Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Talent- I wouldn't put anything beyond those Hofstra hacks! I just found out those PC shitheads changed their names from the Flying Dutchmen to the "Pride".

What...the...hell

Im also told this happened like 15 years ago. Which is about the last time i thought about Hofstra sports

[iam416]

They're still the Flying Dutchmen to me. Just as Washtenaw County's better football program will always be the Hurons.

[SeattleLionsFan]

In terms of Canada, the steel tariffs screw them mightily. They import the steel from us, use it in factories that are in many cases American corporations, then the finished product is shipped back here to sell. Especially if we start taxing the import as well, American companies are going to do the cost annalist, and they will decide that it is cheaper to just use American steel, and build the product in America for an American market, rather than getting double taxed crossing the northern border twice.


I still think tariffs are a bad idea, but I also suspect you are right, that this is a way for us to force a better deal in term of NAFTA as I think negotiations have stalled.

Does Kapture think tariffs are taxes on EXPORTS?

[iam416]

Most here don't care one lick about what College campuses and such -- as events there are anachronistic, outliers, random craziness -- whatever the term. It's clear they don't matter. But this case has been cracking me up for awhile (since my office reps UC as a state entity, I've been following it along for awhile). Anyway, The Atlantic, leftist and all, decided to write on it: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...-abuse/561650/

To be fair, the author has consistently pushed back, gently, against #MeToo, so she's probably merely a token moderate woman. But I love the argument being made by the attorney representing the woman -- that if both parties are drunk in a gropefest, then both parties have to be hit with T9 violations (since drunks can't consent).

[Kapture1]

Does Kapture think tariffs are taxes on EXPORTS?

yes, a tariff is a tax on both import and/or exports derp

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[hack]

Even he's mixed up the basics, Kapture has understood the core of import-replacement policy. But it's an on-paper theory that doesn't stand up in reality. Tariffs are just one of many variable costs, and peer-reviewed research says that multinationals have plenty of experience managing those variables and keeping prices steady at home. Global supply chains aren't going to be broken and 30-year investment decisions made based on one move the president said he'll reevaluate in a month's time. That's why after the March 1 steel/aluminum tariff announcement Chinese steel and aluminum imports rose in the US in Apriln nonetheless.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Derp indeed.

[THE_WIZARD_]

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shaddup

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STFU

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please

[Kapture1]

Derp indeed.

yes derp indeed, if Canada puts a tax on US steel as retaliation, and we tax the finished product that is manufactured by a US owned corporation with a factory in Canada, at what point does it become cheaper for that US company to open a factory here in the US, hire US workers, build with US steel, for a product consumed by US markets?




retaliatory tariffs on steel and aluminum

which was the point I was trying to make. not that we would tax the export of steel, that Trudeau would turn around and hit us with the same import tax. But yes, there can be export duties if you were uncertain.

[entropy]

https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/revolutionandrevelation/72905

Article basically suggest a particular treatment is about the money and not what is best for patients.

[crashcourse]

most treatments are about the money

i've seen plenty of crooked after the fact what were they thinking treatments given to the masses for the sole purpose of padding the pocket book of the provider

pills/shots/excessive/procedures/surgeries/visits all to pad the pocket book

[Jeff Buchanan]

https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/r...velation/72905

Article basically suggest a particular treatment is about the money and not what is best for patients.

I lived this practicing in a commercial medical practice setting. It is wrong. It happens for a number of market based reasons.

It was probably the biggest reason why I retired from practice last July. I got sick and tired of seeing shit ordered by colleagues where it was unneeded. Some of it was defensive in nature but most of it was profit taking. The way the coding is set up, there are some procedures or tests (if you are performing these in your office) that are quite lucrative to the practice. We were part of a larger Hospital System and actually had classes on how to optimize coding to optimize reimbursement. Some hospital systems actually incentivisze MDs to order procedures that have high reimbursement value.

Two things: My first job out of PA School was working in the Georgia Department of Corrections. We provided excellent care at a reasonable cost. The Medical director liked to hire MDs from Africa with training and experience in their home countries. Of course these were US licensed MDs who all had board certifications but there was a difference in how they practiced. They rarely order a lot of tests. That was because they were very skilled in listening to the patients and doing really good hands on exams ..... I learned more working around these guys and my future practice was shaped by what they taught me.

After leaving that setting, I practiced in two commercial practices for about 10 years. It wasn't until the last 3 or 4 years that I started becoming aware of and aggravated over the increasing number of BS tests being ordered but it was happening. I got sick of it, among other things most notably dealing with Pharmacy and Durable Medical Equipment Benefits Managers.

Recently, I enrolled in the VA Medical System as I am eligible to receive care in that system. There are several ways that the VA keeps costs down. (1) They negotiate directly with Pharmaceutical Companies. These companies compete with each other to get their products on the VA Formulary which is very restrictive but provides most everything one needs to practice good medical care. There is no such thing as PBMs deciding what goes on the formulary and who gets or does not get a drug based on thousands of complicated medical insurance plans out there. (2) The VA doesn't offer robotic surgery and this is just one example of not investing in these kinds of technologies that, while demonstrate good outcomes, they fail to demonstrate significantly better outcomes that humans performing the same surgical procedures (there are exceptions but they are few and far between).

One cannot adopt the VA Medical care delivery model to commercial health care in the US. There are a good reasons for that but that is another discussion. But, I moved my care out of the commercial realm for the very reason that I don't want a bunch of irrelevant testing being ordered when I go see a MD for my routine care. Testing can serve a good purpose when it is warranted but most of the time it isn't. The testing however, usually leads to the discovery of incidental findings that have low probability of being anything significant yet patients who have an incidental finding on a test end up with additional anxiety and more expensive tests to track it down.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. This HAS to be the final straw. Not that "Drain the Swamp" was ever anything more than an empty slogan, but the man's making a total mockery of it.

Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst were BOTH blasting him today too over ethanol subsidies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scott-pruitt-enlisted-an-epa-aide-to-help-his-wife-find-a-job--at-chick-fil-a/2018/06/05/b798e4e4-5eac-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.89631c3909a6

[Da Geezer]

Talent- I wouldn't put anything beyond those Hofstra hacks! I just found out those PC shitheads changed their names from the Flying Dutchmen to the "Pride".

What...the...hell

Im also told this happened like 15 years ago. Which is about the last time i thought about Hofstra sports

Fortunately, Hope College has no such PC leanings and remain the Flying Dutchmen.

BTW, I've been on a two week tutorial provided by Deb so that I can use this new-and-improved forum. How the heck does Hofstra come into the discussion?