Everyday I hear about the healthcare argument, on Obama care will save us, or well socialied medicine fails, look at Europe.
Obama care has some major fundamental flaws, first of all it merely forces you to buy insurance or face a fine or penalty, so if you are someone who has been responsible with your money, set it aside for such an emergency you are now forced to purchase Insurance.
If you are poor, and this part is still a bit confusing, but apparently you are still covered, if you are rich it will not matter because you can afford to lose a bit more money anyhow.
It does one thing good that I can see, and that is simply to make it manditory for insurance companies to cover pre existing conditions.
It falls on its face again when it does not put a cap on Tarp reform.
So medical bills will continue to sky rocket, and your cheap insurance, will go crazy soon as those companies are of course going to want to pay for those patients they did not want to cover to begin with.
Now on the other end of the fence you have the anti socialized medicine argument, and mind you it ha its points, but it falls short right off the bat as the Obama policy is not a socialized policy with any real resemblance to socialized plans in the rest of the world, so with that in mind, is it even really necessary to talk about it further?
To me only as much as need be, we all benefit from some social programs, clean water, education, roads and of course law enforcement. When you have an educated society your bottom dollar expands, you have people who have the ability to make more money, if they can make more money they will spend more.
If you have accesss to clean water those people have a greater basic chance of staying healthy.
If you provide roads and a means to travel you have now allowed people an easier way to make money as well as spend said money.
If you have Law enforcment you can arguably keep those people safe, so we all benefit from it.
So would we all benefit from Socialized Medicine, as a modern civilized super power we can merely look at other countries with it and see what works and what does not, take from the best and throw away the bad.
You actually cover people for every single ailment and do not cry about it.
After all, money seems to be no object when we want to level a country, why the hell should it be when we want to take care of a country?
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The confusion of working with todays Government
Once upon a time an Immigrant could come to America, sign their name, or someone elses, or have someone else sign their name for them upon entry. Now that requires weeks of paperwork, interviews, blood tests and in the case of some countries, months of paperwork along with multiple filings.
After you have completed all your filings should you mess up on your paperwork it starts all over.
This is Insanity, that is like having a pro football player go back to playing flag football after a play not going right in his last game.
Oh but it continues, now lately I have been working on renewing my Federal Contracts, which requires the yearly renewal on multiple sites which consist of little more than reviewing your data and hitting the submit button.
To make matters worse contact numbers are almost non existent on today's internet so you are left clicking on link after link trying desperately to find what you need. Once you do find a number you can promise the person on the other side who is highly trained in deception and not really trained in how to help you will merely tell you their agency has nothing to do with the other agency you are trying to contact.
Wait what agency am I trying to contact again? on the bottom of the page it says if I update my information on another site is linked to this site but not updated on this site unless I hit the submit button.
I cannot hit the submit button because this site will not accept my password, "sir we have nothing to do with that site"
Really? That is amazing cause of the bottom of the site it says your name.
"what site is that?"
Yes, if you are confused at this point so am I, how the hell can you have a help desk to a web site and they have to actually ask you which site that is? Furthermore how can you have a help desk tell you they do not know of the website you are trying to enter, which on the website they claim to represent ha a link directly to said mystery website.
Now should you finally somehow magically get logged on and have updated your profile you may click submit, and then you are hit with a prompt "are you sure you wish to hit submit" so you hit submit again, and taken to another screen asking you to verify that you previously verified everything. Often there is another page with more verifications of your previous verifications.
Now after all is said and done you can rest assured that somehow all the hours you have spent completing a simple profile for your company will still be messed up.
You can rest assured that when you await payment for your contract, it turns out the new bank account number you submitted online has to be phoned in to the unknown agency, of which nobody knows does exist but you are sure does as well, if you do not fill out the unkown agencies data you are unable to have completed your contract.
Sigh, and you really think another election is going to change all this?
After you have completed all your filings should you mess up on your paperwork it starts all over.
This is Insanity, that is like having a pro football player go back to playing flag football after a play not going right in his last game.
