Posted by
StatDoc on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 8:07:17 PM
Insurance
Insurance is NOT a bank into which you pay and save. It is a risk pool, into which customers voluntarily buy. In the case of automobile insurance, drivers are (supposed to be) forced to have insurance to protect motorists who pay premiums from those who will choose to skip premiums if they can. The insurance company is in business to make money, which means that total premiums must outweigh total payouts. They are NOT in business to pay out more than they take in. Premiums go up because the things insured are more expensive to fix. People who are basically healthy and whose medical premiums increase often think they are being “taken” by companies. They never stop to think that insurance covers future costs, and that premiums they pay is for the RISK assumed by the insurance company, not a savings account.
Forced Labor
I just saw a TV commercial for people who choose to not have health insurance. Medical doctors in the AMA produced this commercial. If medical doctors want to work for nothing, that is their business. But do not FORCE me to pay those medical doctors in the form of higher taxes through the promotion of universal health care.
Fair
Today all politicians (from both parties) want things to be 'fair.' Did you know that the word 'fair' does NOT appear in our
Constitution or
Declaration of Independence? In fact, the current concept of 'fair' was not even discussed in the
Federalist Papers. Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Paper No. 31, states, "Men, upon too many occasions, do not give their own understandings
fair play; but, yielding to some untoward bias, they entangle themselves in words and confound themselves in subtleties." Does that sound like some politicians today when playing with your money?
So why all the emphasis now? Because it is easy for politicians to be 'fair' with other peoples' money. In fact, the preamble to our constitution says '... promote the general welfare...', NOT provide the general welfare.
People who CANNOT work: society can be 'fair' with them and provide a living, but no luxuries. People who WILL NOT work: it's hard to be 'fair' with them when they will not be 'fair' with society.
Hurricanes
Two comments:
Right after Hurricane Katrina, a woman on national television, said she could not reach her children because she lost her cell phone in the high water and wind. She also said that she could not afford to evacuate. Well, if she could afford a cell phone, she could afford to buy a car and gasoline needed to evacuate. But no, she bought the cell phone (her choice) and then complained because we (taxpayers) did not do enough to make her comfortable or rescue her or find her children. She made her choice to live in New Orleans (which has been a bowl for over 200 years), to spend her money on a cell phone, and to stay. And then she had the nerve to complain.
I never heard anyone, from either party, define 'exactly how much is enough' or 'where to store supplies' or 'who will pay for it'. So now I am waiting for someone (anyone) to specifically answer these questions. Don't complain if these questions are not specifically answered.
Price Gouging
Price gouging: two thoughts.
1. After years of Congressional investigations, there has not been even one incident of price gouging that has ever turned up. Yet they keep looking and hoping.
2. In our (for now) free society, price gouging is simply not possible. If the price is too high, you and I are free to look elsewhere. But what about gasoline after a hurricane? Still, we are free to look and go elsewhere. Has anyone ever heard of 'supply and demand?' If I have something you want, I can charge anything I want. You are then free to buy it or not. We have all heard about the tax money being spent to keep our bases throughout the world (Germany, Japan, Korea, Iraq, etc.). Yet the loudest complainers never stop to consider that our forces need a base from which to fight, nor do they consider that our forces need supplies and to be resupplied. Our overseas bases provide the logistical support so our troops can protect us. Better to fight over there than over here.
Boomers
We can easily hit any location on earth with missiles from a boomer, a nuclear submarine. Yet the loud complainers will then complain about collateral damage, about killing 'innocent' people. I guess that we are 'damned if we do and damned if we don't.'
Logistics
Logistics is the name of the operation, and it is among the most important operations any military can perform. Click on 'Military Logistics' from the
Wikipedia contents for more information. I think it was
Ulysses Grant who once said, "The side that shows up with the most wins."
UN Policy
This was forwarded to me via e-mail. I cannot claim authorship, or even know if Robin Williams said this. However, since I know Robin Williams to be a big liberal, I kinda doubt if these are truly his thoughts. Still, they make good reading.
You gotta love Robin Williams......Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message - Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!) I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.
1) The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.
2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.
3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.
4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.
5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.
6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.
7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)
8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.
9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE....
Now, isn't that a winner of a plan? 'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?'
Opinions
There are two facts about opinions that can never be argued:
1. Opinions are worth exactly what you pay for them.
2.
Opinions are exactly like a certain singular part of everyone's anatomy: everyone has one.
During the many years that I taught statistics, management science, and MIS, I always started my courses with two rules for all students:
1. On the Internet (with no objective censorship) anyone can post anything. Caveat Emptor is very important.
2. Always follow the last instructions given by the referee to boxers: Protect yourselves at all times.
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