Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Whitley]

Now, the US health care system is starting to switch over to fee for outcomes.

that might not be a bad thing--providers nightbe a lot more selective on who they choose to do procedures on which is biggest moneymaker out there

AA when I say medical corporations I include those doctors in large practicing specialties whom are robbing the hospitals of services they use to share . like the regulate the practice of some of these specialists being able to evaluate diagnose procedure and treat everything in their own little building.

nothing better then evaluating biopsying diagnosing then treating that patient with that brand new radiation machine and point that patient into lets just keep everything right here in our little office

I still remember having the old family doc I could ride my bike over to and he stitched me up on more then once occasion and I think put a leg cast on for something.

health care needs more family doctors and less multiple referrals by that family doctor



bad thing is a second opinion could cost you out the ass

There are a lot of doctors that are also coders. I would like to see them get out of that.

[Wild Hoss]

We need to start putting old people down when they reach a cerain age....there was a Star Trek episode where they ran into a culture that did that. Picking the age can be problematic though.

On an unrelated note...how old is Nick Saban AA?

[hack]

And who allowed Wall Street the ability to spread risk into non risky assets? Changes in the gov't rules... I still agree with Hanni on what caused the bubble. Again, open to be proven wrong.

Are you saying that Congress changed rules, on its own, regardless of campaign contributions from Wall Street?

[Wild Hoss]

Are you saying that Congress changed rules, on its own, regardless of campaign contributions from Wall Street?

I think he's saying that the government should expect malfeasance when approached by Wall Street for anything, hence acquiescing makes it responsible for the results. (When they're bad anyway)

Of course, regulating the Street is "anti business" to many others. So, POV.

[entropy]

What change in government rules made JP Morgan invent Credit Default Swaps? I've not heard of the law. It certainly wasn't the community reinvestment act.

I was thinking of laws that led to the behaviors.... specifically of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, Housing and Community act of 1992, and the suppression of interest rates. Add on top of the capital gains tax changes in 1997...

[entropy]

Social Security and Medicare are massive ponzi schemes run by the government. The nature of a ponzi scheme is that somebody gets royally screwed when the music stops and there are no chairs left. Once it is in full swing, this is unavoidable. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to be that guy, but it really is going to have to happen eventually. There is no solution to the problem that avoids somebody getting completely fucked.

it's really even simpler.. Our SS program was built on the idea that each generation that follows would be bigger than the one proceeding it.

[entropy]

Are you saying that Congress changed rules, on its own, regardless of campaign contributions from Wall Street?

We still elect them to do a job. If they are just puppets, that's on us.

[Hannibal]

it's really even simpler.. Our SS program was built on the idea that each generation that follows would be bigger than the one proceeding it.

I don't think that they were even thinking about it that much. TBH I'm not sure that it would be sustainable even if we return to baby boomer birth rates.

It was also built at a time when the average retirement was much shorter than it is nowadays.

[entropy]

hanni.. true.

[hack]

We still elect them to do a job. If they are just puppets, that's on us.

Agreed. Still, not sure how you blame 11% of loans in the system for 100% of the problem. I'm not even sure how many of that 11% went into default. The actual figure is less, to whatever degree.

[froot loops]

I was thinking of laws that led to the behaviors.... specifically of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, Housing and Community act of 1992, and the suppression of interest rates. Add on top of the capital gains tax changes in 1997...

The crash had everything to do with Credit Default Swaps and CDOs, specifically the synthetic ones starting in 2005. None of the things you had listed generated those. The people who blame some of these governmental laws aimed at helping low income people buying houses are missing the big picture. The crash happened because Wall Street incentivized the Ninja loans. The banks weren't verifying anything because they needed more loans because the other side of the bank was shorting it.

No laws made the banks do that. You bring up the Fed and low interest rates. That did have something to do with it, The Maestro was either clueless or hoping the bubble popped after his watch was over. But the banks didn't do their homework. Hedge funds like Magnetar profited great from this.

When Geezer is irrationally exuberant at the Dow every day, ask yourself why the Dow is irrationally exuberant. Structurally nothing in the economy has changed in the last two months. It's not like some great new innovation is going to increase productivity was invented since November. The Wall Street traders think a huge tax cut is coming for them, but more importantly they believe Dodd Frank will be repealed and the casino will be back in business. Remember Goldman Sachs benefitted immensely from the crash and he stocked his administration with Goldman Sachs guys. The Foreclosure King is the secretary of the Treasury, nothing says place your bets more than that.

[Hannibal]

I never said that one source was 100% of the problem.

A few decades of "social justice" and social engineering by politicians all contributed to it. You can argue that once you have accepted decades of "social justice" and social engineering that you have no choice but to also slap a bunch of restrictions on the people controlling the supply of money. I guess that's not unreasonable. What is unreasonable though is blaming the problem on "muh free markets" after decades of housing laws, government subsidies, the creation of governemnt-backed corporations, and Congressional hearings, all designed to expand home ownership, expand the pool of capital available, and pressure banks into making loans that they previously decided were unprofitable. The goal was increased home ownership. It was achieved. Unfortunately, there were consequences, as there always are. It's a Cloward-Piven masterpiece.

The goal in this case was to massively increase home ownership. In order to do that, the supply of money had to be increased. When you increase the supply of money to a market, prices go up. When the prices go up, the perceived risk goes down. When the perceived risk goes down, you get a bubble. This isn't really that hard, folks.

We're seeing the exact same thing with tuition prices.

[hack]

You did. And had no response when I provided numbers.

[UMStan White]

"OK. Fair enough -- I should not diminish the costs. The wedding-cake example is spot-on. There's a certain symbolism there and forcing a baker to do that, and then persecuting him out of business is awful. That's a lot more in your face than serving them a pizza."

If you two are talking about the pizzaria in Northern Indiana, get your facts straight. The owners publically said they would never cater a gay wedding because it violated their "religous beliefs". Forget the fact they had NEVER BEEN ASKED TO DO SO. Following a public reaction, the owners received over $800,000.00 through a go fund me account. They weren't put out of business because of their religous beliefs. Talk about fake news being used to try to bolster one's position.

[AlabamAlum]

We need to start putting old people down when they reach a cerain age....there was a Star Trek episode where they ran into a culture that did that. Picking the age can be problematic though.

On an unrelated note...how old is Nick Saban AA?

lol. Well done.

Lord Saban is ageless. All chaotic evil spirits are.