#so even if i had the benefits the job itself wouldn’t pay for the premiums right | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mikami · 5 years

Text

Death Note Audio Drama 07

Disc 7: Double Agents - a summary / partial translation

Prior translations / an explanation as to what the fuck this is.

Honestly, not much new happens in this part, but there is some funny banter between Matsuda and Ivor (Aiber); and between Light and L.

_______

Ivor calls Shimura under the Coil name. Coil hints that L will soon discover Yotsuba as Kira as a ‘friendly warning’ type of thing. Shimura here is extremely generic and not anxious like normal Shimura at all.

_______

TITLE MUSIC

_______

A Yotsuba meeting. They discuss hiring Misa for image girl.They also brush over Hatori’s death by saying that they assume everyone will send ‘appropriate letters of condolence’ (Shimura asks what is ‘appropriate’ in this case, but is brushed off instantly).

Takahashi seems confused and eventually brings up that he thought at least one person would speak up against the murders. (Someone: “You want to agree with an opinion that nobody actually brought up?”) Takahashi, flustered, changes track to point out that it’s strange that nobody is really talking about Hatori’s death. (Someone: “Mr. Hatori’s death is something we are all painfully aware of. Appropriate letters of condolence, like was said.”)

They then agree that Kira is the one who killed Hatori and then wonder how Kira found out that Hatori wanted out.

_______

Matsuda wants to arrest all Yotsubas on basis of these tapes, but L points out they don’t know who of them is Kira and Soichiro points out the video is not admissible in court.

Light and Soichiro don’t want to just let the murders happen. Light thus suggests contacting Namikawa to stop them.

______

NAMIKAWA: Knew I’d find you here, Kyousuke.

HIGUCHI: I’m a refugee. A refugee for nicotine.

NAMIKAWA: You got fire?

Cigarette lighting noises.

HIGUCHI: Better smoke fast, we’re almost at real estate and finances.

NAMIKAWA: Takahashi finally got his job done?

HIGUCHI: He’s apparently got a few numbers. Both of us can only guess what tethers them to reality.

Phone ringing. Namikawa picks up. It’s Light as L. The deal is pretty much the same as in the manga.

______

Takahashi and Mido supported the delay in killings, as we learn in an L and Watari conversation. L suddenly directs his suspicions to Light again, after Light was the one to find Yotsuba and take initiative here.

Watari accuses L of being envious of Light’s success, but L denies this and names Light a perfect successor candidate.

______

L comes to Misa’s room, Light is already in it with Misa. Light claims he interrupted them getting comfortable as far as possible in HQ. The rest of the conversation is just about L convincing Misa to help the investigation. Highlight is Misa calling Light her ‘cuddlebunny’.

Though it’s funny because the way the job is described, Misa just sums it up like “So.... I need to let them give me presents. Support my career. Pay me.” :)

________

Higuchi points out that Rem has been uncharacteristically quiet last meeting. They then chat about hiring Misa to find L. Higuchi figures out that Misa was the friend Rem was talking about and that she was Kira II. He then decides to marry Misa.

________

Rehearsals for Misa’s job interview. She’s bad at acting and doesn’t actually want to be an actress, just a star. Ivor and Wendy help her rehearse, especially since Ivor (as ‘John Wallace’) is also going to be one of the interviewers. Wendy and Ivor try to explain to her that she and Ivor are double agents now, leading Misa to point out Namikawa is ALSO a double agent and present. “Will there also be people who aren’t doube agents?” she asks, and in this context, honestly it feels like a legit question.

There’s going to be Ooi, Shimura and Higuchi at the meeting as well though.

________

The actual interview. Wendy and L are listening. Wendy brings up that Misa has to adjust her female charms to the desire of all the older guys specifically, to be what they want, manipulate them. L does not believe in that stuff, Wendy basically verbally eyerolls at him for it.

The interview itself is uninteresting as far as new content is concerned.

________

Wendy is still annoyed at L not understanding women. (L: “Nobody understands women.”) She explains to Light how she taught Misa to manipulate men.

________

Misa throws up from nervousness during the interview break. As she comes back out into the main room of the bathroom, Rem is waiting for her.

________

The Yotsuba executives like Misa as an idea for an image girl. They also like that Misa can lead them to L. Higuchi mostly wants to fuck her tho.

________

Rem explains the situation to Misa.

________

MATSUDA: Mr. Wallace. How’s the meeting with Misa Amane going? It wouldn’t have hurt to invite me to it as well. I’m her manager after all.

IVOR (whispering): Don’t talk to me! You’re gonna blow our cover!

MATSUDA (whispering): I am Misa’s manager and you’re the guy handing her the contract. You can be pretty darn certain I’ll talk to you.

MATSUDA (loud): Here’s my business card.

IVOR: I don’t want your card.

MATSUDA (quiet): Oh yes you do, Ivor.

MATSUDA (very loud): Here’s my card, Mr. Wallace. I truly hope we can cooperate towards mutual benefit.

IVOR: Right. Thank you.

MATSUDA: And, what’s the current state of affairs?

IVOR: We’re interviewing your client, Mr. Matsui, and I think her chances are very good.

MATSUDA: I actually meant the operation.

IVOR: We’ll contact you on the details later.

MATSUDA: Huh. Well, I just asked.

IVOR: Just let me do my job, man.

MATSUDA: I’m the overbearing manager. No reason to get all shirty.

IVOR: Interesting choice of words.

MATSUDA: What’s your problem with my shirt?

IVOR: You look ridiculous.

MATSUDA: I’m adjusting to the situation. I’m the cocky media guy.

IVOR: It attracts attention. The trick is to not do that.

MATSUDA: Is that what you tried doing when you were convicted of fraud?

IVOR (furious): Do we really need to talk about this now?!

MATSUDA: I’m just saying. Now don’t forget, you’re the cool suave guy from marketing.

IVOR (still furious): And maybe that guy also has a black belt.

MATSUDA: Oh, piss off.

IVOR: You piss off!

______

Rem continues explaining to Misa.

______

After the interview, Misa makes Matsuda drop her off at the mall (by claiming it’s a ‘woman thing’), instead of going straight back.

______

MISA’S MAILBOX MESSAGE: Hello. This is Misa-Misa. For a fun and sexy message. Here’s the beep. See you!

Misa has 5 new messages. Wendy is leaving a message for her to call. L and Light also left messages. Higuchi messages to agree on a meeting at the mall. Matsuda then calls twice to figure where the fuck Misa went now.

_______

Misa and Higuchi meet up. Misa near-immediately reveals herself as willing to date Kira.

_______

Soichiro informs Matsuda that the specific mall does sell mostly jewelry (he knows because of Sayu), which means Misa lied by implying to shop for period products. Wohoo. L is super frustrated with Misa.

_______

Misa agrees to kill Ginzo Kaneboshi to prove she’s Kira. Higuchi first has to convince her that he’s a bad person (animal testing, illegal human testing) though. Misa doesn’t even pretend to write here, which makes Higuchi wonder if she has a different Kira ability from him. Misa also dictates that Kaneboshi texts Higuchi before dying.

_______

Kaneboshi is in the opera. Rem personally shows up there to force him to write the message?? Though she has written it into the notebook as well, so really, what’s the point??

Either way, he dies as dictated.

_______

Higuchi gets the announced text, still confused Misa hasn’t written anything.

Since he doesn’t have the notebook with him and Misa doesn’t want to come to his house out of reservations that he’s up to something sexual. Thus they settle on him not killing anyone for proof.

_______

Misa shows the task force a recording of this.

_______

Higuchi confronts Rem on how Misa might have figured out he’s Kira / how she killed Kaneboshi without writing. He wants this ability too. (”What else can it be but an ability? She just says it and a madly in love god of death does her a favor??”)

________

Matsuda triumphs that they got Kira now, L points out they only know one Kira and not how he kills.

Meanwhile Wendy has placed bugs all over the building and also into the private homes of the executives. Mido, Namikawa and Higuchi have special security, which is a hindrance in her operations.

Higuchi’s house is too complicated to bug, so instead they bug his six cars.

_________

Door opening.

LIGHT: L?

L: Question: do you remember killing all those people?

LIGHT: Oh, piss off.

Door closing.

LIGHT: Go away! I’ve had enough of your paranoia!

L (muffled through door): Let me in. I’m trying to find something out.

LIGHT: Try starting with the reason nobody likes you.

L: Let me in.

LIGHT: I’m not Kira. You need to stop accusing me every time you don’t know what to do.

L: I need your intellect. You need to answer as if you were Kira.

Light sighs. Door opening.

LIGHT: What would Kira do....

L: Exactly. What would he do?

LIGHT: Alright. Let’s go through it.

L: Can you remember killing these people?

LIGHT: No.

L: Why not?

LIGHT: Because I didn’t do it, idiot. And now get out of here!

L: But... what if it was you after all?

LIGHT: It was not.

L: Let’s just pretend it was.

They go through the idea of Light forgetting something and why now. They come to believe that Light losing his memory would have been his own decision, in case it happened. They begin thinking of the Kira skill as something like a contract with different packages. Premium (eyes) vs basic.

________

Matsuda watching TV, as L and Light approach him. They suggest the scheme of Matsuda showing up on TV together. Matsuda is creeped out by them being in sync for once. The reason they think Higuchi will recognize Matsuda immediately despite an obscured face is his.... tacky shirt.

________

Namikawa is hosting Shimura and Mido at his home, he invited them. They have a similar meeting to the manga, except in this verse Mido approached Shimura instead of the other way around.

They also assume Higuchi is Kira. Namikawa also confesses that L has contacted him and also suspects Higuchi. They agree to wait it out until L caught Kira and their troubles simply disappear.

_______

Advertisement for the TV show on Sakura TV, highly overproduced with a lot of echo effects.

_______

The task force prepares to start the scheme. It is set up the same way as in the manga.

_______

Namikawa calls Higuchi to watch Sakura TV. Higuchi tries to kill Matsuda with the fake name, then is shocked when it doesn’t work.

_______

Higuchi leaves stressed messages on Misa’s voice mail. They start of simple and friendly and then deteriorate anger and culminate in: “Start running, whore.”

_______

L and Light are amused at Higuchi’s growing despair. Everyone from Yotsuba keeps calling Higuchi about the TV program. In these phone calls Higuchi actually talks about himself with regards to killing but that’s not really addressed, so I cannot tell if it’s a writing mistake or a sign of Higuchi becoming careless.

Higuchi finally resolves to go to the studio in person. Wendy tails him on her bike.

________

In the car, Higuchi talks to Rem. Higuchi is hell-bent on simply killing Matsuda and everyone in the TV station.

#death note #light yagami #l lawliet #kyousuke higuchi #audio drama translations

39 notes · View notes

hub-pub-bub · 5 years

Link

Wage theft is when your boss doesn’t pay you what you’ve already earned. When I learned that Massachusetts had “blue laws,” that my bosses weren’t obeying them, and had shorted me around three thousand dollars, it was wage theft.

This was the law: retail employees were to be paid at a “premium” rate on Sundays and holidays, time-and-a-half, the same as overtime. But none of the booksellers where I worked had ever been paid it. And while not being paid overtime is a textbook example of wage theft, when I tell people, they are happy to qualify it for me with a “Well…” or an “Okay, but…” I don’t know where this instinct comes from. Maybe it’s because “wage theft” makes it sound premeditated, more like a crime. (But it was a crime!) Or maybe it’s because I worked at an independent bookstore, and indie bookstores are beloved pillars of the community. (What would that mean about the community?) Maybe it’s because it doesn’t makes sense that an independent bookstore would do something like this. Everyone knows indiebookstores are thriving! (Which is true—it’s the people who work in them who are struggling.)

I found out when I was trying to see if I could afford to take a sick day. I felt like I was coming down with something, but taking a day off meant losing a not-insubstantial chunk of my monthly take-home pay ($11.50 an hour). Since there were sick hours adding up in a box labeled “time-off accrual” on my pay stubs—and surely they had to amount to something—I went to mass.gov to check the law. But they amounted to literally nothing, as it turned out: Massachusetts businesses only have to provide paid sick leave if they have more than eleven employees, and we had ten. My “sick days” meant I couldn’t be fired for staying home sick (as long as I wasn’t sick more than five days per year).

But I learned something else. There were links to related pages and I clicked the one about “blue laws,” which I didn’t know we had in Massachusetts.

Later that day I emailed the bookstore’s owners. Is there a reason our bookstore is exempt from blue laws, I asked, or was this an oversight?

They responded the same night. They’d heard that other area bookstores had to pay the premium rate, they said, because their booksellers were unionized, but that otherwise there was some exemption. They said they would investigate, that they’d talk to their lawyer and get back to me.

After that the story gets so routine you could probably write it yourself. When I followed up a few days later, they said their lawyer was on vacation but that they’d update payroll and we’d receive the premium pay on Sundays and holidays from then on. When some of the other booksellers and I contacted the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division, they only sent a form letter saying the matter was too small for them to investigate personally, but we were welcome to pursue legal action (on our own time and at our own expense). I found some free legal clinics on wage theft, but only once-a-month and while I was scheduled to work. Ten days after the first email, I followed up again; “still the same conflicting intel,” they said, “but when we told our lawyer that we started paying 1.5 for sundays and holidays, the matter dropped. (lawyers are expensive!) let me know if it’s not reflected in your check.” A coworker who already planned to quit asked the owners specifically about back pay–which I hadn’t had the courage to do—and they told her no, they weren’t going to pay it, and they said it in writing.

