International Business Times - Is Your Cable Box Spying On You? Behavior-Detecting Devices From Verizon, Microsoft And Others Worry Privacy Advocates. I have written about this many times and this is just a continuation of the same. Our technology is all being based around recognizing you personally through your biometrics. Of course it should bother us; but, people continue to buy it.
CNN Money - New $444 million hockey arena is still a go in Detroit. This is just so blatant and in your face. Detroit is in bankruptcy claiming that they cannot pay the bond holders or their employees; but, they can fund a hockey stadium with tax money. Now, they do claim it will create 8,000 "new" construction jobs; but, that is a lie. Construction projects rarely create new jobs and are usually done by companies that already have the people. If you paid attention to all the "stimulus" money, this should be obvious.
So what is it that Detroit is really getting out of this? Well, money for the developer and his friends. Here is an alternative, what if they created real construction jobs for people who lived in the city of Detroit, repairing their roads and infrastructure. Those would be jobs for people who stayed there.
Detroit Free Press - Michigan AG to defend public pensions, state constitution in Detroit bankruptcy filing. The state of Michigan's constitution basically says that municipalities have to meet their obligations including pension promises. Pretty simple, if you promise to pay a person working for the government a pension, you cannot change your mind later. The person who was appointed as the cities "Emergency Manager" doesn't want to; but, he does support $450 million to build a sports arena for a team that is already there, is profitable and isn't seeking to leave. In the end, life is a matter of priorities isn't it.
Click on Detroit - Detroit pension leaders indicted on bribery conspiracy charges. Put the three articles together and you get a clearer picture of what is really going on in Detroit.
Yahoo - Wired - Play This Game, Get That Job. This guy created a video game to measure one's job strengths. You used to get hired for knowing how to do a job and having experience at it.
Politico - Big Marijuana lobby fights legalization efforts. I find this article interesting, not because of the subject matter as much as the approach that is being taken. Here is a quote from the article, "Medical marijuana is a billion-dollar industry — legal in 18 states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Maine — and like any entrenched business, it’s fighting to keep what it has and shut out competitors."
I have been with a couple of people who died while undergoing chemotherapy. They were given morphine and denied marijuana. One would never have used it anyways and actually refused the morphine too, that was my father. I used to just think marijuana laws were stupid; but, after dealing with my father I am now convinced it should be legalized. Now that we have that out of the way, lets look at how this country works. Marijuana is legal in Maine; but, the people who sell it don't want it fully legalized because they will lose their monopoly on selling it. "Medical Marijuana" is legal in California too and all you have to do is pick up the local alternative newspaper to see how it is advertised and it is pretty clear that it is not about medical needs. You pay $50 or $100 or whatever to some "doctor" and he asks you if you ever have stress or whatever and then you can legally buy marijuana. I read once that in San Francisco, marijuana shops outnumbered restaurants. It seems to be the most popular medicine in the state.
Fox News - Inside Science News Service - Inception? Scientists produce false memories in mice. This article includes both bad science and bad reporting. Here is a quote from the article:
"Last year, Tonegawa and his team published a study in Nature showing how false memories could be implanted in mice. They first put mice in a chamber -- the scientists called it the Red Room -- and let the animals roam around exploring so they could build up a contextual memory of it.
After a while, they gave the mice mild electric shocks to their feet and a blue light flashed in their brains delivered by a fiber-optic cable, implanting the memory that the Red Room was a dangerous place."
Did these scientists never hear of Pavlov? The mice were not reacting to the room, they were reacting to the fact that a light was flashed every time they were electrocuted. The message they want you to get is that you cannot trust people and their beliefs. A great excuse for filming and monitoring everything we do, isn't it.
Yahoo - Reuters - Reading the runes in Washington and Frankfurt. Long story short, "analysts" believe that the Federal Reserve will start tapering on buying bonds in September. I find the timing interesting as Bernanke is about to retire. That makes it the perfect time for things to come apart because you cannot blame his replacement and he will be gone. That is how things are done in DC. Remember Bush passed the TARP bill just as he was leaving too.
The Guardian - Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the internet is. For those who don't know, Snowden was an NSA contractor who came out and gave documents showing that the government records everything on the internet. The article says that we would not know this if not for Snowden and that is nonsense. I have been writing about it for over six years and linking to documents that are public and prove it. The solution that the author goes on about is how individual countries will control the internet within their own nations. Hmmmm, what will that look like. I know, it will look like internal censorship and it will not do one thing to prevent us from data mining those countries.
Reuters - Nicosia - Cyprus, lenders set Bank of Cyprus bail-in at 47.5 pct, sources say. This is really just sort of a follow up and information for people that may be new to the site. A "bail out" is when the government gives the banks money because they are insolvent, like happened in the United States. The cost is bore by the tax payers and eventually, hopefully, the banks pay it back by making new risky investments. A "Bail in" is when the depositors of the bank get stock in exchange for the deposits that they lost. Sort of a forced stock sale. The next wave will be "bail ins" and England, the EU and the United States have all passed legislation which conforms to the IMF plan to have "bail ins" when the large systematically important banks fail. As between the two choices, you are supposed to prefer a bail in.
Yahoo - AP - Exclusive: 4 in 5 in US face near-poverty, no work. Perhaps we should follow Detroit's lead and just start building sports arenas from one end of the country to the other, imagine all the jobs we can create.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Healthcare and Hypocrites; but, not the one's you think.
Lets talk about the Affordable Healthcare Act, frequently referred to as Obamacare. I often hear people go on a rant about the bill; but, I haven't yet met anyone who has even read it or knows what it does. I read things said by conservatives that are completely irrational, some went so far as to say that it would require everyone to have an RFID chip in them and that is pure nonsense. This post is not really about the bill, it is about the manipulation that goes on around us and how it is achieved.
The first lie is that it is Obama's healthcare bill, it is not. This bill was being worked on long before he even entered the scene. While he signed it into law, it was passed by congress and it took Republicans and Democrats to pass it. The history behind it is pretty simple, we have known for decades that the baby boomers would begin retiring and need more healthcare at a time when the United States would be less and less of an economic powerhouse and fewer and fewer employers would be providing healthcare insurance. In fact, one of Bush Jr's first action items when he got into office was to put together a team to plan for dealing with an aging boomer population.
Without action Medicaid and Medicare would simply fail. Doctor's would refuse to participate and largest part of our population would go without services at the time they need it the most. The Republicans knew this and the Democrats knew this. The options are also pretty simple. Firstly, we could leave things as they were and watch our parents and grandparents get no healthcare. Secondly, we could nationalize healthcare as is done in some other countries. Thirdly, we could institute mandatory healthcare coverage for everyone and let the different providers compete to see who does the best. They chose the third way.
A little over a year ago, I wrote, "Once it is in place, tax payers will insist that all civil servants be on it and be taken off of private policies." Technically, I misspoke as it is a private policy; but, with government backing and subsidies. What I was explaining was that the same people in congress who claimed to be against it would require government employees to then be on it. That is hypocrisy, actually, it is worse, it was just deceitful.
