Joe Nocera has a disturbing article about one of the detainees I spoke about yesterday. Fadhel Hussein Saleh Hentif has been at Guantanamo since 2002, when he was 20 years old. The government claims he was arrested as he was on his way to an Al Qaeda training camp; he says he wasn't. Eventually, he was set for release. But, the Underwear Bomber ruined that opportunity as Congress decided that anyone who was going to be released to Yemen was as bad as the Underwear Bomber, who had trained in Yemen.
During his stay at Guantanamo, Hentif has been treated like most other prisoners: solitary confinement, torture, forced feeding, violence by his captors.
Is this what America has become in the 21st century?
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Fukushima Two Years Later
It is still a dangerous place. Continuous swells of groundwater pour into the reactor buildings, become radioactive and threaten to swamp a critical cooling
system. Tepco is storing this contaminated water in tanks on the plant grounds. However, they are running out of tanks. They dug some underground pits to store some of the water but the pits have sprung leaks. So, now they will chop down a small forest on the plant's southern edge to
make room for hundreds more tanks. Hopefully, they will have these tanks before the water leaks into the ocean.
There is a feeling among many experts that many of the problems with the cleanup are due to the incestuous relationship of the nuclear industry and its regulators. For example, a separate committee created by the government to oversee the
cleanup is loaded with industry insiders, including from the Ministry of
Trade, in charge of promoting nuclear energy,
and nuclear reactor manufacturers like Toshiba and Hitachi.
Monday, April 29, 2013
A Lost Generation of Workers
Ethan Devine, a venture capitalist, is worried. He's seen that Japan has not really recovered from its economic troubles of the '90s. Japan’s economy today is smaller than it was in 1992. He thinks the problem is largely based on the inability of the young people of the '90s to find permanent jobs; this results in a loss of human capital and in the inability of these people to earn enough to get the economy moving again.
Today, more than 20 years after Japan’s bubble burst, youth unemployment is higher than ever. In 1992, 80 percent of young Japanese workers had regular jobs. Today, only half of working 15-to-24-year-olds have regular jobs, and another 10 percent are unemployed. The rest are “nonregulars” with jobs that pay half as much as regular jobs, offer few benefits, and can be eliminated on a whim—which they often are. Over the past 20 years, as the share of nonregulars in the Japanese workforce has nearly doubled, Japan’s productivity has barely improved. There are social costs as well. This young generation accounts for 60% of the mental-health insurance claims. Japan’s suicide rate rose by 70 percent from 1991 to 2003, and the proportion of suicide victims in their 30s has grown each of the past 15 years.
Devine relates the Japanese situation to ours. Unemployment here is already the longest in postwar history. And youth unemployment is twice the national average. American companies, meanwhile, have shifted toward more part-time work since the crash of 2008, just as Japanese firms did in the early 1990s; 30 percent of America’s workers ages 20 to 24 were part-time in 2012, up from 23 percent in early 2008.
Will we repeat the Japanese experience?
Today, more than 20 years after Japan’s bubble burst, youth unemployment is higher than ever. In 1992, 80 percent of young Japanese workers had regular jobs. Today, only half of working 15-to-24-year-olds have regular jobs, and another 10 percent are unemployed. The rest are “nonregulars” with jobs that pay half as much as regular jobs, offer few benefits, and can be eliminated on a whim—which they often are. Over the past 20 years, as the share of nonregulars in the Japanese workforce has nearly doubled, Japan’s productivity has barely improved. There are social costs as well. This young generation accounts for 60% of the mental-health insurance claims. Japan’s suicide rate rose by 70 percent from 1991 to 2003, and the proportion of suicide victims in their 30s has grown each of the past 15 years.
Devine relates the Japanese situation to ours. Unemployment here is already the longest in postwar history. And youth unemployment is twice the national average. American companies, meanwhile, have shifted toward more part-time work since the crash of 2008, just as Japanese firms did in the early 1990s; 30 percent of America’s workers ages 20 to 24 were part-time in 2012, up from 23 percent in early 2008.
Will we repeat the Japanese experience?