I ended up speaking to a lawyer, who offered to represent me on a contingency fee basis: I wouldn’t have to pay if we lost, and the bookstore would be responsible for my legal fees if I won. But he recommended I not move forward until I got a new job. It isn’t legal to retaliate against an employee for bringing a case, he told me, but, you know, it also isn’t legal to ignore blue laws.

I said thank you, I’ll consider my options.

One day in November one of the owners called me into the office at the bookstore. She gave me $500 in cash and $500 in store credit, about a third of what I was owed. I spent the store credit on gifts for the holidays and I looked for a new job. I ignored a follow-up call from the lawyer and tried not to wallow in the humiliation. I was not successful. Even now it feels like admitting something shameful: I was fooled, maybe, or I’m some kind of miser. A few people asked me, what if they can’t afford to pay back pay and they go out of business? You hear it more than once and it’s easy to forget it’s not a ransom, that you didn’t pluck the number out of nowhere.

It’s hard to compare independent bookstores to other kinds of retail stores. Bookstores sell a cultural product and booksellers insist that bookstores can’t be compared to other retail stores because they sell a cultural product. And bookstores don’t exploit their employees more than other retail. But what grates is when bookstores market themselves as more than stores, as community hubs.

“Independent bookstores act as community anchors,” the American Booksellers Association declares, at the bottom of every page on their site; “they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.”

This same lofty idealism justifies why booksellers don’t need to be paid a living wage, like employees of nonprofits or teachers: because bookstores are so vital for the community, the assumption goes, the job should be reward enough itself. The work is so important that maybe booksellers should make personal sacrifices, working well below the value of their labor.

I spoke to around twenty booksellers while I was writing this, and I was struck by how many are willing to make trade-offs. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. “Independent booksellers consistently describe their work as more than just a way to make a living, and more than just a means of escaping the constraints that come from working for somebody else,” writes Laura Miller, in her 2006 book, Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption; “These booksellers see themselves as bettering society by making books available.” Plenty of the booksellers I spoke to saw bookselling as a calling. Because of course they do! If they weren’t willing to make sacrifices, they couldn’t still be booksellers. And how else could bookstores get away with paying them—they, who generally have to have a college degree; who have to spend a lot of unpaid time reading across all genres and topics; who have to have at least a little knowledge about everything, from the ancient Greeks to Dog Man 7: Brawl of the Wild; who, at at least one store, famously have to correctly answer quiz questions before being hired—so little, while so successfully preserving an image as a (generally progressive) force for social good?

And it is so little. A bookseller in Southern California with eight years of experience still earns less than $20 per hour; “I can’t think of another industry where you could work for eight years and still be making that little,” he said. A different Southern California bookseller/assistant events manager earns $17.50. A bookseller/assistant events manager in the Boston area is earning $14. A former bookseller in Northern California was making $14.25, a quarter above the minimum wage. A part time bookseller in Chicago makes $13, the city’s minimum wage. A former bookseller in Minnesota was salaried after two years at $30,000 while a bookseller and events manager in Tennessee started at $25,000, six years ago, and now makes $31,500.

I started at $11 per hour and ended around eighteen months later at $11.50, and as far as I know, none of the booksellers at that store even earned $15. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is $2400 per month, which I could cover if I worked 50 hours a week, didn’t pay taxes, and didn’t need money for food, utilities, medical care, or literally anything else.

The booksellers I spoke to reported quite a range of benefits—in one year, for example, a Bay Area bookseller accrued three weeks of vacation time, and in the same time period a Pennsylvania bookseller got three days. But some booksellers told me that their benefits were mostly on paper. Not being fired for calling in sick or going on vacation doesn’t make it financially viable, after all. A Minnesota bookseller told me she has ten paid vacation days per year, but the store has so few employees that taking time off means she’d have to make up the missed hours working overtime. A bookstore in California offered a health insurance program, but gave employees a fifty-cent raise if they didn’t enroll.

It’s not so bleak for everyone. Unionized stores generally fight for better benefits and act as safeguards against labor law violations; I talked to a handful of booksellers whose stores had some kind of profit sharing, which can make a big difference.

But… I don’t know. There’s a bookstore owned by people who, all evidence suggests, really give a fuck and want to do right by their booksellers. They pay at least $15 per hour, and I heard one of the owners say on a podcast how much is required of booksellers; “If you’re a college graduate, and you’ve spent all this time reading, in addition to going to college—yeah, you deserve $15 an hour. Period.” But when his interlocutor mentioned a bookstore that had profit sharing, the owner was quick to say it wouldn’t work at his store. (And it wouldn’t, yet—the store is young and not yet profitable.*) But “It’s also a matter of loyalty,” he said, and explained that he couldn’t envision employees staying longer than a year. “I would love to find a bookseller who I know would be around long enough. Right now it just hardly seems even worth doing all the work. No one would qualify, because they won’t stick around long enough.”

Tell me, what are they going to stick around for? The bookstore owner said all of his employees are part-time—they’re either in grad school or working other part-time jobs. Are they supposed to stick around for a part-time job that pays $15 per hour?

What is there to be loyal to?

IndieBound—an ABA project—has a section on its website dedicated to answering Why Support Independents? One answer is that “Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.” But you can also find a page at the ABA website on “The Growing Debate Over Minimum Wage,” warning that “a minimum wage increase that is too drastic could result in reduced staff hours, lost jobs, or, worse, a store going out of business.” There’s also an “Indie Fact Sheet” to print out and give to local politicians; “Many indies pay more than the current minimum wage already for senior and full-time staff,” it says; “They do this because offering superior customer service is one of their competitive advantages—it is what separates them from their chain and remote, online retailing competitors. This also helps indies retain and attract good employees.”

See? Many bookstores pay their booksellers more than the minimum wage! It’s not their problem that that same minimum wage isn’t enough to cover a one-bedroom in any state in the country. It’s not their problem that inflation has eroded the value of the minimum wage. It’s not their problem that low wages are an affront to basic dignity or that higher minimum wages save lives. They’re just fiercely committed to their neighbors and their communities.

The ABA is happy to help its member stores fight even modest wage increases. “If the minimum wage is raised,” the Indie Fact Sheet continues, “it inevitably means indies will have to increase the wages of senior and full-time staff, in addition to increasing the wages of any minimum-wage workers. This increases the ripple effect. A seemingly ‘insignificant’ wage increase can have a dramatic effect on the bottom line, sending a profitable store into the red.”

There’s no mention of the dramatic effect an increase in the minimum wage could have on employees.

At Winter Institute–an annual ABA conference for independent booksellers–there’s a town hall where members can share their concerns. According to the ABA’s coverage of the event, an independent bookstore owner went to the mic to speak about the minimum wage. “I’m very happy the staff is getting a pay bump,” she said, “but that’s a huge adjustment to make every 12 months and once you get a handle on it, then it’s going up again. I feel like this seems to be going countrywide and that is something that is extra important to our nonexistent margins.”

Why this framing? Why not ask how other stores are handling the adjustment? Why not pay employees a living wage now so as not to have to change business model every year? Why does a bookstore owner feel comfortable getting up and saying this in front of an audience of booksellers?

If your local indie bookstore skirts labor laws or advocates against them, at the expense of its employees, can you still be sanctimonious for shopping there? Is your local indie bookstore thriving if its employees skip doctor’s appointments they can’t afford? If your local indie bookstore’s trade group doesn’t have resources for booksellers on paid sick leave, health insurance, or wage theft–in an industry famous for its tiny margins–is it an industry you’d recommend joining?

“We find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of being believers in social and economic justice while struggling to pay our employees a salary they can survive on,” writes Elayna Trucker on shopping local and running a bookstore; “We urge our customers to Shop Local but make hardly enough to do so ourselves. It is an unintentional hypocrisy, one that has gone largely ignored and unaddressed. So where does all that leave us? Rather awkwardly clutching our money, it seems… All of this brings up the most awkward question of all: does a business that can’t afford to pay its employees a living wage deserve to be in business?”

I am so glad I don’t have to come up with an answer. I have no idea. I haven’t the faintest idea at all.

In the end it was a tweet. I left the bookstore after the holidays and started a new job in January. In February, after a night of shitty sleep, I tweeted, “I have been spending hours lying awake at night doing nothing but feeling this intense shame like a stone in my chest about experiencing wage theft at my last job and I am sincerely just hoping that tweeting about it is enough to make it stop so let’s see if it works.”

A day or two later I got an email. “It’s filtered back to me that the $1000 we gave you to settle the Sunday pay issue,” they said, “didn’t resolve it.” They said some things about how they hadn’t known until I told them. They cut me a check for the back pay that same day.

I didn’t delete the tweet. I don’t know if any of my coworkers got back pay.

A little later, I read an article about the student-run Harvard Shop in Cambridge. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office found that the store owed almost $50,000 in back pay to their employees and $5,600 in fines for violating blue laws. “In this case, we unknowingly did make a mistake in how we were paying our students for Sunday and holiday pay,” the store’s manager said.

I only saw the article because the union I joined at my new job shared it on Twitter.

In Seasonal Associate, Heike Geissler’s barely-fictionalized account of her time working at an Amazon fulfillment center, she writes: “What you and I can’t do, because you and I don’t want to, is to think your employer into a better employer, and to compare these conditions to even worse, less favorable conditions, so as to say: It’s not all that bad. It could be worse. It used to be worse. We don’t do that. You and I want the best and we’re not asking too much.”

I loved bookselling. I loved it for the same reasons everyone does: the community of readers and booksellers, the joy when someone came back into the store and says I recommended the perfect read, the pride when authors reach out directly to say how much my work meant to them. The free books, the discounts, the advance copies, all of it. And I do believe that bookstores can be forces for social good, insofar as bookscan be forces for social good, which I think they can. It is self-evidently better to get your books from a local store than from Amazon, and for precisely the reasons the IndieBound website gives.

But it’s not enough to Not Be Amazon, and framing bookstores as moral exemplars regardless of how they treat their employees isn’t to the benefit of booksellers. Bookstores “thrive” by hiding how much their booksellers struggle. “Any thriving I do personally is in spite of my store,” one of the booksellers I spoke to said. Working at a bookstore is not as bad as working at an Amazon warehouse; I didn’t walk dozens of miles per day and my bathroom breaks weren’t monitored. But are we willing to let that be the baseline?