Now here is a link to an article I read today. I should point out that when I retire next year, I retire with private insurance for life and am paying a hefty chunk to do so. NewsMax - IRS Workers Want Out of Obamacare. Here is how this goes, Dave Camp a Republican on the House Ways and Means committee is seeking to put all IRS employees into the "Obamacare" program even though they already have health insurance. A Forbes article made the following statement according to the article linked above, ""Nonetheless, it would be a very good thing for some federal employees to eat their own cooking, especially those who work for Congress, the IRS, and the Department of Health and Human Services," the Forbes report concludes. "They're the ones who are writing the Obamacare regulations; they're the ones who, in many cases, wrote the law itself." That is simply another lie. The IRS did not write the bill and it wasn't until last year that the Supreme Court even ruled that it was a tax bill, to the surprise of many.
As far as Presidents go, I didn't like the Bush family, I didn't like Clinton and I don't like Obama. I liked Reagan, I liked Carter (he was a good man and a bad president) and I liked Kennedy. I am mixed on Nixon, he was a good President; but, a dodgy character. I also do not and have not ever worked for the Federal government. I digress.
If Mr. Camp was truly against this law, he would introduce a bill that prohibited government employees from participating in it. According to Forbes it will result in higher costs. Why would Mr. Camp, again if he is against it, want government employees to pay more for less when in the end, they are his employees? He is simply playing a pretty obvious PR move. What then is the real effect of putting all government employees in these programs? Well, it destroys the companies that will not participate in these programs.
If the Republicans had really wanted to stop "Obamacare", they could have, they stopped the Clintons from instituting an almost identical plan when Bill was in office. Now, lets look at what the bill did.
Wikipedia - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. What follows below in bold italics is from the article.
1. Guaranteed issue will require policies to be issued regardless of any medical condition, and partial community rating will require insurers to offer the same premium to all applicants of the same age and geographical location without regard to gender or most pre-existing conditions (excluding tobacco use).[14][15][16]
2. A shared responsibility requirement, commonly called an individual mandate,[17] requires all individuals not covered by an employer sponsored health plan, Medicaid, Medicare or other public insurance programs, to secure an approved private-insurance policy or pay a penalty, unless the applicable individual is a member of a recognized religious sect exempted by the Internal Revenue Service, or waived in cases of financial hardship.[18] This was included on the rationale that - without such a mandate, a form of community rating, and coverage standards - the guaranteed issue provision would likely exacerbate adverse selection: if people could not be denied insurance by companies they might put-off insuring themselves until they got sick, causing insurers to resort to larger premium increases on sick individuals and more extensive coverage limits to afford the remaining insured population, which could result in an insurance death spiral.[19][20] This led to the inclusion of subsidies (see below) so people with low-incomes can comply when the mandate goes into effect.[21]
3. Health insurance exchanges will commence operation in each state, offering a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can compare policies and premiums, and buy insurance (with a government subsidy if eligible).[22]
4. Low-income individuals and families above 100% and up to 400% of the federal poverty level will receive federal subsidies[23] on a sliding scale if they choose to purchase insurance via an exchange (those from 133% to 150% of the poverty level would be subsidized such that their premium cost would be 3% to 4% of income).[24]
5. The text of the law expands Medicaid eligibility to include all individuals and families with incomes up to 133% of the poverty level, and simplifies the CHIP enrollment process. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court effectively allowed states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion, and some states have stated their intention to do so. States that choose to reject the Medicaid expansion can set their own Medicaid eligibility thresholds, which in many states are significantly below 133% of the poverty line; in addition, many states do not make Medicaid available to childless adults at any income level. Because subsidies on insurance plans purchased through exchanges are not available to those below 100% of the poverty line, this may create a coverage gap in those states.[25][26][27]
6. Minimum standards for health insurance policies are to be established[28] (an 'essential health benefits'[29]), and annual and lifetime coverage caps will be banned.[30][31][32]
7. Firms employing 50 or more people but not offering health insurance will also pay a shared responsibility requirement if the government has had to subsidize an employee's health care.[33][34]
8. Very small businesses will be able to get subsidies if they purchase insurance through an exchange.[35]
9. Co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles are to be eliminated for select health care insurance benefits considered to be part of the "essential benefits package"[29] for Level A or Level B preventive care.[36][37]
10. Changes are enacted that allow a restructuring of Medicare reimbursement from "fee-for-service" to "bundled payment."[38][39] A single payment is paid to a hospital and a physician group, for example, for a defined episode of care (such as a hip replacement), rather than individual payments to individual service-providers.
What really depresses me is that we don't see a real discussion about the real issues, we just get political maneuvering and spin. Here are the real issues, as I see them.
1. Should everyone have health insurance? Since 1989 the Republican party pushed for mandating everyone to be required to pay for it. Romney himself touted the healthcare law that was passed under him and signed into law in Massachusetts.
2. If everyone shouldn't have to have health insurance, who should go without and should they still get some level of medical services, for instance in an emergency?
3. What should be the minimal level of coverage?
Those are the biggest issues. Here is where it starts to get dodgy. What are our choices for how we bring costs down?
I think what we are going to see is a push to have more and more people using technology to constantly monitor their health. Not long ago I wrote about a wristband that does just that. I also know that apps are being developed to monitor and analyze your health and even notify your doctor if you are in distress. Should high risk people be required to have such devices if they refuse to change their lifestyle?
Imagine that you have a company with a thousand employees and you have to provide healthcare insurance for them all. You are absolutely against Obamacare and find the idea of having to provide healthcare insurance an intrusion on your free will. Because it is the law, you comply. You discover that people who have these health monitoring devices provide you with a cheaper premium, will you require your employees to use them? If so, how would what you do be any different then what the government did?
There was a time in America when we actually cared about one another and our communities. People committed to their company and their companies committed to them. If you did a good job, you had a job for life. If you went through hard times, your company was there for you. That all went away when the owners of companies stopped being owners and became simply investors. This post is not about healthcare, it is about us as a nation. We work together or we come apart.
I am not a big proponent of globalism, I believe in national self-determination, I believe in freedom of variation. I believe the true globalist agenda can only succeed if we fail to believe that we as a nation are all in this together and that means that we support each other. There are those who praise nationalism; but, deride the concept of collectivism. That is an oxymoron. National sovereignty can only exist when you have a national identity and work together for the benefit of your nation, at least to some degree. Benjamin Franklin said, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."
I read a lot of news. I read right wing, left wing and alternative news. I have read things by people who claim to be "patriots" and then decry "collectivism". Many miss the boat. How can we be a nation when it is everyone for himself? How can we be successful when we allow half our population to live at a poverty level? The best America has ever achieved was after world war II and prior to the our implosion. The 50s and 60s were a time of our greatest national achievements and they were accomplished because of a strong middle class.
W. Edwards Deming had some profound thoughts on productivity. He used this equation.
(a) When people and organizations focus primarily on quality, defined by the following ratio,
Quality = Results of work efforts\ Total costs
quality tends to increase and costs fall over time.