Catch 86
86 is the number of prisoners at Guantanamo who, in the eyes of the law, do not belong there. They have been cleared for release but still reside in prison. In some cases no country will accept them and, of course, Congress has forbidden their being released in the USA. In other cases we are afraid to release them because they might resort to terrorism when freed. After all, they have only been falsely imprisoned for years and may have the temerity to think that we are to blame.
Risk of dying from terrorism
The Washingtons Blog has updated these numbers from 2011 to reflect current risks. Unfortunately, a summary of the updates is more than I want to do today. But the 2011 numbers below are bad enough for us to question just how much we should be spending on combating terrorism.
– You are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack
– You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack
— You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane
— You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack
— You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack
– You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack
–You are 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack
–You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
–You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack
– You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Krugman does not like George W
He calls W a liar and infers that he was the first president who lied about "fundamental matters" - the tax cuts and Saddam's WMDs. Although I haven't given it much thought, I doubt that W was the first president to do so. How honest was Lyndon relative to the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin? Or Wilson re the Palmer raids? Truman and Korea? I suspect the list could go on for awhile if I wanted to spend the time.
Krugman also castigates W as the worst president. As I've said before, I thought the same thing before Obama. Now I'm not so sure.
Krugman also castigates W as the worst president. As I've said before, I thought the same thing before Obama. Now I'm not so sure.
Friday, April 26, 2013
21st Century Models
The models I'm talking about are mature women, many in their 80s and 90s. For example, Carmen Dell'Orefice is 81 and appeared in last year's Fashion Show.
Ilona Smithkin is 93 and occasionally models.
Dell'Orefice and Smithkin entered the modeling world due to the efforts of a young guy, Ari Seth Cohen, who was fascinated by stylishly dressed older women in New York City. He started a blog which featured his photographs of these women. Companies such as Coach saw the photos and were intrigued enough to use some of the women in their ads. Now Cohen has made a movie, the trailer for which is below.
It's never too late!
Ilona Smithkin is 93 and occasionally models.
Dell'Orefice and Smithkin entered the modeling world due to the efforts of a young guy, Ari Seth Cohen, who was fascinated by stylishly dressed older women in New York City. He started a blog which featured his photographs of these women. Companies such as Coach saw the photos and were intrigued enough to use some of the women in their ads. Now Cohen has made a movie, the trailer for which is below.
It's never too late!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Inspection is not necessarily a bad thing
But we have not done a very good job inspecting factories that are potential fire hazards because of the chemicals with which they deal. For example, there are fewer OSHA inspectors now than in 1980. In the last fiscal year OSHA conducted 4,448 inspections in Texas. At that rate it would take 126 years to inspect every workplace.
The plant in Texas that blew up last week was last inspected in 1985. Further, in its regular filings with regulators the owners did not list any flammable chemicals and the amount of ammonium nitrate it held far exceeded the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
The plant in Texas that blew up last week was last inspected in 1985. Further, in its regular filings with regulators the owners did not list any flammable chemicals and the amount of ammonium nitrate it held far exceeded the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Another exemption for Congress?
The latest attempt by our legislators to avoid laws that apply to we commoners seeks to exempt them and their staff from being subject to some aspects of Obamacare. They are worried that, because of the insurance exchange aspect of the law, the federal government will no longer pay 75% of their health insurance premium. If that is the case, their staff will have to seek other jobs and they might have to pay for a good part of their health insurance. The chance of this happening are virtually nil, but the Congress can get excited over vague possibilities but not over the real problems we have.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
$890,000 here, $890,000 there
If you had zero dollars in a bank account for a good period of time, wouldn't you close it, especially if the bank was charging you a fee every month. Our federal government doesn't do that. There are 13,172 federal accounts with a balance of zero dollars. We pay $65 per year to keep each account open. This costs you and me $890,000 each year. Yes, this is chickenfeed in the federal world, but when federal workers are being furloughed, that $890,000 could pay probably 6 or 7 people, some of whom could actually help reduce the current airline delays due to the furloughed FAA staff.