*clarification added after publication

#bookshops #book seller #wage theft #living wage #unions

2 notes · View notes

orbemnews · 3 years

Link

Will This Boom Go Bust? More questions than answers The bull market is now a year old, with the S&P 500 up nearly 75 percent from its low point at this time last year. That recovery, The Times’s Matt Phillips writes, is “a testament to the unbridled enthusiasm that let investors shrug off the economic carnage of the pandemic and buy stocks — and pretty much anything else.” The factors that have stoked the rally also raise questions about whether it can last. Is this a bubble? Analysts are wary of using the B-word to describe the market as a whole, despite the best 12-month stretch for stocks since the 1930s. But John D. Turner, a finance professor who wrote “Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles,” is convinced: “If I had to put money on it, it looks like a bubble,” he told The Times. A bubble has three key ingredients, he said: ease of trading, access to credit and mass speculation — all of which are in ready supply. All that’s missing is a spark. What could it be? Can retail traders keep this up? A surge in individual traders — who have access to commission-free online trading apps, government “stimmy” checks and lots of downtime — has become one of the biggest forces in stock markets. A big test of this trend’s durability will come if and when Robinhood, which filed confidentially to go public yesterday, begins trading itself. Can the brokerage — whose C.E.O. faced tough questions from lawmakers and several lawsuits over its halting of trades — endure the scrutiny of public market investors when it opens its books? What’s going on at GameStop? Few investors beyond true believers think that the surge in the video game retailer’s stock — which was up 1,700 percent at one point in January — is justified by the fundamentals of its business. That’s why the company’s first earnings release since the frenzy was a hotly anticipated event on Tuesday. Attendees left with plenty of unanswered questions, mainly because GameStop executives provided no financial guidance and, unexpectedly, skipped a Q.&A. Here are a few: The company said it would consider selling stock “to fund the acceleration of our future transformation initiatives.” With shares up some 900 percent from a year ago, there is scope to raise a huge amount. How ambitious will it be? There has been a lot of executive turnover at the company. Is that also happening lower in the ranks, perhaps in part because employees can cash out their suddenly more valuable shares? The Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, who joined GameStop’s board along with two other former Chewy executives just before the frenzy, said he aimed to turn the retailer into the “Chewy of gaming.” What do pet supplies have in common with video games? If you have answers — or more pertinent questions about this moment in the markets — let us know: [email protected]. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING The E.U. plans to curb vaccine exports for six weeks. The bloc has drafted emergency rules to ease its supply shortages, a move that could badly affect Britain and other countries. Separately, AstraZeneca said it planned to disclose more recent trial data about its vaccine to assuage U.S. officials’ concerns. Jay Powell plays down the risk of inflation. The Fed chair told the House Financial Services Committee yesterday that he expected the $1.9 trillion stimulus to have a “neither particularly large nor persistent” effect on inflation. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended the rescue package at the hearing, and said the next bill needed to address income inequality. (They are likely to reiterate these messages at a Senate hearing today.) Speaking of inequality … The combined wealth of American billionaires grew $1.3 trillion during the pandemic, up 44 percent from the previous year, according to a new study. During that time, 80 million Americans lost their jobs. The Fed creates committees to study climate risks. One will identify and address the financial risks posed by climate change, while another will consider “the potential for complex interactions across the financial system,” Lael Brainard, a Fed governor, said in a speech. Citigroup pledges more flexibility for workers. Employees can spend up to two days per week working remotely when the bank’s offices reopen, the C.E.O., Jane Fraser, wrote in a memo. As complaints by junior analysts at Goldman Sachs have generated debates about working conditions on Wall Street, Ms. Fraser also banned internal video meetings on Fridays and announced a holiday called “Citi Reset Day.” Two shootings, and a new push for gun control As America grieves over two mass shootings in a week — in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo. — the inevitable question arises again: Will Washington pass new gun restrictions this time? “This is not and should not be a partisan issue — it is an American issue,” President Biden said yesterday, adding that he was “devastated” by the killings. He urged lawmakers not to “wait another minute” in approving legislation to ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. It’s an issue that Mr. Biden knows well: He helped pass an assault weapons ban in the Senate in the 1990s. And President Barack Obama charged him with devising gun control proposals after the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings, though those failed to gain traction. Republicans appear opposed to sweeping new restrictions. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa noted that two bills proposing a modest tightening of background checks for sales — which four in five Americans support — passed the House mostly along party lines. A narrower proposal sponsored by Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, and Senator Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, is unlikely to gain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Exclusive: Fanatics is now a $12.8 billion company The sports apparel retailer Fanatics has raised $320 million at a $12.8 billion valuation, more than double its valuation this summer, DealBook hears. The round was led by Silver Lake with participation by Fidelity, Neuberger Berman, Franklin Templeton, Blackstone, Thrive Capital and M.L.B. — all existing investors. Frequently Asked Questions About the New Stimulus Package How big are the stimulus payments in the bill, and who is eligible? The stimulus payments would be $1,400 for most recipients. Those who are eligible would also receive an identical payment for each of their children. To qualify for the full $1,400, a single person would need an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or below. For heads of household, adjusted gross income would need to be $112,500 or below, and for married couples filing jointly that number would need to be $150,000 or below. To be eligible for a payment, a person must have a Social Security number. Read more. What would the relief bill do about health insurance? Buying insurance through the government program known as COBRA would temporarily become a lot cheaper. COBRA, for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, generally lets someone who loses a job buy coverage via the former employer. But it’s expensive: Under normal circumstances, a person may have to pay at least 102 percent of the cost of the premium. Under the relief bill, the government would pay the entire COBRA premium from April 1 through Sept. 30. A person who qualified for new, employer-based health insurance someplace else before Sept. 30 would lose eligibility for the no-cost coverage. And someone who left a job voluntarily would not be eligible, either. Read more What would the bill change about the child and dependent care tax credit? This credit, which helps working families offset the cost of care for children under 13 and other dependents, would be significantly expanded for a single year. More people would be eligible, and many recipients would get a bigger break. The bill would also make the credit fully refundable, which means you could collect the money as a refund even if your tax bill was zero. “That will be helpful to people at the lower end” of the income scale, said Mark Luscombe, principal federal tax analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Read more. What student loan changes are included in the bill? There would be a big one for people who already have debt. You wouldn’t have to pay income taxes on forgiven debt if you qualify for loan forgiveness or cancellation — for example, if you’ve been in an income-driven repayment plan for the requisite number of years, if your school defrauded you or if Congress or the president wipes away $10,000 of debt for large numbers of people. This would be the case for debt forgiven between Jan. 1, 2021, and the end of 2025. Read more. What would the bill do to help people with housing? The bill would provide billions of dollars in rental and utility assistance to people who are struggling and in danger of being evicted from their homes. About $27 billion would go toward emergency rental assistance. The vast majority of it would replenish the so-called Coronavirus Relief Fund, created by the CARES Act and distributed through state, local and tribal governments, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. That’s on top of the $25 billion in assistance provided by the relief package passed in December. To receive financial assistance — which could be used for rent, utilities and other housing expenses — households would have to meet several conditions. Household income could not exceed 80 percent of the area median income, at least one household member must be at risk of homelessness or housing instability, and individuals would have to qualify for unemployment benefits or have experienced financial hardship (directly or indirectly) because of the pandemic. Assistance could be provided for up to 18 months, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Lower-income families that have been unemployed for three months or more would be given priority for assistance. Read more. Fanatics brings instant gratification to sports swag. Rather than purchasing jerseys in advance through a third party and guessing which team or player will be hot, Fanatics owns the rights to fan gear for the major U.S. sports teams (and some Nike merchandise). That allows it to produce hot items on demand, like LeBron James jerseys immediately after he joined the Lakers. The major sports leagues have invested in Fanatics because they want ownership — not just royalties — in a business that benefits from their brands. (Michael Rubin, the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, is also a part-owner of the N.B.A.’s Philadelphia 76ers.) The pandemic has been good for business. Sports came to a temporary halt, but people shopped online. Fanatics, which is profitable, generates about 80 percent of its more than $3 billion in sales online. Its e-commerce sales jumped more than 20 percent last year. An I.P.O. is still in sight. Fanatics is considering going public via a SPAC or traditional I.P.O. this year or next. (Nothing is definite, and no formal talks are underway.) Since its last fund-raising effort, Fanatics has expanded into new product lines like hats through its acquisition of Top of the World and it started Fanatics China through a joint venture with Hillhouse Capital. It is using the money from this latest round to expand its geographic footprint and product lines, potentially through more deals. “While an I.P.O. is clearly an available option to us, there is no update on any timeline,” Fanatics told DealBook. John Cleese’s blockchain-based satire The comedian John Cleese is selling an NFT, or nonfungible token. It’s a joke — sort of. Evoking a classic con, the sale of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Monty Python actor is auctioning an authenticated digital sketch of the bridge by “The Unnamed Artist John Cleese,” with bidding running through April Fools’ Day. “I don’t make the jokes,” Mr. Cleese told DealBook. “I just point them out.” The project highlights the hyper-commodification of art in a frenzied market. Christie’s recently held its first NFT auction, selling the work of an artist known as Beeple for $69,346,250. That’s how much Mr. Cleese is asking for the sketch if a bidder wants to “buy it now.” He’ll split the proceeds evenly with his partners: a comedy writer, an animator and a law professor doubling as crypto consultant. The highest bid is now about $36,000. “I think it’s very funny,” Mr. Cleese said. “At the same time, we might make some money.” “Some things are worth pointing out, and some are not,” Mr. Cleese said. He said the Beeple sale was notable because it revealed a “mad world,” with people disconnected from meaningful emotional experiences, like seeing a painting at a gallery. Yet the 81-year-old also conceded that someone younger, for whom the line between the physical and digital worlds is more blurred, could have feelings about an NFT. The art world can’t afford to dismiss NFTs, Mr. Cleese said. Nor can he. By mocking the craze, he is now implicated in the thing he finds absurd — just how he’s made a living as a comedian. THE SPEED READ Deals The insurer Hartford rejected a $23 billion takeover bid by its rival Chubb, potentially setting off a takeover battle. (Reuters) Compass, the online real estate brokerage backed by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, hopes to be valued at as much as $10 billion in its I.P.O. (Bloomberg) Politics and policy Charles Schwab said it was quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, weeks after announcing it was shutting down its political action committee. (CNBC) Is Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democratic presidential candidate, weighing a run for California governor? (Politico) Tech Intel said it planned to spend $20 billion building two chip factories in Arizona, and pledged to build more processors for other companies. (NYT) Tesla will accept payment in Bitcoin, Elon Musk says. (Bloomberg) Customers of Coinbase have complained that the cryptocurrency exchange failed to help them when they were locked out of accounts or had their holdings stolen. (NYT) Best of the rest The C.E.O. of Levi Strauss urged Congress to pass a bill giving U.S. workers 12 weeks of paid time off for health care: “Not mandating paid leave is inexcusable.” (CNN) Prince Harry has a new job: “chief impact officer” at the Silicon Valley coaching start-up BetterUp. (WSJ) General Mills demonstrates how not to respond to a customer complaint about shrimp tails in a box of cereal. (NYT) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected]. Source link Orbem News #boom #bust

0 notes

paulinegill89 · 3 years

Text

montana farm bureau insurance

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes from different companies :insurancequotesonline.xyz

montana farm bureau insurance

montana farm bureau insurance for farm owners who can’t get a good enough rate on the farm insurance at all. Plus we’ll provide all of the we sell! If you’re a farm owner in West Virginia with a lot of insurance to protect your family and your farm, you’ll probably want to consider West Virginia Farm Bureau. We have a network of 1,000 local, reliable insurance companies and have been providing affordable auto and home insurance rates to farm customers for over 25 years. In today’s environment, we’re all dependent on weather conditions to get you insurance. But West Virginia Farm Bureau’s auto insurance discounts are some of the most diverse and affordable in the country. All of our local insurance agents are available throughout the state of West Virginia. This list offers an awesome selection of insurance companies in WV… The average annual WV car insurance rate is $1,943 per year. Average annual car insurance rates are determined by the state. montana farm bureau insurance policies. There are a handful of companies that make this coverage available from certain companies across the country. It is a requirement to carry both your farm bureau membership and an agricultural insurance policy. Farmers insurance gives you peace of mind, but this information is just one part of a personal relationship between you and your farm bureau. If you are a farm bureau, you must take part in both your farm bureau. The farm bureau protects the business on and off their farms, as well as in the farm bureau, and protects the financial interests of the farm bureau. Your farm bureau can offer life insurance, farm bureau insurance, or Farm Bureau Life Insurance on everything from farm equipment . This allows you to have more peace of mind. Farm bureau insurance is required in Nevada. It is required in California. Farm bureau insurance can cover the risks associated with a wide variety of risks. It can also cover the potential for losses to you, your employees, or your properties. Farm bureau insurance can cover the. montana farm bureau insurance in Montana, where they purchased their . Their car was totaled and they found a year and a half later, but the homeowner didn t have insurance. In May 2018 it was decided to go with a new carrier to avoid a big loss in the event of a disaster like that. I would be happy to provide my details on how to contact them and who to contact the most for any of the services we were willing to provide. I hope I have some helpful answers for you, so I can show you what is important to me and why you deserve it to be there for you for a day. Thank you so much for letting your insurance help me out. The team was very responsive to our car accident, and the company did a great job of making sure that the people on the road were covered. I had them write a letter to the homeowner, and if it was his fault, I would also receive that information and the information would help me to understand how the homeowner could be.

Our Recommendations For Car Insurance

Our Recommendations For Car Insurance We are an independent insurance agency where you will find information to help you make a wise decision. Our services can definitely find you the best prices for your circumstances. But we can’t change your driving record or other aspects that affect your insurance options. Here are a few items that can help get your insurance price lower. The better your credit, the easier it is to get a quality insurance policy Cars With Disclaimer: AutoinsuranceEZ.com strives to present the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on saving money on car insurance possible. This information may be different than what you see when you visit an insurance provider, insurance agency, or insurance company website. All insurance rates, products, and services are presented without warranty and guarantee. When evaluating rates, please verify directly with your insurance company or agent. Quotes and offers are not binding, nor a guarantee of coverage. This site.

Tennessee Turns to Us for Insurance!

Tennessee Turns to Us for Insurance! A comprehensive insurance policy might just be the only reason you re interested in something, that might be your best choice if you re a former patient in search of better insurance options in your former home. A high accident rate might not be uncommon in Tennessee. For instance, insurance companies can see that drivers with a recent DUI or DWI and accidents are twice as likely to try to commit a claim as people uninsured. There are no state laws that require insurance companies to tell anyone you re insured at a pre- insured age. The average policy may have some hidden surcharges in it, but they should still be paid, especially if you ve given up driving. After your recent DUI conviction, for example, the law requires you to provide proof that you re a responsible driver as well as a valid driver s license. If you don t, you re required to pay your insurance company up front. In case, you aren t responsible for driving responsibly and were involved in an accident, you re required to.

We discuss the perks and challenges of working with this car insurance company.

We discuss the perks and challenges of working with this car insurance company. You can even start the claim by using your phone, calling (866) 481-4PO and you can speak to a representative for free. Our insurance agents don t have staff or staff, so you may have to speak to an attorney. We recommend seeking out the right information about your own situation to decide if it s worth making a claim with. Don t forget, if you ve been involved with this type of insurance company before, be sure to ask to speak with one of our agents as this may not be the first time you ll have trouble getting a claim under this type of coverage. Most car insurance policies are issued by the , which is the insurance company that insures all of your personal possessions and also extends coverage for any vehicles you use. When you file a claim with them, they ll want to make sure that your insurance has been in effect for the policyholder s lifetime. If the car insurance policyholder who used this type of policy never gets into an accident before,.