(b) However, when people and organizations focus primarily on costs, costs tend to rise and quality declines over time.
The history of management theory used to take into account quality and a educated and dedicated workforce. That is not what business focuses on anymore. Instead of developing the nations workforce, companies seek to hire only experienced people. Lets look at a real life example of this. Apple computer. Steve Jobs founded the company, it was his life and he was totally committed to the product not just to a profit. He was removed from the company once it went public by people who were totally committed to the profit and not the product, as a consequence, the company almost went bankrupt. He came back and revitalized the product and the company increased it's profits.
The same is true for a nation. We succeed based on what we are committed to. If we are committed to a better life for all our people then we will achieve that because we will all work towards that. What would we rather this country look like in 10 years, Sweden where they have national healthcare and take care of their poorest or some third world nation where you have a few rich and everyone else just getting by if they are lucky? I know the statistic and we are not working to becoming like Sweden.
2 Timothy 3
1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was."
The first four certainly were demonstrated in the American culture for since the 80s. The fourth is a pretty good description of much of the church today. A form of godliness, not one that truly believes in loving and caring for our neighbor as ourselves. The ninth is where we are now. Look at the Stock Market scandals, look at the manipulation of all markets and the complete corruption of the banking system and the political system.
In "Gone With The Wind" there is a great line. I think it is Rhett Butler that says it, he says that there are two times when you can make a lot of money, when a nation is dying and when a nation is growing. You make it much faster when it is dying. I watched and read many stock brokers and commodity dealers who say that our western economies are going to crash and then tell you how to profit from it. You can make more money, quicker with options trading where you bet against a company succeeding then you can by owning stock in the company and profiting if it does well. We have designed a system that pays people when it fails, that is insanity.
The first lie is that it is Obama's healthcare bill, it is not. This bill was being worked on long before he even entered the scene. While he signed it into law, it was passed by congress and it took Republicans and Democrats to pass it. The history behind it is pretty simple, we have known for decades that the baby boomers would begin retiring and need more healthcare at a time when the United States would be less and less of an economic powerhouse and fewer and fewer employers would be providing healthcare insurance. In fact, one of Bush Jr's first action items when he got into office was to put together a team to plan for dealing with an aging boomer population.
Without action Medicaid and Medicare would simply fail. Doctor's would refuse to participate and largest part of our population would go without services at the time they need it the most. The Republicans knew this and the Democrats knew this. The options are also pretty simple. Firstly, we could leave things as they were and watch our parents and grandparents get no healthcare. Secondly, we could nationalize healthcare as is done in some other countries. Thirdly, we could institute mandatory healthcare coverage for everyone and let the different providers compete to see who does the best. They chose the third way.
A little over a year ago, I wrote, "Once it is in place, tax payers will insist that all civil servants be on it and be taken off of private policies." Technically, I misspoke as it is a private policy; but, with government backing and subsidies. What I was explaining was that the same people in congress who claimed to be against it would require government employees to then be on it. That is hypocrisy, actually, it is worse, it was just deceitful.
Now here is a link to an article I read today. I should point out that when I retire next year, I retire with private insurance for life and am paying a hefty chunk to do so. NewsMax - IRS Workers Want Out of Obamacare. Here is how this goes, Dave Camp a Republican on the House Ways and Means committee is seeking to put all IRS employees into the "Obamacare" program even though they already have health insurance. A Forbes article made the following statement according to the article linked above, ""Nonetheless, it would be a very good thing for some federal employees to eat their own cooking, especially those who work for Congress, the IRS, and the Department of Health and Human Services," the Forbes report concludes. "They're the ones who are writing the Obamacare regulations; they're the ones who, in many cases, wrote the law itself." That is simply another lie. The IRS did not write the bill and it wasn't until last year that the Supreme Court even ruled that it was a tax bill, to the surprise of many.
As far as Presidents go, I didn't like the Bush family, I didn't like Clinton and I don't like Obama. I liked Reagan, I liked Carter (he was a good man and a bad president) and I liked Kennedy. I am mixed on Nixon, he was a good President; but, a dodgy character. I also do not and have not ever worked for the Federal government. I digress.
If Mr. Camp was truly against this law, he would introduce a bill that prohibited government employees from participating in it. According to Forbes it will result in higher costs. Why would Mr. Camp, again if he is against it, want government employees to pay more for less when in the end, they are his employees? He is simply playing a pretty obvious PR move. What then is the real effect of putting all government employees in these programs? Well, it destroys the companies that will not participate in these programs.
If the Republicans had really wanted to stop "Obamacare", they could have, they stopped the Clintons from instituting an almost identical plan when Bill was in office. Now, lets look at what the bill did.
Wikipedia - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. What follows below in bold italics is from the article.
1. Guaranteed issue will require policies to be issued regardless of any medical condition, and partial community rating will require insurers to offer the same premium to all applicants of the same age and geographical location without regard to gender or most pre-existing conditions (excluding tobacco use).[14][15][16]
2. A shared responsibility requirement, commonly called an individual mandate,[17] requires all individuals not covered by an employer sponsored health plan, Medicaid, Medicare or other public insurance programs, to secure an approved private-insurance policy or pay a penalty, unless the applicable individual is a member of a recognized religious sect exempted by the Internal Revenue Service, or waived in cases of financial hardship.[18] This was included on the rationale that - without such a mandate, a form of community rating, and coverage standards - the guaranteed issue provision would likely exacerbate adverse selection: if people could not be denied insurance by companies they might put-off insuring themselves until they got sick, causing insurers to resort to larger premium increases on sick individuals and more extensive coverage limits to afford the remaining insured population, which could result in an insurance death spiral.[19][20] This led to the inclusion of subsidies (see below) so people with low-incomes can comply when the mandate goes into effect.[21]
3. Health insurance exchanges will commence operation in each state, offering a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can compare policies and premiums, and buy insurance (with a government subsidy if eligible).[22]
4. Low-income individuals and families above 100% and up to 400% of the federal poverty level will receive federal subsidies[23] on a sliding scale if they choose to purchase insurance via an exchange (those from 133% to 150% of the poverty level would be subsidized such that their premium cost would be 3% to 4% of income).[24]
5. The text of the law expands Medicaid eligibility to include all individuals and families with incomes up to 133% of the poverty level, and simplifies the CHIP enrollment process. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court effectively allowed states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion, and some states have stated their intention to do so. States that choose to reject the Medicaid expansion can set their own Medicaid eligibility thresholds, which in many states are significantly below 133% of the poverty line; in addition, many states do not make Medicaid available to childless adults at any income level. Because subsidies on insurance plans purchased through exchanges are not available to those below 100% of the poverty line, this may create a coverage gap in those states.[25][26][27]
6. Minimum standards for health insurance policies are to be established[28] (an 'essential health benefits'[29]), and annual and lifetime coverage caps will be banned.[30][31][32]
7. Firms employing 50 or more people but not offering health insurance will also pay a shared responsibility requirement if the government has had to subsidize an employee's health care.[33][34]
8. Very small businesses will be able to get subsidies if they purchase insurance through an exchange.[35]
9. Co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles are to be eliminated for select health care insurance benefits considered to be part of the "essential benefits package"[29] for Level A or Level B preventive care.[36][37]
10. Changes are enacted that allow a restructuring of Medicare reimbursement from "fee-for-service" to "bundled payment."[38][39] A single payment is paid to a hospital and a physician group, for example, for a defined episode of care (such as a hip replacement), rather than individual payments to individual service-providers.