OMB has been trying to close these accounts for years and has made progress; in 2011 there were 28,000 zero balance accounts.
OMB has been trying to close these accounts for years and has made progress; in 2011 there were 28,000 zero balance accounts.
Foreclosure Settlement
It is becoming more and more obvious that our government is working for the banks rather than for those homeowners who are struggling to simply contact the banks that are screwing them. The banks' record-keeping ability must have been designed by first-graders and implemented by kindergarteners. We've seen that Promontory Financial Group, a supposedly independent consultant in the mortgage settlement, was really not so independent. The latest shoe to drop was at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development, which provided this exchange between Senator Jeff Merkley and Deborah Goldberg, Special Project Director of the National Fair Housing Alliance:
Senator Merkley: “In your
testimony Ms. Goldberg, on page 10, you note that ‘on a loan with an
unpaid balance of $500,000, a loan modification that provides any amount
of principal reduction – be that $1,000, $10,000, or $100,000 – will
yield $500,000 worth of credit for the servicer.’ It’s hard for anyone
apart from this process to truly believe that if you do a $1,000
reduction you get $500,000 credit. Yet, are you saying absolutely that’s
the way it works?”
Ms. Goldberg: “That’s what it says in the settlement…”
Senator Merkley: “Well, I’d
just like to point out that the roughly $6 billion in soft money that’s
in the settlement, at that 500 to 1 rate, that is reduced down to $12
million. Six billion goes to $12 million. That’s a vast difference.
:Honey Bees at Work
Dance of the Honey Bee from AbelCine on Vimeo.
A Miro Challenge final film from Peter Nelson
Credits
Produced, Directed, Photographed & Edited by Peter Nelson
Original Music by John Powell
Narrated by Bill McKibben, Founder 350.org
Assistant Camera: Edwin Stevens
Audio: Merce Williams
Post Audio: Matt Haasch
Additional Camera: Peter Hawkins & Edwin Stevens
The Beekeepers
Bill's Bees // Bill Lewis // Clyde Steese // Sam Bonderov
Phantom Miro M320S provided by AbelCine & Vision Research through the Miro High-Speed Inspiration Challenge.
Lenses & supporting equipment provided by AbelCine.
Special Thanks
Sally Roy // Peter & Laurie Hawkins // Doug & Diana Pray // Dinah Lehoven // The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens // Al Avitable // Charlie Collias // Marc Colucci // Dadant & Sons // DeMane Davis // Andrew Fredericks // Jimmy & Lizz Greenway // Jeff Hamel // Karen Kimball // Philip Owens // George Shafnacker // Johnny Traunwieser // Zylight // Pete Abel // Rich Abel // Maia Kaufman // Milos Necakov // Moe Shore // Juliet Verni // Mark Ybarra // Brandon Zachary // HoneyLove.org // Chelsea McFarland // Rob McFarland // Ceebs Bailey // Kirk Anderson // Backwards Beekeepers // Los Angeles Beekeeping Association
Who has the oldest hamburger?
The question is almost becoming a game. It was triggered by a claim of a Utah man that he has a 14-year-old hamburger from McDonald's. David Whipple purchased the hamburger on July 7, 1999, or at least he has an appropriate receipt for that day. The story he tells makes sense, particularly if you are somewhat forgetful.
Whipple's burger is not the only reported ancient one. A New
York City artist, Sally Davies, posts a new picture every day to her Flickr account of the same burger and fries from a Happy Meal. Karen Hanrahan blogs about her 1996 burger.
McDonald's says that there are no preservatives in their burgers. This is probably true as scientists agree that under certain conditions food can age for years.
Hat tip to our Florida correspondent.
Hat tip to our Florida correspondent.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The Board of Directors vs. Activist Shareholders
Most major public companies have built elaborate defenses against being taken over. The argument for such defenses is that the directors are more concerned with the long term value of the company than shareholders trying to make short term killing. Thus, the directors should pay little attention to these shareholders. Lucian Bebchuk has published an interesting paper that blows this argument to shreds.