Insurance 101

Insurance 101 If you aren’t looking for lower rates, then you may want to get a quote from your current provider. Life insurance offers financial protection for your loved ones. It is a valuable complement to comprehensive coverage. We all own basic assets, but life insurance can help ensure your family’s financial security if something happens to you. When you are considering the best life insurance policy or life insurance policy, we suggest you talk to a qualified agent to compare the options. By doing so, your agent will have a deep understanding of the different types of life insurance policies and provide you with the best life insurance rates for your family. Your agent will make sure you receive all of your life insurance options and coverage by comparing multiple options so you are able to enjoy the coverage you want for your family and provide for your.

Farm Bureau Insurance in Other States

Farm Bureau Insurance in Other States: You may be required to file Schedule 5B of a “Standard and Poor” series plan. Schedule C provides a list of the insured’s personal auto insurance products to be covered under the plan. Schedule P also contains an outline of how the plan will interact with health insurance policies and the benefits of medical benefits in most situations. See the Appendix I for the complete table. You wouldn’t think doing a bit of research on the type of insurance you want to get would only serve to boost your odds of getting into an accident or becoming seriously injured in the accident itself. But that can mean a wide range of factors that can affect your chances of getting the coverage you need at the lowest price. How much you do research, including your history and your current insurance history, can lead to pretty accurate estimates on how much it will cost to insure you and your vehicle. In general, it can be a little hard to get a.

Broadwater County Farm Bureau Insurance

Broadwater County Farm Bureau Insurance The Farm Bureau of North America The Farmers Insurance Company of Nevada is known in the industry for its affordable insurance rates, broad coverage options and strong financial stability. Based on premiums and claims rate data provided by Safeco Financial, Sainsworth, NY, the average policy is $99 per month. Average annual premium for a 25-year-old married couple is as follows: $254 NerdWallet $318 Safeco Financial $318 Farmers Financial of Nevada $317 Liberty Mutual of South Carolina $329 Safeco Insurance of California $326 Progressive $349 AIG of Nevada Recap: The Farm Bureau of North America and the Best Farm Bureau Auto Insurance Recap: Farm Bureau, a top-ranked mutual insurer, offers basic coverage to its customers in standard . The company has been rated.

0 notes

yay855 · 6 years

Text

There are a lot of people out there who subscribe to the Libertarian ideology of “an economy without regulation is a prosperous one”. And while I can understand their reasoning, the fact is, it’s just not based in reality. And I’m going to explain why, because, quite frankly, the best way to argue against an economic ideology is to explain logically.

Part one: why regulations are important.

Before regulations were put in place in the United States, there was an economic era known as the Gilded Age. During this Gilded Age, American corporations were flourishing, with manufacturing being in its prime. The assembly line had just recently begun to be a thing, and many American workers had begun to move from rural areas to the city searching for work. However, this was not necessarily a good thing.

Back then, factories, mining jobs, and other low-level work were generally not good to their workers. They suffered from a list of very, very unpleasant problems.

- Lack of minimum wage. Because the workers weren’t required to be paid a minimum amount, they were often paid extremely little, to the point where there were entire towns of workers who could barely afford to eat. And that’s on top of...

- Child labor. Because children were allowed to work in factories, and because there was no public school system in place yet, children would have jobs just the same as their parents, often at the same factory. This is often what allowed the parents to feed their children- the fact that their children were themselves earning their own food.

- Lack of an actual paycheck. Instead of paying their workers in, you know, money, many companies would instead pay their workers in something known as scrip- it was a false currency that could only be used at the company store. If the company went belly-under, or just left town (as coal mining companies often did), the workers were left with absolutely nothing.

- Lack of safety. Factories would often force their workers to work at a breakneck pace, without any actual safety measures in place. A worker in a clothes factory would often find themselves with breathing problems, because they had fabric particles build up inside of their lungs. And there was no air circulation either, not even open windows. If a worker got caught in the machinery, they would get chewed up inside of it unless a fellow worker turned it off- and doing so, even to save a life, could get them in serious trouble.

These are, in fact, actual problems that actually happened.

Then, the workers decided to strike back- specifically, by striking. They refused to do their jobs until their demands were met. In response, the factories hired strikebreakers, mercenaries whose job was to beat rebellious workers into submission so they’d stop striking and get back to work. You may even have heard of one group of strikebreakers- the Pinkertons.

Striking ultimately did not work until The Great Strike of 1877, in which workers from every single industry struck together, refusing to work until their demands were met. The entire US economy shut down- first the railroads, then the factories, and so on. This ultimately got the attention of those in charge, who decided to actually meet the demands of unions, aka groups of workers banding together to demand better rights. They then also forced unions into bureaucracy, slowing down any further progress they may make quite a bit. It didn’t work completely, but then, they also began to demonize unions, to the point where many people in the modern world believe unions are bad, even though unions got you:

- Minimum wage

- The eight-hour workday

- The weekend

- The end of child labor

- Employer-based health coverage

- Family and medical leave

While obviously not everyone has these things, things like minimum wage and child labor laws still exist.

But yay855, you might say, why did those things exist? Why couldn’t the people just use the Free Market to end them?

Well, I’ll tell you why: monopolies.

See, this all happened prior to one of the biggest regulations enacted: the ban on monopolies. Monopolies are when a single corporation owns an entire industry, meaning that they are no longer subject to competition. This allows them to enact all kinds of immoral practices without being challenged, to raise their prices as high as they like without anyone getting in their way. And if someone does attempt to stop them by creating competition, the big industry-spanning corporation can afford to lower their prices far below their new competition, waiting them out until the competition goes bankrupt before raising their prices back up. This is actually a tactic we see very often in modern business, such as with Uber- they have big backers, but ultimately charge less than the actual cost of business in order to put their competition out of business. This is also often used by big-name stores like Walmart and Starbucks, who will move into a new town, have large sales that the local competition can’t compete with, and then drive their prices back up once the local businesses close down.

But yay855, you might say, wouldn’t people just choose the more expensive option if it means supporting ethical business practices?

The short answer? No.

The long answer: Apple is known as one of the leading technology corporations, responsible for making Apple-brand electronics. Their biggest products are smartphones and computers. It is also effectively common knowledge that Apple products are manufactured using Chinese slave labor, as it is apparently cheaper to pay Chinese slave factories to make the product and ship it over to the US than to pay US factory workers. And yet, Apple is still one of the leading computer and smartphone brands. Their customers actually see Apple products as a point of pride, using them to fuel their own elitism. All this is despite the fact that Apple products are very expensive, despite the fact that Apple blatantly refuses to use industry standards like MicroUSB and Audio Jacks, instead replacing them with their own custom input adapters, the newest being the Lightning Port. While the Lightning Port being a multi-use port compatible with both audio output and data transfer is a promising development that should become the new standard, the iPhone X only has a single Lightning Port, forcing users to purchase an expensive and unwieldy accessory just so they can listen to music and charge their phone at the same time. And let’s not forget that the phone itself costs over a thousand dollars! And yet, it is consistently rated at or above four stars, despite all its fallbacks. Despite Apple using immoral practices to construct it.

Let’s also not forget that big oil spill caused by BP Oil in 2010, where a big-name oil company spilled a lot of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and did basically nothing to clean it up. And yet, they’re still a big-name oil company.

Most consumers do not care how moral their purchase was, they only care about what’s cheapest. That is because consumers themselves are concerned most with their immediate issues- things like “how much money can I afford to spend”. And because they are most concerned with how much money they are spending, they will gladly support a corrupt business if it means spending the least amount of money. While many middle-class and upper-class people will choose a more moral option, they can afford to do so- the majority of Americans (50.1% as of 2015) are of the working class, and their actual earnings shrink more and more every year as inflation goes up and wages remain largely stagnant. They are therefor forced to scrimp and scrounge every penny they can, and will ultimately always choose the cheapest option, not because they can afford to, but because they have to. And thus, immoral business practices will ultimately always succeed in a nation without regulation.

Part two: other reasons why businesses do immoral practices

Although pure profit is ultimately the biggest cause of why businesses act immorally, there are other reasons that cause them to act that way. The most important one is the stock market.

Here in the US, and in most places, a corporation is a publicly-traded entity, with shares of the company, known as stocks, being purchased and sold by stock brokers. The value of a stock is ultimately representative of the value of a corporation- the more profit a corporation brings in, the more its stocks are worth, and the more people will purchase and sell them.

Why is this a problem, you ask? Well, it’s a problem because it forces corporations to perform an ever-more-frantic dance of profit. Not long-term profit, mind you, but immediate profit. The faster an investor can sell their stock for a premium, the better.

A corporation can only improve profits so much. Once they hit that limit, where there is reasonably nowhere else to improve upon without sacrificing morality, they will sacrifice morality. The shareholders do, after all, typically control the majority of a company’s shares. Thus, once they hit that level, they dive down. Suddenly, corners are cut everywhere- this typically starts at the lowest levels first, but ultimately stops right around upper management. The CEO typically also benefits from this, as the increased profits thanks to reduced expenses go right into his bonus.

Final words:

Corporations are ultimately driven towards ever-increasing profits thanks to greed. The consumers ultimately do not notice the immorality of businesses, and if they do, they cannot normally afford to change their spending habits. And often, those that can will also not change their spending habits, because the cheapest options guarantee they have more money.

Libertarianism, specifically the ideal of zero corporate regulation, is ultimately a pipe dream. It relies on a populace willing and able to spend extra money to support moral business practices, something which we do not have. It also relies on immoral businesses not forming a monopoly by purchasing and/or driving out the competition, something which only is prevented thanks to government regulations.

#capitalism #libertarianism

3 notes · View notes

redheadwriterboy-blog · 4 years

Text

Message to Hank Gilbert2020

Retyping this as I was told the microsoft email system wasn't working, hopefully I will have far less spelling mistakes and far better tact in wording myself

Hank, first off let me say how happy I am that someone is running against Louis and no matter what, you will have my vote, I am a 25 year old leftist who has voted democrat since I was able to vote.

There are things however that I do wish to talk about. In 1964, LBJ declared war on poverty, he envisioned a nation where the government used its power given by the people to give back and help the people, the Great Society. A president from our state was able to do all that he did. I bring that up because from what I've read, you describe yourself as a conservative democrat like LBJ. Building a great society is not fiscally conservative, nor is it morally conservative. It is progressive,and that is how I believe you will win the election.

Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, countless Democratic presidents spoke in favor of single payer healthcare, beliefs from FDR to JFK to LBJ. Proud history and proud tradition of that. You do not state the type of medical reform you want, but I believe you want a public option. My question is, what about when the public option isn't fully funded as it should be, what about when private insurance companies kick off or don't cover the ill or disabled. That matters because when the risk pool is spread far and covering everyone,the healthy and the sick, costs can be kept down, like with auto insurance everyone is required to have it, even if you've never been in an accident (I can say I never have in my 11 years of driving). We could see a public option that is flooded and unable to hold itself up, and people will use that as a means to tear the public option that you want away. Another issue with a public option is it doesn't give the government enough power to negotiate costs. We pay the highest for medicine, because the government is unable to negotiate with the businesses on how much they can charge.When the government is the only negotiator for the people, then will things be able to get fixed. Otherwise we will have similar issues to what we are facing today. Another thing is that we Americans love choice. We love being able to go to Walmart and pick from the 500 different types of mac&cheese brands our favorites, under the current system we have for medical insurance, we have few choices. Certain doctors don't take certain insurances, certain hospitals are in network or out, one has to navigate that confusing web, one hospital might be in network but a doctor might not be in network, some places take the current Medicare, some don't. Will that not be any different under a public option system? With a single payer system, one that allows private doctors and hospitals to operate while the government is the only one providing insurance, people can go to any place they like to! It would also reduce the overhead costs hospitals have to have with negotiating pricing with hundreds of different insurances and having billers who have to use a million different codes for the same procedure depending on the countless factors each individual person presents. I know this from experience not only from being personal friends with administrative workers at the hospital I'm employed at, but also from training when I had a brief want to work at an insurance company. We simply must turn healthcare from a system that only cares about business, to a system that cares about improving peoples lives, especially in a nation that has been ranking horribly in terms of service and outcome. Even if you don't want a federal single payer system, then let each state have its own single payer system, look at the UK, the English healthcare system is horrible because its been gutted and underfunded by politicians who treated it as a business,but Scotland's healthcare system outperforms the English because they didn't gut it,they were able to protect theirs. (think of Scotland and England as two states in the same country cos that's basically what they are). Still want to keep private insurance? Then let them only offer small insurance for things the single payer system wont cover, like botox or nose jobs. We pay so much in taxes to Medicare and Medicaid already, on top of having to pay premiums,copays, out of pocket, in network, out of network, and then the next year comes and its all reset. We pay so much in terms of medical costs,which are basically private taxes, but would pay less on average in terms of all costs with a single payer system.

My second thing is higher education costs. Why. We have free education until 12th grade, but we're so wrapped in this notion of paying anything for university. Even if costs were reduced and programs changed to pay for it, there would still be a tuitional cost to students. None of that makes sense to me, especially in this modern age when higher education is something needed for all the advanced jobs appearing left and right,we're seeing other nations that do have free university pass us in every way. Why does it have to stay the way it is.

