Financial topics

[SovietofWashington]

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Obamacare - Obama Administration: 30% plus of Obamcare Software not yet Written

In my experience the last 30% of the software takes 90% of the time.

Bruce Webster says that the first 90% of a software project takes 90% of the schedule.
The remaining 10% takes the other 90% of the schedule.

http://andstillipersist.com/2013/11/oba ... -solution/

[Reality Check]

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Obamacare - Now it is All About Saving Obamacare - Not Helping the American People

More American people - or less - being able to afford to go to the hospital when sick is no longer important.

The Media is now exclusively focused on what is really Important:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/a ... 33,00.html

[at99sy]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrenn ... f-of-2013/
Article talks of the health of the housing market in the 2nd half of 2013-
"Economists do believe home prices will continue to climb throughout the rest of this year. CoreLogic CLGX -0.17% projects 2013 will end with a 6% increase over 2012. And Altos Research, a Mountain View, Calif.-based firm that tracks real estate data in real time, believes 2013’s final tally will be even higher. "

but...
"“Inventory started to expand very slowly maybe about four months ago,” echoes Kolko. “We will see that continue as rising prices help owners get back above water and help other sellers decide to take advantage of price appreciation.”

Still, some experts, like Simonsen, believe we could see housing shortages in the most sought after locales as far out as the next three years."

and then there is this.

My wife was just hired to work for a local company that specializes in foreclosures. Her new department handles inspections of new repo's to determine if they are occupied, and evict if they are, then set up contractors to make repairs or simply to close them up and winterize then. This company operates nationwide and employs over 600 sub contractors for this type of work. They are expecting to expand by 100% and add 600 more contractors in the next few months and are hiring 60 people in the local office to handle the expected inventories.

a) they must be aware of some massive influx of properties on the national level that will be moving into final foreclosure.

b) these are long term permanent positions that they are creating

c) the other three major companies that provide this service are doing the same thing.

d) crash and burn?

cheers

sy

[Reality Check]

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Democrats launch surprise nuclear attack in bid for one party rule

Democrats, have, in a surprise attack on how the U.S. government works and on how the U.S. constitution works, moved to stack the judicial branch and stack the executive branch with Obama nominees that only need approval by Democrats in the Senate.

Given that the Executive Branch has taken on itself the power to re-write laws without constitutional authority to do so this will allow the Democrats to rule the country from the executive branch, with Democratic judges available to block any court challenges to Democratic rule by executive order .

Democrats launched the so-called nuclear attack without warning and without negotiation.

This is called the "Nuclear Option" for two reasons:

1 First if carried out, as it has been now, it allows 51 Democratic Senators to change the rules of the Senate to do whatever they want, on a moments whim. Today they used that whim to end the Filibuster for executive branch nominations forever, but an hour from now the same 51 Democrats could eliminate the filibuster for all other purposes as well. Simple majority law making can now be in effect in the Senate anytime 51 Democratic Senators wants it to be. The U.S. government has required a super majority in the U.S. Senate to do most things - no longer 51 Democrats can now decide to pass any law they want, approve any federal judge they want.

2. It was also called the Nuclear option because it was always used as a threat and a negotiating tool before, a weapon so dangerous that it would threaten both political parties power if ever used. The fact the Democrats launched a no warning, all out attack with nuclear weapons, indicates they never intend to be out of power again.

The alternative to using nuclear weapons has always been to negotiate, most of what the majority wants just by threatening to the use "The Nuclear Option". In this instance no negotiations were even attempted - it was just a surprise nuclear attack without warning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... print.html

[Reality Check]

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Obamacare - Involuntarily forcing people on Welfare - Enrollment in Welfare Medicaid is Automatic

Please note - there is a minimum annual income for subsidies - below that minimum - buying insurance on the Obamacare exchanges with a subsidy NOT an option. Too poor for a subsidy. That is true in all 50 states.

In some states enrollment in Welfare based Medicaid is also mandatory and automatic if you go on the state Obamacare exchange.

In these states, as in all 50 states, Obamacare will deny you a subsidy, but also in these states, BECAUSE YOUR INCOME IS TOO LOW for a subsidy, the Obamacare website will force you to enroll in Welfare and Medicaid.

