Friday, October 17, 2014

News updates about gold, healthcare, drones and other things.

Yahoo - Reuters - Facebook Exploring Development of Online Healthcare ‘Support Communities

People are so busy complaining about "Obamacare" for nonsense reasons that they are not paying attention to the real Trojan horse. Under the Affordable Healthcare Act, doctors and hospitals are required to keep all medical records in an electronic format. Oddly enough multiple companies are now coming out with "Smart watches". The main new functions of these watches is to monitor your health, diet and exercise, they are not for making calls and do not have displays big enough to use the internet, your phone does a better job. Oh, and the watches link to your phone, this allows your phone to update your doctor automatically. The next step is to transfer this information to a single place, turns out that place will be a Facebook owned site.

The purpose of all of this in the end is so that the government can track everyone's health. Now, as everyone is required to carry medical insurance und the Affordable Care Act, the insurance companies will eventually either determine the type of healthcare you are afforded if you do not do as your doctor recommends or use it as grounds to remove you from your medical plan. Previously I wrote about how one company REQUIRES it's employees to wear a smart watch to monitor their health as a condition of employment. The explanation is that the company said it has allowed them to reduce insurance costs.

The purpose of all of this is to triage medical resources. We entering a period where the average age of citizens will be older because the baby boomers are all over 54 no matter how you calculate the baby boom years, some would argue that the baby boom ended earlier and put the age of the youngest baby boomers in their 60s. They are going to need more and more healthcare and there are not enough doctors and nurses to provide it in the manner we are accustomed to.

When George Bush Jr, got into the white house one of the first things he commissioned was a report on what the effect of the baby boomers retiring would be. It was determined that we needed them to work longer. It was also determined that we would have a healthcare crisis if we didn't do something. I read the report when it was published. The government has been working on dealing with these issues ever since. They have a plan and it has been rolling out ever since without the people in these industries even really understanding the bigger plan.

The Telegraph - First hint of "Life after death" in biggest ever scientific study. Well the articles title is wrong, they found proof that awareness can continue even after someone is clinically found dead and that was believed to be impossible because they had believed that consciousness was a physical condition, a mechanical process. By the way, the first hint of life after death came about when millions of people were documented as having near death experiences.

Vice - Documenting the next generation of drone pilots. They are recruiting young video gamers to become drone pilots. A young guy who is 18 and is a great video gamer is a lot cheaper to hire into the military than a real pilot and they aren't afraid of killing people because they have been raised playing games where they kill people all day on a tv or computer screen. They also get to command the drones from far, far away in the safety and comfort of a place near where they live.

Yahoo - Motoramic - California readies pay-as-you-drive tax test, coming soon to a road near you. By the way, if you have a smart phone you will be able to pay your tax while you are driving.

examiner.com - Gold confiscation: Mystery revealed. The article basically gives the highlights of the laws and executive orders that allowed the government to confiscate gold from civilians in the United States. All that research and the author contends that those laws are no longer in effect and that we shouldn't worry about the government confiscating gold; but, it leaves out the Patriot Act which requires dealers to report ALL sales of gold valued at more than $500, that my friends is way less than an ounce with gold currently selling at a little over $1,200 an ounce.

My long time readers will remember that I had already written that these things were coming years ago; but, consider this an update and a shorthand for new readers.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Hello Friends

I had a friend stop by yesterday to make sure I was okay because I did not complete my last post. I am fine and remain fine. I just don't write everyday anymore. Be well.

Monday, October 6, 2014

"Inequality For All" - Robert Reich

I joined Netflix not long ago and like documentaries. I watched one tonight called "Inequality For All", the man who it was about is named Robert Reich and he was the Secretary of Labor. He worked under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. The man now teaches at UC Berkley. I 100% sincerely recommend this film to everyone who reads this post. It explains better than I have how we have gotten where we are. He misses out on bringing up some issues; but, he goes through a lot of things and films can only be so long.

He talks about how big money influences government; but, he failed to go through some of the most important changes in the law that your federal government made the and caused the loss of jobs in the United States. Why do we give tax breaks to companies in the United States that create jobs overseas and take them away from this country?  Why do we give tax breaks to people who renounce citizenship after they have made their money is this country? I am not concerned about the money they make in foreign countries, only the money they make from this country. From profits they made from owning stock in American companies.

The tax code is the key to fixing America. People do what benefits them. We need to eliminate all tax deductions and set a flat tax rate, the same percentage regardless of how much someone makes. Pay as you benefit. There was a time when we had a progressive tax, the wealthiest could pay up to 90% in taxes, I am against that. That is why the paid so much to lobbyists to call for tax deductions. The problem is that every pendulum swings back and they swung back; but, fairness was never reached.

I want you to think about this. Multimillionaire Mitt Romney complained that taxes were too high; but, he only paid about 13% on his income. I am practically broke and paid 30%. You see, if you get divorced and the government makes you pay alimony, you still get taxed at the higher rate. You get a deduction for alimony; but, your ex pays taxes on that alimony. The deduction is often not equal to the higher tax rate that you pay. My wages are garnished, it is not a discretionary expense and goes straight to her, I should not pay at the higher rate, I never got the money.

Lets try this. You get a deduction for your mortgage and insurance on your house which causes houses to cost more than renting. If you own apartments you get to deduct for repairs, if you own a home, you do not get to deduct for repairs. The mortgage and insurance deduction is actually causing your home mortgage to be more, it is not benefitting you.

Consider this and unfinished post.