I hope I am wrong but my reading of the European Union debt crisis is that the banks are more powerful than governments. Not just individual governments of smaller nations like Iceland, Ireland and Greece, but the big guys - Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
How did these private institutions achieve supremacy over the governments whose purpose is to govern their societies? I am not sure. I suspect that the bank recapitalizations that occurred in 2008 and the failure to reform seriously flawed institutions were only the final phase of a long-term evolution into world-wide plutocracy. If the new world order resulted in economic and political stability, one might grudgingly accept it; however governments, flawed though they all are, are required to offer some degree of accountability to the governed. The corporations and private institutions now wielding the power do not share that burden - just ask the stockholders of News Corp, recently rebuffed in their attempts to hold the Murdock Family accountable.
The United States is not insulated from this phenomenon. When/if the EU collapses, our system will not be far behind. Why? Because our banks too are heavily leveraged in the EU crisis. Our economy is much weaker than Germany's.
For the immediate now, the international financial institutions are urging, no demanding, that the EU countries protect the banks from the bad debt of EU member nations. This protection can only be purchased by pouring trillions (yes, that is what I meant) into the black hole of an already debased system. The inevitable result will not be a resolution of the EU crisis. It will be the dragging down of the strong economies into the abyss in which the weak ones already reside.
The recipe being urged on the EU is a recipe for long-term disaster. That disaster will NOT stop at the Atlantic Ocean's eastern boundaries.
Thanks alot Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Nicholas Sarkozy, Tim Geitner, Larry Summers, Robert Rubin, Christopher Dodd, Dick Cheney, Alan Greenspan, Chief Justice John Roberts, Tony Blair, Dominque Strauss-Kahn for working so VERY closely with the new masters of the universe.
Here's what I think...
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Medigap or Medicare Advantage?
As I approach my decision date, the road ahead remains foggy. A trip to the Office of the Aging was less productive than I had hoped. Once they learned I was computer literate, I was informed http://www.medicare.gov contained all the resources I needed to make a decision.
I downloaded two .pdfs of 60 pages each. The first listed what Medicare covered. The second purported to guide readers through choosing a Medigap policy. I am just beginning to learn the difference between Medigap and Medical Advantage policies.
Medical Advantage - what I have learned so far... .
Equals one-stop shopping. The policy covers all health insurance reimbursements, including Medicare. The insured pays for the Medical Advantage plan, the plan pays for Medicare Part B insurance and medical costs covered by the policy. Drug coverage is included in some, not all of the plans. When drug coverage is included, the drugs the insured uses need to be specified to determine if the plan chosen covers those drugs.
Policy costs vary considerably as does what is covered, but the policies tend to cost considerably less than Medigap policies.
Many of these plans restrict the insured to doctors in the plan and require referrals for specialists.
Medigap or Medicare Supplement -
The Medigap Policy is in addition to Medicare and claims are submitted separately. The insured pays for Medicare Part B coverage and for the Medigap Policy.
Drug coverage (Medicare Part D) must be separately obtained. The result? With Medigap the insured ends up with three bills - Medicare Part B, Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Medicare Part D. The cost is considerably higher than most Medicare Advantage policies but the coverages tend to be greater and do not limit choice of doctors.
Medigap plans offer "Policies" with legally mandated coverages. Costs vary between insurers even for the same policies (coverages). Determining policy price is not always easy. Some companies put the policy rates right up on the websites. Others require you to register at their sites before divulging this information.
Dental, Vision, Hearing coverage - not
Dental Insurance is not covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medigap. Medicare Advantage does often cover up to two preventive dental visits a year, but that is it. Likewise a vision exam might be covered, but not glasses. Same with hearing exams. Other policies don't cover them at all.
Decision?
Still working on that. The superior coverage of Medigap is tempting but the cost probably will be close to that my company currently pays for standard health insurance and that is not cheap. On the other hand, it is possible to get coverage for foreign travel with some Medigap policies and that is a factor.
Probably also need to consider some kind of long-term care policy...
Back to the 'net for more research.
I downloaded two .pdfs of 60 pages each. The first listed what Medicare covered. The second purported to guide readers through choosing a Medigap policy. I am just beginning to learn the difference between Medigap and Medical Advantage policies.
Medical Advantage - what I have learned so far... .
