Good AM, folks!
I listened to a talk show today, a round table of reporters, one of whom said he liked politics but he dislikes this campaign. He said both sides uttered untruths, and when called on the lies, the two sides just shrug and continue. I don't like this campaign, either.
Word watch: "icon" and "iconic." Mildly useful, though not by me, both are tiresomely overused by the media.
"Obama's faults"
ReplyDeleteI pity all people who are voting for President Obama and believe in him, including the writer of the letter "Caring" (Aug. 19). Since Obama has been president, he has put this country in trillions of dollars in debt. The gas prices have risen, and so many people are out of work. People have lost their homes and had to turn over their pets to the shelters. It's so heartbreaking. Anyone voting for him is a complete idiot. Four more years and how much more will this country suffer?
Let's not let Obama scare any of us with his lies on Medicare or Social Security. I am on Social Security and will be eligible for Medicare in May 2013. I am not scared. I want a strong leader who will bring this country back to the greatness that it once was.
God bless America.
LINDA LUCAS
Sparta
Biden in Tampa
I think it is great that Vice President Joe Biden is going to Tampa at the same time as the GOP convention. Then everyone can compare the vice presidential choices.
Do we want the class dunce or the head of the class to be able to step in, in case something should happen to the president?
KAY ANDERSON
Winston-Salem
"Council member violated rules"
In reference to "Council member, police at odds" (Aug. 16), not having your concealed-handgun permit is not an "honest mistake."
The sheriff should immediately administratively revoke the concealed-handgun permit of Winston-Salem City Council member James Taylor Jr. He violated two important rules of the concealed-handgun statute: 1) he failed to immediately notify the officer that he had a concealed weapon, and 2) he didn't have his permit in his possession. He sat in the same class that every other permit holder completed. He knew the importance of the rules. In light of the recent news events concerning guns, as a city councilman he should have been even more vigilant in compliance with the rules.
Every lawful and compliant concealed-handgun permit holder in Forsyth County should be outraged. Taylor should be setting a high example, not an unlawful example. The readers of the Journal would expect the editorial board to take a strong and forceful position on compliance with the law.
Law-enforcement officers in Forsyth County are in a conflicted position on this case. They can't express their outrage publicly because the offender is an elected office holder.
The Journal should demand that the sheriff revoke Taylor's concealed-handgun permit. If he wishes to appeal the revocation, he can do in front of a Superior Court judge in a public hearing where the public can ask to be heard.
PHILIP DOYLE
Clemmons
"Transportation hub"
DeleteI would like to say thank you to the Winston-Salem City Council for finally purchasing the old Union Station (Davis Garage) for use as a transportation hub. I can only hope that the company chosen to do the work will bring the old station to its former glory, like the Greensboro station. I hope it can do this. A restored railroad station would be an excellent addition to Winston-Salem.
MELVIN D. PEMPSELL
Winston-Salem
"Sum It Up:
Does Reynolds High School need a new stadium?
Respond to letters@wsjournal.com and put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed entries, please — no anonymous ones. Briefer responses receive preference in print.
Correspondent of the Week
Delete"A doctor's advice"
H.L. Mencken warned us, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem — neat, plausible and wrong."
I don't pretend to understand the intricacies — let alone the unforeseen consequences — of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") or the Romney-Ryan plan. The unrelenting hot air from our politicians hasn't helped much.
But after 40 years in medicine I do know that disease is the most unmercifully democratic institution of them all; it cares not about wealth or privilege or power, or how old you are, or where you were born, or what color your skin. Disease doesn't happen just to "them"; it happens to us.
So against that day when we or our loved ones or our neighbors should first find the lump, or notice the blood, or feel the pain — choose wisely this November.
DR. RICHARD B. WEINBERG
Winston-Salem
"I don't like this campaign, either." We have this kind of campaign for some very good reasons... mostly it, like all campaigns, is ultimately a referendum on the incumbent President.
ReplyDeleteAppears to me that Linda Lucas elected to receive her Social Security entitlement at a reduced amount at age 62 rather than wait until she qualifies for full benefits at 66 (which is the age for full benefits for persons born between 1943-1954). Also seems to me that she is counting the days until she qualifies for her single payer government funded socialist Medicare. All these people living on the dole, and some like Linda are too stupid to know it.
ReplyDeleteWordly, I noticed that too. But that is the trap of the entitlement state. A double edge sword. No way out unless the programs are reformed or allowed to implode.