In the plan to reduce student debt, you say you want to go further than other democrats in congress, but you do not go far enough and should understand why that is said. Look at who we have in the white house, this man didn't get there by magic, he saw what people felt and used it, he was a fake populist, he made himself seem like an outsider (which he isn't), people saw how a decade of a centrist president(Obama), an oil oligarch, and another centrist before that were moving towards the right, moving away from democracy and away from giving the money to the people and towards pocketing it for themselves or giving it to big businesses that almost collapsed the national economy, he promised them the ability to eat. Hank you don't win by going half way when people are having huge issues, you put on your gloves and go all the way on being a democrat, on being progressive. Democrats win when they appeal not only to other democrats, but to the working class poor republicans who eat up everything some big wig sells them even if it is against their better interests. Because look who was running against trump in 2016, a centrist democrat who was more of the same,who didn't jump onto the narrative of people suffering. Look,fox news and republicans and the like are going to demonize you no matter what, if you make enough noise and a big enough splash in this race, they'll go after you even for the proposals you have that you view as conservative. You win by taking their base from under them and get them to see that you care about them and how proposals will push past the same old same old,you lay it out and explain why and how it will. Everyone is a mashup of needs and wants, you find what it is and use it, republicans do that and help themselves only, democrats need to see it and help the people. And yes, I know these "Free" programs aren't free, someone will pay for them. But, why don't we say the same thing when the US goes into illegal and offensive wars? When we spend an insane sum of money bombing and drone striking and destabilizing other nations, only then having to spend more money on terrorist fundamentalist groups the US creates from its invasions. Why don't we ask the same question on how will things be paid for when we give financial aid to governments who commit human rights violations? Why don't we ask the same questions when we bail out businesses that dug us into a recession, or when we allow the rich to hoard an ungodly amount of wealth. Hank, this battle is no longer the right vs left, big government vs small government. The republicans speak of wanting a small government and we really know they mean they want a giant government that works for the big businesses, money isn't created out of no where nor is its worth and the items sold defined out of no where, they rely on a big government to define what is capital, they rely on the big government's laws to enforce their ownership of the resources the big businesses use, they rely on a big government to disrupt other nations who's interest go against their bottom line. No, the real battle on the left vs right boils down to democracy and feudalism. We revolted against the British when they wouldn't give us a say or benefits from the government we were being taxed into, why should we democrats sit politically and allow the same thing to happen from republicans in congress? We have enough resources to do these great works, that isn't the issue, the issue is how they are used, to quote Charlie Chaplin

"this world has room for everyone, and the good Earth is rich can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed."

this last paragraph is less policy and more on why I think what I do, so it wont be as worded well and structured as above. These issues are very important to me, when I was attending college, I had to drop out. I was working 60 hours a week, and going to college full time, I just turned 18, I tried to stay in as long as I could, I couldn't. I just stopped going to university because I needed to focus on affording to keep a roof over my head, I'm from Dallas I should add, where the housing and cost of living is insane compared to Tyler. I have always believed in hard work, I never ask anyone for anything I can get on my own, I'm stubborn enough that when I didn't have a my own car (when my family had to share one car and if someone else was at work when I needed to get home, oh well) I would walk over four miles to work, and four miles to get home from work. My paternal grandma worked her entire life as a nurse, a single mother because my grandpa died when my dad was 6 years old, she worked her entire life to take care of her kids, and never asked for help, but gave nonstop to the less fortunate,any stranger who needed food or money or a ride,anything, because she believed that as people we are here to help each other. She passed away in 2009, November 27th. She had health insurance from working as a nurse her whole life, she also received help because the cancer that got her was caused by chemicals her dad used (asbestos) when serving in the navy in ww2,she also had help from the government because her husband that died was in the air force. All of that taught me 1) how important believing in hard work is and 2) how important the government is to be ruled by the will of the people, to provide for the people, to invest in the lives and care of the people it serves. So I said how I was from Dallas, but I was born in small east TX two hours away from Dallas,we moved to Dallas when I was 2, and would go back to there every summer to be with family. I learned southern values that involve being there for each other, providing for each other, helping each other, caring for each other, pooling what you have together for each other. Those same values are what need to be reflected in a single payer healthcare system. These values of hard work and doing things by the want of the community and running the big greedy banker and the corrupt politician lining their own pockets out of town. The republicans think they have a monopoly on southern values, but they don't, southern values line up with what progressive democratic values should be. No matter someone's race or religion or orientation or history, Y'all really does mean all.

0 notes

i-am-very-very-tired · 7 years

Link

Like most people my age, I found out that the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) had passed the House of Representatives via social media. My Twitter feed was filled with outrage about defunding Planned Parenthood and so my rage focused there, too. I wrote my representatives, composed a tweet of my own, decided to donate my time and money, and vowed that the next time I saw some old, white men protesting outside of my local Health Center I would give them more than just a dirty look. I thought that was the worst of it. But the next day, I saw #IAmAPreExistingCondition trending on Twitter, and after that, my entire outlook on the AHCA changed. As I scrolled through the tweets, it hit me that the AHCA could destroy more than just my reproductive rights. It could ruin my whole life. I had never had to deal with insurance issues like this before. I was covered under my mother’s insurance until I took my first job —ironically enough, working in a phone bank for a company that mainly denied appeals for Medicare coverage— and none of my health struggles emerged until months after I’d been hired. Too late for Blue Cross Blue Shield to hold them against me. When I switched to insurance I selected under the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2015, no insurance provider could deny me coverage, raise my premiums, or refuse to pay for benefits because of a pre-existing condition. The same held true when I became a Massachusetts resident in 2016 and applied for MassHealth. I didn’t even know how many pre-existing conditions I had. I panicked, googled “American Health Care Act pre-existing conditions,” and read everything I could find from reliable sources. According to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, CNN, Time, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and NH Health Cost, I have 17 pre-existing conditions that, before the ACA took effect, insurers could have used as an excuse to refuse to cover me or to severely raise my premiums, including: ▪A mild-to-moderate alcohol use disorder. ▪Back pain. ▪Mental disorders, including: Mild agoraphobia. Anxiety. ADHD. Bipolar disorder. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). Depression. Seasonal affective disorder. ▪Menstrual irregularities. Sleep disorders, including: ▫BruxismREM Sleep Behavior Disorder. ▪Trauma as a result of domestic violence and sexual assault. Oh, and I guess I should also mention that I’m into BDSM and being choked, as those are sexual masochism disorders listed in the DSM-V. Why? Because according to experts interviewed by Time, having a “sexual deviation or disorder” could be a problem. Considering the Vice President’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights, being a queer, gender non-conforming, polyamorous woman who often wears men’s clothes may also be an issue, especially since it’s in my psychiatrist’s files. This brings my grand total to 19 pre-existing conditions. If you count my sexuality, dating lifestyle and gender expression, that’s 22. Based on my family history, I’m at risk for three more—Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, and diabetes— and since I’ve applied for disability twice, that could also factor against me, according to Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). It can take no more than one of my medical conditions to disqualify me from coverage or to make my premium so high as to be unaffordable. Right now, I pay almost nothing for health care. I live in Massachusetts and qualify for MassHealth CarePlus based largely on my income; since I don’t make more than 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($1,305 a month), I don’t pay premiums or copayments. I haven’t had to enter treatment for alcohol abuse, but if I did, it would be completely covered. When I threw out my back (again) a few months ago, all my treatment was covered, and when I ended up in the hospital because the muscle relaxants I was prescribed gave me serotonin syndrome, I never received a bill. I see my trauma therapist and psychiatrist and attend group therapy for free, and when I went for four hours of neuropsychological testing to confirm my ADHD diagnosis, all it cost me was time. The same was true when I got an IUD (at Planned Parenthood, bless them), which I use for birth control and to eliminate my formerly monstrous periods. Are you getting the picture? None of my pre-existing conditions affect my life in any way because I’m covered by a system that’s essentially the same as the Affordable Care Act. The only costs I incur are for my six medications: Seroquel, two types of Depakote, Klonopin, Effexor, and Adderall. They each cost $3.65 per month, $21.90 all told. That’s the extent of the financial obligation to my health, apart from prescriptions for routine things, like strep throat (I’m prone to it) or UTIs and yeast infections. Even then, there’s some wiggle room. According to my MassHealth handbook, I never have to pay more than $250 in any given year for prescriptions and if I can’t afford a copayment, all I have to do is tell my pharmacist. Legally, they still have to give my the medication and the fee is “put on my tab,” as it were. Setup Timeout Error: Setup took longer than 30 seconds to complete. If I applied for insurance under AHCA policies and was denied, I would end up paying around $100 per hour for therapy, $125 to 285 per hour for psychiatry, about $50 per session for group therapy, and $588.42 for my medications (using a discount card). My basic mental health care costs would be $1,688.42 to $2,328.42 per month, hundreds more than I make. Even by cutting every possible cost (canceling my cell phone, placing the full burden of household expenses on my partner, and never spending a cent on clothes, personal care products, or other “extras”), I’d still come up short. There is also the possibility that, if Massachusetts adopted the AHCA’s guidelines, I would end up in a high-risk insurance pool, a state-created health care market for people who are especially sick or who were denied other health insurance coverage. The problem is that whereas “normal” insurance companies receive premiums from healthy people to cover the costs of the sick, no such offset exists in these pools. As a result, premiums and deductibles skyrocket, yearly and lifetime coverage costs can be limited, and what coverage there is tends to be inadequate. Even still, people end up on waitlists for this impotent insurance because there isn’t enough funding to meet demand. But let’s say I could afford a premium of $298.75 to $478 per month, a deductible of about $10,000 per year, and that I wouldn’t end up on a waitlist. Even then, I’d most likely be subject to a waiting period during which treatment for my pre-existing conditions would not be covered. As of 2013, Massachusetts’ group health plans allowed a maximum exclusion period —the period during which insurers can refuse to cover treatment related to pre-existing conditions— of six months, half a year in which I’d be paying that $1,688.42 to $2,328.42 a month, plus hundreds more for insurance that wouldn’t cover my basic needs. Since my treatment and medication would cost so much with insurance, I might even be tempted to go without—as I imagine many others in my situation would. However, Section 133 of the bill would almost eliminate any desire to get coverage if my financial situation changed; it forces insurers to increase premiums by 30 percent for anyone with a break in coverage of 62 days or more. Anyone with pre-existing conditions, especially those who also experience financial difficulty, would be practically legislated into debt, whether they chose to seek coverage or not. The state itself might not even feel that it’s worthwhile to make a high-risk pool. Section 132 of the AHCA states that in order to receive their share of funding to create these pools, they have to match federal funds “at a rate that grows from 7 percent in 2020 to 50 percent in 2026.” That probably has something to do with the AHCA also repealing the tanning tax and the Net Investment Income Tax, and would allow insurance companies to deduct employee salaries of $500,000 or more. Hey, the money to take care of sick people has to come from somewhere. But it won’t be from tanning salons that cause skin cancer or the richest 2 percent of the population. Certainly not from the insurance companies that pay next to nothing in taxes, anyway. My worries about the AHCA extend beyond my own health. My partner, to whom I’m committed in all but marriage, has often helped me financially. He works full time at a marketing firm and his paychecks are steady, whereas mine are sporadic. I pay any bills under my own name, but we negotiate rent, food, and creature comforts based on the state of my checking account. I mention this only because he has four pre-existing conditions of his own: ADHD, anemia, depression and hypertension, and has a family history of seven more: addiction, asthma, brain cancer, high cholesterol, obesity, sleep apnea, and ulcers. Although he receives health insurance through his employer, he’s still not safe. The mandate that large employers must provide affordable health insurance to their employees would be repealed under the AHCA, as would the penalty for large employers that don’t cover essential health benefits, like pregnancy costs and preventative medicine (not to mention the mental health coverage we both need). His company might decide to cut costs in one of two ways: by offering cheap plans that don’t cover essential benefits, or by offering expensive plans that do. Either way, his plan couldn’t deny or change his coverage based on the AHCA, but if we were to throw aside our choice of commitment and marry so I could be covered as his dependent, we might not be able to afford it due to my health history. If the AHCA were to pass, I’d be left in a precarious situation. Under AHCA policies, cost sharing for low-income individuals like myself would be gone by 2020, as would the premium assisted tax credit, which allows me to receive a return on the unused amount come tax time. The heightened costs of health care (or going without care due to those costs) would push my anxiety through the roof. I have already been admitted to inpatient psychiatric units twice for this reason, and, under the AHCA, I’m sure I would soon be back. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there were 67 million women who met the narrow definition of a pre-existing condition in 2014, 8 million people in my age group (25 to 34), and 45 million Americans who qualified on the basis of a behavioral health disorder. I may be just one, but I am one among millions whose lives would be irreparably sabotaged by the American Health Care Act, a bill that treats the health of American citizens with anything but care. Liz Lazzara is an essayist and mental health advocate living and working in Boston, MA. She is currently working on a memoir about complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

1 note · View note

prettyrottenguts · 7 years

Text

I’ve Got a New Condition — Chronic Repeal Exhaustion

The GOP has threatened to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since it became official. They dubbed it Obamacare. Many Americans believe that Obamacare is different than the ACA, and the GOP has seized upon that. Our current president wants to repeal it. On Monday, February 27, 2017, President Trump made a comment that “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.”

