his Universal Savings high horse and declares all currently tax-sheltered retirement accounts to be taxable. Instead of merely rolling over my stuff into one of HIS prescribed Treasury bond accounts (you see where this is going? We're going to be made into the next bond buyer of last resort), I'm planning on using triple tax-free munis and zeros as my way out of Obama-land.
Banker Saver asks "Are You FDIC Insured? Make Sure Your Money is Safe." I would say this is doubly worth checking into, since Sheila Bair, the current head of the FDIC, is looking to borrow money from the banks to fund her ever-shrinking pool of insurance funds, thanks to so many banks going under this year (and more to come, I'm sure).
And lastly, an article from the "Oh No You DIDN'T!" Department--this one is highly suspect of being straight-up illegal, so read about it, but don't try it at home: David Gross of The Picket Line is Taking the Risk out of War Resistance Tax With Mutual Insurance. He adds, "Getting dinged for penalties and interest can make the risk of being caught for tax evasion not seem worth the attempt. But what if there were some form of tax resister insurance to spread the risk around? (There is, for some resisters anyway.)"
There is a little thing called the 16th Amendment that makes income tax collection legal, as well as ever-expanding powers being currently granted to go overseas in search of catching tax evaders, so I DON'T recommend you start evading now--that why Congress put so many loopholes into our tax code...so you can evade (or avoid) taxes LEGALLY! Evasion is illegal, but avoidance is not--just so you know.
Okay--I'm done with the carnival, but I want to leave you laughing since I berated you coming in. This little ditty was sent to me this morning by my B-I-L:
Bubba Had shingles. Those of us who spend much time in a doctor's office should appreciate this! Doesn't it seem more and more that physicians are running their practices like an assembly line? Here's what happened to Bubba:
Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said: 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.
Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Bubba what he had..
Bubba said, 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examining room.
A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles..' So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.
An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, 'Where?'
Bubba said, 'Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload 'em??'
...and we wonder why our health care is so high! Poor Bubba.
Go ahead--laugh 'til you pee. David Williams of Health Business Blog is coming in to clean up the mess I left behind.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Updated: Don't Take This With a Grain of Salt (L-O-N-G)
We have a “new” 500 to be aware of, and it has nothing at all to do with racing. This has to do with salt intake.
The wool has been pulled over our eyes yet again with nutritional advice beaten into us like a drum—the typical recommendation of 2350 mg. salt per day, you know, the 1 teaspoon allowance that we all exceed regularly without even realizing it.
Well, come to find out, that magic number is the MAXIMUM limit for sodium intake per day. You can easily exceed that by having a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat bread, unless you’re reading your labels as you shop.
Nutritionists, like the one I encountered at the VA, will tell you that the magic 2350 number is necessary for the body to stabilize electrolytes, and they’re dead wrong by almost 1850.
The absolute MINIMUM to stabilize electrolytes (and this is all you need salt for anyway) is 500 mg. per day for adults (even less for infants and children). If you aren’t checking labels for sodium content as you shop, I suggest you start now. In fact, go through your kitchen and check out how much sodium you have already brought into your home in the name of cost consciousness. Start with your bread and cheese—you’ll be stunned, I guarantee.
When the shock wears off, make a note to hunt down lower (MUCH lower) sodium versions of the same foods you buy. I’ll save you some time and tell you that you won’t find much, except in health food stores. I’ve been scouting for about 4 years, and it isn’t getting any easier—having to keep track of fat, high fructose corn syrup, additives, preservatives, and now sodium is very tiring to say the least. Health food stores take lots of pressure off me for these contents, because very few of them can be found.
Now even health food stores won’t have alternatives to all the things you regularly consume, and that’s when your frugal bone should kick in—a lot of times, it’s easier to make your own than to buy commercially, especially in the bread department. Don’t get me wrong here—low sodium breads DO exist, but most of them taste like crap!
Since I currently lack the counter space for a bread maker OR simple dough-rolling, my alternative was to ditch the bread entirely. I use Manischewitz no-salt crackers (in the Jewish foods section), homemade tortilla chips, and homemade crepes (as wraps) instead.
As I shop, I use the number 100 as my guide—anything under 100 mg. of sodium per serving gets put in the cart.
After having experience in the low sodium arena, I went and bought a loaf of bread from my formerly-favorite bakery outlet. The bread was so salty that I couldn’t even finish one slice! I ground it all into crumbs and fed the birds with it.
Why didn’t I taste all this salt when I was buying this bread regularly? Well, because I was de-sensitized to it because I was buying it regularly. My head spun as I thought about all the foods I was de-sensitized to, and all the foods I couldn’t do anything about, such as restaurant and drive-thru meals. Needless to say, Momma here eats at home and nowhere else.