Bebchuk's basic point is that 'informed market participants' actually favor situations where shareholders are active in takeover issues. The participants act as though this activism is good for the long term health of the company. And it can pressure management not to act for its own selfish benefit (such as a big payout to management by the acquirer, rather than that of the company
Bebchuk's basic point is that 'informed market participants' actually favor situations where shareholders are active in takeover issues. The participants act as though this activism is good for the long term health of the company. And it can pressure management not to act for its own selfish benefit (such as a big payout to management by the acquirer, rather than that of the company
TARP Accounting
ProPublica has been maintaining a data base of TARP recipients. It is just about unbelievable. There have been 927 recipients of from $1,916 (Guaranty Bank, Minnesota) to $116,149,000,000 (Fannie Mae). The program distributed $606 billion, of which $364 billion has been repaid to date. We have earned $116 billion in interest and dividends. Thus far, we are out $126 billion.
The data base is quite revealing. It lists the companies on which we have lost money as well as the details of our investment in and return from each of the recipients. You'd spend days analyzing the data.
The data base is quite revealing. It lists the companies on which we have lost money as well as the details of our investment in and return from each of the recipients. You'd spend days analyzing the data.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Taking Shortcuts
Sun Trust Bank developed a system they called 'Agency Shortcut'. Why that name was given to the system may be questionable, but the results of mortgages processed by the system are not. The results were billion of dollars in mortgages issued by Sun Trust but sold to us via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The system enabled Sun's salespeople to enter false information into a Fannie Mae system known as Desktop
Underwriting. Apparently, this system had very little controls built in because underwriters in Sun Trust’s due diligence
department could not stop the loans from being sold to Fannie or
Freddie. Sun even put it in writing to the sales people; they refer to the Agency Shortcut system as follows: “It’s a SISA (Stated Income/Stated Asset)
at full doc pricing,” which means that the loans carried
the same interest rate as fully documented loans. Not only was false information entered, the bank waived property inspections and
did not require the borrower to sign the document that allows the
Internal Revenue Service to provide a prospective lender with a
borrower’s income. In addition, borrowers of these loans could have a
debt-to-income ratio of up to 64.99 percent, an onerous level.
So, will the SEC and the government do something here?
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Cost Saving at the Post Office
We all know that the Post Office is in financial trouble. But, it appears as though Congress, particularly Darrell Issa, the chair of the Oversight Committee, has refused to agree to significant changes that the Postal Service or its union has proposed, such as eliminating Saturday delivery. But weirder than the Saturday issue is Congress' refusal to repeal the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act (PAEA) which mandates that the
Postal Service fully fund retiree health benefits for future retirees. Yup, the Postal Service would have to fully fund future retirees' health benefits
for the next 75 years and they would have to do it within a ten-year
window. And then you have Congress' opposition to a labor contract favored by both the Postal Service and the union; this would have probably saved us $4 billion over the life of the contract.
Friday, April 19, 2013
How can Rust Consulting stay in business?
Their performance in paying settlement checks re the mortgage foreclosure scandal is abominable. They failed to deposit the money they were given by us, thus their checks bounced. They have a major problem with addresses yet they refuse to accept address change requests except in writing even though Rust has the correct address on their file. Here's a classic illustration of their stupidity: a law firm that was not even in the mortgage or foreclosure business got a
settlement check for a woman it never heard of, and was then given a
30-minute run-around by Rust when it asked what it should do. The envelope in which the checks are sent looks like junk mail.
Yves Smith has a litany of Rust's failures, which the OCC and the Fed seem to have accepted as being okay. Read it and weep.
Yves Smith has a litany of Rust's failures, which the OCC and the Fed seem to have accepted as being okay. Read it and weep.
Congressmen should not be at risk of being kidnapped, blackmailed, etc.
Last year there was a fair amount of flack with regards to insider trading by members of Congress and other high government officials. So Congress passed the STOCK Act which banned members of Congress and senior executive and
legislative branch officials from trading based on government knowledge.
The law directed that many of these officials’
financial disclosure forms be posted online and their contents placed
into public databases.
