Friday, November 21, 2008
Why I didn't vote for Obama but I'm glad he won...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
No Significant Statistical Correlation Between Smoking and Lung Cancer
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Monday, October 6, 2008
Economics 101
Cute and strangely relevant story forwarded to me by my mother…
Once upon a time in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so the villagers stopped their effort.
The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. But soon the supply diminished even further and they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgot about monkey catching.
The man increased his price to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so sparse that it was an effort to even see a monkey, much less catch one.
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.
While the man was away the assistant told the villagers. 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought. I will sell them to you at
$35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.
The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man nor his assistant again and once again there were monkeys everywhere.
Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.
Discount Domain Name and Web Hosting
Philadelphia Computer Support, Systems Engineering, Network Engineering and Web Development
Correspondence with Senator Casey (D) Pa on the Emergency Economic Stabalization Act
My problem is not with taking action to stabilize the economy. It is the measure that will increase my health insurance cost with Mental Health Parity that for some reason was added to the bill despite its utter lack of relevance. This is what is wrong with Washington and Congress. Why did you sanction that? It is measures like this that make health care so expensive in this country.
I own a small business in Philadelphia providing computer support services. I would love that Congress also mandate that all businesses that have computers have to purchase a support agreement but that is simply not fair. In the same respect I don’t want my government to mandate what health services I have to pay for. This mandate means that now through my health insurance payments I will be forced to pay for the mental health treatments of others despite the fact that I would never pay for them myself. I have lost a cousin to psychiatric treatments and have seen my aunt’s husband – an accomplished surgeon and pianists – reduced to a paraplegic during his stays in mental health institutions. In my opinion Congress is now forcing me to pay for fraudulent and harmful medical services.
You may not agree and I certainly wouldn’t sanction removing your right to use and pay for those services if you find value in them. Similarly I would not force you to pay for something you don’t agree with but I expect the same respect in return.
Sincerely,
Yves A. Martin
From: Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. [mailto:senator@casey.senate.gov]
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 1:05 PM
Subject: Response from Senator Casey
Dear Friend:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the proposal to stabilize the economy and our financial infrastructure. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.
On Wednesday, October 1, the Senate passed H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, a bill that will stabilize our credit markets, protect retirement and pension savings, modify troubled loans and protect taxpayers from paying for Wall Street's mistakes. After careful consideration, I decided to vote for this legislation.
This is a time of great economic uncertainty in our Nation's history. For many families in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, the recession has been part of their lives for many months now. Just this week we learned that the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania went from 5.4% to 5.8% in the month of August and for some parts of the state it went up far more than half a percentage point. We also learned that in the month of August the foreclosure rate in Pennsylvania went up by more than 60% from the previous year. The job loss and foreclosure rates are indicators of the economic trauma that many families have felt in Pennsylvania and across America.
Like you, I am not happy with the current crisis, and I'm angry about the climate of deregulation and deference to Wall Street over the last eight years that got us into this mess. However, failing to act will not simply punish those who brought us to this situation; it will punish everyone.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) provides up to $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury to buy mortgages and other assets that are clogging the balance sheets of financial institutions and making it difficult for working families, small businesses and other companies to access credit. After purchasing these assets, the Department of Treasury will hold them until markets for them recover. Treasury would then plan to sell these assets for a profit, recouping most or all of the $700 billion for the benefit of taxpayers.
You should know that Congress has significantly improved the original proposal presented by the Bush administration. In the version passed by the Senate, executives will be held accountable for their past decisions through limitations on compensation, prohibitions against golden parachutes or excessive retirement packages, and requirements that unearned bonuses be returned. As improved by the Senate, the legislation also requires participating companies to provide warrants and other forms of equity so that taxpayers will share in the profits if the stock of these companies goes up as a result of Treasury Department intervention.
The EESA also contains several provisions directed at stemming the tide of mortgage foreclosures thereby keeping families in their homes and addressing the root cause which has led to a loss of investor confidence and the freezing of credit markets. It would require the Treasury Department, where possible, to modify troubled loans to help American families keep their homes. It would also expand the HOPE for Homeowners program and require other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control.
To ensure that Treasury isn't just getting a blank check, the legislation makes $250 billion available immediately, then requires the President to certify that additional funds are needed. The Treasury must report on the use of the funds and on progress in addressing the crisis. The bill establishes an Oversight Board so that the Treasury cannot act in an arbitrary manner and establishes a special inspector general to protect against waste, fraud and abuse.
The United States is in a financial crisis that could become worse than anything in a generation. In addition, our Nation's problems are already spreading into the global economy. If the federal government fails to take action right now, there is a real threat to small businesses and jobs, as well as mortgages, pensions and savings.
For all these reasons, I concluded that Congress must act now, and I decided to vote in favor of H.R. 1424. In the last two weeks, I have worked hard to be sure that this bill includes provisions to help families who are struggling. I've closely questioned and sent two detailed letters to Treasury Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and also spoke to leading economists about this legislation.
Enactment of this legislation is only the first in a series of steps we must take to bring about economic recovery. We need to institute rigorous and aggressive regulation of players in the market place in order to prevent the abuses which caused our economic problems.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Bank Bailout
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
NY Times Op-Ed: Condescension at its best.
The upshot is that many more Americans — millions more — will find themselves on their own in the bewildering and often treacherous health insurance marketplace. As Senator McCain has said: “I believe the key to real reform is to restore control over our health care system to the patients themselves.”I don't know about the rest of the "millions of Americans" but I think I can understand the health insurance marketplace and actually I would like to, as a patient, have better control of our health care system.
Yet another radical element of McCain’s plan is his proposal to undermine state health insurance regulations by allowing consumers to buy insurance from sellers anywhere in the country. So a requirement in one state that insurers cover, for example, vaccinations, or annual physicals, or breast examinations, would essentially be meaningless.
This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone.