The Economy and What is Coming

What is the link between our new healthcare laws and the economy? Why is the collapse of the economy tied to the healthcare changes? They are connected. Everything is connected. It is finding the connections that helps you to understand the bigger pictures.

In 1997 a group of government officials and the heads of the largest banks met to deregulate the worlds banking system and they did. Recently a letter associated with this meeting became public. Many are calling it the smoking gun of our financial crisis. Vice - The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis. Top government officials and CEOs of the biggest banks got together to deregulate the banks across the world. If it were not for that action, the financial crisis would not have occurred. That is a fact.

Why would you deregulate a system that worked? You don't have to be a genius to know that every time we have privatized or deregulated an industry it immediately becomes corrupt. Think about this, your life is regulated more than the banks are. If you sold a gun to a terrorist, you would go to jail and be lucky to see a court. The banks laundered money for drug dealers and terrorists and some of them even paid a small fine. We created many laws after the great depression and they worked, soooo, we got rid of those laws and history repeated itself.

I know many older Republicans who have spent decades saying how government should be run by business. They believed in the American business model; but, the model changed and they haven't kept up. We outsourced our ability to be self sufficient. We don't produce anything anymore and keep all of our profits oversees. If government ran like private industry in America, we would send all of our taxes oversees to the Chinese and let their standards rule our lives.

Los Angeles Times - Google launches healthcare company Calico to extend life. So the healthcare business is supposed to be toxic because of Obamacare; but, governments and big business are all seeking to save money by putting their employees on Obamacare. In addition, companies like Google are investing lots of money in the healthcare system. What do they know that we do not? Is it that they know that the new system will track us, our health and our habits? That it will have value.

Yahoo - CNBC - Stocks are about to plunge, Wells Fargo warns. Soon; but, not yet. Patience, it will all unravel soon enough.

Too Many Doctor Visits and the News

The Pimpernel has been very busy the last two months with doctor appointments. I had avoided seeing them altogether for about 5 years and needed a simple procedure which was completed about a month ago and was a complete success. In the course of being evaluated my physician decided that we needed to spend more quality time together, he also wanted me to spend some time with his peers. The end result is that I have one or two doctor visits a week for the next few months. I have no pressing problems, this is mostly testing and possibly a second procedure of a minor nature.

I had a lengthy visit with my primary doctor today. He is very nice; but, I scare him because of my test results. I have very high blood pressure. Okay, technically, my blood pressure is classified as hypertensive emergency. In addition, my cholesterol is considered way above high risk and I have too many red blood cells. Basically, my numbers say that I should be dead, as my doctor likes to tell me every time he sees me. The solution is to have me take lots and lots of medications, which I have now agreed to do. The funny thing is that I feel better than I have in years.

As we age, we tend to fall apart. That is just the aging process. The doctor believes that the pills will improve my numbers and prevent me from having another heart attack or from having a stroke. They will not prevent me from dying, we all die eventually. What I will say about my doctor is he is no slacker, he is absolutely following up on every little thing. He has even scheduled me to have an ultrasound of my heart. I am amazed at his sincerity and concern. I am also fortunate that I have good insurance and can afford all my medications. There are millions who cannot.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, I have been asked to take on a new assignment. I have a year left before I can retire and was asked to take on a big assignment. I have been asked to design a new computer system to automate some tasks. It is a good idea and was my idea; but, I don't know how much stress I am willing to take on. I should point out that I am not a programmer, I have done programming when the internet was new; but, it has been ten years since I designed a system and at least 15 since I did any programming. If I take this on, it will be my last big project and it is not the one I was hoping for. Regular readers of this blog know that I keep current on technology and if I take this on it will be pretty cutting edge and a first within my industry.

Now, lets get to the news. Yahoo - Wall Street Journal - Say Goodbye to the Password. CBS New York - Seen At 11: Getting Personal – Your Pulse Could Be Your New Password. While it may appear that there is a fight over what will replace your password, I already know the answer to what is even more important. Whatever biometric identification will be required will have to be stored on the cloud. Think about this, people hold all of their important information of their smart phones; but, if the phone is lost or stolen they lose all of that information. If all of your biometric information is on the cloud, that won't matter and it will be simply transferred to your new device or even a device you borrow from someone else.

My9NJ - Tracking Jersey City Employees - Tracking Jersey City Employees. This is your future, every vehicle and every move will be tracked by your employer. Who said big brother had to be the government.

IMRA - Cabinet Establishes Team to Evaluate Reducing the Use of Cash. The bottom line is that Israel is looking to get rid of physical cash and go all electronic. In Europe there is a move to outlaw the wearing of veils by Muslims. They claim it is anti-woman. The real reason is that they want to be able to biometrically identify everyone. When we have an all electronic currency, biometrics will be required for all transactions.

