Stacy Summary: Fake capitalism.
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ref. max keiser – Get 6 mo’s free storage
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Rick Ackerman-
- Karl Denninger – Market Ticker
- The Big Picture
- Mish
- David Morgan
- King World News
- SmartKnowledge
- GoldCore
fiat money and the french revolution
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crash banksters – Buy Silver & gold
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What about some holiday snapshots – cheer us all up a bit
@Stacey … “worthless insurance coverage”
It seems to me that nearly everyone in the UK likes to knock the NHS.
No problem .. increase the funding to Germany’s level by multiplying the contributins by a factor of 3 to 5. Be very thankful for the NHS IMO.
I have only had excellent experiences with the NHS.
My father , when he was 72, had a 11-hour emergency bypass OP, and was driving his car again ca. 1 week later. He lived until he was 85.
On a holiday visit to the UK some 20 years ago, I went to a doctor for an ear-infection.
He gave me antibiotics – no charge – noted my name and that was all.
( I didn’t tell him I was just visitig the country )
etc. etc.
The US system is a disgrace IMO, but no surprise .
In any civilized country , children should have FREE medical care up to the (working) age of 16. Same should apply to OAPs. i.e. The “working” population should be the only ones paying monthly rates, to support the young and old as well as themselves.
The problem – as I posted before – is that the fact that the US is a country of lawyers and medical “legal” insurance is – in the end – paid by the patient.
The avaerage cost of legal insurance for a gynacologist is ca. 150,000 USD per year.
( source : Phoenix TV documentary )
US Lawyers are often referred to as “ambulance chasers” .. makes you think !
IIRC, there was a case some 10 years ago where it was found that Lawyer Firms had been illegally scanning “patient lists” of hospitals and coercing the patient to sue the hospital. It is “sickening” – pun intended !
JMHO FWIW
@Phil – yes, I had awesome experiences with NHS too; I don’t get this freak out in the states over having a single payer system, especially as those freaking out don’t seem to have another plan they are offering . . . when it is quite clear that the insurance industry (which I might add is CENTRAL to the global financial collapse) just takes tens of thousands annually from ‘clients’ only to deny as many claims as possible; why do so many people go bankrupt due to medical costs, despite having health insurance?
@Stacey .. ” NHS versus German system”
” why do so many people go bankrupt due to medical costs, despite having health insurance?”
Corporatism + US Lawyers !
Why is the German system SO expensive ?
The UK has 1 NHS .. the Germans have ca. 1000 !
My guess is that over 1 million Germans are employed by the German Med. Administration in total ( the 1000 Krankenkassen ).
A friend of mine is married to a women that works at one of these “Krankenkassen” ( translated : Illness Company , rather than “health” Co. )
She worked 1/2 days there, and earns more than he does in his full time job.
Remember I mentioned an ex-girl-friend that – for a time – worked for one of them. The tax-free perks she “earned” enabled her to buy a brand-new Golf .. ca. 25 years ago.
… and she was only “half beamtet”, i.e. had half the status of a permanent civil servant. So you can imagine what perks you get as a permanent worker there.
In a TV discussion on RTL’s “Heiße Stuhl” ( Hot Seat ), it came out that over 50% of the monthly rates paid by patients goes to the “administration” of the system, rather than directly to the actual workers, i.e. doctors , nurses and hospitals + staff.
Again … the NHS is underfunded, but the system is the best WW IMO.
IIRC, even India has the same system as the UK .. because it had proven to be efficient and therefore affordable.
@Phil – Agreed; I also like the French system, which I think most Americans would prefer to UK in that you have a much greater choice of doctors you can use; and you do have to pay (I think it is 20%) of the costs for non emergency & non-chronic doctor’s visits yourself (though you can get insurance that covers this); I think this prevents abuse of those that go to the doctor too often
Wheres the crash?
Everything coming up roses
Max & Stacy, sorry you was WRONG
Mike
@Phil
Yeah, not enough praise of the NHS. Thanks for that. Also Bristish postal system is the best in the world, but slowly being distroyed by European legislation – turned in to the German model. People all over the world don’t realise that in the UK we used to be happy to post stuff to an address only a few streets away, because it was so cheap, fast and 100% reliable. Another monopoly that shoud not have been broken up.
@Mike2Liverpool ITS A GREAT JOKE KEEP IT UP !! lol
Sorry, I cant help laughing everything I see your post. Your like the comic actor in a play, that repeatedly pops up through a play with the same ongoing sketch and line, making the audience chuckle.
Just to depress you. If you listen to Marc Faber 12 Aug youtube. He saying that this recovery may last years before it completely and utter implosion. He mentioned 5yrs, 5yrs !!! I don’t believe it! Personally I think the 1930s charts are good.. Maybe Max can help you with timing, but timing is very hard to do, so I believe.