Equals one-stop shopping. The policy covers all health insurance reimbursements, including Medicare. The insured pays for the Medical Advantage plan, the plan pays for Medicare Part B insurance and medical costs covered by the policy. Drug coverage is included in some, not all of the plans. When drug coverage is included, the drugs the insured uses need to be specified to determine if the plan chosen covers those drugs.
Policy costs vary considerably as does what is covered, but the policies tend to cost considerably less than Medigap policies.
Many of these plans restrict the insured to doctors in the plan and require referrals for specialists.
Medigap or Medicare Supplement -
The Medigap Policy is in addition to Medicare and claims are submitted separately. The insured pays for Medicare Part B coverage and for the Medigap Policy.
Drug coverage (Medicare Part D) must be separately obtained. The result? With Medigap the insured ends up with three bills - Medicare Part B, Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Medicare Part D. The cost is considerably higher than most Medicare Advantage policies but the coverages tend to be greater and do not limit choice of doctors.
Medigap plans offer "Policies" with legally mandated coverages. Costs vary between insurers even for the same policies (coverages). Determining policy price is not always easy. Some companies put the policy rates right up on the websites. Others require you to register at their sites before divulging this information.
Dental, Vision, Hearing coverage - not
Dental Insurance is not covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medigap. Medicare Advantage does often cover up to two preventive dental visits a year, but that is it. Likewise a vision exam might be covered, but not glasses. Same with hearing exams. Other policies don't cover them at all.
Decision?
Still working on that. The superior coverage of Medigap is tempting but the cost probably will be close to that my company currently pays for standard health insurance and that is not cheap. On the other hand, it is possible to get coverage for foreign travel with some Medigap policies and that is a factor.
Probably also need to consider some kind of long-term care policy...
Back to the 'net for more research.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Unseemly Celebration
Come, let us dance on the corpse of our enemy,
Let us scatter his limbs to the wind.
Let us revel in joy at his death,
Let us savor the taste of revenge.
Come, let us decimate his friends and family,
Let us bring his filth to an end.
Come, let us dance on the grave of our enemy,
Let us banish him into the night,
Come, let us dance on the bones of our enemy,
And rejoice in our own power and might.
October 20, 2011
Let us scatter his limbs to the wind.
Let us revel in joy at his death,
Let us savor the taste of revenge.
Come, let us decimate his friends and family,
Let us bring his filth to an end.
Come, let us dance on the grave of our enemy,
Let us banish him into the night,
Come, let us dance on the bones of our enemy,
And rejoice in our own power and might.
October 20, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The People are Not Happy
It did not start on Wall Street, or in Madison, Wisconsin, in Libya, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Syria, Chile or London. It did not start with the Tea Party protests. It did not even start with the massive crowds Barack Obama attracted in the United States and around the world when he campaigned for the U. S. presidency on a platform of "change you can believe in."
For years the G-8 summits have been picketed and protested by large, committed groups of opponents to the Plutocracy that decides the economic fate of the globe.
When the U. S. declared war on Iraq, millions of protesters demonstrated in cities across the globe, including the U. S. itself. Of course the mainstream media downplayed or ignored them, so perhaps they did not really happen at all? I guess THEY were not part of the "coalition of the willing."
What is significant is that the unrest is increasing; the momentum is growing; the demonstrations are now stretching from India to Greece, from Chile to London, from New York City to Portland, Oregon.
Throughout history the rich and powerful have oppressed the poor and weak. And throughout history, when the pendulum swung too far in favor of the rich and powerful and the "small people" were ground down to the point where they had nothing left to lose, societies lost their glue and revolutions occurred.
Intelligent billionaires like Warren Buffet see the danger and attempt to avert it. But the mindless nature of most corporate empires precludes such perception. Our society has reached the tipping point. I do not believe we have yet crossed the point of no return. But the gathering storm no longer can be denied.
Barach Obama was elected because he offered the "hope" of "change." That change has eluded us. The man who received the Nobel Peace Prize and went on to wage ever greater wars, is not, perhaps, the vessel of change we thought we elected. His administration has coddled the financial industry that mindlessly dropped us into economic disaster, insisted government must pick up the tab, and then, by successfully resisting all attempts of that same government to reform it, ended up more powerful than the governments (read Great Britain, Germany and France (i.e. the European Union) and the United States) that rescued it from disintegration in the vain hope that action would also rescue their economies (read FAIL to that!).
