Saturday, February 27, 2010
Weekend Newsbites: Sat./Sun. February, 27/28, 2010
You want to know why I hate Republicans just slightly less than Democrats...
Read the first newsbite.
No "Employer Provided" Pensions
How many of you have never broken a promise? Com'on... best intentions and all that... how many of you have never failed to meet a commitment - whether to yourself or someone else?
One of my favorite American colloquialisms is... "Shit Happens!"
How true... right? This is indeed one of life's realities, is it not?
Good people don't make promises they don't intend to keep, but due to the vagary's of life, even the best laid plans end up in tatters now and then.
Think of the concept of the pension. Your employer puts money aside for you every pay period. You may contribute out of your salary... or you may not. In any case you can be sure that this pension "contribution" is coming out of your wallet either on the front end or the back end. (In other words, your employer looks upon its contribution as part of your total compensation - money you'd otherwise be making in salary.)
These "contributions" are "invested." In the early days of private pensions "contributions" were plowed back into the businesses, the pension funds invested in company stock. By the 1940's firms such as GM were diversifying their pension plans by investing pension funds into a myriad of outside investment vehicles... (Hey! Look at that! "GM." "Vehicles." I made a punny!)
Anyway... you get the idea. Google "pensions" if you're interested in exploring the details - if you feel like brushing up on the differences between defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans; if you want to review the history of private as well as government pensions. No doubt you could spend days immersed in the minutia.
(*WINK*)
Bottom line... here's the problem with the concept of the pension: It relies upon infallibility.
(*SHRUG*)
Unfortunately... in the real world... even in the land of the free and the home of the brave... their ain't no such thing.
What I mean is... in the real world there are no 100% concrete guarantees - except for death and taxes of course - and as anyone familiar with the info you'll often find within my "newsbites" is aware, by and large both private and public pension set-ups in America are... er... f##ked. ("Underfunded." Speeding towards the cliff of insolvency.)
There have been "bad" investments. (But isn't that the nature of the beast...??? Earth to readers: Again... there's no such thing as a "sure thing." The flip side of "the winners" is... er... "the losers.")
There have been - and continue to be - "under-contributions." (Yeah... imagine that...)
(*SMIRK*)
Over the decades the link between the actuarial component of pension calculations with regard to "input vs. output" has been frayed to the point of breaking by the substitution of "hope" (i.e. huge gambles, irresponsible actions) and raw political power as the arbiter of the "pension bargain."
Sorry, folks... but to throw out another great American colloquialism... "There ain't no free lunch." (Well... at least not for most of the people most of the time...)
Laying aside the question of what to do with regard to the folks already "in the system" let me make on thing perfectly clear: There should be no new pensions offered.
There should be no new pensions offered because the concept of pensions is fatally flawed and we're going to have enough trouble as it is working our way out of the mess we're already in as a society.
No new frigg'n pensions commitments from this point on... that's what I say!
What would this mean in the real world? Easy! Let's say that an employer currently offers a new employee a pension with an employer kick-in of say 5% of gross salary...
(Note: I'm just pulling a number out of thin air in order to make the point...)
Let's say the starting salary is $30K. Five percent of that $30K is $1,500 - right? So... no pension leads to an employee "raise" to a new salary of $31,500.
As to the employee's "pension"... well... let the employee - the individual... the citizen... the adult - invest whatever portion of his or her income into whatever investment vehicle he or she chooses.
(*SHRUG*) (*WIPING MY HANDS*)
Here's the deal, folks: A business... even a government entity... can effectively budget for a short period of time. Revenue goes up... revenue goes down; profits go up... profits go down. With a minimum of long term obligations a business or government entity can logically and gainfully react to real time events and act accordingly.
More profits... perhaps greater pay along with great R&D and other internal investments.
Less profits... lower the sails and batten down the hatches.
(*SHRUG*)
Folks... we've got to return this nation to a land where fiscal sanity again rules! We can't keep on signing off on debt we reasonably have no hope of paying off absent massive tax increases and/or horrendous inflation.
As for the private sector... same thing! Except instead of talking "raising taxes" and/or "monetizing the debt" we're talking pensions squeezing out profits and eventually leading to bankruptcy where no one is employed and no retired workers are receiving their pensions because there's simply no money left to pay the pensions!
Hey... last colloquialism... "Reality bites."
Yeah. Harsh reality I'm pointing out here. Many of you simply don't want to hear it. I "get" that. Too frigg'n bad.
(Oops... I guess that will have to be the last colloquialism.)
(*WINK*)
Friday, February 26, 2010
Barker's Newsbites: Friday, February 26, 2010
Newsbites for a snowy day - at least here in Harriman, NY!
(Thanks as always to my cyberbud Rodak for tuning in and occasionally leaving a comment...)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Today... something different.