DeleteMaybe Phargo was right yesterday when he said that perhaps we have created a world that is too complex to manage.
DeleteJust look at our military situation. We have created the most powerful armed forces in the history of the world, yet we cannot "win" a war.
Because we did not listen to President Eisenhower, the military/industrial complex insists on building, and rebuilding, a military that is totally inappropriate for the kinds of wars that we have been fighting since 1945 and will be fighting in the foreseeable future.
Phargo was right yesterday. Our military can't win a war completely in part because there is no way to win a televised war...the public can't stomach it. Ike's warning about the military/industrial complex was true, but on into his address he acknowledged the need to do what would be necessary to win a long drawn out Cold War and that it differed from WW2.
DeleteAlso our global financial network was rife with corruption- still is- as no major currency, be it dollar, Euro or Yuan is based on sound money. This has finally touched off the latest currency war beginning in 2010 and continues.
We are in a heap of trouble.
LTE #1 - Well, it's easy to see what kind of people are voting GOP. Totally misinformed parrots…guess she's a Limbaugh ditto head like someone else I could name.
ReplyDeleteAnd as Wordly points out, she's one of those slackers who couldn't wait to retire at full benefits, so will now receive lower SS payments for the rest of her miserable life.
LTE #2 - How rude. I wish people would quit calling poor Mr. Ryan the "class dunce". And Joe Biden was nowhere near the top of his class. He was #506 out of 688, but he did go to a better school and he does have a post grad degree, which Mr. Ryan does not.
I might add that he is one of those Viet Nam era draft dodging cowards, like our most recent leadership team, CheneyBush…maybe he should have been a Republican.
LTE #3 - My goodness…talk about making mountains out of dung hills. Sounds like our own beloved Dunce.
Mr. Taylor screwed up. He will have his day in court. Case closed.
LTE #4 - The Greensboro station is a great asset for that city.
Sum It Up - No.
Correspondent of the Week - I know Dr. Weinberg, but I'm not sure what he is saying.
If everything is obscured by hot air, how are we supposed to "choose wisely"?
The ACA is already in effect. The only firm campaign promise that Mr. Romney has made is "I will repeal it", but he will not be able to do that.
Rush: I don't know Dr. Weinberg, but I understand what he's talking about: not the ACA, nor Obamacare; he's talking about human care.
DeleteMedicare is the product of a liberal brainchild and, ironically, is now being used as a conservative scare tactic geared towards aging Americans who traditionally vote Republican. Those that are dependent on Medicare are the ones most afraid of losing it and the scare tactic is working. Medicare payments are being cut back and in some cases withheld and aging conservatives are feeling the pinch.
LaSambra....watch for the term "concierge medicine" to become a popular buzzword.
DeleteLast week one of our ombudsmen at the U. of Chicago sent out this "fact sheet" to all concerned. It includes all of the latest figures from the CBO:
DeleteSince 2009 we have been deluged by questions from our community about the Affordable Care Act. I will admit that in the beginning we knew very little about it. But in striving to answer your questions, we now find that we have become pretty knowledgeable about the ACA, so I thought it would be a good idea to put all of the information in one place and send it out to you.
The good news is that all of the rumors that you have heard about soaring costs and exorbitant new taxes are just that, rumors. So far, the ACA is working as it was supposed to. We will keep an eye out, and if anything changes, we will let you know.
1. By 2022, the ACA will have extended coverage to 33 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured.
2. Families making less than 133% of the poverty line (about $29,000 for a family of four), will be covered by Medicaid. Those making between 133% and 400% will will get tax credits on a sliding scale to help pay for private insurance.
3. For families making less than 400 percent of the poverty line, premiums are capped. So, between 150% and 200% of the poverty line, for instance, families won’t have to pay more than 6.3 percent of their income in premiums. Between 300 percent and 400 percent, they won’t have to pay more than 9.5 percent.
4. When the individual mandate is fully phased-in, those who can afford coverage — which is defined as insurance costing less than 8 percent of their annual income — but choose to forgo it will have to pay either $695 or 2.5 percent of the annual income, whichever is greater. That is expected to affect about 2-4% of all citizens.
5. Small businesses that have fewer than 10 employees, average wages beneath $25,000, and that provide insurance for their workers will get a 50 percent tax credit on their contribution. The tax credit reaches up to small businesses with up to 50 employees and average wages of $50,000, though it gets smaller as the business get bigger and richer.