The frugal way to deal with this dilemma is to take control of the ingredients by making things yourself whenever possible. The next best way is to start shopping at health food stores, stocking up when favored items go on sale (most health food stores will give discounts for case quantity—ask the staff first). If you receive WIC or food stamps, ask to see if the health food stores take the vouchers or cards before ordering (again, most do, but ask first to be sure).
If you’d like a list of what the Wench purchases with lowest sodium in mind, just leave me a comment requesting so. I’ll warn you now that some of this stuff isn’t cheap like the regular salt-loaded versions, but my health is THAT important to me—I want to be around long enough to corrupt your grandkids through this blog!
Here’s a list of foods generally low in sodium as a rule of thumb, so you won’t have to worry about running out to replace them anytime soon:
• Yellow mustard
• Water chestnuts
• Bamboo shoots
• Some brands of canned bean sprouts (check the label)
• Corn tortillas
• Lite Swiss cheeses, such as Jarlsberg and Emmentaler (look for in Sam’s Clubs)
• All types of Eden canned beans and Health Valley canned soups/chili as long as the label says “no salt added”
Even if you hunt down and use the absolute lowest-sodium products, you’ll still wind up consuming about 600-750 mg. of sodium per day, but that’s a hell of a lot better for you than your old consumption level.
Note about potassium offsets: if you consume something with 100 mg. or more of sodium, be aware of the potassium levels—a 3:1 ratio of potassium-to-sodium levels is ideal for potassium offset. You’ll find this information quite useful when shopping for juices and other beverages—I find that Lakewood and Knudsen brands (in health food stores) are most beneficial to me in this regard. Some of the juices and drinks have sodium, but sufficient potassium to offset it. As long as a product has three times (or more) potassium content than sodium content, it’s okay to consume.
Note about food label terminology: look for the words “no salt,” “no added salt,” or “very low sodium” when shopping, and be sure to check the back nutritional label to verify—the government’s interpretation of low sodium is different from ours. According to the government, the term “low salt” means 140 mg. of sodium, and this is too much unless there’s an adequate potassium offset. Don’t trust the government on this one—read those labels and make sure before buying.
I’ll leave you with a list of foods to avoid like the plague:
• Worcestershire
• Soy sauce
• Seaweeds, except for Nori
• Flour tortillas (unless homemade using sodium control)
• Anything in brine (pickles, olives, sauerkraut, jalapenos, etc.)*Note: the last true low-sodium pickle manufacturer went out of business about 4 years ago. There is one left, but the company uses high fructose corn syrup in the recipe (too much, in my opinion), and even the dills come out tasting too sweet! I managed to find a low-sodium black olive company: Santa Barbara (in health food stores).
• Anything pre-marinated (packaged meats, olives, vegetables, etc.)
• Anything cured or processed (hams, sausage, jerky, bacon, etc.)
• Cheddar-based cheeses (longhorn, Colby, jack, etc.)
• Anything pre-basted (turkeys, chickens, pork loins, etc.—read labels!)
• Most cold cereals (no sodium versions are found in health food stores)
• Chinese greens (Napa cabbage, bok choy, tat soy, etc.)—they pull salt out of the soil and into their tissue
• Celery, chard, beet greens—they also pull salt out of the soil and into the stalks and leaves
• Celtic salt/sea salt—sodium is sodium is sodium, and there is no such thing as a low-sodium salt, unless it is a potassium-based salt substitute
• Processed foods from a regular grocery store (check the labels on that cake mix or Hamburger Helper just for laughs—you won’t laugh long!) *Note: Add frozen meals here--check the labels on those so-called Healthy Choice meals!
• Most canned fish (health food stores offer plenty of very low sodium varieties) *Note: Add canned meats and frozen meats to this list--check the labels for yourself.
• Any instant noodle dish, such as Cup O’ Noodles or Top Ramen—this stuff is instant suicide!
Here are some links for you to see the sodium level recommendations for yourself:
Lab Tests Online--Sodium
Northwestern University Sodium Fact Sheet
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Nutrition Services--Sodium
Happy anti-salt mining!
UPDATE: Why should we be concerned about the amount of salt we take in? With all the attention lately on health care reform, it's been revealed that one of the major ways of cutting health care costs lies in sodium restriction--to the tune of billions of dollars.
The wool has been pulled over our eyes yet again with nutritional advice beaten into us like a drum—the typical recommendation of 2350 mg. salt per day, you know, the 1 teaspoon allowance that we all exceed regularly without even realizing it.
Well, come to find out, that magic number is the MAXIMUM limit for sodium intake per day. You can easily exceed that by having a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat bread, unless you’re reading your labels as you shop.
Nutritionists, like the one I encountered at the VA, will tell you that the magic 2350 number is necessary for the body to stabilize electrolytes, and they’re dead wrong by almost 1850.