Make no mistake. The Old Regime will not "go quietly into that good night." It will adopt the measures of Syria and Libya. It will use the same subterfuge the Egyptian military did to foil the true advocates of change by sacrificing its figurehead. Non violent demonstrators will be corralled, beaten, maced and tear gassed. Predator drones, already used on innocent bystanders in foreign countries, will be deployed on native soil. Homeland Security will track down dangerously adept leaders and their naive supporters alike.
The best case scenario would be a pragmatic awakening in Washington. A coming together to solve our terribly urgent problems. Our leaders might already be too deeply in thrall to their corporate overlords to attempt this.
The creation of a viable third party might avert the inevitable meltdown of our democracy. But far too many roadblocks already are in place to make this outcome at all likely.
Tough times a coming.
For years the G-8 summits have been picketed and protested by large, committed groups of opponents to the Plutocracy that decides the economic fate of the globe.
When the U. S. declared war on Iraq, millions of protesters demonstrated in cities across the globe, including the U. S. itself. Of course the mainstream media downplayed or ignored them, so perhaps they did not really happen at all? I guess THEY were not part of the "coalition of the willing."
What is significant is that the unrest is increasing; the momentum is growing; the demonstrations are now stretching from India to Greece, from Chile to London, from New York City to Portland, Oregon.
Throughout history the rich and powerful have oppressed the poor and weak. And throughout history, when the pendulum swung too far in favor of the rich and powerful and the "small people" were ground down to the point where they had nothing left to lose, societies lost their glue and revolutions occurred.
Intelligent billionaires like Warren Buffet see the danger and attempt to avert it. But the mindless nature of most corporate empires precludes such perception. Our society has reached the tipping point. I do not believe we have yet crossed the point of no return. But the gathering storm no longer can be denied.
Barach Obama was elected because he offered the "hope" of "change." That change has eluded us. The man who received the Nobel Peace Prize and went on to wage ever greater wars, is not, perhaps, the vessel of change we thought we elected. His administration has coddled the financial industry that mindlessly dropped us into economic disaster, insisted government must pick up the tab, and then, by successfully resisting all attempts of that same government to reform it, ended up more powerful than the governments (read Great Britain, Germany and France (i.e. the European Union) and the United States) that rescued it from disintegration in the vain hope that action would also rescue their economies (read FAIL to that!).
Make no mistake. The Old Regime will not "go quietly into that good night." It will adopt the measures of Syria and Libya. It will use the same subterfuge the Egyptian military did to foil the true advocates of change by sacrificing its figurehead. Non violent demonstrators will be corralled, beaten, maced and tear gassed. Predator drones, already used on innocent bystanders in foreign countries, will be deployed on native soil. Homeland Security will track down dangerously adept leaders and their naive supporters alike.
The best case scenario would be a pragmatic awakening in Washington. A coming together to solve our terribly urgent problems. Our leaders might already be too deeply in thrall to their corporate overlords to attempt this.
The creation of a viable third party might avert the inevitable meltdown of our democracy. But far too many roadblocks already are in place to make this outcome at all likely.
Tough times a coming.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Greek Austerity = Disaster
A bottomless pit is threatening the entire European Union and most particularly its wealthiest, most successful member, Germany.
Every time the European Union comes to the "rescue" of Greece, the situation worsens. The imposed austerity measures are destroying the Greek economy. With each passing month, tax revenues decline - way beyond predictions. As the economy staggers, so do revenues. At the same time interest rates on Greece's debt continue to escalate. Greece is stuck between a rock and a hard place: revenues to pay that interest are battered by the austerity measures required to secure the debt.
The resulting demand for the European Union (read France and Germany) to cover the spread is beginning the threaten the two strong economies in the union.
The prescription written to solve the crisis is the problem. It is treating the wrong disease! The time has come for the institutions that hold the debt and charge the ever increasing interest rates to actually experience the risk implied by those rates and take a haircut. In fact, all governments need to insist that devaluation of the debt is a prerequisite of any rescue package from here on out.