What really depresses me is that we don't see a real discussion about the real issues, we just get political maneuvering and spin. Here are the real issues, as I see them.
1. Should everyone have health insurance? Since 1989 the Republican party pushed for mandating everyone to be required to pay for it. Romney himself touted the healthcare law that was passed under him and signed into law in Massachusetts.
2. If everyone shouldn't have to have health insurance, who should go without and should they still get some level of medical services, for instance in an emergency?
3. What should be the minimal level of coverage?
Those are the biggest issues. Here is where it starts to get dodgy. What are our choices for how we bring costs down?
I think what we are going to see is a push to have more and more people using technology to constantly monitor their health. Not long ago I wrote about a wristband that does just that. I also know that apps are being developed to monitor and analyze your health and even notify your doctor if you are in distress. Should high risk people be required to have such devices if they refuse to change their lifestyle?
Imagine that you have a company with a thousand employees and you have to provide healthcare insurance for them all. You are absolutely against Obamacare and find the idea of having to provide healthcare insurance an intrusion on your free will. Because it is the law, you comply. You discover that people who have these health monitoring devices provide you with a cheaper premium, will you require your employees to use them? If so, how would what you do be any different then what the government did?
There was a time in America when we actually cared about one another and our communities. People committed to their company and their companies committed to them. If you did a good job, you had a job for life. If you went through hard times, your company was there for you. That all went away when the owners of companies stopped being owners and became simply investors. This post is not about healthcare, it is about us as a nation. We work together or we come apart.
I am not a big proponent of globalism, I believe in national self-determination, I believe in freedom of variation. I believe the true globalist agenda can only succeed if we fail to believe that we as a nation are all in this together and that means that we support each other. There are those who praise nationalism; but, deride the concept of collectivism. That is an oxymoron. National sovereignty can only exist when you have a national identity and work together for the benefit of your nation, at least to some degree. Benjamin Franklin said, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."
I read a lot of news. I read right wing, left wing and alternative news. I have read things by people who claim to be "patriots" and then decry "collectivism". Many miss the boat. How can we be a nation when it is everyone for himself? How can we be successful when we allow half our population to live at a poverty level? The best America has ever achieved was after world war II and prior to the our implosion. The 50s and 60s were a time of our greatest national achievements and they were accomplished because of a strong middle class.
W. Edwards Deming had some profound thoughts on productivity. He used this equation.
(a) When people and organizations focus primarily on quality, defined by the following ratio,
Quality = Results of work efforts\ Total costs
quality tends to increase and costs fall over time.
(b) However, when people and organizations focus primarily on costs, costs tend to rise and quality declines over time.
The history of management theory used to take into account quality and a educated and dedicated workforce. That is not what business focuses on anymore. Instead of developing the nations workforce, companies seek to hire only experienced people. Lets look at a real life example of this. Apple computer. Steve Jobs founded the company, it was his life and he was totally committed to the product not just to a profit. He was removed from the company once it went public by people who were totally committed to the profit and not the product, as a consequence, the company almost went bankrupt. He came back and revitalized the product and the company increased it's profits.
The same is true for a nation. We succeed based on what we are committed to. If we are committed to a better life for all our people then we will achieve that because we will all work towards that. What would we rather this country look like in 10 years, Sweden where they have national healthcare and take care of their poorest or some third world nation where you have a few rich and everyone else just getting by if they are lucky? I know the statistic and we are not working to becoming like Sweden.
2 Timothy 3
1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was."
The first four certainly were demonstrated in the American culture for since the 80s. The fourth is a pretty good description of much of the church today. A form of godliness, not one that truly believes in loving and caring for our neighbor as ourselves. The ninth is where we are now. Look at the Stock Market scandals, look at the manipulation of all markets and the complete corruption of the banking system and the political system.
In "Gone With The Wind" there is a great line. I think it is Rhett Butler that says it, he says that there are two times when you can make a lot of money, when a nation is dying and when a nation is growing. You make it much faster when it is dying. I watched and read many stock brokers and commodity dealers who say that our western economies are going to crash and then tell you how to profit from it. You can make more money, quicker with options trading where you bet against a company succeeding then you can by owning stock in the company and profiting if it does well. We have designed a system that pays people when it fails, that is insanity.
Random News and Comments
Took my medicine and cant sleep so I thought I might post some news and such. I had the privilege of communicating with a very nice woman over the last couple of days and she may end up reading my blog. My readership goes from 3 to a 1,000 depending on the post, at least as far as I can tell from my stats. Like Johnny Rotten said, I am lazy and do not promote the site. I think the vast majority of people who found their way her found it because they were interested in some little discussed subject and found me on some search engine. As for those who choose to be "followers" or read me regularly because they have me on their "favorites", I can only assume they continue reading because they do not have the time to dredge through as much news sites as I.
The blog has no set rules on what I will discuss and is written as I think it, I don't edit and probably should; but, again, I am too lazy and prefer to speak my mind. The problem with the news anymore is that they are so busy trying to spin stories and sell hamburgers that they forgot about analyzing the news. They are not reporters they are prostitutes in the worst sense of the word, they don't sell their body, they sell us all out and are nothing but repeaters. Lets play a game, I will link to a story and then ask some questions that the reporters should have asked.
Yahoo - Reuters - JPMorgan to quit physical commodity trade amid scrutiny. JP Morgan Chase & Co is going to stop commodities trading. Commodities are things like gold, silver and other physical assets. This change surprised people because it has been a very lucrative business for JPMorgan. I guess they don't think it will continue to be lucrative. We all know, or should, that countries and individuals are asking for their physical gold to be handed over to them from companies and organizations that hold it "for them".
Here is a great line from the article, "The bank's announcement follows a week of unprecedented scrutiny of Wall Street's commodity operations, after the U.S. Federal Reserve said last Friday it was reviewing a landmark 2003 decision that allowed commercial banks to trade in physical markets to "complement" their financial activity." Here is another line from the article, "Although the division's $2.4 billion in reported revenue last year exceeded those of the commodities divisions of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley combined, some have questioned its profitability given the costs involved in running a large logistical operation." Wait a second, they made billions in these trades. I think I would ask them if maybe those markets were rigged just like the other markets they were involved in.
Mail Online - Revealed: The shadowy lobbyists waging a propaganda war to keep Britain in Europe. Americans really need to pay more attention to what is going on in the rest of the world. If you go back and read political science books from the 80s on the coming of regionalism, you will discover nothing surprising. They always said that England would not join Europe and would side with Canada and America, we all speak English don't we? The lobbyist will lose and are being exposed. Here is the question that was not asked, would America rather side with England or Europe, Germany has more money and manufacturing than England; but, we would always side with England. Nobody ever asks that question when talking about the EU because they all know the answer.