The absolute MINIMUM to stabilize electrolytes (and this is all you need salt for anyway) is 500 mg. per day for adults (even less for infants and children). If you aren’t checking labels for sodium content as you shop, I suggest you start now. In fact, go through your kitchen and check out how much sodium you have already brought into your home in the name of cost consciousness. Start with your bread and cheese—you’ll be stunned, I guarantee.
When the shock wears off, make a note to hunt down lower (MUCH lower) sodium versions of the same foods you buy. I’ll save you some time and tell you that you won’t find much, except in health food stores. I’ve been scouting for about 4 years, and it isn’t getting any easier—having to keep track of fat, high fructose corn syrup, additives, preservatives, and now sodium is very tiring to say the least. Health food stores take lots of pressure off me for these contents, because very few of them can be found.
Now even health food stores won’t have alternatives to all the things you regularly consume, and that’s when your frugal bone should kick in—a lot of times, it’s easier to make your own than to buy commercially, especially in the bread department. Don’t get me wrong here—low sodium breads DO exist, but most of them taste like crap!
Since I currently lack the counter space for a bread maker OR simple dough-rolling, my alternative was to ditch the bread entirely. I use Manischewitz no-salt crackers (in the Jewish foods section), homemade tortilla chips, and homemade crepes (as wraps) instead.
As I shop, I use the number 100 as my guide—anything under 100 mg. of sodium per serving gets put in the cart.
After having experience in the low sodium arena, I went and bought a loaf of bread from my formerly-favorite bakery outlet. The bread was so salty that I couldn’t even finish one slice! I ground it all into crumbs and fed the birds with it.
Why didn’t I taste all this salt when I was buying this bread regularly? Well, because I was de-sensitized to it because I was buying it regularly. My head spun as I thought about all the foods I was de-sensitized to, and all the foods I couldn’t do anything about, such as restaurant and drive-thru meals. Needless to say, Momma here eats at home and nowhere else.
The frugal way to deal with this dilemma is to take control of the ingredients by making things yourself whenever possible. The next best way is to start shopping at health food stores, stocking up when favored items go on sale (most health food stores will give discounts for case quantity—ask the staff first). If you receive WIC or food stamps, ask to see if the health food stores take the vouchers or cards before ordering (again, most do, but ask first to be sure).
If you’d like a list of what the Wench purchases with lowest sodium in mind, just leave me a comment requesting so. I’ll warn you now that some of this stuff isn’t cheap like the regular salt-loaded versions, but my health is THAT important to me—I want to be around long enough to corrupt your grandkids through this blog!
Here’s a list of foods generally low in sodium as a rule of thumb, so you won’t have to worry about running out to replace them anytime soon:
• Yellow mustard
• Water chestnuts
• Bamboo shoots
• Some brands of canned bean sprouts (check the label)
• Corn tortillas
• Lite Swiss cheeses, such as Jarlsberg and Emmentaler (look for in Sam’s Clubs)
• All types of Eden canned beans and Health Valley canned soups/chili as long as the label says “no salt added”
Even if you hunt down and use the absolute lowest-sodium products, you’ll still wind up consuming about 600-750 mg. of sodium per day, but that’s a hell of a lot better for you than your old consumption level.
Note about potassium offsets: if you consume something with 100 mg. or more of sodium, be aware of the potassium levels—a 3:1 ratio of potassium-to-sodium levels is ideal for potassium offset. You’ll find this information quite useful when shopping for juices and other beverages—I find that Lakewood and Knudsen brands (in health food stores) are most beneficial to me in this regard. Some of the juices and drinks have sodium, but sufficient potassium to offset it. As long as a product has three times (or more) potassium content than sodium content, it’s okay to consume.
Note about food label terminology: look for the words “no salt,” “no added salt,” or “very low sodium” when shopping, and be sure to check the back nutritional label to verify—the government’s interpretation of low sodium is different from ours. According to the government, the term “low salt” means 140 mg. of sodium, and this is too much unless there’s an adequate potassium offset. Don’t trust the government on this one—read those labels and make sure before buying.
I’ll leave you with a list of foods to avoid like the plague:
• Worcestershire
• Soy sauce
• Seaweeds, except for Nori
• Flour tortillas (unless homemade using sodium control)
• Anything in brine (pickles, olives, sauerkraut, jalapenos, etc.)*Note: the last true low-sodium pickle manufacturer went out of business about 4 years ago. There is one left, but the company uses high fructose corn syrup in the recipe (too much, in my opinion), and even the dills come out tasting too sweet! I managed to find a low-sodium black olive company: Santa Barbara (in health food stores).
• Anything pre-marinated (packaged meats, olives, vegetables, etc.)
• Anything cured or processed (hams, sausage, jerky, bacon, etc.)
• Cheddar-based cheeses (longhorn, Colby, jack, etc.)