Oh but it continues, now lately I have been working on renewing my Federal Contracts, which requires the yearly renewal on multiple sites which consist of little more than reviewing your data and hitting the submit button.
To make matters worse contact numbers are almost non existent on today's internet so you are left clicking on link after link trying desperately to find what you need. Once you do find a number you can promise the person on the other side who is highly trained in deception and not really trained in how to help you will merely tell you their agency has nothing to do with the other agency you are trying to contact.
Wait what agency am I trying to contact again? on the bottom of the page it says if I update my information on another site is linked to this site but not updated on this site unless I hit the submit button.
I cannot hit the submit button because this site will not accept my password, "sir we have nothing to do with that site"
Really? That is amazing cause of the bottom of the site it says your name.
"what site is that?"
Yes, if you are confused at this point so am I, how the hell can you have a help desk to a web site and they have to actually ask you which site that is? Furthermore how can you have a help desk tell you they do not know of the website you are trying to enter, which on the website they claim to represent ha a link directly to said mystery website.
Now should you finally somehow magically get logged on and have updated your profile you may click submit, and then you are hit with a prompt "are you sure you wish to hit submit" so you hit submit again, and taken to another screen asking you to verify that you previously verified everything. Often there is another page with more verifications of your previous verifications.
Now after all is said and done you can rest assured that somehow all the hours you have spent completing a simple profile for your company will still be messed up.
You can rest assured that when you await payment for your contract, it turns out the new bank account number you submitted online has to be phoned in to the unknown agency, of which nobody knows does exist but you are sure does as well, if you do not fill out the unkown agencies data you are unable to have completed your contract.
Sigh, and you really think another election is going to change all this?
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Dreaded phone call
Phone rings this morning and Im laying in bed, not sleeping, but a little stiff from last nights ride.
I answer and hear an old friend who is about as Anti Peddling as you can get
"I got a Mtn bike"
I cough a couple times, tweek my jaw to pop my ears "say what"
"Yea, I got a Mtn bike"
I look around the room making sure IM awake, the mind is still a little muddled after last nights zombie dreams, maybe someone slipped some acid into my drinking water, things just are not right today. "Your shitting me, what did you get" I figured at the very least I could play the game a bit. I am a bit hopeful as he lives at the bottom of the continental divide trail system and Ive been trying to talk him into it for some time now.
"I got one of those there Mongoose from walmart"
I pause, my visions of riding the CDT trail with him vanish and are instantly replaced by flashing cherries on the top of an ambulance hauling him away after his handlebars stripped. "take it back" I reply
he ignores me "Yea the guy I work with has a mountain bike too, anyhow he said to make sure I get one with disk brakes, those are the best right?"
Oh yea, IM still in my zombie dream obviously "uhm for the type of rides you will be doing with that bike it wont make a difference as you cannot seriously downhill on that thing anyhow, take it back and go to the LBS and pick yourself up a real bike for 400 dollars or less that will last you and not break your neck"
"I spent two hundred dollars" he replies "Im not gonna spend another 200"
Me " I have peddles that were 110 dollars......."
"YOU PAID ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS OR PEDALS!!"
Ok trying to think thru this "yes but I hvae cheaper ones which were 45"
"FOURTY FIVE DOLLARS ON A CHEAP ****ING PEDAL"
So Im thinking at this point I dont have to worry about him having a heartattack while riding, he's already in stroke mode, and I try to steer him back to the bike "Look if you at least go test ride one at the LBS they will fit you to one, and you will be able to tell the difference even peddling around the parking lot, not to mention it will actually shift"
So anyhow the conversation continues from there on how crazy I am and how he will never get into it like I am, and that may be true, but he certainly IMO deserves a good bike to ride those kick ass trails next to his house by at least Eliminating the breaking factor.