In "honor" of today "Health Reform Summit" in Washington I'm posting "newsbite" digests of three separate articles which appear in three different British newspapers today concerning how "national health care" is working out across the Pond.
First...
Patients were routinely neglected or left “sobbing and humiliated” by staff at an NHS trust where at least 400 deaths have been linked to appalling care.
An independent inquiry found that managers at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust stopped providing safe care because they were preoccupied with government targets and cutting costs.
[P]atients went unwashed for weeks, were left without food or drink and were even unable to get to the lavatory. Some lay in soiled sheets that relatives had to take home to wash, others developed infections or had falls, occasionally fatal.
The report, which follows reviews by the Care Quality Commission and the Department of Health, said that “unimaginable” suffering had been caused.
Second...
Not a single official has been disciplined over the worst-ever NHS hospital scandal, it emerged last night.
Up to 1,200 people lost their lives needlessly because Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust put government targets and cost-cutting ahead of patient care.
But none of the doctors, nurses and managers who failed them has suffered any formal sanction.
Indeed, some have either retired on lucrative pensions or have swiftly found new jobs.
Former chief executive Martin Yeates, who has since left with a £1million pension pot, six months' salary and a reported £400,000 payoff, did not even give evidence to the inquiry which detailed the scale of the scandal yesterday.
Third...
The Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, yesterday described the appalling treatment of patients at Stafford hospital as "ultimately a local failure". This misses the point. For one thing, Stafford is not the only NHS hospital that has put patients' lives at risk in recent years. Basildon and Colchester hospitals were also discovered to have jeopardised safety in 2009.
What is more, Mr Burnham's efforts to quarantine this disaster suggest an unwillingness to face up to the scale of the problem that has been revealed. The failure in Stafford is not just the tale of one badly run hospital, but the failure of a regulatory system that did little to sound the alarm until very late in the day. From 2005 to 2008 Stafford hospital was judged by regulators and the Government to be performing well. It passed many inspections and the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust even achieved foundation status, supposedly the benchmark of excellence.
Well... there you go folks.
Anyway... check out the Comments Page of this thread for the rest of today's "Barkerbites."
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Well... Cross Romney Off The List...
Another frigg'n idiot...
Mitt Romney is endorsing former rival John McCain as the 2008 Republican presidential nominee fights to keep his Senate seat.
Romney said in a statement Tuesday the Arizona senator's "record of service and sacrifice for America is honored by all." The former Massachusetts governor added, "It's hard to imagine the U.S. Senate without John McCain."
Hmm... it's not hard for me. In fact, the scenario has long been one of my most fervent hopes and dreams...!
As for McCain's military service...
Hmm... what's next... a Romney endorsement of Charlie Rangel's re-election come November? After all, Rangel did win the Bronz Star - and the Purple Heart - in Korea.
Romney is...
(*BITING MY TONGUE*)
Yeah, yeah... I know... Palin has campaigned for McCain. But, com'on... that's obviously out of personal loyalty - a sense of personal duty, repaying a perceived debt.
But Romney...??? He hates McCain's guts!
And McCain hates his guts... it's a match made in Washington!
Yes... the Democrats are destroying our country... but the GOP is still largely The Stupid Party.
Mark my words: If Mitt Romney somehow manages to win the GOP nomination to run as their Party's standard-bearer against President Obama (or perhaps Hillary Clinton) in 2012, then abandon hope all ye who seek salvation for our nation and a brighter future for our children.
Hey Folks... If You Happen to See Ads Let Me Know
Hey Gang!
(OK... "hey" to the two or three of you who drop by once in awhile...)
(*GRIN*)
Anyway... according to my cyberbud Rob (aka Rodak) ads have been appearing on my blog.
Search me... I've never seen them and I certainly never "monetized" my blog.
Do me a favor though... if you come across any ads - either on the main page or within a comments thread - give me a shout via email.
Thanks!
Monday, February 22, 2010
When Even "The Good Guys" Are Full Of...
I've gotta tell ya... today has been a real stomach churner.
As I noted in my previous post - the one slamming John "The Idiot" McCain - I didn't start out in the best of moods this morning and it seems with each bit of news I read today my mood grows darker.
Case in point:
Has anyone come across the Newsweek Magazine op-d Red Alert penned by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)?
Click the link. Read the piece. Take your time... I'll wait.
(OK? Done? Good... let's continue.)
While the op-ed is officially titled "Red Alert," the folks at Newsweek took the liberty of using the following tag-line to draw attention to the piece:
Paul Ryan: Don't Patronize the American People.
Cute! Hey... it caught my attention! That's how the link to the piece was "teased" via RealClearPolitics which is where I first stumbled upon it.
The line was taken out of last paragraph of Congressman Ryan's piece, which in its entirety reads...