Justification, lying and some news

How often do you lie? You might say that you do not; but, how often do you justify your actions with the excuse that you could have had a good reason for doing something. For about the past 40 years the schools have taught kids that they don't have pure reasons for doing things and that our decisions are made based on a variety of factors. That is not quite true, in fact we tend to usually have a single reason that tips the balance in most of our decisions.

What we have been teaching in schools is that IF we could have considered something or even did in our decision making then we can take credit for that being our reason. This is what we call justification and it quickly turns into lying. I see it all the time, people want to do something, consider all the possibilities and then claim the one that seems the best intended; but, in reality their decision was tipped on what was best for them. You know when you do something that has a harsh effect on someone else and then you tell them that it is best for everyone. That is justification.

Yahoo - Reuters - Feeling tipsy? New apps read blood alcohol levels, hail a taxi. A new phone app can tell people when you are drunk. How many ways can this be used, hmmmm, lets think about that. Lets say for insurance purposes, a bar can get a liquor license so long as they make sure that no underagers are allowed to drink and they cannot let people drive away who are above the legal limit. Maybe that bar might require you to test your alcohol level.

Yahoo - The Canadian Press - Chocolate companies to pay $23.2M in chocolate price-fixing class-action lawsuit. If there is a market, they will find a way to rig it. This is not capitalism and it isn't socialism, it is corruption.

Yahoo - SPYETF - Hank Paulson Warns of Another Financial Crisis. My question is what took him so long? Second question is why should we believe anything he says when he has been so very wrong in the past? Perhaps he is like a broken clock, he is right twice a day.

CNBC - Priced to sell: Sweet Obamacare deals for young. I want to try and explain something about what "Obamacare" does. If your company provides you health insurance, it is not based on your age that much. My organization pays the same for me as for a young kid, it is a per employee price. Now, these insurance exchanges operate differently, you are priced based on age. It comes down to spreading costs. Insurance companies use actuarials and if you keep employees for 30 years then the keep the price the same by spreading it. I think this is one of the hardest things for me to explain and I don't know that I am doing a great job of it.

Let me use life insurance as an example. When you sign up, they consider your age and health. The amount you pay is based upon their guess as to how long you will live and the return they will get on their investments in the meantime. If I get the insurance when I am young and healthy, the monthly cost will be cheap because they expect to collect from me for decades and inflation means that when my family does collect the amount will be minimal compared to what it was originally.

Lets get back to medical care. If I pay insurance for 30 years, odds are that I will need more medical assistance when I am older than when I was young. If I am a cautious person then it would make more sense to pay more when I am younger on a policy that will remain basically the same, one that benefits me for staying with them. It is like paying the minimum on your credit card, it is stupid and you never pay off the principal. They are creating a system that means you are less likely to have good medical care when you are most likely to need it.

Just to be a jerk, I shall end this with a question. What does solid mean?

Biometrics and Consequences

Wired - Apple’s Fingerprint ID May Mean You Can’t ‘Take the Fifth’. Long before the new IPhone was announced I wrote about how in the future you would use your biometrics to unlock or use phones. It will also be used to access just about everything including your money. The thing that needs to really be considered is how this will be managed from a security and legal standpoint. Something to watch.

Yahoo - Bloomberg - Trader Joe's Sends Part-Timers to Obama Health Exchanges. Trader Joe's just seems to be a really great company. I shop there often and they have some of the best customer service around. It is my understanding that they pay and treat their employees better than other markets. Rather than make people part timers so that they don't have to provide healthcare, they are giving their part timers money so that they can get healthcare. That is pretty impressive. What I found in the article was an attempt to spin this as a bad thing, pitiful spin.

CNN - California school district hires firm to monitor students' social media. The writer Dostoyevsky said that people have the choice between happiness and freedom, he said most preferred happiness.

Yahoo - GOP bill would ban using food stamp funds on junk food. A while back I posted a link to an article about how in some foreign country people receiving food subsidies were going to get food suggestions on their phones when they went to purchase in stores. I will make a bet that your insurance company will require you participate in such programs or pay more. What you allow the government to do to control others you will surely face yourself.

Yahoo - Fla. pastor arrested before he could burn Qurans. Firstly, the pastor is a moron, offensive and a jerk. Once we get past that, it is legal to be a moron, offensive and a jerk and it should be. The jerk was arrested on his way to burn the books for unlawful conveyance of fuel. Sounds like garbage to me. He was also charged with illegal open carry of a gun. That makes no sense. You don't need a license to carry an unconcealed weapon only to conceal one. Finally, he was charged with not having a proper registration for his trailer. It is quite obvious that the authorities wanted to stop him and they did; but, they had to pervert the law to do it.

Fox News - Apple on the sideline while Google and Samsung duke it out over watches and goggles. Just keeping my readers current on the tech that is going to monitor your health in the future.

Slate - This Couple Is Angry About Expecting Twins. Hear Them Out. The parents wanted one more kid and are having two, they are not overjoyed by this fact. The article however spins this into a discussion of whether it is right or wrong to kill one of the babies while it is still in the womb for convenience.

