Financial topics

[aedens]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-1 ... e3-and-qe2 Source: H.8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... d&sr=&qid= Eye is the window to the soul

The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order (Council on Foreign Relations Books (Princeton)
Shipping Carrier: DHL Global Mail Ship Date: November 4, 2013 Shipping Speed: Standard

http://winteractionables.com/?p=7169

[Higgenbotham]

Decided its time to try short ES this morning. As the Euro crashed in one minute (how's that for liquidity) 120 points, and continues lower, now down 200, the ES futures ramped to barely make a new high.

Trying here at 1768. 50% short but haven't been 100% short since the 1500s and will add on later if this starts to work.

[Reality Check]

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Obamacare gives away free samples to get people hooked on government dictated healthcare ----------------------------- That is the "brilliance" of Obamacare law

Obamacare is designed to give away free samples in the first few years to get enough people hooked on the concept, to insure political support of Obamacare health care delivery structure even if the "free samples" are reduced or cut back to near zero in the future.

The largest free samples were the expansion of Welfare Medicaid and the "massive hidden federal government subsidies" going directly to the insurance companies on a policy by policy sold basis, for the hidden benefit of some, but not others, of those buying insurance under the new Obamacare regulations.

Welfare Medicaid expansion is being rolled out nicely in the Blue States the Democrats are dependent on, the numbers of people predicted are not there yet, but they are coming along nicely. When you are giving away a product that is entirely free, forcing people by federal law to take it ( or pay real money to buy something else), and sending out cancellation notices that force people to make a change, the numbers are going to come.

The delivery of the hidden subsidies is not going so well, because the delivery system, the Obamacare Insurance Market Exchange websites in the 36 states being served by the U.S. Government designed and programmed Obamacare Exchange Website are not fully working, and not providing the illusion they were designed to provide.

These websites were suppose to hide the true cost of the insurance they were delivering and make it appear they were delivering insurance at a much lower price than the private market. The deception in this was that the exchanges were designed to "re-sell" the exact same private insurance policy as the private market was selling, but it was suppose to appear to the shopper that the government run exchange could deliver it for a much lower price ( on average ). In fact it was designed to allow the media and politicians to imply that the Obamacare policies were "different policies" that were being delivered for a much lower "average price" than the comparable private policies were.

The main "business" purpose of the Obamacare websites ( a different website for each state ) was to "link up" premium price subsidies being paid by the federal government directly to the private insurance companies, ( the hidden links were between shopper & the policy they were considering and the private insurance company that was actually selling it), without the shopper realizing what the true cost of the insurance policy was.

Even though the annual deductibles and co-pays were going up, that would be reported by the Media and perceived by the shoppers as the insurance companies fault - since this was happening for both the "private insurance" market and on the Obamacare market, but the Media would pound home the fact that the average policy premium prices were much lower on the Government Exchanges than in the private market. The other costs ( annual deductibles, hospital co-pays, doctor co-pays ) would be exactly the same because the government would be "re-selling" exactly the same policies as the Private Insurance Companies.

President Obama, must at all costs, find a way to deliver those federal government subsidies to the Private Insurance Companies and to make it appear to the purchaser of these policies that the price of these policies is lower than it actually is.

President Obama and the Obama administration is indeed implementing a plan B to sell the "Obamacare policies" directly from the Insurance Companies with the subsidy already built into the prices, as noted here:

http://gdxforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... start=9615

[Reality Check]

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President Obama implementing Obamacare Plan B - for November 30th, 2013

This is not speculation, it is what the Obama Administration was releasing to friendly newspapers over the weekend.

This will be announced as an alternative way for people to sign up WITH SUBSIDIZED MONTHLY PREMIUMS, and allow everyone two weeks, to beat the drop dead deadline for ordering an insurance policy - IF YOU DO NOT SIGN UP IN NEXT TWO WEEKS - YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY INSURANCE ON JANUARY 1st. This will be announced at the same time it is announced the Obamacare Exchange Website is still having problems, but it is getting better all the time - and by the way - the Obamacare website has been up and running the whole time - and people have signed up through it.

President Obama, and the Private Insurance Companies want to keep the pressure on and keep pushing two facts:

1. Federal law requires you to have Health Insurance by January 1st, 2014 - it is each taxpayers responsibility to buy it for him and his family. It is the law. Period.