Huffington Post - WATCH: How a Colorblind Cyborg 'Hears' Color. I will admit upfront that I believe transhumanism is dangerous and disturbing. This man promotes us "sensing" the world through integrating with technology. What is not asked is how much the technology could be hacked and tweeked to give us false perceptions. If a blind person is given artificial eyes or a deaf person is given artificial ears, how will they know if what they hear or see is the truth? What if you had artificial hearing and chose to block out cuss words or had artificial eyes and chose to block out child pornography? What if you never had to see, hear or experience pain or things you found distasteful? How much would you grow and how would we catch people doing bad things? I think those are valuable questions.
Huffington Post - How a Theoretical Claim About the NSA Magically Transformed Into Factual Reality. This article is just for morons. The author plays a game, he equates how much of our phone calls are recorded with how much is analyzed and claims that less is recorded because we can only analyze so much. This is mathematical garbage and misdirection. Everything is recorded and stored, very little is actually reviewed. I have said this many times, nobody in the NSA cares if you are cheating on your wife. Now lets look at how ridiculous his claims are. Lets say that the government can only "record" a thousandth of what is on phones, how would they pick what to record? Another good question. It is all recorded, the question is what gets analyzed after the rest has been filtered out. Why didn't he talk about that? It is because they want to calm fears that they do in fact record everything.
Vice - Mississippi Police Want to Arrest the Satanists Who Turn Dead People Gay. I already wrote a post about this, these people are not Satanist who believe in a real Satan, they are Atheists and the media didn't even bother saying that because it doesn't sell as much hate. We are being trained to detest anyone who believe in a real God and a real Satan.
Wired - Why Are Some People So Smart? The Answer Could Spawn a Generation of Superbabies. The "hero" of this story is a very bright Chinese man. He wants to unlock the code that will make sure that only genius children are born and that autistic people are screened out. These people want to filter out outliers, people who see the world differently and ask different questions and come up with different answers. They want a world where everyone is strong, physically fit and psychologically the same. That is death to a species, it is inbreeding. 5% of the population is immune to Ebola, what happens when nobody is because we have eliminated all the outliers? They didn't ask that question in the article.
Wired - Withings Pulse - You’re Going to Need a Better Memory. In the future your healthcare will based on whether or not you are willing to have it constantly monitored. It will start with smokers, fat people, diabetics, Alzheimer patients and people with high blood pressure. I have high blood pressure. Why is it that none of the media is talking about how this monitoring will effect your healthcare costs and options?
Well, I hope you all have a great weekend. We shall see what tomorrow's news might bring.
The blog has no set rules on what I will discuss and is written as I think it, I don't edit and probably should; but, again, I am too lazy and prefer to speak my mind. The problem with the news anymore is that they are so busy trying to spin stories and sell hamburgers that they forgot about analyzing the news. They are not reporters they are prostitutes in the worst sense of the word, they don't sell their body, they sell us all out and are nothing but repeaters. Lets play a game, I will link to a story and then ask some questions that the reporters should have asked.
Yahoo - Reuters - JPMorgan to quit physical commodity trade amid scrutiny. JP Morgan Chase & Co is going to stop commodities trading. Commodities are things like gold, silver and other physical assets. This change surprised people because it has been a very lucrative business for JPMorgan. I guess they don't think it will continue to be lucrative. We all know, or should, that countries and individuals are asking for their physical gold to be handed over to them from companies and organizations that hold it "for them".
Here is a great line from the article, "The bank's announcement follows a week of unprecedented scrutiny of Wall Street's commodity operations, after the U.S. Federal Reserve said last Friday it was reviewing a landmark 2003 decision that allowed commercial banks to trade in physical markets to "complement" their financial activity." Here is another line from the article, "Although the division's $2.4 billion in reported revenue last year exceeded those of the commodities divisions of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley combined, some have questioned its profitability given the costs involved in running a large logistical operation." Wait a second, they made billions in these trades. I think I would ask them if maybe those markets were rigged just like the other markets they were involved in.
Mail Online - Revealed: The shadowy lobbyists waging a propaganda war to keep Britain in Europe. Americans really need to pay more attention to what is going on in the rest of the world. If you go back and read political science books from the 80s on the coming of regionalism, you will discover nothing surprising. They always said that England would not join Europe and would side with Canada and America, we all speak English don't we? The lobbyist will lose and are being exposed. Here is the question that was not asked, would America rather side with England or Europe, Germany has more money and manufacturing than England; but, we would always side with England. Nobody ever asks that question when talking about the EU because they all know the answer.
Huffington Post - WATCH: How a Colorblind Cyborg 'Hears' Color. I will admit upfront that I believe transhumanism is dangerous and disturbing. This man promotes us "sensing" the world through integrating with technology. What is not asked is how much the technology could be hacked and tweeked to give us false perceptions. If a blind person is given artificial eyes or a deaf person is given artificial ears, how will they know if what they hear or see is the truth? What if you had artificial hearing and chose to block out cuss words or had artificial eyes and chose to block out child pornography? What if you never had to see, hear or experience pain or things you found distasteful? How much would you grow and how would we catch people doing bad things? I think those are valuable questions.
Huffington Post - How a Theoretical Claim About the NSA Magically Transformed Into Factual Reality. This article is just for morons. The author plays a game, he equates how much of our phone calls are recorded with how much is analyzed and claims that less is recorded because we can only analyze so much. This is mathematical garbage and misdirection. Everything is recorded and stored, very little is actually reviewed. I have said this many times, nobody in the NSA cares if you are cheating on your wife. Now lets look at how ridiculous his claims are. Lets say that the government can only "record" a thousandth of what is on phones, how would they pick what to record? Another good question. It is all recorded, the question is what gets analyzed after the rest has been filtered out. Why didn't he talk about that? It is because they want to calm fears that they do in fact record everything.
Vice - Mississippi Police Want to Arrest the Satanists Who Turn Dead People Gay. I already wrote a post about this, these people are not Satanist who believe in a real Satan, they are Atheists and the media didn't even bother saying that because it doesn't sell as much hate. We are being trained to detest anyone who believe in a real God and a real Satan.
Wired - Why Are Some People So Smart? The Answer Could Spawn a Generation of Superbabies. The "hero" of this story is a very bright Chinese man. He wants to unlock the code that will make sure that only genius children are born and that autistic people are screened out. These people want to filter out outliers, people who see the world differently and ask different questions and come up with different answers. They want a world where everyone is strong, physically fit and psychologically the same. That is death to a species, it is inbreeding. 5% of the population is immune to Ebola, what happens when nobody is because we have eliminated all the outliers? They didn't ask that question in the article.