• Anything pre-basted (turkeys, chickens, pork loins, etc.—read labels!)
• Most cold cereals (no sodium versions are found in health food stores)
• Chinese greens (Napa cabbage, bok choy, tat soy, etc.)—they pull salt out of the soil and into their tissue
• Celery, chard, beet greens—they also pull salt out of the soil and into the stalks and leaves
• Celtic salt/sea salt—sodium is sodium is sodium, and there is no such thing as a low-sodium salt, unless it is a potassium-based salt substitute
• Processed foods from a regular grocery store (check the labels on that cake mix or Hamburger Helper just for laughs—you won’t laugh long!) *Note: Add frozen meals here--check the labels on those so-called Healthy Choice meals!
• Most canned fish (health food stores offer plenty of very low sodium varieties) *Note: Add canned meats and frozen meats to this list--check the labels for yourself.
• Any instant noodle dish, such as Cup O’ Noodles or Top Ramen—this stuff is instant suicide!
Here are some links for you to see the sodium level recommendations for yourself:
Lab Tests Online--Sodium
Northwestern University Sodium Fact Sheet
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Nutrition Services--Sodium
Happy anti-salt mining!
UPDATE: Why should we be concerned about the amount of salt we take in? With all the attention lately on health care reform, it's been revealed that one of the major ways of cutting health care costs lies in sodium restriction--to the tune of billions of dollars.
*Book Recommendation! Book Recommendation!*
Now I normally don't read Johnni McCoy (to me, she's a "frugal industry" whore, along with Mary Hunt), but this particular book is timely and useful for those who have a hard time with both making it in this economic environment, as well as understanding how the practice of cost-per-serving gets put into daily use.
Her book is Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting, Simple Meals for under $1 a Serving.
Her book is Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting, Simple Meals for under $1 a Serving.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Freedom is Not a Political System (L-O-N-G)
Excerpts from the Privateer newsletter #637 (September)
“Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept into the history books long with the open-market theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, communism and the New Deal” (i.e., interventionism). Doesn’t leave much, does it?
The above quote is typical of many attempts to counter the economic “recovery” claims which are popping up like the proverbial “green shoots” all over the mass media and from the steadily less hallowed halls of government, finance and academia. The “recovery” message is certainly being laid on with a trowel. Dutiful
pollsters have now discovered that most economists believe that the US recession will be over in the third (calendar) quarter of 2009. That’s a little less than a month from now. The Fed has announced that it is going to end its “quantitative easing” (buying Treasury debt with Federal Reserve Notes) in October.
On August 31, the major US stock indices drew a line under their sixth straight month of gains.
The IMF is getting into the act too. In the lead up to the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in late September, they are reported to be putting together a “road map” for how economies can reverse their stimulus efforts. The IMF wants the G-20 participants to coordinate the unwinding of these efforts. According to a Bloomberg article, the IMF is concerned that “failure to move in lockstep when reversing the assistance could fan inflation, lead to uneven debt burdens or distort markets.”
The G-20 has slashed interest rates, thrown TRILLIONS in newly created “money” at the financial system, put blanket guarantees on the bank deposits of their citizens and prevented bank “assets” from being priced on ANY kind of market. They certainly did THAT in “lockstep”. Now, they are formulating plans to circumvent the consequences of their initial actions. There is only one problem. It won’t work.
------------------------------------------------------------
In fundamental terms, production must come before consumption. Today, we are told that for at least the past decade, consumer spending has accounted for between 65 - 75 percent of the US economy. In reality, this is impossible. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. All that is required is an ever increasing “trade deficit” with the difference made up by Treasury IOUs.
In fundamental terms, savings - whether in the form of seed corn, unconsumed goods or money - are a necessary prerequisite for investment and economic growth in any rational definition of the term. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. All that is required is to legally permit the commercial banks to “lend” a huge multiple of the savings deposited with them and count the resultant
increase in “purchasing power” as the equivalent of an increase in REAL economic goods.
In fundamental terms, interest is a payment made to an owner of capital in return for giving up the control of that capital for a specific period of time. It is a function of the unalterable and universal preference for present goods over future goods. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. Not
if you mandate an “elastic” currency which can be stretched at will to meet the “needs” of business. That way, if business doesn’t seem to be demanding enough loans, just lower the interest rate until they do.
In fundamental terms, a free market is a redundant term. A market is a place where people come together to voluntarily exchange the fruits of their individual labor. They are free to make deals (or refrain from making deals) as they choose, based on their individual and ever-changing valuations. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. Where regulations begin, markets end.
