B4 The Bell Tuezelday July 13

[Butterfield 8]

Trying to remember Stain. One of the websites I usuallly check into, but cannot remember which one - Al Jazeera, Northeast Intelligence Network, Al Arabiya. I will track it down. As I remember it came from an al-qaeda release.

[Pee Brain]

anone wanna hear a great insurance story? great i thought so.

 

my buddy played in a local golf tourney (not CA) and hit a hole-in-one. the prize was $5,000! so the other day, the insurance agent from the company that insured the likelihood of a H-In-O calls and says "can you meet me at the spot where you hit the hole-in-one?" my buddy doesnt live more than 1 hour from the course and says "sure." so the day before they were supposed to meet, the agent calls and says "never mind, i waived that provision." my buddy still hasnt gotten his check.

 

question: what happens if you're from thailand and cant fly back "to show him where you hit the hole-in-one? true story.

[threadbare]

Whoa, Almost forgot. Congrats Butterfield. Welcome to Canuckistan!! Am anticipating a huge surge from down south. Not that the next few years are going to be a cakewalk here, but the country is just smaller and easier to manage, so things (should) remain more on a human and humane scale.

 

Brian--Agree on the medical coverage, but think that we eventually HAVE to yield to a two tier system. Another thing...Why should people who smoke like chimneys drink like fish and eat like uhhh...me, :grin: not be charged large for coverage? There should be some kind of sliding scale, to reward those who do what they can to prevent illness.

 

Medical coverage is expensive no matter how it's hancled. But public medicine, the way it's worked here, eliminates corporate greed and actually cuts down on inefficiencies, (the standard criticism of govt.) by eliminating 90% of the paperwork. It's far from perfect, as a matter of fact in some ways it stinks, but it beats the alternative. I wonder what the future will bring though. I would like to write a book called "Self surgery for the uninsured". I'm sure there are plenty of things you can do at home. Craniotomy by candlelight, for example.

[Butterfield 8]

thanks HB - cross posts

[bearvest]

Is that like bacci ball?

Doc:

 

Kinda a gravity thing. Bacci balls roll downhill.

 

If we don't bust 409.60, dem balls are rollin' down.

[Lock Limit Down]

When was the last time we saw the Naz futures down 16

Spoos fighting hard to hold 1107-8

If that lets go LOB.

 

IBM IMHO is looming large

They had better meet or beat as it has been a leg under the market since the beginning of the bubble.

In the past when they have disappointed there has been NO warning.

So far earnings have not been barn burning to say the least.

For many quarters now earnings season has given the market a shot of adrenalin. Looks like that MAY be coming to an end. The restructuring miracle has run its course.

[machinehead]

Machine- In the absence of Medicare, what would the alternative be?  The vast majority in our parents generation could not afford private medical insurance.  The cost would be astronomical. Medicare isn't even complete coverage.  My parents had to pay $700 per month for supplemental coverage.  So I don't see private insurance being the answer, especially since the insurers would cherry pick.

Doc - in every field where gov't has intervened to subsidise middle-class purchasing power -- college education, single-family housing, health care -- prices have become "unaffordable" without the subsidy.

 

Remove gov't distortions from the market, and most families would be able to afford routine education, housing and medical expenses. And aid for the indigent would be a minor issue.

 

The grand illusion is that we can afford collectively what we can't afford individually. Gov't is not a magical Aladdin's lamp that multiplies the purchasing power of our tax dollars. It only appears that way because much of the gov't spending is borrowed or printed out of thin air.

 

This too shall pass ...

[Optical Rectitus]

Amen MH