Sigh, wut to do, I guess I know what he's thinking, I was the same way when I bought my wallyworld bike thinking that would be all I ever needed, so I added "You know I said the same thing with my walparts bike, but once I got a good one it took me to places I never dreamed of and the weight fell off"
That settled that conversation at least for now, hopefully I can convert him to a quality one, god knows he makes enough to afford it.
I now now what my friends who were already serious in MTN biking went through, and hell, probably still are :D
I answer and hear an old friend who is about as Anti Peddling as you can get
"I got a Mtn bike"
I cough a couple times, tweek my jaw to pop my ears "say what"
"Yea, I got a Mtn bike"
I look around the room making sure IM awake, the mind is still a little muddled after last nights zombie dreams, maybe someone slipped some acid into my drinking water, things just are not right today. "Your shitting me, what did you get" I figured at the very least I could play the game a bit. I am a bit hopeful as he lives at the bottom of the continental divide trail system and Ive been trying to talk him into it for some time now.
"I got one of those there Mongoose from walmart"
I pause, my visions of riding the CDT trail with him vanish and are instantly replaced by flashing cherries on the top of an ambulance hauling him away after his handlebars stripped. "take it back" I reply
he ignores me "Yea the guy I work with has a mountain bike too, anyhow he said to make sure I get one with disk brakes, those are the best right?"
Oh yea, IM still in my zombie dream obviously "uhm for the type of rides you will be doing with that bike it wont make a difference as you cannot seriously downhill on that thing anyhow, take it back and go to the LBS and pick yourself up a real bike for 400 dollars or less that will last you and not break your neck"
"I spent two hundred dollars" he replies "Im not gonna spend another 200"
Me " I have peddles that were 110 dollars......."
"YOU PAID ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS OR PEDALS!!"
Ok trying to think thru this "yes but I hvae cheaper ones which were 45"
"FOURTY FIVE DOLLARS ON A CHEAP ****ING PEDAL"
So Im thinking at this point I dont have to worry about him having a heartattack while riding, he's already in stroke mode, and I try to steer him back to the bike "Look if you at least go test ride one at the LBS they will fit you to one, and you will be able to tell the difference even peddling around the parking lot, not to mention it will actually shift"
So anyhow the conversation continues from there on how crazy I am and how he will never get into it like I am, and that may be true, but he certainly IMO deserves a good bike to ride those kick ass trails next to his house by at least Eliminating the breaking factor.
Sigh, wut to do, I guess I know what he's thinking, I was the same way when I bought my wallyworld bike thinking that would be all I ever needed, so I added "You know I said the same thing with my walparts bike, but once I got a good one it took me to places I never dreamed of and the weight fell off"
That settled that conversation at least for now, hopefully I can convert him to a quality one, god knows he makes enough to afford it.
I now now what my friends who were already serious in MTN biking went through, and hell, probably still are :D
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Rethinking the Service Industry
23 years ago I had my first taste of the service industry when I got broken in as a Dishwasher.
It was a truck stop so pretty busy with lots of dirty people coming thru, dishes would pile up like crazy, two dishwashers were needed but the usual only one was overworked.
It flat out sucked, your hands were always cut, you were standing in a pile of water and when everyone else was having a smoke after a break you were even busier than before. But at least you got a woppin half hour to sit on your ass but hey at least you got fourty hours a week with that minimum wage paycheck.
I moved up doing deli, same lot of standing but a good slow pace and very easy, then the line cook, crazy fast hot and smelly, again on your feet all day with a woppin half an hour to have a seat, and bonus, made a couple bucks an hour over minimum wage doing the work of two people.
Did that gig for a couple years and said forget it, more do to management than work, best thing I ever did.
Then I went into Casino/Bar tending, damn crazy good tips and finally you were able to make some mad cash to go with running your ass off, for a blue collar worker it is hard to get better cash.
So that became my fall back over the years, and off and on I would go back to it to make some quick cash, but it never really appealed to me and I never knew why.