Government cannot abolish economic law - no matter how many times Mr Obama says: “Yes we can!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Security Is Not “Social”:
“Those who have an adult’s recollection and ...understanding of the world which preceded WW I look back upon it with a great nostalgia. There was a sense of security then which has never since existed.” (Benjamin M Anderson - Economics and the Public Welfare - 1949 - emphasis by The Privateer)
On the face of it, this is a most startling statement. Before WW I in the US, there was next to no vestige of government involvement in the economic and financial life of its citizens. The cradle and the grave certainly existed, but the vast majority of people made the passage from one to the other without support from government. And because the government lacked the means (see the 1909 US federal budget above)
to provide support, it also lacked the means to “intervene” in the economic lives of its citizens. The period leading up to WWI in the US is the closest the world has yet come to a nation where state and economy were separate. It may seem “perverse” to most people today but THAT was the major reason why, to quote Mr Anderson again, “there was a sense of security which has never since existed.”
It certainly does not exist today in the US or in any of the world’s “developed” countries. The reason for this is very simple. WWI marked the end of an era in which both political and economic freedom had been steadily expanding. Today, we have been going in the opposite direction for almost a century. The current sorry state of global financial affairs is the inevitable end result. The means are running out but
the idea lives on. Most people still see the government and its control of the economy as a necessary prerequisite to their own well-being. In reality, the opposite is the case.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Consequences Happen - The Sooner The Better:
Actions have consequences - always. That is as true in the laws of economics as it is in the laws of any other facet of human knowledge. Take politics and the pursuit of power out of the equation and put a man alone on a desert island and the consequences are rapid indeed. That man cannot consume more than he produces. He cannot increase his production without saving, which means that he must consume
LESS than he produces. “Power” will do him no good - only thought followed by effort will suffice.
Multiply his number by any amount you want, these things don’t change. But his mode of living can.
The Antithesis Of Power Is Freedom:
In this world and in this life, nothing is cost free. But in comparison to any other conceivable mode of human interaction, freedom is by far the cheapest way to go about living. Voluntary cooperation (another redundancy, there is no other kind) is cost free. Again, as we did in our last issue, we return to Lord Acton whose axiom cannot be improved upon: “Freedom is where government is NOT!” Human interaction which does NOT include the use of force or fraud needs no governance. In the mechanical world, a governor is a device used to limit the operation of an engine to what is deemed a safe or optimum level which maximizes the useful life of the mechanism.
The tragedy of our age is that this is what government has been made to do in the political world. In some cases, an attempt has been made to ban the peaceful cooperation which is freedom outright. In many more cases, the process has taken place through gradual steps with pauses while those being “governed” are “acclimatized”. What is being governed, or progressively limited in this context, is freedom. What is being maximized is the life of the government - the political mechanism which is doing the governing.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Recovery - Or Reclamation?:
That is the choice facing everyone in the world right now, whether anyone knows it or not or whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. Either the “system” recovers or its victims reject it. Every sign of increased lending backed by the POWER to tax future generations is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every government injection of “capital” which allows the financial corpse of a manufacturing (GM) or financial (AIG, Citigroup, Fannie/Freddie) corporation to continue to trade on the paper markets is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every government statistic which is not quite as bad as its predecessor is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every step that the noose of government intervention in the economy tightens around the necks of those still striving for self-sufficiency is touted as a sign of “recovery”.
On the other side of the coin, every step taken by an individual to reduce his or her debt burden is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every effort towards self-sufficiency by consuming less than one produces is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every attempt at peaceful cooperation and exchange outside the “governance” of government is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every attempt to insulate oneself from the destruction of the vital underpinnings of freedom with a viable and SOUND medium of exchange is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Where is this manic drive towards “recovery” going? We hope the answer by now is clear. It is aimed and directed squarely towards the “recovery” and retention of political POWER over the lives and property of those who are expected to finance that power. A government cannot wax powerful without running the economy they “govern”. They cannot run the economy without controlling the individuals who do not “run” the economy but who merely participate in it by cooperating with their fellows.
Political power cannot rely on cooperation and never has. It relies on force and nothing else.
The fundamental issue is the “recovery” of political governance or the reclamation of political freedom.
Doing Away With The “Isms”:
Capitalism, communism, fascism, interventionism, globalism. All of these (including capitalism) are being blamed as the political god that has failed. Yes, the meaning of capitalism has been twisted into its antithesis. The best definition of the term was Ayn Rand’s: “Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.”
The only problem with that definition is that capitalism is not a “social system”. It is merely what results in any nation where individual rights and property are protected and defended. No “system” is required to do that - least of all the one which is now said to be “recovering.”
“Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept into the history books long with the open-market theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, communism and the New Deal” (i.e., interventionism). Doesn’t leave much, does it?
The above quote is typical of many attempts to counter the economic “recovery” claims which are popping up like the proverbial “green shoots” all over the mass media and from the steadily less hallowed halls of government, finance and academia. The “recovery” message is certainly being laid on with a trowel. Dutiful
pollsters have now discovered that most economists believe that the US recession will be over in the third (calendar) quarter of 2009. That’s a little less than a month from now. The Fed has announced that it is going to end its “quantitative easing” (buying Treasury debt with Federal Reserve Notes) in October.