Congress did not like this provision but they accepted it because of their perpetual fear of not being reelected. Time moved on and the insider trading flap has quieted. Now is the time to gut this law. So, Congress had a report produced, despite the fact that disclosure has been minimal. Guess what the report authors found? Airing this information on the Internet could put public servants and national security at risk. And this we cannot have. Thus, working at their normal fast pace,the legislative branch approved the deletion of the disclosure provisions and Mr. Obama signed it.
Some comments by people who know something about Internet security:
Congress did not like this provision but they accepted it because of their perpetual fear of not being reelected. Time moved on and the insider trading flap has quieted. Now is the time to gut this law. So, Congress had a report produced, despite the fact that disclosure has been minimal. Guess what the report authors found? Airing this information on the Internet could put public servants and national security at risk. And this we cannot have. Thus, working at their normal fast pace,the legislative branch approved the deletion of the disclosure provisions and Mr. Obama signed it.
Some comments by people who know something about Internet security:
- “Only the risk of going to jail for their insider trading.” James Lewis, the director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- “They put them personally at risk by holding them accountable. That’s why they repealed it. The national security bit is bullshit you’re supposed to repeat.” Bruce Schnier, a leading security technologist and cryptographer.
Sometimes you have to look backward
In 2009 Senator Leahy proposed a national commission to investigate the
post-9/11 counterterrorism programs. Mr. Obama rejected the idea as he
wanted to “look forward, not backward.” This prompted a study by the U.S. Constitution Project, a bipartisan, independent group of experienced people.
The results of this study were published this week. The conclusion is that torture occurred at Guantánamo, the C.I.A.’s so-called black sites and other war-zone detention centers. Further, they state that never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”
Some forms of torture inflicted: the CIA waterboarded prisoners, slammed them into walls, chained them in uncomfortable positions for hours, stripped them of clothing and kept them awake for days on end. Despite the torture, the task force found “no firm or persuasive evidence” that these interrogation methods produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other means. While “a person subjected to torture might well divulge useful information,” much of the information obtained by force was not reliable.
Incidentally, the United States is a signatory to the international Convention Against Torture, which requires the prompt investigation of allegations of torture and the compensation of its victims.
The results of this study were published this week. The conclusion is that torture occurred at Guantánamo, the C.I.A.’s so-called black sites and other war-zone detention centers. Further, they state that never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”
Some forms of torture inflicted: the CIA waterboarded prisoners, slammed them into walls, chained them in uncomfortable positions for hours, stripped them of clothing and kept them awake for days on end. Despite the torture, the task force found “no firm or persuasive evidence” that these interrogation methods produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other means. While “a person subjected to torture might well divulge useful information,” much of the information obtained by force was not reliable.
Incidentally, the United States is a signatory to the international Convention Against Torture, which requires the prompt investigation of allegations of torture and the compensation of its victims.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Change is hard but
Anne Lamott's latest book, Help Thanks Wow, is an interesting view on prayer. The title lists three of her favorite prayers. The subject of change is always of interest. Change does get harder as you age. Lamott has her own take on the subject:
If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know what you already know, you're dying. You're saying: Leave me alone; I don't mind this little rathole. It's warm and dry. Really, it's fine.Hat tip to our new Suffield correspondent.
When nothing new can get in, that's death. When oxygen can't find a way in, you die. But, new is scary and new can be disappointing, and confusing - we had this all figured out, and now we don't.
New is life.
Reelection above everything
What kind of country have we become? We have almost 1 gun per person. More people have been killed by guns since 1968 in this country (1,384,171) than in all of our wars (1,171,177), including the Revolutionary War. In 2011 alone over 32,000 Americans were killed by guns, that's more than 100 per day. Polls indicate that most of us favor increased gun control. Yet, our esteemed Senate cannot pass a law that says we should check out the people who buy guns and try to prevent nut cases and criminals from doing so. Doing so might cause the gun adherents to really, really campaign against those who support better gun control. And, heaven forbid, the Senator may be defeated.