Ireland had a BUDGET SURPLUS before their banks failed and the EU pressured the country into rescuing the financial institutions. The result? Ireland's national debt spiraled out of control and the country's economy crashed and burned. A similar situation is occurring in Greece and threatens to spread to Spain, Portugal and Italy. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the European Union can rescue all these economies. The almost inevitable result is the imploding of the European Union, the Euro and disaster to the still-viable economies of France and Germany.
The time has come (actually it came 3 years ago) to herd rogue financial institutions into Chapter 11, restructure their balance sheets, write off their "toxic assets," break them up and reissue their stock. The debt would be written down, not increased, as solid assets are separated from the drecht and the drecht is valued at pennies on the dollar. Too big to fail must be sent into the history of failed economic initiatives. Control, supervision and separation of the speculative from the custodial roles of financial institutions reconstituted.
The alternative? A total, catastrophic meltdown of the global financial structure.
Every time the European Union comes to the "rescue" of Greece, the situation worsens. The imposed austerity measures are destroying the Greek economy. With each passing month, tax revenues decline - way beyond predictions. As the economy staggers, so do revenues. At the same time interest rates on Greece's debt continue to escalate. Greece is stuck between a rock and a hard place: revenues to pay that interest are battered by the austerity measures required to secure the debt.
The resulting demand for the European Union (read France and Germany) to cover the spread is beginning the threaten the two strong economies in the union.
The prescription written to solve the crisis is the problem. It is treating the wrong disease! The time has come for the institutions that hold the debt and charge the ever increasing interest rates to actually experience the risk implied by those rates and take a haircut. In fact, all governments need to insist that devaluation of the debt is a prerequisite of any rescue package from here on out.
Ireland had a BUDGET SURPLUS before their banks failed and the EU pressured the country into rescuing the financial institutions. The result? Ireland's national debt spiraled out of control and the country's economy crashed and burned. A similar situation is occurring in Greece and threatens to spread to Spain, Portugal and Italy. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the European Union can rescue all these economies. The almost inevitable result is the imploding of the European Union, the Euro and disaster to the still-viable economies of France and Germany.
The time has come (actually it came 3 years ago) to herd rogue financial institutions into Chapter 11, restructure their balance sheets, write off their "toxic assets," break them up and reissue their stock. The debt would be written down, not increased, as solid assets are separated from the drecht and the drecht is valued at pennies on the dollar. Too big to fail must be sent into the history of failed economic initiatives. Control, supervision and separation of the speculative from the custodial roles of financial institutions reconstituted.
The alternative? A total, catastrophic meltdown of the global financial structure.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
700 Demonstrators Arrested in New York City
Occupy Wall Street is entering its third week. Its numbers continue to increase. Yesterday over 700 demonstrators were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. Despite mainstream media's best efforts, this story is getting hard to ignore.
Spin off demonstrations have cropped up in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque. What the hell is this about, you ask?
It's about bailing out the banks with public money while social programs get slashed. It's about a financial industry that learned after 2008 it really could get away with anything, take any risk and the U. S. Government would step in (with public money) when it started to crash and burn. Financial institutions get the goldmine, the 99 percent get the shaft.
It's about young people graduating from college with mountains of debt who cannot find jobs.
It's about people who have just about had enough of the inequity, the unfairness, the injustice of a system that has lost its way.
Ah well, tomorrow the media plan minute-to-minute coverage of the Amanda Knox case in Italy and the trial of Michael Jackson's lawyer and the dampers once again will be in place.
If it's not on the nightly news, it's not happening, right?
Then again, 700 arrests in one afternoon on the Brooklyn Bridge is kind of hard to ignore.
Spin off demonstrations have cropped up in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque. What the hell is this about, you ask?
It's about bailing out the banks with public money while social programs get slashed. It's about a financial industry that learned after 2008 it really could get away with anything, take any risk and the U. S. Government would step in (with public money) when it started to crash and burn. Financial institutions get the goldmine, the 99 percent get the shaft.
It's about young people graduating from college with mountains of debt who cannot find jobs.
It's about people who have just about had enough of the inequity, the unfairness, the injustice of a system that has lost its way.
Ah well, tomorrow the media plan minute-to-minute coverage of the Amanda Knox case in Italy and the trial of Michael Jackson's lawyer and the dampers once again will be in place.
If it's not on the nightly news, it's not happening, right?
Then again, 700 arrests in one afternoon on the Brooklyn Bridge is kind of hard to ignore.
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