On August 31, the major US stock indices drew a line under their sixth straight month of gains.
The IMF is getting into the act too. In the lead up to the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in late September, they are reported to be putting together a “road map” for how economies can reverse their stimulus efforts. The IMF wants the G-20 participants to coordinate the unwinding of these efforts. According to a Bloomberg article, the IMF is concerned that “failure to move in lockstep when reversing the assistance could fan inflation, lead to uneven debt burdens or distort markets.”
The G-20 has slashed interest rates, thrown TRILLIONS in newly created “money” at the financial system, put blanket guarantees on the bank deposits of their citizens and prevented bank “assets” from being priced on ANY kind of market. They certainly did THAT in “lockstep”. Now, they are formulating plans to circumvent the consequences of their initial actions. There is only one problem. It won’t work.
------------------------------------------------------------
In fundamental terms, production must come before consumption. Today, we are told that for at least the past decade, consumer spending has accounted for between 65 - 75 percent of the US economy. In reality, this is impossible. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. All that is required is an ever increasing “trade deficit” with the difference made up by Treasury IOUs.
In fundamental terms, savings - whether in the form of seed corn, unconsumed goods or money - are a necessary prerequisite for investment and economic growth in any rational definition of the term. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. All that is required is to legally permit the commercial banks to “lend” a huge multiple of the savings deposited with them and count the resultant
increase in “purchasing power” as the equivalent of an increase in REAL economic goods.
In fundamental terms, interest is a payment made to an owner of capital in return for giving up the control of that capital for a specific period of time. It is a function of the unalterable and universal preference for present goods over future goods. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. Not
if you mandate an “elastic” currency which can be stretched at will to meet the “needs” of business. That way, if business doesn’t seem to be demanding enough loans, just lower the interest rate until they do.
In fundamental terms, a free market is a redundant term. A market is a place where people come together to voluntarily exchange the fruits of their individual labor. They are free to make deals (or refrain from making deals) as they choose, based on their individual and ever-changing valuations. But if the government “runs” the economy, it ain’t necessarily so. Where regulations begin, markets end.
Government cannot abolish economic law - no matter how many times Mr Obama says: “Yes we can!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Security Is Not “Social”:
“Those who have an adult’s recollection and ...understanding of the world which preceded WW I look back upon it with a great nostalgia. There was a sense of security then which has never since existed.” (Benjamin M Anderson - Economics and the Public Welfare - 1949 - emphasis by The Privateer)
On the face of it, this is a most startling statement. Before WW I in the US, there was next to no vestige of government involvement in the economic and financial life of its citizens. The cradle and the grave certainly existed, but the vast majority of people made the passage from one to the other without support from government. And because the government lacked the means (see the 1909 US federal budget above)
to provide support, it also lacked the means to “intervene” in the economic lives of its citizens. The period leading up to WWI in the US is the closest the world has yet come to a nation where state and economy were separate. It may seem “perverse” to most people today but THAT was the major reason why, to quote Mr Anderson again, “there was a sense of security which has never since existed.”
It certainly does not exist today in the US or in any of the world’s “developed” countries. The reason for this is very simple. WWI marked the end of an era in which both political and economic freedom had been steadily expanding. Today, we have been going in the opposite direction for almost a century. The current sorry state of global financial affairs is the inevitable end result. The means are running out but
the idea lives on. Most people still see the government and its control of the economy as a necessary prerequisite to their own well-being. In reality, the opposite is the case.
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Consequences Happen - The Sooner The Better:
Actions have consequences - always. That is as true in the laws of economics as it is in the laws of any other facet of human knowledge. Take politics and the pursuit of power out of the equation and put a man alone on a desert island and the consequences are rapid indeed. That man cannot consume more than he produces. He cannot increase his production without saving, which means that he must consume
LESS than he produces. “Power” will do him no good - only thought followed by effort will suffice.
Multiply his number by any amount you want, these things don’t change. But his mode of living can.
The Antithesis Of Power Is Freedom:
In this world and in this life, nothing is cost free. But in comparison to any other conceivable mode of human interaction, freedom is by far the cheapest way to go about living. Voluntary cooperation (another redundancy, there is no other kind) is cost free. Again, as we did in our last issue, we return to Lord Acton whose axiom cannot be improved upon: “Freedom is where government is NOT!” Human interaction which does NOT include the use of force or fraud needs no governance. In the mechanical world, a governor is a device used to limit the operation of an engine to what is deemed a safe or optimum level which maximizes the useful life of the mechanism.