2. If you do not order in next two weeks ( between November 30th and December 15th ) you will not have insurance on January 1st, as you are required to have by federal law which is now the law of the land.

http://gdxforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... start=9615

[Reality Check]

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President Obama and Insurance Companies Driven by Fear of Healthy People

The possibility of using ( private insurance company websites and private insurance company telephone operators of private ) health plans to directly sign up large numbers of ( millions - 4.2 million and counting - of uninsured due to policy cancellations, plus a previously projected 7 million of the 60 uninsured individuals before cancellations hit, totaling a projected 11.2 million ) uninsured Americans ( to sign up before January 1st, 2014 ) is a strategy by the administration and the insurance industry to try to deflect growing pressure from Capitol Hill. Even some Democratic lawmakers want to give people more time to buy coverage. And Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) introduced legislation late last week that would eliminate the tax penalty for next year, imposing a higher fine in 2015.


Such delays are anathema to the ( private health ) insurance industry, whose leaders have warned ( without the Federal Government forcing Healthy People to Buy Obamacare policies ) that companies would end up with mainly sicker people signing up early on. ( These same private insurance companies have recently canceled millions of relatively healthy U.S. citizens, relying on the promise of President Obama that the government would force these people to sign back up for Obamacare compliant policies for which Private Insurance Policies will receive much higher Monthly Premiums - when both the federal government premium subsidies and the amount paid by the policy holder are added together).

Although potentially enabling more people to buy health plans promptly, ( President Obama fears ) a greater reliance on the industry to sign up new customers could have other ripple effects, such as prompting ads that might run counter to the ( President Obama ) administration’s messaging.

Excellent long ( 3 page ) Article on Plan B and the Fears that are driving it and also the fears, making it difficult to implement:

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

[Reality Check]

Obamacare Exchange Website Functionality Failures Graphic
------- Complex - yet greatly Oversimplified as well
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... aphic.html

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Please note the final problem shown in the graphic, problem eight ( 8 ), refers to the Obama administration reporting number of "applications", yet no where in the graphic is there a step called applying. The administration appears to have made up the term "application" so that it is impossible to tell if they are talking about the registration step ( putting in all the personal data that would be useful to an identity thief ) , which is required prior to both price browsing and and prior to enrolling, or some other step, such as creating a log in account ( which is required prior to the registration step).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... aphic.html
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[Reality Check]

Obama Administration has elected to report fraudulent Enrollment Numbers
------------------ regarding enrollments through the Obamacare Exchange website

The ( Internal Obama Administration ) fight over how to define the new health law’s success is coming down to one question: Who counts as an Obamacare enrollee?

( Private Health Insurance Companies ) Health insurance plans only count subscribers as enrolled in a health plan once they’ve submited a payment.

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When the Obama administration releases health law enrollment figures later this week, ... It will count people who have a plan sitting in their online shopping cart but have not yet paid ( the same as those people who have actually made the final decision and ) purchased a plan ...
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“In the ( enrollment numbers ) data that will be released this week, ‘enrollment’ will measure people who have filled out an application ( given all there personal data to the website which is required before pricing information can be obtained ) and selected a qualified health plan in the marketplace ( placed the health insurance plan they are considering into their shopping cart - but which they may, or may not, have actually made the final decision to enroll in that insurance plan - which would have required them to click the button that says 'buy now' or 'send me an invoice') ,” said an (Obama)administration official, who requested anonymity to frankly describe the methodology.

( The U.S. Federal Government will report to the media, people who just dropped an insurance policy in their online shopping cart and never paid, and also those who just requested to be put in contact with a private insurance company but never paid, in the "enrolled number" the U.S. Federal Government reports to the media, even though those who have not paid are not legally enrolled in an insurance policy and have no insurance to pay their doctor bills and hospital bills should they become sick. )

..,the city’s ( Washington DC ) exchange, DC Health Link, estimates that 321 people in the District have dropped a specific health insurance plan into their shopping cart( but not all of those actually finalized the decision by requesting an invoice to be paid at a later date). Of those ( of those 321, only ), 164 ( have actually decided and they ) have requested an invoice for their first month’s premium from the insurance carrier.