It's quite interesting, at least to me, that the vote was 54 - 46 in favor of gun control. That's what is considered a majority. But, because the Senate worships the god of filibuster and will not commit a sin against it, the porous 'gun control' we now have will continue. Our legislators do not get much done anyway. So, is the time spent filibustering really wasted? I would think that an actual filibuster against gun control at this point in time would demonstrate the stupidity of many gun advocates. But, Obama and his cohort would rather inveigh against the evil gun advocates than run the risk of a filibuster.
It's quite interesting, at least to me, that the vote was 54 - 46 in favor of gun control. That's what is considered a majority. But, because the Senate worships the god of filibuster and will not commit a sin against it, the porous 'gun control' we now have will continue. Our legislators do not get much done anyway. So, is the time spent filibustering really wasted? I would think that an actual filibuster against gun control at this point in time would demonstrate the stupidity of many gun advocates. But, Obama and his cohort would rather inveigh against the evil gun advocates than run the risk of a filibuster.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Some Sensible Words About The Marathon Attack
Dennis Lehane has words to contemplate in an op-ed in the NY Times today. Here are some excerpts:
Trust me, we won’t be giving up any civil liberties to keep ourselves safe because of this. We won’t cancel next year’s marathon. We won’t drive to New Hampshire and stockpile weapons. When the authorities find the weak and terminally maladjusted culprit or culprits, we’ll roll our eyes at whatever backward ideology they embrace and move on with our lives.
--------------------------------------
The little man or men who did this will, I have faith, be arrested, jailed and forgotten. Whatever hate movement they belong to will ultimately go the way of the anarchist assassination movements of the early 20th century or the Symbionese Liberation Army of the 1970s. Those killed and maimed, starting with 8-year-old Martin Richard of my neighborhood, Dorchester, and his injured sister and mother, will be remembered. The community will eulogize the dead and provide care and solace for the injured. And, no, we’ll never forget. But what we’ll cling tightest to is what the city was built on — resilience, respect and an adoration for civility and intellect.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Will we make the same mistakes?
The disaster of 9/11 led us to create far worse disasters: Iraq, Afghanistan, the move towards a police state, the living in fear, the belief that nothing bad will ever happen to us if only we devise the correct protection no matter the cost in civil rights. Will we continue to move in this unAmerican direction now that terrorists have struck again? Has 9/11 taught us anything?
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Don't Fly Over Cemeteries
Our NYC correspondent informs us of this photo in The Gothamist.
Yes, that is a man wrapped in plastic as a passenger in an airplane. Apparently, the man belongs to a branch of the Jewish religion which believes that you will become impure if you approach a dead body. And dead bodies can be found in cemeteries over which a plane may fly. But his rabbi has found the solution we see above - "wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."
Yes, that is a man wrapped in plastic as a passenger in an airplane. Apparently, the man belongs to a branch of the Jewish religion which believes that you will become impure if you approach a dead body. And dead bodies can be found in cemeteries over which a plane may fly. But his rabbi has found the solution we see above - "wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Taxes too high?
Looking at the percent of GDP represented by taxes, compared to other OECD countries, the U.S. was the third least taxed country in the OECD. Only Chile and Mexico collect less taxes as a percentage of GDP.
In 2010, the total (federal, state and local) tax revenue collected in the U.S. was equal to 24.8% of the U.S.’s GDP; the average for other OECD countries was 33.4%. Denmark topped the list at 47.6%
In 2010, the total (federal, state and local) tax revenue collected in the U.S. was equal to 24.8% of the U.S.’s GDP; the average for other OECD countries was 33.4%. Denmark topped the list at 47.6%
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
OOPS
McClatchy has been able to access some of our top-secret intelligence reports. They seem to belie Obama's assertion last year, “It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative,” The reports show that the drones killed alleged Afghan insurgents
whose organization wasn’t on the U.S. list of terrorist groups at the
time of the 9/11 strikes; suspected members of a Pakistani extremist
group that didn’t exist at the time of 9/11; and unidentified
individuals described as “other militants” and “foreign fighters.” Naturally, the administration says that the missile strikes are aimed at al Qaida
and associated forces. Which to me seems a pretty weak response.