The tragedy of our age is that this is what government has been made to do in the political world. In some cases, an attempt has been made to ban the peaceful cooperation which is freedom outright. In many more cases, the process has taken place through gradual steps with pauses while those being “governed” are “acclimatized”. What is being governed, or progressively limited in this context, is freedom. What is being maximized is the life of the government - the political mechanism which is doing the governing.
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Recovery - Or Reclamation?:
That is the choice facing everyone in the world right now, whether anyone knows it or not or whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. Either the “system” recovers or its victims reject it. Every sign of increased lending backed by the POWER to tax future generations is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every government injection of “capital” which allows the financial corpse of a manufacturing (GM) or financial (AIG, Citigroup, Fannie/Freddie) corporation to continue to trade on the paper markets is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every government statistic which is not quite as bad as its predecessor is lauded as a sign of “recovery”.
Every step that the noose of government intervention in the economy tightens around the necks of those still striving for self-sufficiency is touted as a sign of “recovery”.
On the other side of the coin, every step taken by an individual to reduce his or her debt burden is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every effort towards self-sufficiency by consuming less than one produces is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every attempt at peaceful cooperation and exchange outside the “governance” of government is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Every attempt to insulate oneself from the destruction of the vital underpinnings of freedom with a viable and SOUND medium of exchange is seen as being against the “recovery”.
Where is this manic drive towards “recovery” going? We hope the answer by now is clear. It is aimed and directed squarely towards the “recovery” and retention of political POWER over the lives and property of those who are expected to finance that power. A government cannot wax powerful without running the economy they “govern”. They cannot run the economy without controlling the individuals who do not “run” the economy but who merely participate in it by cooperating with their fellows.
Political power cannot rely on cooperation and never has. It relies on force and nothing else.
The fundamental issue is the “recovery” of political governance or the reclamation of political freedom.
Doing Away With The “Isms”:
Capitalism, communism, fascism, interventionism, globalism. All of these (including capitalism) are being blamed as the political god that has failed. Yes, the meaning of capitalism has been twisted into its antithesis. The best definition of the term was Ayn Rand’s: “Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.”
The only problem with that definition is that capitalism is not a “social system”. It is merely what results in any nation where individual rights and property are protected and defended. No “system” is required to do that - least of all the one which is now said to be “recovering.”
Sunday, September 06, 2009
China Now a Net SELLER of Bonds
From Martin Weiss Research. This is why the mortgage rates suddenly plummeted...and why inflation is about to rear its ugly head--the bonds and notes are going to have to command higher interest rates just to compete with these existing bonds, causing ALL the interest rates to go up!
Businesses borrowing money for payrolls and to order goods will experience this, and will charge higher prices to offset it. Stock up while you can still afford to do so--it looks like the party may be over for us frugalites.
"...you can pretty much count on much higher interest rates in 2010 and beyond — and you can count on those higher rates to crush any chances of a vigorous recovery or rapidly rising stock prices here."
Any wonder why people are flocking to gold and oil?
Maybe THIS is why Obama wants us to put our tax returns into savings bonds...? Maybe he knows that stocks are not going to do so well in the future, because he's engineering it that way. Next will be the mandated mass conversion to bonds as our only savings vehicle, as stated in the Universal Savings Account proposal.
Businesses borrowing money for payrolls and to order goods will experience this, and will charge higher prices to offset it. Stock up while you can still afford to do so--it looks like the party may be over for us frugalites.
"...you can pretty much count on much higher interest rates in 2010 and beyond — and you can count on those higher rates to crush any chances of a vigorous recovery or rapidly rising stock prices here."
Any wonder why people are flocking to gold and oil?
Maybe THIS is why Obama wants us to put our tax returns into savings bonds...? Maybe he knows that stocks are not going to do so well in the future, because he's engineering it that way. Next will be the mandated mass conversion to bonds as our only savings vehicle, as stated in the Universal Savings Account proposal.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Obama Expands Worker Retirement Savings Options
From Yahoo News. Here we go with the watered-down Universal Saving plans!
"The new federal steps, which do not require congressional action, include:
• Making it easier for small companies to set up 401(k) retirement savings plans in which all workers are automatically enrolled unless they ask to be omitted. Employers can set default amounts of each worker's pay — perhaps 3 percent — to automatically be deposited into the accounts without being taxed. Workers can raise or lower the contribution levels, and they choose how to invest the money. They will pay taxes on the money only when they withdraw it as retirees, when their tax rates are likely to be lower than when they are working full-time. A similar process would apply to savings plans called SIMPLE-IRAs.
• Allowing such plans to automatically increase the amount that workers save over time unless the workers object.
• Allowing people to check a box on their federal tax returns asking that any refund be sent as a savings bond. More than 100 million U.S. households receive refund checks each year, and many are promptly cashed and spent.
• Allowing workers, when leaving a job, to direct unused vacation pay to a retirement savings account rather than taking it in cash.