6. Insurance companies are not allowed to exclude preexisting conditions.
7. The 35% tax on employee paid benefits valued at $10,200-27,500 that you have heard so much about will not affect anyone here at the University, nor will it affect more than a handful of people anywhere else.
8. Insurers must spend between 80 and 85%, depending on some variations, of every premium dollar on actual health benefits. Any excess must be rebated to customers. Companies are expected to rebate about $1.1 billion this year, but as they adjust their business model, those rebates should disappear.
9. Total spending will be a little over $1 trillion over the next 10 years, but the savings from Medicaid and other areas have already affected the annual deficit by about $25 billion. Next year, the ACA will lower the deficit by almost $50 billion. Then there will be a gradual decrease in savings until 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, the ACA will actually increase the deficit by about $40 billion before the real savings kick in in early 2018. By 2021, the annual savings will be back in the $50 billion range.
10. The rapid rise in health-care costs has already slowed dramatically. Part of that is due to the recession, but the ACA is already accelerating changes in the way medical care is delivered in the USA.
I would've thought something out of your alma mater would be more critical of the ACA...home of freshwater economics and all that. This is very informative.
DeleteMaybe UC is big enough to avoid this for the time being- size matters. Carrot always preceeds the stick.
DeleteThanks ObamaCare: Guilford College Student Insurance Jumps 75 Percent
Guilford joins numerous colleges hiking their student health insurance plans.
By Ron Meyer, Young America's Foundation Spokesman
Can we stop calling ObamaCare the Affordable Care Act now?
A Young America's Foundation activist forwarded an email from the Vice President for Finance at his school, Guilford College (Greensboro, NC), informing him that, "For the 2012-13 academic year, the annual cost of the student health insurance is increasing from $668 to $1,179. This insurance premium has been charged to your student account."
Why the increase? "Our student health insurance policy premium has been substantially increased due to changes required by federal regulations issued on March 16, 2012 under the Affordable Care Act."
Guilford College has been forced to raise their student premiums 75 percent, yet this administrator still insists on calling it the Affordable Care Act. Seems a bit ironic, to say the least.
Guilford joins a long list of colleges raising their premiums. Virtually all current student insurance plans do not meet ObamaCare's mandates, and Forbes reports colleges have been forced to drop their plans or raise their premiums rates as much as 1,112% (and no, that's not a typo).
Most students like their current healthcare, but they can't keep it.
In the email to Guilford students (available in full here), the VP of Finance lays out exactly why they were forced to hike costs:
"As a result, all collegiate student health plans with an effective date of July 1, 2012 or after must provide a minimum benefit of at least $100,000 per policy year, have no limits on benefits deemed essential by the Act, and provide a preventative care benefit with no deductible, co-pays or co-insurance. In compliance with these mandates, (emphasis added) the following changes have been made to the College's student health insurance policy.
"For the 2012-13 academic year, the annual cost of the student health insurance is increasing from $668 to $1,179."
For those who don't understand insurance mandate regulation jargon, this means catastrophic health insurance plans (primarily covering accidents only) have been banned for students. Students, who often don't need luxury plans, prefer lower cost policies with fewer benefits. This allowed for much more affordable premiums.
Student healthcare choice has been replaced with expensive ObamaCare mandates.
That's why it's not just happening at Guilford (a small liberal arts college with around 2,700 students). Some of the most egregious cost hikes include: the State University of New York in Plattsburgh raised their premium from $440 per student to between $1,300 and $1,600; Lenoir-Rhyne University (Hickory, NC) raised theirs from $245 to $2,507; and the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA) raised theirs from $165 to between $1,500 and $2,000.
Young Americans are already dealing with record-smashing college debt and unemployment, and the Obama administration should answer for these added costs to students.
Oh how I wish I could get real insurance for $1,179.00 a year what a bargain.
DeleteThe cost of student insurance at NC State is $709 per SEMESTER, so the Guilford rate is still lower per year than an annualized public college rate. (If students have other coverage they can opt out of this fee.
What the students at Guilford had previously was not real insurance. They were under insured freeloaders mooching on the the health care system. Their new policies will cover preventive care with no copayments, and it will also cover birth control with no copayments. This will reduce unwanted and unintended pregnancies and will reduce Medicaid payments for these unintended births which will save taxpayers like you and me from supporting other people's children that they cannot afford to support by themselves.
$1,170 per year, my mom's Medicaid supplement costs more than that. I bet that fee can be waived too if they stay on their parent's insurance which is now possible because of the Affordable Care Act. How many people will this really effect? Not that many.