The recession is over!
Sure we got some time before things stablise, but not the horror story we were TOLD.
Mike
@Nic Abbott … “Also British postal system is the best in the world ”
Agree 100%.
Immediately after the Euro Intro., the German Post simply doubled their prices .. nobody protested. Then they started using DHL which meant packages were also 2x the price they used to be.
My Greek PC friend here in Germany asked me to take a package with me for him ( destined for the Scotland ) , as the post in Germany was prohibitively expensive.
I paid 2.4 GBP for 1st. class, guaranteed 2-day delivery including a web-tracking number.
In Germany, he would have paid ca. 15 Euros , and if the package arrived, it would generally take between 1-2 weeks.
Also, I tend to use Hermes nearly alway now. I have too may “non arrivals” of “Post” packages here in Germany. Nearly always it is DVDs etc. that get stolen.
I noticed that DHL is now getting involved in the UK now.
My guess is it the “Germn Post” infiltrating the UK market.
.. watch out !
Some good news (IMO) from Germany…
The Energy Co. EON has been bought by a large group of German “Stadtwerken” .. these are small & local electricity companies.
The EU has been coming down hard on these Energy companies for price fixing.
We pay ca. 0.20 Euros per KWH in Germany.
Last time I looked at my UK mother’s Electricity bill, she weas paying ca. only 9 pence per KWH ( ca. 0.11 Euros).
its not so much the health care ,although some of that is very questionable, as all the other crap they have added to the health care bill. they want access to our bank accounts, business accounts too. its the “control issue” that bothers me. lots of that in it….pg
Check out the dollar. That Simply Red song comes to mind…….MONEY’S TO TIGHT TO MENTION!!!!!
if i could post the bill , i would. crazy stuff in there…its on the net somewhere..if i wanted that much control, i live with my parents. pg
@Mike2Liverpool
Look at that Gold Dollar dance…just my opinion not advice, take responsibility for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axr4A7TAFKo
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-8JgtjerOo
No one can tell the future, make your own decisions, for me its all so sweeeeeeeeeet
I can confirm that when I’ve gone to my local pay-what-you-can clinic here in the USA, they are always very curious to know whether I’ve got insurance coverage, because they say lots of insured people are coming to their clinic & preventing the uninsured (like me) from getting help.
The Americans and Brits have never been able to run any goverment org efficiently.The problem with you is you mix up
Corporate monopoly with free enterpise.
Thats why Virgin Rail,BBC,and NHS for the majority are rubbish and bad value.
@eric – “The problem with you is you mix up Corporate monopoly with free enterpise.”
perhaps you didn’t read my summary?
“Fake capitalism”
@Stacy
Here is a recent video of an interview of a woman who made the news speaking out against Health Care reform at an Arlene Specter Town Hall meeting. What is illuminating about this is how the ignorant are being manipulated from behind the scenes by corporate interests and right wing demagogues to oppose what is in their own, and the vast majority of Americans’, best interest. Just raise the red flag of “socialism” and you can stampede the fearful, ignorant masses to act against their own best interests.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#32393616
Click on “Health care reform opponent plays Hardball: to view.
Here is a another enlightening interview; this time of a former senior executive from CIGNA, a big Health Care insurer. Wendell Potter visited a Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise County, Virginia and it was an epiphany for him. While uninsured or under-insured people have to travel hundreds of miles and wait in long lines at a county fair grounds to be treated in animal stalls the CIGNA corporate elite live the lifestyle of the plutocrat.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
BILL MOYERS: People are going to say, “How can Wendell Potter sit here and say he was just finding out that there were a lot of Americans who didn’t have adequate insurance and needed health care? He’d been in the industry for over 15 years.”
WENDELL POTTER: And that was my problem. I had been in the industry and I’d risen up in the ranks. And I had a great job. And I had a terrific office in a high-rise building in Philadelphia. I was insulated. I didn’t really see what was going on. I saw the data. I knew that 47 million people were uninsured, but I didn’t put faces with that number.
Just a few weeks later though, I was back in Philadelphia and I would often fly on a corporate aircraft to go to meetings.
And I just thought that was a great way to travel. It is a great way to travel. You’re sitting in a luxurious corporate jet, leather seats, very spacious. And I was served my lunch by a flight attendant who brought my lunch on a gold-rimmed plate. And she handed me gold-plated silverware to eat it with. And then I remembered the people that I had seen in Wise County. Undoubtedly, they had no idea that this went on, at the corporate levels of health insurance companies.
BILL MOYERS: People are going to say, “How can Wendell Potter sit here and say he was just finding out that there were a lot of Americans who didn’t have adequate insurance and needed health care? He’d been in the industry for over 15 years.”