I beg to differ. I seriously, beg to differ.

For the past decade, every single professional move that I’ve made has had a health insurance component attached. The day I was formally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease was the worst and best thing to happen to me. It validated I was truly ill after all the years of being ignored by doctors, but it also tagged me with a pre-existing condition for the rest of my life. The diagnosis while a blessing, also cursed me with the necessity of never being able to have a lapse in health insurance coverage.

I assure you Mr President, even back then at 25-years-of age, I knew healthcare was very complicated.

Fact: About 52 million Americans (or 1-in-4 people) have a pre-existing condition.

The fear I lived with for over a decade now, was that if I went without coverage for too long my pre-existing condition won’t be covered. In order to take on a new plan, one must provide a certificate of coverage from your former insurer proving one did not go more than 90 days without coverage. Without this certificate one may get health insurance, but a pre-existing condition won’t receive coverage. It eventually may get covered, but a certain amount of years would need to pass. It’s a truly daunting and exhausting process.

Around the time the economy began to tank and ACA provisions came to life, I picked up a private policy. This plan was imperfect just like the ACA, but it was all I qualified for since I had Crohn’s disease. It was a high-deductible- and high-premium plan. I didn’t have much choice in taking this plan. I was just grateful that I had something instead of nothing and worked myself into the ground to afford it. It was exhausting. I was exhausted. And exhaustion is a dangerous cocktail when you have a chronic condition.

Proof of continuous coverage was the name of the game. I was hoping to keep the plan long enough until I would go full-time with my job that had strung me along as a contractor. Sadly as my health began to deteriorate they rescinded the offer to go full-time and left me as a contracted employee. At least I had the high-premium high-deductible plan to keep coverage intact and was able to afford it.

As we all know, life can happen at the drop of a hat.

When my former boss deemed my health a “liability for the team” and shifted my pay to per diem, I was left with little-to-no income and a $400 monthly bill for insurance coverage, mortgage, car payment, utilities, etc... This list does not include the additional cost of doctor appointment co-pays, medications, or procedures. Nor did it include cost for eventually needed infusions or the cost associated with the infusion center where the infusions were administered.

In less than six weeks time the cost of the infusion treatment’s loading doses (three doses total) came to over $1,000. If I had to pay for the medication, it would have been upward of $45,000. Luckily the medication cost was sponsored by the manufacturer’s program for people whose insurance wouldn’t cover the med. By the third month, I was encroaching on $2,000 in infusion center co-pays alone. This doesn’t count the $1,200 worth of monthly premiums I paid into over that time span. I was bleeding money out the wazoo, and actual blood. For those unaware, internal bleeding is a thing that happens with certain digestive diseases like Crohn’s.

Below is a picture of me trying to make a bad situation seem normal and okay for other patients in the same boat.

I would like to point out the ACA is imperfect. The original iteration of the ACA had a lot more benefits than detriments, but as always ends up happening bureaucratic bloat occurred.

Since 2011, better plans became available in many states, but not all. This disparity is part of the reason why the ACA isn’t popular amongst the people who are paying the same premiums I used to pay, although they may be receiving a far better plan.

The ACA was designed to help spread out cost affordably, but inevitably some people, in certain states like Florida (where I live), got the shaft. They were not getting fair premiums and were having trouble finding practitioners who would accept the coverage they’re paying so much money for, and I urge them to look to news archives about how their Governor affected these premiums. And how insurance company CEOs are driving up cost in the name of their shareholders and higher revenue, as well as multi-million-dollar end-of-year bonuses to line their personal pockets. But I digress.

At the age of 30, I received a lesson in healthcare economics that I never asked for. Since then, I have fought for others to not have to have the same experiences I was forced to: lose job, forced to sell a house I built from the ground up (see image below) along with all worldly possessions.

The ACA, as I mentioned before is imperfect, but two of its provisions saved my life. When I was officially declared disabled, the ACA had a provision that allowed me to go under my mother’s employer’s health insurance plan. She could have retired by now, but remains working to help keep me insured until I’m well enough to return to work. Another provision that the ACA provided was extinguishing lifetime expenditure caps. Aside from those two provisions, there is also the pre-existing condition provision that would allow me to apply for affordable coverage and not get denied due to my various conditions if / when I am able to work and can afford to buy my own policy once again.

On Sunday, during CNN’s State of the Union broadcast, Rick Santorum sat on a panel and opened his mouth and said the following words, “... that thousands maybe approaching millions of Americans are paying 9 months for insurance...” Wow thousands morphing into millions is impressive in and of itself. Next, he continued the character assassination of the chronically ill and insinuated those with pre-existing conditions are scammers stealing health care. He implicated all Americans with chronic illnesses are only paying their monthly insurance premiums up until September, and went on to explain how they don’t lose their coverage for those three months of non-payment and due to provisions in the ACA are allowed to go and buy a new plan come January without consequence. [You can watch the clip here: https://youtu.be/aQO-xOntmEo.]

Confused? Irate?

Yeah, me too.

Let’s burn down an entire program based on an unfounded hypothesis, rather than fixing the alleged loophole he’s speaking of. Makes a lot of sense.

Editor’s note: Mr. Santorum if you ever see this, contact me and let’s have a chat.

[Screen shot below taken from appearance on CNN’s SOTU appearance, link above.]

I’d like to point out that Santorum has a young child with Trisomy 18, which if a child survives past birth requires costly medical care for the rest of their life. You would think Santorum would be more empathetic to the plight of those who need pre-existing condition protections in order to survive. However, it appears Rick Santorum sees the chronically ill as scam artists.

For the record, I’ve never met someone with a chronic illness willing to risk loss of coverage or future ability to retain coverage. Nor have I met a patient willing to be sent to collections. But this is what Rick Santorum thinks of us.

This makes me wonder if many of his GOP peers also think of us as such? Some of these GOP peers who according to the odds, more than likely, have pre-existing conditions themselves, no less.

This Saturday, I leave for Washington D.C., to attend the Digestive Disease National Coalition (DDNC) forum. We will advocate for agenda items such as funding for disease and treatment research, along with asking for provisions to keep patients with pre-existing conditions safe.

I’m not against changing the ACA from the iteration it’s taken on, but I do want to save the provisions that keep vulnerable people safe. I do want to help make it better. However, I’m not seeing replacement plan proposals that will benefit anyone who isn’t of decent financial means, and I have not seen a single thing that will benefit the estimated 52 million Americans (one-in-four people) with pre-existing conditions. All the while GOP members cry “Repeal!” and “It’s a disaster!”

I’m only seeing disasters being presented. I’ve never so much wanted to be proven wrong before in my life and still hold some hope that some kind of middle ground can be reached, but my hope is fading quickly.

President Trump has met with politicians (majority of which belong to his party), and industry leaders in the tech and business sectors, as well as the health insurance industry. The people he’s refused to meet with or acknowledge since becoming president are the patients worried about the next steps to his Repeal and Replace ideology. His comments on Monday about not realizing healthcare was so complicated, is worrisome, to put it lightly.

It’s very complicated. Lives hang in the balance based upon whatever form of “Repeal” this administration takes on.

And so I fight, and will continue to battle through Chronic Repeal Exhaustion, until this matter is dead in the water or I am. I prefer the former.

1 note · View note

shirlleycoyle · 4 years

Text

The Robots Microsoft Assigned to Do My Job Can’t Do It

The most important skill in journalism is not fucking up, and in early June, MSN’s new programming algorithm fucked up. MSN UK published a story about the British pop duo Little Mix, mistaking one of the duo’s mixed-race singers for the other. It was an error that would have gone unnoticed 99 times out of 100 prior to the installation of AI programming, but trended vigorously because it came just days after the Guardian reported that 50 editors had lost their jobs to make way for this algorithm, which would handle the bulk of MSN’s programming going forward.

I was one of the editors who was let go, and it was bittersweet to see reporters at outlets like this one finally acknowledge the existence of MSN, a behemoth news-redistribution shop that trails only Google sites for total traffic, and is ahead of Facebook—though I never thought there was any mystery about why it was ignored. MSN had long since abandoned creating its own content in favor of licensing news from premium partners at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, et. al. when not receiving it free from smaller operations that act as remoras via affiliate links in articles—a category that includes hundreds, if not thousands, of partners around the globe. If you use MSN at all, it’s likely indirectly, posting articles you found via a search or your default browser homepage:

My job was to create the MSN Money section every morning from these stories and monitor it, a job I called “fantasy newspaper” because of its relation to the pick-and-choose games of fantasy sports. I was good at it. I fucked up the same way the algorithm did when it misidentified the Little Mix member more times than I can count, but I either never got caught or, more likely, caught it myself. One thing about creating a morning news section by yourself for a site that gets more than six billion hits per year (and that’s just MSN Money, in America), is that you tend to be a bit peripatetic; I checked and rechecked my work repeatedly like a news junkie and full-blown digital addict. Imagine a lone old-time phone operator in a room where the ringing never stopped, and that’s pretty much what it felt like. It was a volume business with a skeleton staff, but it kept people—a lot of them—connected to the world, even though I had never really met these people. It was way more of a job than a career; just as smaller news operations feed off Microsoft, so do hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of individuals like myself, all happy enough to cash a check to push news around.

Here is where I’d like to get into salacious details about the politics of our programming, but they’re disappointingly bland. Like any operation of a certain size, MSN professes to be non-partisan but is in fact aggressively non-confrontational, to the point where a single user comment on any of our stories that raised a red flag would be brought to us at once. This is theoretically absurd, given the scale of things, but it happened rarely enough not to be too much of a bother. (By far the best one of these was a multimillionaire yacht owner whose boat had ended up in our photo system saying his ship was a nation unto itself that he did not allow to be photographed, so we needed to remove it.) Occasionally articles deemed too left- or right-wing would come down at the request of an editor, but there was such a deluge of content that you never needed to worry about finding a softer-edged replacement for them. It will not surprise you that virtually everyone I worked with was vaguely center-left, politically, and it will shock you even less that some of the smarmier full-time employees were sure to remind us not to let it affect our coverage. For my part, at least, being in the Money vertical allowed me to run as much left-leaning content as I wanted, given that the entirety of the rest of the section skewed right. I never had to elucidate it like this, though it came up once or twice; I just showed up and worked and that was it as long as no one was embarrassed.

About the only other time I can remember someone citing MSN was when certain outlets objected to the editorial disclaimer we were asked to put on articles that bent toward Scary Opinion, on the grounds that said articles (I believe they were from the Real Gawker family) were not, in fact, opinions, but facts. They were right, of course, but the language and tone of most of their stories precluded us beaming them to virtual Middle America in the first place.

This record of successful blandness, combined with the internal head-slapping after the Little Mix-up, does not bode well for the future—or the present—of news. MSN never got into real hot water for messing up a headline or story, which was a minor miracle but was at least the goal. Now, at a time where context is needed most, MSN is handing the reins from editors to engineers. A Microsoft spokesperson said the contract lapses had nothing to do with the pandemic, and I believe them; Microsoft has haltingly moved toward automation for years, usually in a cycle of job cuts followed by partial rehirings when they realized (as the editors did immediately) that they had bitten off more than they could chew.

This time feels different, though. Based on how far they’ve come down this road, the algorithm will sink or swim on its own, which is to say it’ll probably sink and take down the whole of MSN with it. Maybe that’s overstating things, but MSN is low enough in the Microsoft hierarchy that its existence has felt like it was on the chopping block for years. (This is all ultimately speculation, because I had no idea, after nearly a decade, who makes the decisions there, nor did my boss or talent agency.)

A lot of the friction in the changeover from human to robot involves negotiating the change from the contractor model, which Microsoft and others use to save themselves from paying benefits or severance or providing long-term work assurance, back to the full-time employee model, which takes a bunch of people who are harder to fire and forces them into jobs to which they may or not be suited. The tension in the old model was between the contractors like myself with news backgrounds, who produced the lion’s share of news, and the full-timers with Microsoft backgrounds, who “oversaw” it and did a lot of thinking about whether we should be pivoting to video to slideshows or vice versa that week. There were exceptions on both sides, but this is how it went until July 1, when what the Guardian cheekily called our “algorithmic robot” replacements stepped in, kicking the full-timers down to grunt duty and the contractors out the door, context —in and outside the newsroom—be damned.

That is to say that there are still human eyes on the site, just fewer, and that the people behind those eyes know the writing is on the wall. Even the process of losing my job was impenetrable; my boss couldn’t tell me who made the decision because he simply didn’t know. This is how announcements come at Microsoft: from on high. In that way, the algorithm’s ascent is just part of the natural order of things. If the decision-makers aren’t even identifiably human, why wouldn’t they rather wipe us all out?

The nice part of the job was having access to all the world’s news, though it gave me scant time to read it all, given the constant maintenance MSN Money—just one vertical!—required. Each section—News, Money, Sports, Entertainment, Travel, etc.—was its own fiefdom, as was the Home Page, which was and is the ultimate traffic driver for MSN. Much like the CD business thrived long after you and I stopped buying them, the MSN home page is still big money for legacy media of all shapes and sizes. It is common for popular stories there to get 15 million pageviews and have 15,000 concurrent users, and for super-popular stories to bury those numbers. I produced all these stories, and I still don’t know a person who actively tries to consume them. But someone does.