Lots of cool people came thru a bar, the work really wasnt that hard, I mean I never knew anything else growing up in the country being the parents slave labor for the livestock. The downside was of course all the drama which you get tired of, and the long hours and the feeling of being stuck in a cave as every bar seems to have blacked out windows. I guess drinking in the dark with dim lights is better than sitting on the cabana soaking up the Sun, I guess the tropics have it all wrong.
So fast forward a bit and my feet starting to break down, they really got shot working at a food warehouse where you got one shitty rubber mat to stand on that somehow would save your feet. Pay was crappy really for all the standing and my mind just could not wrap around why a stool was not available, I would mention it to the manager and get the "well its not professional" I dono every other country in the world I have been to had a stool for their employee's why not America? Sad to think the Philippines treats their people better in that area over America.
So now IM back at it again, slinging drinks with aching feat nightly, trying to figure out why there are no Stools to sit on and why the hell a supposed Multi Million dollar resort cannot afford to pay its employees more. Oh its the usual 'well your tips make up for your wages" that is a lame bullshit excuse made by employers who simply refuse to pay their employee's a real wage. Now dont get me wrong tips are great but its feast or famine and never dependable. This creates the employee to always look for another work and a constant revolving door. Those who stay end up with a broken body as with most in the blue collar workforce.
The real kick in the teeth to me and what brought about the profound realization of just how crappy the service industry was to people came with one simple statement from a customer "I liked the tips the service industry provided, but truth is, you work harder than other people to make less money if you really think about it" And I did, he was flat out right, sometimes a slap in the face is best.
It was a truck stop so pretty busy with lots of dirty people coming thru, dishes would pile up like crazy, two dishwashers were needed but the usual only one was overworked.
It flat out sucked, your hands were always cut, you were standing in a pile of water and when everyone else was having a smoke after a break you were even busier than before. But at least you got a woppin half hour to sit on your ass but hey at least you got fourty hours a week with that minimum wage paycheck.
I moved up doing deli, same lot of standing but a good slow pace and very easy, then the line cook, crazy fast hot and smelly, again on your feet all day with a woppin half an hour to have a seat, and bonus, made a couple bucks an hour over minimum wage doing the work of two people.
Did that gig for a couple years and said forget it, more do to management than work, best thing I ever did.
Then I went into Casino/Bar tending, damn crazy good tips and finally you were able to make some mad cash to go with running your ass off, for a blue collar worker it is hard to get better cash.
So that became my fall back over the years, and off and on I would go back to it to make some quick cash, but it never really appealed to me and I never knew why.
Lots of cool people came thru a bar, the work really wasnt that hard, I mean I never knew anything else growing up in the country being the parents slave labor for the livestock. The downside was of course all the drama which you get tired of, and the long hours and the feeling of being stuck in a cave as every bar seems to have blacked out windows. I guess drinking in the dark with dim lights is better than sitting on the cabana soaking up the Sun, I guess the tropics have it all wrong.
So fast forward a bit and my feet starting to break down, they really got shot working at a food warehouse where you got one shitty rubber mat to stand on that somehow would save your feet. Pay was crappy really for all the standing and my mind just could not wrap around why a stool was not available, I would mention it to the manager and get the "well its not professional" I dono every other country in the world I have been to had a stool for their employee's why not America? Sad to think the Philippines treats their people better in that area over America.
So now IM back at it again, slinging drinks with aching feat nightly, trying to figure out why there are no Stools to sit on and why the hell a supposed Multi Million dollar resort cannot afford to pay its employees more. Oh its the usual 'well your tips make up for your wages" that is a lame bullshit excuse made by employers who simply refuse to pay their employee's a real wage. Now dont get me wrong tips are great but its feast or famine and never dependable. This creates the employee to always look for another work and a constant revolving door. Those who stay end up with a broken body as with most in the blue collar workforce.
The real kick in the teeth to me and what brought about the profound realization of just how crappy the service industry was to people came with one simple statement from a customer "I liked the tips the service industry provided, but truth is, you work harder than other people to make less money if you really think about it" And I did, he was flat out right, sometimes a slap in the face is best.
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