Case in point:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 4152219590

[Reality Check]

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Obamacare Myth Exposed: Older People will get a Better Deal Under Obamacare - Because of Subsidy by Young

It has become a Cornerstone of Conventional Wisdom regarding Obamacare.

An Urban legend, if you will: Older people will pay less because the young will subsidize them in Obamacare.

But, the question that is never ask, nor answered, is less compared to what ?

Obamacare allows insurance companies to charge substantially more ( 200% more? ) to older people than younger people, and the Obamacare policies do charge more. Right up to the limit.

Compared to historic Employer plans where most middle class people get their health insurance how does the "limited additional charge" for older people for monthly insurance premiums by older people under Obamacare compare?

Employer plans are designed by the individual people who run private companies who employ people. These people who run the company tend to be older than the average employee, so the plan is normally designed so all the employee contributions to the plan are the same, regardless of age. Since the average age of all employees in a company tends to be much closer to the youngest employees age, than the oldest employee age, the older employees, under traditional employer based plans, get a heck of a deal on their monthly premiums.

Thus the shock:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/o ... 00226.html

[Higgenbotham]

http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue64/Keen64.pdf

A bubble so big we can’t even see it
Steve Keen [Australia]

Figure 2 illustrates this by showing the ratio of the S&P500 to the CPI—starting from 1890 when the ratio is set to 1.

Nonetheless there is one in the US data, and it’s a doozy: the correlation between the level of margin debt and the level of the Dow Jones is 0.945.

[gerald]

Sarcasm Warning ------------

Sarcasm to follow -------------

Maybe we are looking at Obamacare the wrong way, maybe we should try looking at it kinda like Jonathan Swift's 1729 " A Modest Proposal" approach for solving the problem of the poor. http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

The general problem appears to be the total cost and need for health care.

hmmmmmm

Besides the ongoing mess created by "peak government" there are simply too many doctors and hospitals, after all, they are really only involved in "human maintenance" and are expensive. If one approaches maintenance properly, these costs can be substantially reduced. And by reducing their numbers, people and assets can be transferred to "productive activity"

For example,

Babies born with defects should be left to die, after all they require more medical and other support as well as ruin the lives of it's parents. The mother can always pop out another one, hoping she gets it right the next time. This would also have as a side benefit the improvement of the general population's genetics, which is currently over burdened with the "deficient".

The old and infirm should be left to die as well. For if these adults are not "productive" or self sufficient and require support to exist,-- medical, food, housing etc. why support them ? they are an economic drain. Also if they haven't done the things they wanted to do, they won't now. Besides most don't want to be infirm, and many don't even know they are alive , so do them a favor, let them die. Then all of the support staff and related investment can be put to "productive " use, instead of being wasted.

Why are there so many "sick" people? Why, because of life style and diet. Make the individual personally responsible. That will eliminate things like dietary diseases that require all kinds of drugs and medical help. Take a look at the large typical supermarket, most of the "food" is in some form of packaging and is processed requiring energy and resources, and is generally unhealthy.

By making the individual responsible for his or her diet will reduce medical costs as well as energy and resource consumption. If they have a bad diet and require medical help - they pay, if they can't, let them die. As as side benefit we will eliminate the need for and the wasted resources for the production of "lard mobiles" ( the ubiquitous battery powered riding carts for shoppers ) and handy capped parking spaces ( we are all equal, right?)

Also, individual responsibility will reduce other costs caused by life style decisions, such as sexually transmitted diseases and sports injuries, you take a risk, you pay, can't, too bad.

By following this approach we will have a healthier, more moral, productive, and energy and resource efficient society.

AND we will save the Polar Bears! and THE WORLD!

Sarcasm off

[gerald]

A reminder ----
Nature and reality can be quick and are indifferent
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-2 ... -unleashed

[gerald]

Guest Post: Sheeple: Why You Should Feel Sorry For Them
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-2 ... sorry-them

A partial quote from the above --

"I cannot imagine a torture more vicious and terrifying than to realize in the face of one’s final days that one wasted his entire life trying to please the plethora of idiots around him, instead of educating them and himself and molding tomorrow for the better. I cannot imagine a punishment more severe than to spend the majority of one’s years as a slave without even knowing it. I cannot imagine an existence more deserving of pity and remorse than that of the sheeple."

my observation ---

The above quote is a fairly good partial description of the human condition as described in "The Alien Interview" http://www.alieninterview.org/