Who? From what I can tell, old people. The most consistently popular topic we ran in Money, and we did more or less daily, was “At what age you should take Social Security?” I could spend my whole morning agonizing over which Times story to feature (the Big Three old newspapers had strict limits on what we could take), follow it up with a Social Security story from another partner, and bang—the latter would do better numbers, invariably. I largely avoided learning about popular topics in the other verticals, but as Money and Lifestyle were next to each other on the home page, I can tell you the only true rivals to Social Security’s popularity as a topic were Duchesses Catherine and Meghan, about whom it was not possible to program too much.

The Social Security stories are a good example of how some partners gamed the system for the better. Most of them came from the Motley Fool, a financial publication that effectively parcels out stories on the same seven subjects a day, incredibly effectively— think Chipotle for popular retirement and savings topics. On the flip side, the same Motley Fool, along with several similar smaller operations from which we licensed content, was found several years ago to be publishing articles from writers who had been paid to write articles specifically to move stocks in a certain direction. All of the organizations settled, likely because they were all caught dead to rights. Given that these are the exact type of articles we—humans, with knowledge of what makes a piece plausible or not—chose or did not choose to program at MSN Money, I think the problems are about to get much worse.

There are two problems, as I see it. First, I don’t think the algorithm will be able to keep things orderly. So much of the job was about maintenance that, against my better judgment, it reminds me of Hamlet: “Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” My job was often that of a gardener, and as someone who is now doing quite a bit of actual gardening in unemployment, the difficulty and necessity of it—the effort it takes to produce something worthwhile—is top of mind. The only difference is that I fear things “rank and gross in nature” will not merely possess MSN, but subsume it to the point Microsoft wants its name completely disassociated from it. I hope I’m wrong.

Second, the algorithm won’t really know the game, the way even I didn’t when I started. I can see it now, and if you’ll allow me another analogy I’d compare it to antichess, which is exactly what it sounds like: A game you’re trying to lose. The quirk that makes the game go is that you must take a piece if you are allowed, and as a novice, I quickly learned that this can lead to easy cascades from which there is no escape, far more so than regular chess in that, at least in a proper chess death spiral, you think you have agency over the moves. In antichess there’s none of that: It’s usually a cascade to certain finishes, with the fatal mistake so obvious to be easily perceptible. This feels like that mistake. MSN is up against forces it hasn’t reckoned with, and whoever’s left can only hope they get one more move to fight back, even if it can only all still end one way.

Follow Bryan Joiner on Twitter.

The Robots Microsoft Assigned to Do My Job Can’t Do It syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

0 notes

randallvangundy · 4 years

Text

Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack Review

I walk my dog every morning. It’s the usual routine, which includes cleaning up dog poop too – this part of the routine is what I dislike. It’s a messy job, even with the current pooper scooper I’m using. Plus, I always find it hard looking for the materials I need from the pet store. Then, one day, a friend told me about the Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack. Curious, I researched it and thought that it might be the solution I need.

Things to consider before buying a Pooper Scooper

There are a few reasons why you need to clean up dog waste:

Dog poop is considered environmental pollution.

It’s the law.

It prevents the spread of diseases from one dog to another.

However, nobody likes cleaning up dog waste. It’s not easy, not to mention that you would need to bend over to clean up dog poop. If you’re not easily grossed out, then good for you. But for most dog owners, this is one part of that daily routine that they probably want to escape from.

Good thing that we have pooper scoopers to aid us in cleaning. They typically have long handles for extended reach, so you don’t need to bend over or have close contact with the waste.

For you to get the most benefits out of a pooper scooper, below are several things that you would have to consider:

Weight and Length

The weight and length of the pooper scooper should be the first thing you need to look at.

You would want the pooper scooper to be as lightweight as possible, so it’s easy for you to carry it wherever you go. This is extremely important if you’re a senior, as you wouldn’t want to strain your arm with a large type.

The handle length is also critical, especially if you’re a tall person. You would want the handle length to fit your height well so you wouldn’t have to bend over and hurt your back trying to pick up dog waste. Besides, this is the primary purpose why you got a pooper scooper in the first place.

Quality and Durability

The next thing you would want to check is the quality and durability of the product. You will undoubtedly want your pooper scooper to last for years if you’re going to get the best value for it.

Generally, pooper scoopers are made of heavy-duty plastic. Many pooper scoopers in the market offer this while being lightweight at the same time You should also choose one that comes with a non-stick material so that dog waste won’t stay on the surface of the pooper scooper.

Claw-Type vs. Bin-and-Rake Type

The style of the pooper scooper you choose is going to be important as well. The main difference between the claw-type and the bin-and-rake type of pooper scooper is the hand use.

Claw-type pooper scoopers come with that one hand function and an easy-pull handle that springs open the jaws to pick up dog waste. The bin-and-rake type, on the other hand, functions like you’re sweeping the trash to the bin.

Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack Review

Check Amazon’s Price

The Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack is perfect for those who are looking for the complete waste removal package. The set comes with the pooper scooper, two rolls of bags, and a clip-on bag holder which not a lot of manufacturers offer.

It’s the all-in-one solution you’re looking for. This means you wouldn’t have to pay separate shipping fees just to purchase a bag designed for dog waste pick-up.

Below are the features and benefits this pack can give us to aid your buying decision.

.wp-pros-cons { background: #F9F9F9; border: dashed 2px #001a71; } .wp-pros-cons .wppc-btn-wrapper .jd-wppc-btn { color: #fff; background: #212121; } .wp-pros-cons .wppc-btn-wrapper .jd-wppc-btn { border-radius: 5px; }

Quick Glance

What’s Good

An all-in-one cleaning solution

Easy to assemble

Lightweight pooper scooper

Non-stick material for easy cleaning

What’s Bad

Some users complain about the poop bag ripping easily

Poop bags sometimes slip

Scooper might be too small for bigger dog waste

Design

The Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack comes at an affordable price. However, even if this is the case, and it comes with a complete set, the pooper scooper itself is of high quality.

Check Amazon’s Price

The pooper scooper is a claw-type one. The jaw springs open with the use of high-tension springs connected to an easy-pull handle. Meaning, you can conveniently use it even with one hand for a breezy waste pick-up.

The manufacturers constructed the Bodhi pooper scooper from premium-grade plastic, which made it highly durable and will last you for years.

Another great advantage is the versatility of the scoop. Are you looking to clean dog waste from grass? Pavements? Gravel? With this scooper in your hand, you wouldn’t have to worry about those anymore. This scooper functions well on various types of surfaces. The size of the scooper is also large enough to allow you to pick up multiple and large fecal matters.

Convenience

As a clew-type pooper scooper, it offers great convenience because you can easily use it with one hand. It also features an ergonomic grab to add additional comfort for seniors who suffer from medical conditions that restrict their movement.

The pooper scooper is 24 inches tall, which is pretty long to give you that extended reach. However, some users complain that it’s not long enough, so this is something that you would need to consider. The handle is not adjustable, and you might strain your back bending over if the length does not fit your height.

Cleanliness

Other than being durable and lightweight, the Bodhi Dog Pooper Scooper is also made with non-stick material. So, aside from it offering easy and mess-free cleanup, you can easily clean it afterward, too.

Check Amazon’s Price

No dog poop will get stuck to the surface of this product. Easily hose it down with water for cleaning, and it will be good to use the next day.

Key Features:

A complete package of pooper scooper, waste bag holder, and rolls of bags.

Pooper scooper is made of lightweight, durable, and non-stick material.

Full refund if you’re not satisfied with your order

Affordable Price Tag

What do other people say about the product?

The most notable feature of Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack is the fact that it’s a complete package. No wonder it’s loved by a lot of people and here’s what they say:

Jeffrey is impressed with the Bodhi Dog Poo Pack at its price point and functionality.

Hope wishes it had an adjustable handle to make the pooper-scooper work better for taller people.

Ashley loves this pooper-scooper! She likes how easy it is to clean and she has not had any problems with it all!

Alternatives To The Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack

Now, we understand if you don’t find the Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack the ultimate solution for your dog cleanup problems. Take a look at some alternatives we have below:

PetMate Swivel Bin and Rake Pooper Scooper

The PetMate Swivel Bin and Rake Pooper Scooper is an excellent alternative if you’re looking for a bin-and-rake type of pooper scooper.

Generally, it functions similar to a broom. The users love the fact that the rake is very versatile. Meaning, you can use it easily on any type of surfaces, whether it’s grass or pavements. The bin is also large enough to allow you to pick up multiple dog wastes of large dogs (and we all know those wastes are too big).

It also comes with two waste bags that help in controlling odor for an odorless cleanup. The handle is adjustable, which is an excellent solution if you’re tall and want to stop needing to bend over.

To know more about the PetMate Swivel Bin and Rake Pooper Scooper, you can check it out here.

Dogit Jawz Dog Pooper Scooper

The Dogit Jawz Dog Pooper Scooper is an excellent claw-type pooper scooper alternative.

As the name implies, the scoop is shaped like jaws (sharp), which allow you to pick-up waste on grass and gravel. It is also highly durable but lightweight, which is perfect for those who don’t want to strain their arms. It’s ideal for those who have backyards and want to make dog parenting lives more manageable.

You can check out more about the Dogit Jawz Dog Pooper Scooper here.

PPOGOO Non-Breakable Pet Pooper Scooper

Another great claw-type pooper scooper alternative is the PPOGOO Non-Breakable Per Pooper Scooper. It’s the ideal choice for those who are looking for a pooper scooper that will last them for years.

Though made of heavy-duty plastic, this product is extremely lightweight, which makes it one of the favorites. The non-stick material is also perfect for that easy cleanup after use.

Check out the PPOGOO Non-Breakable Pet Pooper Scooper here.

Our Final Thoughts

The Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack tops the list of several users because of the complete package it offers. Also, the company cares about their product, and this is very reassuring that their goal is indeed to make every dog owner’s life easier.

I love the fact that even though it comes at an affordable price, the materials used for the pooper scooper are not cheap, even if it offers everything you need. It is lightweight, durable, and non-stick – the three best qualities that you need to look for at a pooper scooper. Plus, it comes with the waste bag holder and bags so you won’t have to look for those anymore in the market.

So, if you think the Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack will make things easier for you, check it out on Amazon now. If you want to browse other pooper scoopers, check out our review roundup of top pooper-scoopers for dogs.

The post Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack Review appeared first on Furry Friends Gear.

Bodhi Dog Complete Poo Pack Review published first on https://furryfriendsgear.tumblr.com

#pets #Pet Care #dogs #cats #veterinary care

0 notes

jeffrmayhugh · 4 years

Text

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Finance & Global News – March 29th 2020