CBS Detroit - Mid-Michigan Teens Caught On The Run Will Be Monitored. Two teenagers ran away with each other, got caught and were returned home. Not the first time that such a thing has happened. The parents solution is to GPS them both so they can be tracked and they can make sure the two of them don't get together. This is another example of the acceptance of jailing everyone. What kind of adults are we creating when we raise our children without any privacy or choice?

YouTube - The Future of Money: Bitcoin & Beyond If you have 4 minutes, watch the video. You will be seeing more and more sales jobs on why we need to go with an all electronic currency in the future.

YouTube - What is The Internet of Things? Another very short video that explains what is coming and boy are they excited. Everything will be monitored.

Yahoo - Is employee health care a thing of the past? Too funny, the real moral of the story is that everyone is going to be in the health exchanges.

Near Death.com - People Born Blind Can See During a Near-Death Experience. Now what can we make of this? I wonder what it was like for them to come back and not be able to see again? Have a great week.

I will post soon

Sorry all, I haven't had much to say; but, I will post soon.

Random Things and Not Much More

Something is up with JP Morgan. I don't know exactly what; but, they are making major unusual moves. JP Morgan has announced they are getting out of the commodities market (aluminum) and is silently exiting other markets with little fanfare. One of the markets they are exiting is student loans. 80% of all student loans in America are held by the government; but, most of the rest are owned by JP Morgan and they plan on not making any more. Yahoo - Reuters - JPMorgan to stop making student loans: company memo. Remember this, JP Morgan knows more about what is coming than you or I.

Bloomberg - American Homes 4 Rent to Let Investors Share in Values. As an ex-investment trader said, the moment the big guys let the little guys participate, the bubble is about to burst. This is a bad investment. Housing prices have not hit bottom yet, renting will become bigger; but, the payoff takes years.

Activist Post - New Device Uses Your Heartbeat As An Electronic Key. I found this article interesting in that it shows another body monitor being used to access all of your electronics.

Mirror - Mystery hum? Listen to spooky sound that baffled scientists for 40 years after new claims it is now recorded on camera
. We have all heard about how for the past three or four years these mystery hums and trumpets have been heard around the world. In and of itself, it is interesting; but, my favorite part is always the answers. The mayor of this town claimed it was a guy using a snow plow, lol. For those who like science, she should have to replicate it because people who live there and have snow plows all their lives are not buying it. Politicians are narcissists and their number one priority in an emergency is to re-establish the belief by the masses that the politicians are in control of the situation.

Fox News - Wall Street Journal - Citing costs, IBM to move retirees off health plan. Those communists at IBM, putting all their retirees into Obamacare. Notice how they didn't call it Obamacare in the title? I find it fascinating that Fox has been saying how Obamacare was going to cost everyone more; but, when IBM puts retirees on it, it is cheaper than existing plans and according to IBM, will give them even more and better services. Now, I am going out on a limb here; but, I am going to guess that IBM may have used some computers to figure out what was going to be cheaper.

Wired - Nissan Hops on the Wearable Bandwagon With Biometric Smartwatch. A car that monitors your health while you drive. I wonder if you have a heart attack if it will switch the car off. I had one of those, no, not the watch, the heart attack and I was in the middle of the desert. I managed to drive to a populated area a mile or two away and park. I doubt very much I could have walked the mile.

Why A Smart Watch? and something abour housing and mortgages.

Digital Trends - Let’s hope this isn’t the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

Yahoo - Reuters - Will the 'smartwatch' become the new smartphone? Apple, Samsung, Sony all betting on it

Yahoo - Daily Ticker - Samsung to Unveil Galaxy Gear Smartwatch: Why You Should Care.

So all of these tech giants are betting that you will buy a smart watch, you have to ask why. Why would people buy a watch that does less than their phone does and requires you to have a phone to use it? Well, what it does is monitor your health and even lets you keep a food diary by taking pictures of everything you eat. This technology will allow you to monitor if someone has taken their pills, taken illegal drugs, drank alcohol, is having a heart attack, is exercising enough. The watch itself is ugly so we need to consider how it will be used. Perhaps we will require felons to wear one while on parole. Perhaps businesses will require that the people who are now required to have drug tests use one (truck drivers for instance). Perhaps your medical insurer will require you to wear one if you smoke or are overweight. Then again, perhaps it will be required if you want to access your bank account because it will biometrically identify you and your current health.

Yahoo - U.S. News - Tighter mortgage rules will soon squeeze these groups even more. There is no housing recovery and there is not going to be a housing recovery. The new rules for getting a mortgage mean that there will be an increase in demand for rental properties.

UPDATE:

NDTV - Apple smart watch to focus on biometrics, to release in 2014: Report. I like how the article just flat out says that it is not meant to be a time keeping device; but, if for biometric identification and health monitoring. So, again I ask why do all of these companies think people will want to buy these?