I repeat, $1,170 what a bargain for real insurance.
Maybe like UC, the big schools have a different perspective and cost structure than the small schools.
DeleteHa, ha! Austan Goolsbee of the Booth School has been President Obama's adviser on economics for nearly a decade. He's a pretty conservative guy, so those who ramble on about Obama's economic policy know not of what they speak.
DeleteOn the other hand, the economists do not run U. Chicago. Milton Friedman is long gone and even one of our Nobels has admitted that deregulation went way too far. And don't forget that Saul Alinsky was also a U. Chi boy.
The note that I posted was addressed to the faculty and staff as a service to them. It has nothing to do with student insurance. Unlike FoxLies and other right wing loonies, our ombudsmen don't make stuff up.
And before anybody gets their panties in a wad over the college insurance business, it might pay to remember that the ACA is one of the most complex and far reaching bills ever passed and that right from the start its proponents have said that there will have to be adjustments down the road.
It sounds as if this might be one of them. In a sane world, the college folks would sit down and have a chat with Congress about this, but it is uncertain if there is anyone in Congress who is sane enough to qualify.
Our health system has been a disaster for decades. So someone finally actually does something about it and the jackasses begin to bray.
The ACA is law. We can either do whatever is needed to make it work, or we can stand on the sidelines and throw stones. Me, I've always preferred being a player to being a spectator.
Milton Friedman would be drummed out of the conservative movement today on account of his views on monetary policy. Righties today are less Adam Smith than Ayn Rand.
DeleteThere was a huge flap at Booth when Bush announced the bank bailout. I had already left, but my colleagues tell me that some of them were storming around the campus cursing for days. They worked a lot of overtime lighting up the phonelines to Washington.
DeleteIf you recall, the bill failed its first time out, probably much of it their doing.
And Wordly is right. The previous insurance was not "real" health insurance...some sort of catastrophic thing. Please note that in the article that WW posted, the U. of Puget Sound had been charging $165/year for theirs. Really?
DeleteI imagine that that was something like the "insurance" we could buy for $20 when I was in school. If I recall, it provided that if, while under the influence of the devil or one of his minions (who were named in the smallest print), we were run over in a dark alley by a Studebaker driven by a left handed kangaroo, the insurance company would pay a one-time award of $20, except, that if we subsequently died, the $20 had to be returned by our estate.
And Wordly is right that the new cost is an incredible bargain...show me where else you can buy a decent policy for $100-150/month.
OT-- "Our health system has been a disaster for decades. So someone finally actually does something about it and the jackasses begin to bray. the ACA is one of the most complex and far reaching bills ever passed and that right from the start its proponents have said that there will have to be adjustments down the road." We have just layered on and on and will do more of that as we make "adjustments".
DeleteI would appreciate not being labeled "jackass". Objections are valid.
Sorry, WW. My sincere apologies.
DeleteOT....thanks. "heat of battle stuff". No harm done.
DeleteObama's faults. "I want a strong leader who will bring this country back to the greatness that it once was". Don't hold your breath. To do that it will take a strong people---I am no longer sure we are that people. We are entitled to everything just because we are Americans. Events will force our hand soon enough.
ReplyDeleteBiden in Tampa. It no longer is going to happen according to reporting. Too bad as we were going to return the favor and send him to Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteWe had a guy in our boot camp company who couldn't march, even with "L" and "R" imprinted on the toes of his shoes.
DeleteSo when we had military drill competitions, we sent him to sick bay. Maybe the Dems could try that with Biden during the convention.
That's pretty good! Poor old Joe.
DeleteA doctor's advice. Disease is truly the most democratic institution of all. Fear not. We may soon have the least democratic institutions of all--unelected bureacrats-- in charge of dealing with it. What can possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteWe already have bureaucrats in charge of our medical care. They are employed by the hospitals and the insurance companies and a lot of things go wrong every day.
DeleteI suppose you're right. But their is no bureaucrat like a government bureaucrat.
DeleteToo true. They must have some kind of seminar for new hires.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHaving done a bit of advertising work in my younger days, I am always interested in what advertisers are up to.
ReplyDeleteI just saw an ad in the "New York Times Magazine" for some place called "The Ritz-Carlton Residences - Singer Island - Palm Beach".
It shows a woman reclining on a pure white chaise lounge, barefooted, wearing designer jeans, a white $3,000 designer blouse and a beautiful $5,000 designer
silver bracelet. She is conventionally attractive and perfectly coiffed and I can tell that two minutes of conversation with her would have me fast asleep. She is doing nothing, staring contemplatively out the window of her Ritz-Carlton Residence.