I welcome the debate on how to tackle our fiscal crisis—and the larger debate on the proper role of government. But I'd encourage those taking aim at the Roadmap to arm yourselves with a specific alternative. My dad used to say, "Son, you are either part of the solution or part of the problem." (That was usually when I was being part of the problem.) Now we must make the same demand of politicians in Washington: Don't patronize the American people as if they were children—deferring difficult decisions and promising fiscal fantasies. Tell the American people the truth and offer them a choice, and they will do what's right.
The problem is...
(*SIGH*)
...if one is to back up five paragraphs one would find - as I did find - that Ryan himself is bullsh... er... patronizing the American People.
Here... see for yourselves...
For those now under 55, the Roadmap turns Medicare into a health-care program like the one enjoyed by members of Congress.
Like hell!
Ryan's "Roadmap" is a good plan (if you're not familiar with it, follow the above provided link and check it out for yourself) but it's absolute nonsense to claim that either Democrats or Republicans in Washington will or could "give Americans now under 55" (or Americans now 55 or older for that matter!) a healthcare program "like the one enjoyed by Congress."
Ever hear "OAP?" The letters stand for "Office of the Attending Physician."
Well, I just called up Congressman Ryan's office and asked the poor staffer who answered the phone the following, "Hmm... question regarding Congressman Ryan's claim that his Roadmap would provide me access to a healthcare program like the one Mr. Ryan enjoys - specifically... OAP access. Where should I send my check for $503?"
(*SNORT*)
Yeah. You can no doubt imagine the reaction. Hey... I'll give the staffer credit... he at least knew what I was talking about and didn't try to duck the whole "for $503 a year you get what amounts to a concierge medical service rider" issue if you're a Member of Congress or the Supreme Court.
Hey... it's a sweet deal! For instance... check this out:
Through interviews with former employees and members of Congress, as well as extensive document searches, ABC News has learned new details about the services offered by the Office of Attending Physician to members of Congress over the past few years, from regular visits by a consulting chiropractor to on-site physical therapy.
Services offered by the Office of the Attending Physician include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist.
Sources said when specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.
"If you had, for example, prostate cancer, you would go to one of the centers of excellence for the country, which would be Johns Hopkins. If you had coronary artery disease, we would engage specialists at the Cleveland Clinic. You would go to the best care in the country.Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care, sources said, is subsidized by taxpayers.
Last year, Congress appropriated more than $3 million to reimburse the Navy for staff salaries at the office. Next year's budget allocates $3.8 million for the office, including more than half a million dollars to upgrade the Office's radiology suite. Sources said additional money to operate the office is included in the Navy's annual budget.
In 2008, 240 members paid the annual fee, though some sources say congressmen who didn't pay the fee were rarely prevented from using OAP services.
One aspect of the office's operations which remains unclear is just how the annual $503 fee is determined.
Until 1992, OAP services were free to members of Congress. But after former Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania angered members by introducing a bill to make Congress members pay market rate prices for using the OAP, a compromise was reached.
Anyway...
Here's the bottom line: No matter what these bastar... er... "honorable" men and women in Congress promise us, no one - no one who is not independently wealthy or by dint of position or circumstance in the right place at the right time to receive "the healthcare of the rich, famous, and powerful" is going to get "the healthcare of the rich, famous, and powerful" - unless of course one wins a seat in Congress or on the Supreme Court.
Don't bullshit us. That's all we're asking.
Even if I Weren't Already in a Bad Mood I'd Still Insist...
John McCain is a frigg'n idiot.
Here's the latest:
Under growing pressure from conservatives and "tea party" activists, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is having to defend his record of supporting the government's massive bailout of the financial system.
In response to criticism from opponents seeking to defeat him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, the four-term senator says he was misled by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
So obviously McCain is calling for the Impeachment of Ben Bernanke... right?
(*SNORT*)
So of course McCain is calling for AG Holder to criminally charge Hank Paulson... right?
(*SMIRK*)
McCain said the pair assured him that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.
"Obviously, that didn't happen," McCain said in a meeting Thursday with The Republic's Editorial Board...
What did you VOTE for you schmuck... you senile old bastard...?!?!
Jeezus frigg'n Christ... and this dumb son of a bitch has the balls to be running for re-election...???
Hey... any of you reading this who have some disposable income... I'm begging you... send some goddamn money to J.D. Hayworth!
* YEAH, CARL... I'm talking to you!
** TED... MARY... if for no other reason... do it for your friend Bill...!!!
Here... allow me to provide the excerpt that might provide that last little shove:
But McCain stopped short of calling the TARP a mistake.
"Something had to be done...""SOMETHING" had to be done...?!?!
"SOMETHING" had to be done...?!?!
This F##king IDIOT is a United States Senator...
This halfwit (nay... quarterwit!) has been in Washington since 1983...
John. You're turning 74 in August. Give it up. For God's sake, you were never the sharpest knife in the draw to begin with. Go retire and enjoy your wife's millions.
Just GO...!!!
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