Wired - Withings Pulse - You’re Going to Need a Better Memory. In the future your healthcare will based on whether or not you are willing to have it constantly monitored. It will start with smokers, fat people, diabetics, Alzheimer patients and people with high blood pressure. I have high blood pressure. Why is it that none of the media is talking about how this monitoring will effect your healthcare costs and options?
Well, I hope you all have a great weekend. We shall see what tomorrow's news might bring.
Friday, July 26, 2013
A New Eye in the Sky
Washington D.C. is preparing to put some blimps into the air above the city. It is supposedly to protect the city from missiles. That is non-sense, we can already do that and to stop a missile you had better see it long before it arrives. Think about this, we already have the technology and if you know anything about our fighter jets, that should be very obvious. So, what else can these blimps do. According to their manufacturer, they can track the cars and the waterways. Think all of our movements are not going to be tracked and you are simply not paying attention.
You may remember that I have talked before about how all waterways are under federal control and how under MAP-21 all of our major streets are now considered to be part of the national highway system. It was only days ago that I also pointed out how all vehicles will be required to have tracking devices to even use the national highway system. I will talk more about these things; but, want you to check out the link to an article about it and the manufacturer of these blimps website.
Deagle.com - JLENS Simultaneously Tracks Swarming Boats, Cars and Aircraft
Raytheon - JLENS.
Now if you find this all interesting, you will love ISIS.
Wikipedia - Integrated Sensor is Structure. The darn thing can stay in the air for 10 years and can monitor whole states. Everything that has a chip can be monitored, your dog, your car, your horse, your computer, your phone even your passport if it has a chip. This is not science fiction and this is not a conspiracy theory, this is a real technology and it is about to be deployed too. JLENS apparently only has months worth of staying power, not ISIS.
Isis is an Egyptian God. You might assume this is just a coincidence; but, that would mean you did not know the history of aerospace in this country. Remember how all the original rocket programs were named after greek gods? For fun look up the history of Jack Parsons. Daily Grail - The Tragic Tale of the Rocket Maker. You could look up Mr. Parsons in any online encyclopedia; but, I like reading the Daily Grail and thought you might enjoy looking at some of their other articles.
Maybe is just an accident. Here is an article from Arizona SciTechFest - OSIRIS-REx. Maybe Nasa naming a future space launch after ISIS's husband Osiris, was also an accident.
Personally I find these things silly; but, they are consistent and follow a pattern. Symbols are used to explain things to people who are insiders and by combining symbols you can tell a whole story. The question is who is telling the story and what does it mean. In the case of Isis and Osiris they were the parents of Horus. Think of the eye of Horus as being the all seeing eye. Isn't that what they are doing, seeking to be all seeing?
Wikipedia - Information Awareness Office. The earlier name of this organization was "Total Information Awareness" and their symbol included the all seeing eye. While the organization was defunded in 2003, the programs have continued on by other organizations. Here is a quote from the article, "On November 14, 2002, The New York Times published a column by William Safire in which he claimed "[TIA] has been given a $200 million budget to create computer dossiers on 300 million Americans."[31] Safire has been credited with triggering the anti-TIA movement.".
A lot of people have been talking about NSA surveillance in light of what was brought out by former NSA contractor, Mr. Snowden. I said it before and I will say it again, this is not news, it has been going on for a long time and they don't care about 99.9% of us; but, if they do take an interest in you, they can go back and look at everything you have said and done. I find it amusing that the first place to adopt this blimp is Washington, DC, I guess the first people to be monitored by the intelligence agencies will be our politicians. ROFL.
You may remember that I have talked before about how all waterways are under federal control and how under MAP-21 all of our major streets are now considered to be part of the national highway system. It was only days ago that I also pointed out how all vehicles will be required to have tracking devices to even use the national highway system. I will talk more about these things; but, want you to check out the link to an article about it and the manufacturer of these blimps website.
Deagle.com - JLENS Simultaneously Tracks Swarming Boats, Cars and Aircraft
Raytheon - JLENS.
Now if you find this all interesting, you will love ISIS.
Wikipedia - Integrated Sensor is Structure. The darn thing can stay in the air for 10 years and can monitor whole states. Everything that has a chip can be monitored, your dog, your car, your horse, your computer, your phone even your passport if it has a chip. This is not science fiction and this is not a conspiracy theory, this is a real technology and it is about to be deployed too. JLENS apparently only has months worth of staying power, not ISIS.
Isis is an Egyptian God. You might assume this is just a coincidence; but, that would mean you did not know the history of aerospace in this country. Remember how all the original rocket programs were named after greek gods? For fun look up the history of Jack Parsons. Daily Grail - The Tragic Tale of the Rocket Maker. You could look up Mr. Parsons in any online encyclopedia; but, I like reading the Daily Grail and thought you might enjoy looking at some of their other articles.
Maybe is just an accident. Here is an article from Arizona SciTechFest - OSIRIS-REx. Maybe Nasa naming a future space launch after ISIS's husband Osiris, was also an accident.
Personally I find these things silly; but, they are consistent and follow a pattern. Symbols are used to explain things to people who are insiders and by combining symbols you can tell a whole story. The question is who is telling the story and what does it mean. In the case of Isis and Osiris they were the parents of Horus. Think of the eye of Horus as being the all seeing eye. Isn't that what they are doing, seeking to be all seeing?
Wikipedia - Information Awareness Office. The earlier name of this organization was "Total Information Awareness" and their symbol included the all seeing eye. While the organization was defunded in 2003, the programs have continued on by other organizations. Here is a quote from the article, "On November 14, 2002, The New York Times published a column by William Safire in which he claimed "[TIA] has been given a $200 million budget to create computer dossiers on 300 million Americans."[31] Safire has been credited with triggering the anti-TIA movement.".
A lot of people have been talking about NSA surveillance in light of what was brought out by former NSA contractor, Mr. Snowden. I said it before and I will say it again, this is not news, it has been going on for a long time and they don't care about 99.9% of us; but, if they do take an interest in you, they can go back and look at everything you have said and done. I find it amusing that the first place to adopt this blimp is Washington, DC, I guess the first people to be monitored by the intelligence agencies will be our politicians. ROFL.
A Thought on the EU and England
First an update to my readers, I am doing fine and still adjusting to my medication.
So, for quite a while now there has been a movement within England to get out of the European Union. This can be done easier by them then most other members as they still use their own currency. Nigel Farage of the UKIP party has been pushing hard for this and his party is gaining strongly in their elections.
Euro Crisis And Economic Collapse 2013, Nigel Farage, The Media Still Has No Grip On Reality
The linked video gives a pretty good sense of how the perspective regarding the EU is changing. It also talks about how England, like the United States, gave up on manufacturing. What is also discussed is how England's strongest industry is in the financial industry, same as here. Both panelists discuss how England needs to bring back manufacturing and they do because if they leave the EU, they are going to face a problem that was not discussed.
The "City of London" is a one square mile of financial businesses. It is autonomous and is one of only three such cities in the world. The other two are Washington, D.C. and Vatican city. The City of London controls much of the world's financial transactions. Not long ago one of their institutions known as the London Interbank Overnight Rate or LIBOR was discovered to have been rigged. They effect every interest rate in basically the world and they were all rigged. In the last few weeks it was determined that this rate would now be set with more international influence.