What she can see is a sliver of pure white sand of a type found nowhere in Florida, and the blue, blue sea, practically lapping at the foundations of her Ritz-Carlton Residence. One hopes that it is an unnaturally high tide, because otherwise her The Ritz-Carlton Residence will soon be washed away by the waves. It turns out that on closer examination, the view out the window is a painting. Oh, and there are some vague marks on the strip of sand that I believe are intended to be footprints, whether of humans or birds is unclear, because they don't really look like footprints at all. Bob Timberlake would have got it right, but I guess they hired a cut rate illustrator.
Now to the nitty gritty. What they are calling "Singer Island" is not really Singer Island. It is landfill built up on Singer Island for a real estate development called Palm Beach Shores. Once upon a time, the real Palm Beach tried to sue people for using their name, but they long ago gave up. Apparently you cannot copyright or trademark the name of a geographical location. The notorious Congressman Alan West lives in another such faux Palm Beach called Palm Beach Gardens, which is northwest of Palm Beach Shores and not even near the ocean. Just another tacky Florida suburban development.
At any rate, "Singer Island isn't even in Palm Beach, it is in the town of Riviera Beach, to the north of Palm Beach. And one of the things that they don't tell you in the ad is that if our lady shifted her gaze a few millimeters to the left, she would be able to gaze upon yet another island. I guess Peanut Island doesn't sound quite "The Ritzy" enough, huh?
But I have saved the best for last. As you might expect, there is fine print, so fine that no one even near my age could possibly read it. So I borrowed a microscope from my neighbors at Wake Biotech. Guess what?
"The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Singer Island, Palm Beach, are not owned, developed or sold by the Ritz-carlton Hotel Company, LLC. North Ocean, LLC, uses The Ritz-Carlton marks under a license from The Ritz-carlton Hotel Company, LLC." What a surprise!
The small print then goes on to explain in great detail that, essentially, nothing else in the ad is real either, but that they will still be happy to accept your check or money order for $700,000 to $10 million for your The Ritz-Carlton residence.
Bet Mitty stays at The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman when he goes down to visit his money.
You can see the pic from this ad here. I think it is the 3rd that comes up in the slide show. Think I might buy one of these for those quick getaway weekends.
Evening, folks!
ReplyDeleteI observe an exchange between gentlemen, nice to read.
OT, I went to the Sunday brunch at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel a couple of times. It was a wonderful spread, with abundant champagne, but a bit pricey.
That RC had a spot of trouble one time when a swell drove up from San Diego in his $190K Ferrari, and checked in. He tendered his car to a valet, who took it upon himself to check out it's high speed operation. Unfortunately, a tree jumped out in front of him and destroyed the car. This no doubt caused problems for the hotel and valet, but I had a leering suspicion that the accident would surprise the swell's wife more than anyone else.
I have actually driven a Ferrari on a few occasions, so I understand the valet's problem.
DeleteWhen you sit down in one of those beautifully fitted seats, a mysterious force takes over, a force that causes your right foot to push ever downward until suddenly you are going 180 mph. It cannot be helped.
As to the wife, that turned the other way for OJ. He was a very insecure man who was always accusing Nicole of cheating, but it was when he saw her lover driving the Ferrari that he had given her that he realized that his worst fantasies were indeed true.
In college days, I had a friend at NC State who owned a Ferrari. He would drive up to his frat house at night and spend a good bit of time removing the Nardi steering wheel and the Recaro seats, which would spend the night in his room lest they be stolen.
These days, those same wheels and seats go for anywhere from$2-7,000. Wonder how many of them were stolen in the '60s.
I have never understood why anyone would want to own a car they they could not just park and walk away from.
Required Accessories for Subaru Outback
DeleteStab...never fear, Birkenstock makes sandals for all...the famous closed toe for the toe stubbers:
I May Be Clumsy But I'm Cool
You can also buy a stick-on ponytail.
So imagine yourself stepping out of your brand new Outback in Birks, a tie-dye and your new ponytail...
The hippy cougars will be going wild. It's not too late to "discover" your true self.
Ha ha! Susan loves the cat we share in her house, and the cat who lives with me, but when it comes to cougars she has ailurophobia. I'll eschew the ponytail and the Birks, and stick with Topsiders and my thinning close cropped 'do.
ReplyDelete