(By contrast - Washington D.C. had previously reported to the media that 300 people had actually Enrolled in insurance through the Washington DC Obamacare Website - when less than 20 had actually enrolled - and only 164 had even requested an invoice.)

“We recognize that most people do not have the luxury of paying for coverage in October, months before a bill is due,” exchange spokesman Richard Sorian said Friday. “I hope that all consumers ( those 164 ) here in the District remember that they have until Dec. 15 to finalize their selection by paying their first month’s premium in order to have coverage on Jan. 1, 2014.”

( Washington D.C. will report to doctors and hospitals that someone is enrolled ONLY if they have actually paid for their insurance, but, and it is a big BUT, Washington D.C. will report to the media, people who just dropped an insurance policy in their online shopping cart and never paid, and also those who just have requested an invoice and never paid, in the "different enrolled number" the city reports to the media, even though those who have not paid actually have no insurance. )

States that have so far released enrollment data also tend to use this wider definition. The 14 states running their own insurance marketplaces have reported 49,000 enrollments in private health insurance plans, according to an analysis released Monday by consulting firm Avalere Health. They have also enrolled many thousands more into the (Welfare) Medicaid program, which the health-care law expanded. ( How each state actually reports varies from state to state - Hawaii and Rhode Island, for example, lump their medicaid enrollments in with their private insurance purchase and do not provide a break out. Some states may not use the federal method - shopping cart method - of counting enrollments - it is the individual states choice )

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... n/?print=1
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[Reality Check]

Private Insurance Based Enrollment through OBAMACARE Exchanges
----- 14 States total - October 1st through November 8th - from state created Omamacare exchanges

----- Maybe Shopping Cart Method of counting - Maybe another Method of Counting - Varies by state
----- Hawaii and Rhode Island Numbers include their Welfare Medicaid enrollments in these numbers
----- U.S. Federal Government is running exchanges for other 36 states
----- and the U.S. Federal Government has refused to provide any October data before 11/15/2013




http://avalerehealth.net/news/avalere-a ... ected-enro

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... -disaster/

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 0709762378

[FredrickLucas]

Here's the way I look at it personally. A lot of people have said, OK, I'm off the grid, I have my solar panels, blah blah blah. In my mind, that is complete bullshit. What I think in terms of is what is the absolute bare minimum that is needed to survive 2-5 years until the weaklings or the unfortunate in the population die off and things hit bottom. So as far as utilities go, for example, you ideally want to have a clean water source, preferably with a hand pump. You perhaps want to have an outhouse, a root cellar, etc. - the absolute bare minimum as far as maintenance and inputs. If you're in a cold area, get one of those North Face mummy sleeping bags, some thermal underwear and wool socks and go out into your back yard some night when it's zero degrees and get used to sleeping in it before the collapse comes, etc.

Once things hit bottom and begin to get reorganized, there will be a lot of choices, especially for the Milleniels. There will be a substantially hardier, smarter and more competent population left over than the one that exists on average today.

Nice suggestions..I have been using solar panels and solar heaters to decrease down electricity bill and gain enough electricity and heated water

[Higgenbotham]

Here's the way I look at it personally. A lot of people have said, OK, I'm off the grid, I have my solar panels, blah blah blah. In my mind, that is complete bullshit. What I think in terms of is what is the absolute bare minimum that is needed to survive 2-5 years until the weaklings or the unfortunate in the population die off and things hit bottom. So as far as utilities go, for example, you ideally want to have a clean water source, preferably with a hand pump. You perhaps want to have an outhouse, a root cellar, etc. - the absolute bare minimum as far as maintenance and inputs. If you're in a cold area, get one of those North Face mummy sleeping bags, some thermal underwear and wool socks and go out into your back yard some night when it's zero degrees and get used to sleeping in it before the collapse comes, etc.

Once things hit bottom and begin to get reorganized, there will be a lot of choices, especially for the Milleniels. There will be a substantially hardier, smarter and more competent population left over than the one that exists on average today.

Nice suggestions..I have been using solar panels and solar heaters to decrease down electricity bill and gain enough electricity and heated water

We were discussing how to prepare in the event that all your electronics get fried in an EMP attack or a solar flare.