Why should you care. Read on. If England removes itself from the EU, there is a good chance that Europe would cease allowing England to be the financial headquarters for Europe. Without a manufacturing base, England will be economically destroyed if they lose their biggest industry, finances. The same could happen to America when the dollar ceases to be the world's reserve currency. The world is changing and it is planned.
To have a truly global, free trade economy, you have to have a global currency and it cannot be owned by any one nation. Once you have a global currency, you can have a global stock market in the true sense of the word. In order for that to happen, the existing system needs to be destroyed and that is what we are watching. In order for us to accept this change, there has to be a good story and we have to lose faith in our economic system. I am not talking about capitalism, I am talking about the Federal Reserve, the dollar, Wall Street and the manner in which we manipulate our economy and the world's economy.
So, for quite a while now there has been a movement within England to get out of the European Union. This can be done easier by them then most other members as they still use their own currency. Nigel Farage of the UKIP party has been pushing hard for this and his party is gaining strongly in their elections.
Euro Crisis And Economic Collapse 2013, Nigel Farage, The Media Still Has No Grip On Reality
The linked video gives a pretty good sense of how the perspective regarding the EU is changing. It also talks about how England, like the United States, gave up on manufacturing. What is also discussed is how England's strongest industry is in the financial industry, same as here. Both panelists discuss how England needs to bring back manufacturing and they do because if they leave the EU, they are going to face a problem that was not discussed.
The "City of London" is a one square mile of financial businesses. It is autonomous and is one of only three such cities in the world. The other two are Washington, D.C. and Vatican city. The City of London controls much of the world's financial transactions. Not long ago one of their institutions known as the London Interbank Overnight Rate or LIBOR was discovered to have been rigged. They effect every interest rate in basically the world and they were all rigged. In the last few weeks it was determined that this rate would now be set with more international influence.
Why should you care. Read on. If England removes itself from the EU, there is a good chance that Europe would cease allowing England to be the financial headquarters for Europe. Without a manufacturing base, England will be economically destroyed if they lose their biggest industry, finances. The same could happen to America when the dollar ceases to be the world's reserve currency. The world is changing and it is planned.
To have a truly global, free trade economy, you have to have a global currency and it cannot be owned by any one nation. Once you have a global currency, you can have a global stock market in the true sense of the word. In order for that to happen, the existing system needs to be destroyed and that is what we are watching. In order for us to accept this change, there has to be a good story and we have to lose faith in our economic system. I am not talking about capitalism, I am talking about the Federal Reserve, the dollar, Wall Street and the manner in which we manipulate our economy and the world's economy.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
A Beautiful Man, a Beautiful Family and a Beautiful Car
As my readers know, I have started a new blood pressure medicine and am still adjusting to it. I didn't want to drive my car to work because I just don't feel ready. When I was younger I used to like to drive very fast and was fortunate enough to have some nice cars. My first car was a Gran Torino, my next was a Mustang Mach 1, later I owned a BMW 325 and a Mercedes 230 slk. I love cars, real cars, the one's that are built from love. Oh, I even own a Nash Metropolitan convertible.
Well, a couple of days ago I saw an article about an extremely rate Ferrari. The article talked about how a man named Eddie Smith, Sr. had bought a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder in 1967, one of only ten made. The article went on to talk about how he had passed away and his family was going to auction the car off for charity. My first thought was some rich guy bought a nice car, passed away and the family was auctioning it off. As the odds of me buying it are 0, I just saw it as an interesting story; but, I continued reading and found a much more important story and I would like to pass it on to my dear readers.
Mr. Smith grew up in an orphanage. He went on to create a very respectable company and was committed to helping others and running a business with integrity. I will talk more about that later. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith suffered a stroke and later passed away. His family decided to honor his legacy by auctioning the car to charity. I followed up by reading tracking down his companies website and was truly impressed. I want to provide you a link to their website.
National - Celebrating 61 Years of Service, Service, & More Service!
My readers know that I allow NO advertisements on my site, never have and never will. I don't care what others do; but, I use this site to speak my mind and if one allows advertisements or seeks to profit from their posts then they fall under different rules. This site is not a business, I have a job. This site is about questioning the things that we are told in the media and looking at where we are headed. Sometimes I talk about where we could be headed.
A while back I wrote about Ms. Lynn Tilton of Patriarch Partners. She is a very brash Billionaire that invests in America and Americans. She takes companies that are in distress and makes them work again and puts Americans to work. It should also not be a surprise that I have an admiration for both Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Warren Buffet, people who still believe we as a nation can do better and that our corporate structure has been corrupted because management has stopped focusing on their products and have only become concerned about stock prices. Good products and good customer service has value and people will pay extra for that because that is what true value is. I also believe that being a manager means working with and caring about the people around you. When I read the history of Mr. Smith's company, I saw that in his family.
After reading the history of the company and a couple articles about Mr. Smith, I was so impressed that I decided to contact his company and did. His daughter actually sent me back an e-mail and was very gracious and kind. Ms. Lynda Smith Swann, the president and CEO of the company responded to me. I was pretty surprised by that. I did have a couple of friends who owned businesses, one was worth a Billion; but, unfortunately, he passed away. These people were business associates and we frequently contacted each other directly. I didn't contact their secretaries, I contacted them and am just an analyst. When you deal directly with company owners, it is usually because you have a relationship. I have no such relationship with Ms. Smith, her family or her company. I don't buy their products and would probably look very silly in them as they sell women's apparel.
I want to post a link to a video about the car, Mr. Smith's son gives some wonderful stories about his dad. I will not post the e-mail I received nor the one I sent, those are private communications between their family (including their employees) and me. Funny how the world works and funny how this stupid blog and the internet have allowed me to spread information to others. Much of what i discuss is not pleasant; but, I really love it when I can let my readers know that there is still hope and goodness and love and concern in the world. Please watch the video.
Jalopnik - This Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder Is A Gorgeous Family Treasure.
My readers know that I intentionally do not give away personal information on anyone. This blog is anonymous, there are those who read it and know who I am; but, the vast majority do not know me. I don't know 2,000 people which is my average monthly readership. This may not be my best post, I am still adjusting to my medication and am slower than usual, this shall go away. To the family, employees and customers of National that may read this, I send my best wishes. To my readers that may be women, I would hope that you check their company out, I think they have the right idea.
Well, a couple of days ago I saw an article about an extremely rate Ferrari. The article talked about how a man named Eddie Smith, Sr. had bought a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder in 1967, one of only ten made. The article went on to talk about how he had passed away and his family was going to auction the car off for charity. My first thought was some rich guy bought a nice car, passed away and the family was auctioning it off. As the odds of me buying it are 0, I just saw it as an interesting story; but, I continued reading and found a much more important story and I would like to pass it on to my dear readers.