The reports covered the period 2006-2011, except for 2009. During the year ending September 2011, the reports estimated that the drones killed 482 people. However, more than half of the casualties were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were “assessed” as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists. Drones killed only six top al Qaida leaders in those months, according to news media accounts. It would be interesting to know who did the "assessments" and on what evidence they were based, as the drone operators weren’t always certain who they were killing despite the administration’s guarantees of the accuracy of the CIA’s targeting intelligence and its assertions that civilian casualties have been “exceedingly rare.”
The reports covered the period 2006-2011, except for 2009. During the year ending September 2011, the reports estimated that the drones killed 482 people. However, more than half of the casualties were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were “assessed” as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists. Drones killed only six top al Qaida leaders in those months, according to news media accounts. It would be interesting to know who did the "assessments" and on what evidence they were based, as the drone operators weren’t always certain who they were killing despite the administration’s guarantees of the accuracy of the CIA’s targeting intelligence and its assertions that civilian casualties have been “exceedingly rare.”
When will the blinders come off?
When Medicare began to cover drugs, the government in its wisdom put a clause in the legislation that prohibited the government from negotiating prices with the drug companies. It made no sense then, it makes no sense now.
If we could negotiate drug prices as most advanced countries do, drugs from Medicare would cost less, perhaps as much as $25 billion a year.
We do require drug companies to negotiate prices in areas used by the VA, DOD and some hospitals. Why can't we do the same with regard to Medicare?
If we could negotiate drug prices as most advanced countries do, drugs from Medicare would cost less, perhaps as much as $25 billion a year.
We do require drug companies to negotiate prices in areas used by the VA, DOD and some hospitals. Why can't we do the same with regard to Medicare?
Saturday, April 06, 2013
The logic of the sequester
The sequester legislation directed that the fees paid to cancer clinics for chemotherapy drugs be cut by 2%. A small amount that will cost the clinics the profit they had been making on these drugs, which at 6% was not great. So, some clinics will stop seeing these patients, who will then have to go to hospitals for chemo, which will result in the government paying an average of $6,500 more
annually than for chemo delivered in a community clinic. Furthermore, Medicare patients will wind up spending $650
more in out-of-pocket costs when they lose access to clinics.
This must make sense to someone. I don't understand it.
This must make sense to someone. I don't understand it.
Friday, April 05, 2013
The customer is king?
As we all well know, that slogan is passe for most 21st century companies. I haven't written about the state of customer service in America for a while. But today's dealings with the national offices of Allstate were a perfect example of the levels to which we have sunk. I say national offices because they were in such sharp contrast to the local office, which did everything right. My problems stemmed from my attempt to switch to e-billing to save a few dollars on my car insurance.
#1 - The automated answering system went on and on and on, but finally connected me to a human being.
#2- I'm reasonably sure - but not positive - my phone call was handled by someone in this country. It was very difficult to fully understand the clerk as her language skills were poor. Although she could sign me up for e-billing, she couldn't tell me anything about the discount. So, she forwarded my call to someone who could.
#3 - The phone rang and rang so I hung up.
#4 - When I got back from a meeting, there was a message from Allstate on my answering machine. This person was an English speaker but he spoke so fast, I had to play the message again. Even then I could not deduce his last name.
#5 - When we finally spoke about an unrelated matter, the phone went out and I never got to know why he called. As yet, two hours later he has not called. I guess a customer was not important for Allstate.
#1 - The automated answering system went on and on and on, but finally connected me to a human being.
#2- I'm reasonably sure - but not positive - my phone call was handled by someone in this country. It was very difficult to fully understand the clerk as her language skills were poor. Although she could sign me up for e-billing, she couldn't tell me anything about the discount. So, she forwarded my call to someone who could.
#3 - The phone rang and rang so I hung up.
#4 - When I got back from a meeting, there was a message from Allstate on my answering machine. This person was an English speaker but he spoke so fast, I had to play the message again. Even then I could not deduce his last name.