The administration earlier asked Congress to make it easier to set up retirement accounts for people whose workplaces do not offer them. No legislation has moved thus far."
I have a problem with taking a tax refund as a savings bond--the tax refund has already been kept and used interest-free for a year by Uncle Sam, and he wants to pay you back with a piece of paper that won't mature for 17 years? This vastly expands his borrowing timeline (X 17), and at a coming paltry interest rate (due to anticipated economic expansion once he leaves office) not to mention helps sell more bonds to US, his new sugar daddy!
Bonds are great when the market is high and falling, and when interest rates are high and falling, but not great when the stock market is low and rising, which is the scenario we find ourselves in now and in the immediate future.
We who get refunds are perfectly capable of putting it away all by ourselves. Besides, you'd think he'd WANT us to spend it to boost the economy...but no. He's more interested in selling bonds.
"The new federal steps, which do not require congressional action, include:
• Making it easier for small companies to set up 401(k) retirement savings plans in which all workers are automatically enrolled unless they ask to be omitted. Employers can set default amounts of each worker's pay — perhaps 3 percent — to automatically be deposited into the accounts without being taxed. Workers can raise or lower the contribution levels, and they choose how to invest the money. They will pay taxes on the money only when they withdraw it as retirees, when their tax rates are likely to be lower than when they are working full-time. A similar process would apply to savings plans called SIMPLE-IRAs.
• Allowing such plans to automatically increase the amount that workers save over time unless the workers object.
• Allowing people to check a box on their federal tax returns asking that any refund be sent as a savings bond. More than 100 million U.S. households receive refund checks each year, and many are promptly cashed and spent.
• Allowing workers, when leaving a job, to direct unused vacation pay to a retirement savings account rather than taking it in cash.
The administration earlier asked Congress to make it easier to set up retirement accounts for people whose workplaces do not offer them. No legislation has moved thus far."
I have a problem with taking a tax refund as a savings bond--the tax refund has already been kept and used interest-free for a year by Uncle Sam, and he wants to pay you back with a piece of paper that won't mature for 17 years? This vastly expands his borrowing timeline (X 17), and at a coming paltry interest rate (due to anticipated economic expansion once he leaves office) not to mention helps sell more bonds to US, his new sugar daddy!
Bonds are great when the market is high and falling, and when interest rates are high and falling, but not great when the stock market is low and rising, which is the scenario we find ourselves in now and in the immediate future.
We who get refunds are perfectly capable of putting it away all by ourselves. Besides, you'd think he'd WANT us to spend it to boost the economy...but no. He's more interested in selling bonds.
Friday, September 04, 2009
What's Happening on the Republican Side of the Aisle Over H-R 3200
Read all the amendments offered, which ones passed, and which ones got voted down by Dems here.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
*Book Alert! Book Alert!*
A new one by one of my favorite authors--Daniel Pink. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
"We've been conditioned to think that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is through external rewards like money-the carrot-and-the-stick approach. That's a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in his transformative new book. The key to high performance and satisfaction is intrinsic, internal motivation: the desire to follow your own interests and understand the benefits in them for you. And Pink has discovered thirty years of scientific data that confirm these ideas and show an exciting way forward."
Good, because there won't be any money to motivate people for years to come...thanks, Obama!
Do check out Daniel's other works, including A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation--these books used to be on my "make you think" list to the left, but the list got so long, I had to delete a few. Unfortunately, Daniel's books got cut.
"We've been conditioned to think that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is through external rewards like money-the carrot-and-the-stick approach. That's a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in his transformative new book. The key to high performance and satisfaction is intrinsic, internal motivation: the desire to follow your own interests and understand the benefits in them for you. And Pink has discovered thirty years of scientific data that confirm these ideas and show an exciting way forward."
Good, because there won't be any money to motivate people for years to come...thanks, Obama!
Do check out Daniel's other works, including A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation--these books used to be on my "make you think" list to the left, but the list got so long, I had to delete a few. Unfortunately, Daniel's books got cut.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Assessing the Net Value of Children
From CNN/Fortune.
"People in a free society will choose to have more of something if its return exceeds its cost. On the other hand, people in a free society will choose to have less of a good or service if its value is less than its cost."
...
"What is the net present value of a child in modern America? Often, it's difficult to find much, and thereby hangs a question mark over our future as a nation, at least as we have known it."
As it stands, they are only worth their weight in tax deductions--god's little tax shelters.
"People in a free society will choose to have more of something if its return exceeds its cost. On the other hand, people in a free society will choose to have less of a good or service if its value is less than its cost."
...
"What is the net present value of a child in modern America? Often, it's difficult to find much, and thereby hangs a question mark over our future as a nation, at least as we have known it."
As it stands, they are only worth their weight in tax deductions--god's little tax shelters.
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