Mr. Smith grew up in an orphanage. He went on to create a very respectable company and was committed to helping others and running a business with integrity. I will talk more about that later. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith suffered a stroke and later passed away. His family decided to honor his legacy by auctioning the car to charity. I followed up by reading tracking down his companies website and was truly impressed. I want to provide you a link to their website.
National - Celebrating 61 Years of Service, Service, & More Service!
My readers know that I allow NO advertisements on my site, never have and never will. I don't care what others do; but, I use this site to speak my mind and if one allows advertisements or seeks to profit from their posts then they fall under different rules. This site is not a business, I have a job. This site is about questioning the things that we are told in the media and looking at where we are headed. Sometimes I talk about where we could be headed.
A while back I wrote about Ms. Lynn Tilton of Patriarch Partners. She is a very brash Billionaire that invests in America and Americans. She takes companies that are in distress and makes them work again and puts Americans to work. It should also not be a surprise that I have an admiration for both Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Warren Buffet, people who still believe we as a nation can do better and that our corporate structure has been corrupted because management has stopped focusing on their products and have only become concerned about stock prices. Good products and good customer service has value and people will pay extra for that because that is what true value is. I also believe that being a manager means working with and caring about the people around you. When I read the history of Mr. Smith's company, I saw that in his family.
After reading the history of the company and a couple articles about Mr. Smith, I was so impressed that I decided to contact his company and did. His daughter actually sent me back an e-mail and was very gracious and kind. Ms. Lynda Smith Swann, the president and CEO of the company responded to me. I was pretty surprised by that. I did have a couple of friends who owned businesses, one was worth a Billion; but, unfortunately, he passed away. These people were business associates and we frequently contacted each other directly. I didn't contact their secretaries, I contacted them and am just an analyst. When you deal directly with company owners, it is usually because you have a relationship. I have no such relationship with Ms. Smith, her family or her company. I don't buy their products and would probably look very silly in them as they sell women's apparel.
I want to post a link to a video about the car, Mr. Smith's son gives some wonderful stories about his dad. I will not post the e-mail I received nor the one I sent, those are private communications between their family (including their employees) and me. Funny how the world works and funny how this stupid blog and the internet have allowed me to spread information to others. Much of what i discuss is not pleasant; but, I really love it when I can let my readers know that there is still hope and goodness and love and concern in the world. Please watch the video.
Jalopnik - This Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder Is A Gorgeous Family Treasure.
My readers know that I intentionally do not give away personal information on anyone. This blog is anonymous, there are those who read it and know who I am; but, the vast majority do not know me. I don't know 2,000 people which is my average monthly readership. This may not be my best post, I am still adjusting to my medication and am slower than usual, this shall go away. To the family, employees and customers of National that may read this, I send my best wishes. To my readers that may be women, I would hope that you check their company out, I think they have the right idea.
Pension Fund Theft
I knew that we had not seen the end game in the theft of public pensions by private interests. They have created the illusion of a problem. The public and pensioners have reacted in fear and now we are presented with the solution. Classic.
Lets start with the supposed problem. We are constantly being told that public pensions are in trouble. A decade ago they were all overfunded across the United States. You heard me right, overfunded. In California it was so bad that the law prohibited the pensions to be more than 120% funded for more than something like three years. As a consequence it didn't matter if they lost money on bad investments. A trade off was made and the politicians convinced pension boards to invest in the community and they also approved paying out more than they had in the past to pensioners. Everybody won.
I expect my readers to fact check me regardless of their position. It is true, the pension funds had more money than they were allowed to. Across the nation a number of municipalities simply increased the amount that people got when they retired. When the stock market crashed, it didn't destroy the pension funds, they were already maxed out. That is why the Government Fiance Officers Association (GFOA) has published documents proving there is no public pension crisis.
I will make it easy. Look at any public pension plan and ask what the total amount is that is expended each year. Then look at the total assets held by the public pension fund is. How come I cannot find any articles which put it that simply? They do not talk expenditures to assets, instead they talk about how much the municipalities have to contribute when in fact, they have skipped payments across the nation and do not have to contribute today the amounts they claim. You do not have to have assets of $300,000 in the bank to afford a annual mortgage payment of $24,000.
The mainstream media makes it sound as if there is not a single competent local government in the United States, not one is said to be solvent. Of course we are being lied to; but, the question for me has been why.
Bloomberg - Life Insurers May Manage Public Pensions Under Hatch Bill.
Currently, CalPers has about $250 billion in investments, assets. It is an astonishing amount of money. This money already exists, it requires no contributions to be at this amount. If CalPers statements are accurate, it puts out about $20 billion a year in payments. Does that sound insolvent to you? And don't forget, each year CalPers is receiving new money from current employees.
Now another simple question. If these funds are in such bad shape, why would any insurance company want to buy them? This is the largest theft in the history of the world. I read that the public pensions have somewhere around $3 Trillion in assets. That is a lot of money. The way you find thieves is by going where the money is because that is where they are going. The bill says that public pensions will be sold by bid. Imagine having your retirement go to the lowest bidder.
Lets start with the supposed problem. We are constantly being told that public pensions are in trouble. A decade ago they were all overfunded across the United States. You heard me right, overfunded. In California it was so bad that the law prohibited the pensions to be more than 120% funded for more than something like three years. As a consequence it didn't matter if they lost money on bad investments. A trade off was made and the politicians convinced pension boards to invest in the community and they also approved paying out more than they had in the past to pensioners. Everybody won.
I expect my readers to fact check me regardless of their position. It is true, the pension funds had more money than they were allowed to. Across the nation a number of municipalities simply increased the amount that people got when they retired. When the stock market crashed, it didn't destroy the pension funds, they were already maxed out. That is why the Government Fiance Officers Association (GFOA) has published documents proving there is no public pension crisis.
I will make it easy. Look at any public pension plan and ask what the total amount is that is expended each year. Then look at the total assets held by the public pension fund is. How come I cannot find any articles which put it that simply? They do not talk expenditures to assets, instead they talk about how much the municipalities have to contribute when in fact, they have skipped payments across the nation and do not have to contribute today the amounts they claim. You do not have to have assets of $300,000 in the bank to afford a annual mortgage payment of $24,000.
The mainstream media makes it sound as if there is not a single competent local government in the United States, not one is said to be solvent. Of course we are being lied to; but, the question for me has been why.
Bloomberg - Life Insurers May Manage Public Pensions Under Hatch Bill.
Currently, CalPers has about $250 billion in investments, assets. It is an astonishing amount of money. This money already exists, it requires no contributions to be at this amount. If CalPers statements are accurate, it puts out about $20 billion a year in payments. Does that sound insolvent to you? And don't forget, each year CalPers is receiving new money from current employees.
Now another simple question. If these funds are in such bad shape, why would any insurance company want to buy them? This is the largest theft in the history of the world. I read that the public pensions have somewhere around $3 Trillion in assets. That is a lot of money. The way you find thieves is by going where the money is because that is where they are going. The bill says that public pensions will be sold by bid. Imagine having your retirement go to the lowest bidder.
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