#5 - When we finally spoke about an unrelated matter, the phone went out and I never got to know why he called. As yet, two hours later he has not called. I guess a customer was not important for Allstate.
How does Obama define compromise?
Giving in. Now, he's in favor of the chained CPI re Social Security; he was previously against it. Two months ago he said that aid for states to make free prekindergarten education
available nationwide was a priority; that was yesterday, today he has to compromise. He's also cutting $400 billion from health programs. Of course, he says this will only happen if taxes increase. Here's what Jackie Calmes says about this latest attempt at compromising with absolutists:
This guy has zero guts and almost as much principle.
Neither the president nor senior aides privately hold much hope that Republican leaders — Mr. Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader — will compromise. So Mr. Obama’s strategy of reaching out to other Senate Republicans reflects a calculation that enough of them might cut a budget deal with the Democratic Senate majority. If that happens, the reasoning goes, a Senate-passed compromise would put pressure on the House to go along.This is all to reduce our debt, despite the fact that most economists say debt reduction should be more gradual as we still have an unemployment problem, a major one.
This guy has zero guts and almost as much principle.
Monday, April 01, 2013
Health Care Costs Compared
The International Federation of Health Plans is comprised of more than a hundred health plans from twenty-five countries. It's been around for more than forty years and publishes studies annually. Their latest publication compares medical prices in a number of OECD countries. And surprise! The U.S. has the highest prices in the world. Let's look at some examples which compare the average U.S. cost to the range of costs in other OECD countries.
U.S. Other Countries
Day in hospital $4,267 $429 - $1,472
Knee replacement $25,637 $3,192 - $22,421
Office visit $95 $10 - $38
Lipitor $124 $6 - $60
Health costs as % of GDP 17.6% 9.5%
Notice anything strange?
U.S. Other Countries
Day in hospital $4,267 $429 - $1,472
Knee replacement $25,637 $3,192 - $22,421
Office visit $95 $10 - $38
Lipitor $124 $6 - $60
Health costs as % of GDP 17.6% 9.5%
Notice anything strange?
Be a director of a TBTF bank
You'll get about $95,000 more a year than a director at a large corporation. The average compensation for a director at one of the six
biggest banks in 2011 was $328,655. This compares
with $232,142 at almost 500 publicly traded companies.
It's true that the compensation could be all in stock, but it's still a fairly big number - $488,709 on average for a Goldman Sachs director in 2011. A Morgan Stanley director gets an average of $351,080.
It's true that the compensation could be all in stock, but it's still a fairly big number - $488,709 on average for a Goldman Sachs director in 2011. A Morgan Stanley director gets an average of $351,080.
More wasting of our money by the Pentagon
We know that there are severe management problems in the Pentagon. Heck, they can't even audit their books and won't be able to until maybe 2017. Now, McClatchy has another example of waste by the military. This one concerns the Stryker vehicle.
The military just kept buying replacement parts and never using them. For example, it bought 9,179 small replacement gears called pinions as a temporary fix for a Stryker suspension problem that surfaced between 2007 and 2009. The Army fixed the problem in 2010, but kept buying pinions. It turns out they needed only 15 of the gears. The 9,164 extra pinions are worth $572,000.
Similar 'decisions' resulted in an inventory of nearly $900 million worth of Stryker replacement parts with much of the gear becoming outdated even as the military continued to order more equipment.
A previous IG report indicated that this is not the first problem with the military's attempt at inventory control of the Strykers. That report said that $335.9 million was being wasted as excess inventory.
The military just kept buying replacement parts and never using them. For example, it bought 9,179 small replacement gears called pinions as a temporary fix for a Stryker suspension problem that surfaced between 2007 and 2009. The Army fixed the problem in 2010, but kept buying pinions. It turns out they needed only 15 of the gears. The 9,164 extra pinions are worth $572,000.
Similar 'decisions' resulted in an inventory of nearly $900 million worth of Stryker replacement parts with much of the gear becoming outdated even as the military continued to order more equipment.
A previous IG report indicated that this is not the first problem with the military's attempt at inventory control of the Strykers. That report said that $335.9 million was being wasted as excess inventory.
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