WENDELL POTTER: And that was my problem. I had been in the industry and I’d risen up in the ranks. And I had a great job. And I had a terrific office in a high-rise building in Philadelphia. I was insulated. I didn’t really see what was going on. I saw the data. I knew that 47 million people were uninsured, but I didn’t put faces with that number.
Just a few weeks later though, I was back in Philadelphia and I would often fly on a corporate aircraft to go to meetings.
And I just thought that was a great way to travel. It is a great way to travel. You’re sitting in a luxurious corporate jet, leather seats, very spacious. And I was served my lunch by a flight attendant who brought my lunch on a gold-rimmed plate. And she handed me gold-plated silverware to eat it with. And then I remembered the people that I had seen in Wise County. Undoubtedly, they had no idea that this went on, at the corporate levels of health insurance companies.
Here is the link to the full interview:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html
canada is the worst in the world for cell phone costs. 50$ a month is as cheap as I can get for a basic plan
@Clean Slate
Just like there is Fake Capitalism, there is also Fake Socialism. What makes you so sure that certain private health companies aren’t going to take advantage of this so-called “public” plan? They already do with Medicare.
This may result much like auto insurance: we are all forced to pay for it whether we have the money for our own collision costs or not, the companies collude to fix prices, and as a result it’s gotten more expensive than ever.
Except with health care there is no option to stop driving..
@Nancy – it already is fake ‘socialism’ . . . as I warned a few days ago . . . all those crazy rants that Obama’s health care plan is ‘socialism’ is a clever ruse to hide the fact that it is the complete opposite . . . check out the home page of huffingtonpost . . . the picture says it all
here is the story they link to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html
“all those crazy rants that Obama’s health care plan is ’socialism’ is a clever ruse to hide the fact that it is the complete opposite ”
What is your definition of socialism, Stacy?
@stacyherbert
Exactly! This is why groups like Conservatives For Patient Rights and Single Payer Action Now are both against Obamacare.
Haven’t seen much in the MSM and at the protests from the Single Payer folks, and wish they would protest loudly as well.
The nutty swastika-spraying, racist rhetoric-shouting people are probably plants.
I’m confused. Are the constituents who confront their representatives over socialised medicine “evil-mongers” as Harry Reid says, or are they useful idiots for the drug companies? Or could it simply be people just wanting government to stay the hell out of their lives?
Re: cell phone charges
Cell service in US+Kanada is pseudo competitive. It is actually quasi-monopoly, not free market, not even close.
The dominate companies use spectrum licences & banking pals to print $ in collusion with the government regulators. The bandwidth in the backbone, due to technology advances, costs them is zero. Kind of like the banks getting money for zero interest and lending it out for 30%. A Cell companies cost to move data is zero but they charge lots for every bit, it is all margin.
In countries were the service is a public utility the low prices are a reflection of the true (low) costs.
The high prices in ‘Free Market’ = Collusion Capitalism reflect the Nickel and Dime approach of gouging everyone all the time forever.
NWO = unfree market Kapitalism.
Happy Gulag, you will next be charged for the public air you use by tracking your cell phone with GPS. Every step you take will have a tax associated with it.
Ala Stacy I could have said ‘Fake Capitalism’, Pseudo sounds oh so much more sophisticated er burp belch back to my pen err work enclosure.
@Nancy
I am no fan of what Obama is proposing. It is a limp compromise which is primarily concerned about preserving the vested interests of the private Health Insurers and Big Pharma at expense of the health care of the vast majority of Americans. My point in pointing out the interview with the woman who confronted Specter was that she is good example of a large body of Americans who are woefully ignorant on this issue and they are easily manipulated by corporate PR and their right wing allies in government and the media. If you watched the interview you could almost begin to feel sorry for her as she dogmatically opposed the notion of a government single payer health plan but was flummoxed when she was confronted with fact the Medicare is exactly that and would she advise her parents, who are nearing retirement, to opt out of Medicare based on that dogmatic principal.
Private Health Insurers bring no added value to the health care of the insured, they in fact have a parasitical effect on it; and like the sociopathic senior executives at CIGNA would rather eat with gold plated silver ware on their corporate jet than pay for a liver transplant for a 17 year old girl.
@BlackCats13:
I choose number 3.
“Or could it simply be people just wanting government to stay the hell out of their lives?”
“Adams introduced the word confusopoly in this book. The word is a combination of confusion and monopoly (or rather oligopoly), defining it as “a group of companies with similar products who intentionally confuse customers instead of competing on price”. Examples of industries in which confusopolies exist (according to Adams) include telephone service, insurance, mortgage loans, banking, and financial services.” (on ‘The Dilbert Future’)