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi guys. Thanks for tuning in to help us sort of nuggets news. Well we’ve got so much to get through today. We welcome 6000 new subscribers in the past two weeks so look thank you all for joining us on the channel. We try to cover all the financial news and the crypto news headlines for you. Then we’ll take a look at the charts at the end. It’s just amazing to see so many people showing interest in what’s happening around the world. So over on our website we’ve created a range of free resources. If you’ve got friends and family they’re asking about you know what is a recession for the first time. How does central banks work. We’re really trying to pump out that content for you as well as our premium resources and community that I know a lot of your loving. Welcome to our 50 new members there this week and some great conversations around what other people are doing in terms of their finance their business the virus itself so it’s a great time to be part of a community if you want that little bit extra. And a lot of giving at the moment so Cofield help dot com today you a little web site created by one of our community members to help people get some freebies in this time of hardship. And in other countries we’ve seen some really kind acts and a half a million people signed up to help the health service volunteers over in the U.K. there. So I think we’re gonna see similar things around Australia in many countries as our healthcare workers are really put under the pump. So there’s plenty of positives happening out there because I know there’s also obviously plenty of negatives happening at this current time. I think in Australia one of the main frustrations is the mixed messages that we’re still getting so maybe we get another update from our Prime Minister tonight on Sunday. But look a million people had to turn out to the polls and vote up in Queensland yesterday. A lot of people were still going to the beaches and as you see here Australia is tracking not too far behind some of these other countries where their hospitals are overflowing. So guys we have to flatten these curve. Stay home. Wash your hands all those things that you’ve heard a million times before. I think people want to know what information the SCOTT MORRISON Government is getting that’s different to say New Zealand that went into lockdown straight away. Some of these European countries have dealt with this remarkably well. So why aren’t we doing what other countries are doing. And I think that’s now what the health experts themselves are asking from Scott Morrison. Share with us what you’re seeing. Just so we can all be on the same page. Now speaking of modelling we’ve got some interesting numbers coming out of the housing market. So real estate dot.com that are you. Yes. A lot of these guys have their own narrative obviously desperate buyers with nowhere to live scouring the market. And at this time with this risk of overseas investors coming in to scoop up all these assets on the cheap. But I just want to show you that chart of the ASX 200 Real Estate Investment Trust. Now this is down 50 per cent in a month. So when we’re hearing these numbers from domain and whatnot that property is still going up every day. I don’t know where they’re getting these numbers from. And this is showing you what the investors that are you know the first ones to move in terms of those that have money exposed to real estate in Australia. They are running for the exits and look maybe these funds are now trading under book value but anyway I think this is just a bit of a leading indicator to what we might be seeing coming in the housing market and I don’t think housing is necessarily going to fall 50 per cent but I certainly think it’s misleading to say that property values are still going up. So we’re hearing these stories about these Chinese property developers flying tons of our medical supplies into China. So I think the Australian Government are going to have to look at what’s happening here. Hopefully we don’t actually have any shortages the stories coming out of China is that the worst is behind them. So why do they need all these resources. Is this legal. Who knows. But I think these are the questions that are going to have to start to be answered and it’s going to cause some friction between our political and trade relationships as I predicted last week India who the manufacturer or a lot of the antibiotics globally but particularly some of these new drugs that have been trialled the coronavirus have now banned the export of those drugs. So hopefully we can manufacture them in numbers that’s sufficient in the other countries around the world to manufacture these. Next up I wanted to mention India themselves who have tried to put one point three billion people into lockdown but you can see the scenes here from these crowded cities and it’s just so much harder for these developing nations to do so and I think that’s where we’re going to see unfortunately some some really big case numbers in the next few weeks. Now this is a great little chart from Shane Oliver. You might have heard mixed messages but some new studies that are clearly showing how long the virus can live on different surfaces so cardboard up to two days. But it’s that stainless steel and plastic as well getting up to three days or more there. So you know this is going to be a new paradigm for a lot of people in terms of hygiene and getting used to not touching your face washing your hands. Some Amazon workers have tested positive you know cardboard boxes. We’re just going to be have to be so careful whether you’re in business or whoever you are because of how interconnected the world is these days. So these are the latest case numbers at time of recording. We’ve just passed six hundred and sixty thousand thirty 30000 deaths and that number that ratio is climbing so look the recoveries do take a couple more weeks to play out in hospital. So we hope that number goes down. But a lot of people still not believing you know what I’ve been saying about once hospitals get get crowded and they hit capacity particularly ICU use if we can’t put people on ventilators that that number is going to rise. So guys it’s never been more important to try and flatten that curve early rather than wait till it’s too late. Hopefully we can do more testing soon. We’ve got these game changing tests. You know we’ve heard of these five minute tests some 45 minute home tests also coming to Australia and around the globe soon. So look the smartest minds are working on all sorts of cool technology but the more you test the better idea you’ve got of what’s happening in your country. Another way that governments are tracking what’s going on is using big data. I touched on this last week but this is where people are worried and the conspiracies are coming out about look they’re not going to give these powers back when this is all over and I certainly think that that is something to be worried about. And this is the blame of why markets are crashing. Yes I know that that’s all true. But that doesn’t mean we have to take the virus less seriously until we have it under control and then hopefully enough people are awake and they realize that these are the sort of things that are being snuck through. But you know who knows how many people are shaped that are just not going to put two and two together. So the hugest number of unemployment benefits. Three point three million. I mean unreal. This is greatly dwarfed what happened back in the GFC. So this is a I guess a little sneak peek of what’s going to happen in Australia. I think our statistics take two or three months to come out so we’re probably not going to get a good idea of our numbers. But other than looking at the queues at Centrelink and what not that’s the thing that really worries me there is a lot of Americans have their health care benefits attached to their job. And we’ve obviously seen places like New York get overwhelmed. Now somewhere like Denmark has taken a really good approach to these stimulus packages that are so complicated in most countries so far they’ve basically said that look if you keep your workers on we’ll pay their salaries and keep these businesses afloat we need to do whatever we can to freeze the economy and then make it really easy to restart whereas other countries around the world you know the Fed are saying we’re going to do unlimited QE and you know all these different lending programs you know flatten the curve this that and the other drop rates the FDIC coming out and saying look everyone is worried about bank runs but the Fed has promised to print infinite amounts of money so even if you want to keep that money under your bed it’s safe. Obviously the banks don’t have enough cash if everyone wants to withdraw at the moment but they’re actually promising that if push came to shove and if I tried to withdraw they’d print and print and print all the way up to those fact fractional reserves for people to actually take out the entire amount. So they wanted to get on this early because they know that they don’t actually have the amount of money if everyone wants to keep it under the mattress. So really interesting that they’re running these ads or you know tweets or whatnot on social media saying to people all the money’s there. The Fed has also made a few tweaks to the rules around banks reserves how much they’ve got to keep as well as this new implementation. And this was the biggest bank accounting change in decades where they actually had to mark these credit losses basically a new accounting standard that was more accurate and transparent. But now the Fed have delayed that because a lot of the the paper and the holdings of these banks is worth a lot less at the moment. So they wouldn’t be able to do that. They might not be solvent if they were to use this new more accurate accounting methods measure. So yes always playing at the edges that the banks and getting their way and the Fed protecting them I guess he’s a breakdown of the 12 trillion that has been passed so far a lot of that going to central banks to address the short term liquidity issues. There’s a huge demand for US dollars around the world some fiscal stimulus other central banks they’re getting ready to buy all sorts of financial assets as we’ve spoken about in the channel before. And as soon as they backed away from this you know infinity whatever it will take towards the end of the week and said look we might reduce it from 75 billion to 60 billion. And remember that’s a day that’s not a month like back when we’re doing QE soon as is any talk of tapering and backing off. You know markets tumble at the end of last week. One sector that’s really at risk is that energy sector we’ve now got oil trading at negative prices and this is insane. So it’s now costing these companies so much to store the oil that actually rather give it away or actually encourage people to take it off their hands because that’s how much money they’d be losing if they had to store all this negative oil prices. Who would have thought. Now obviously this is only in unique sectors and grades of oil but either way a headline that a lot of people would have never thought possible. If you want more of a deep dive into that corporate particularly the oil and energy bond market. This interview with America to say was one of my favorite. I think it only got 10000 views. This was as good as my interview. At least I found it that way because if you’ve watched The Big Short. It was those credit default swaps and those collateralized debt obligations that caused the GFC. And this time around it’s collateralized loan obligations it’s the same thing. It’s just got a different pretty package with all this corporate and oil sector debt that’s now going to fail. And it’s a house of cards waiting to collapse. What’s that interview for more information. We also know the Fed has been buying all the usual bonds. And guess what’s happens to these repo markets. They’ve run out of securities to conduct their repo operations. So why would these banks park any assets at the Fed when they can sell them back to the Fed and the Fed is going to buy them off at whatever price. So this is what we’ve also seen happen in Europe where there was a rush to buy up things like Italian bonds and Greek bonds because now they know that central banks can print money buy those assets off them and they can make money it’s a guaranteed buyer almost a risk free trade. So the Fed is obviously working their way down from those government bonds to the investment grade bonds all the way through to these ETF s of investment grade bonds so all key day. This is one and I was talking about this last week where if you get a short you know the junk bond ETF h y GS and other high yield ETF l q d is the investment grade bond ETF. So yes this was a great show recently. But look at this bounce since the Fed announced that they’re going to do QE infinity and buy corporate bonds so you know don’t fight the Fed. 20 percent bounce there. I’m not sure if they can print enough money to ultimately fight off what happens. But either way you’ve got to put your trading head on a little bit here. If the Fed are going to pump money and buy these assets we could see a rise in all sorts of things. Now the next step from that is the shares and the Fed have hired the world’s largest asset manager to help them manage their assets. You know what sort of world is this. So most of you have heard of BlackRock and their different ETF. So basically BlackRock that themselves could be in a lot of trouble get to help bail out themselves and all their friends. They get to take that money. The Fed’s printing and then saying hey what which we should. Should we buy. Yeah let’s buy some BlackRock ETF. Absolutely insane what is happening amongst all this. Obviously there’s been a rush for gold and real assets stories of Comex being short in terms of those hundred ounce bars. We spoke about that the other day in terms of the silver market and how that dislocation has happened. I did do a video about that how the ETF Price has really dropped far below what you can get your hands on bullion for so there’s a little bit of a arbitrage of sorts opportunity there. Some people told me that’s not our arbitrage it actually is a type of arbitrage. So watch that video did about how to take advantage of that silver market dislocation at the moment. Now there’s lots of gold tokens as well and these have become very popular because of what’s happening at the moment. So a race to you know crypto pegged us dollar coins and gold pegged crypto coins as well it’s just great to see that we have all these options that weren’t there in the last financial crisis. So Pax OS and their packs gold token can also now be used as collateral for loans. So there’s this new finance 2.0 you know the world of deep fire it’s exploding and I love to see that overlap it has here because a lot of investors do want to hold gold and still interact with define what not. So those tokens are available on FCX you’ve got X 80 packs G which I’ve mentioned before. You can trade those just like you would any other token. We’ve got that link down below that get you guys a discount on on trading on FCX on all the fees. And I know a lot of you enjoyed that tutorial we did last week about the bitcoin options and how to hedge in case we have a big price fall and sure enough that’s happened. So if you did buy some puts you’ve already profited from those as well so congratulations to those of you that watch that tutorial and learn something now by did delist those leveraged tokens that FCX have. And when they first bought out those tokens I did a video explaining why I don’t think these are a good idea and the dangers around them because a lot of people here are you know double or triple leveraged Bitcoin I’ll just buy that and in a bull market I’ll make three times as much money but that is not how it works because of decay and drag that those tokens have in the rebalancing. So if you want a detailed explanation of how that all works head over to that U.S. guys under investing education and is unit number four down there now thanks to us what’s the number on capital. I know that you guys are loving what is going on in terms of being able to manage your own self managed super. And even if he can’t we’ve got a lot of questions coming in about super funds being able to access that at the moment if you’ve lost your job. So yes we do plan on having Mike on the channel to take all your questions. We’re also going to get Adrian Adrian back on because it’s tax time again soon. Wow how. I mean those of you that are taking the time to learn about financial markets and what’s going on. I really hope you are appreciating putting all these pieces together and even if you haven’t necessarily made a lot of money so far these are just those lifelong lessons that I know a lot of you are enjoying. Either way sorry. Sorry. The ASX. They have pushed back their plans to launch the distributed ledger. They want to get all the stock trading on a block chain. But look now is not the time with all this market volatility to be playing around with new systems so they have delayed that there. We’ve also seen the digital dollar. There’s a lot of excitement about this last week when the Fed passed that b 2 trillion dollar relief package. That is not going to be part of what got passed initially either way but I definitely think that’s coming to some degree in this space just gets hotter and more competitive every week. Silver gate renowned crypto bank they did have a bit of an issue this week. They have solved that. There’s so much competition and I do feel a little bit for example pay at the moment. I’ve got that lawsuit hanging over their head. Brad Garling House has been in the news for backing the height of the bull market where he was talking about how long he is repeal and what not in the same time they were selling millions of dollars so whether or not that leads to anything. I know there’s a lot of controversy around that at the moment MoneyGram as well. You know they’ve been selling a lot of those tokens. So we’ve got so many crypto trials going on that telegram have been denied the S.E.C. actually have sided with that injunction against the grand tokens. So they’re not allowed to issue that the tokens from that ICAO sale at the moment. We’ve also seen Quique back away from that jury trial. Hundred Million Dollar tokens sell there. So yeah there’s a little legal battle was going on in the crypto space that are really going to shape what happens in the next couple of years that money Graham. As I mentioned before the thing that frustrates me here is that the narrative is that money Graham are getting these tokens to build liquidity and that’s essential if you want to have all these transfers going around the globe but then they’re selling all these tokens that they get. So how is that building liquidity. Again let me know in the comments below I’ll get Sam back on in the future to talk about that. We did talk about last time but again I just don’t see how you can call selling these tokens as soon as you get them building liquidity. Crypto friendly bank resolute launches in the US. Check this check out this app guys it’s very cool as you to see in different currencies and make transfers around the world one of many apps these days crypto friendly bank launching another stable coin over in Switzerland they’re next up we’ve got India. Tech Mahindra have sped up their cross-border transactions using block chain. So again this is where I find really hard for those that are early adopters because there’s so much competition these days. Ali pay rolling out a patent revealing even more about the China central bank digital currency that they’ll be working very closely with the government on their most people already use that Ali pay and their mobile for all those payments. Coinbase is retail wing so you’ve probably heard of Coinbase commerce. They’re already processing 200 million in transactions. They’ve also integrated the Coinbase wallet. Now with all the different defined lending apps. So some of it’s non crypto savvy can install this Coinbase app know refill it from their bank and start lending in earning interest and that’s the next wave of adoption which is very exciting at a time when you’re not going to get much of an interest rate in a bank. We also saw the brave browse upon wrapped with finance for in app trading. So one click these days whether it’s Khyber uni swap buying it’s integrating with brio as well if you don’t have these browser already guys it’s free to use it blocks all the ads check out brave browser bond it’s also releasing their own debit card initially to be trialled in Malaysia and then that’ll go out around the world you know 10x Coinbase in Australia we’ve got coin jar we’ve got a video coming up soon when you guys are going to get a free coin jar swap card so there’s that many crypto cards these days it’s very cool to watch I have released their styling solution supposedly scales to more than Visa’s payments. So we’re talking thousands of transactions per second. This is known as or bourse Hydra. So I’m not sure why they’re releasing this before they’ve got the Shelly might net out but either way cool to say that Kate and I are working on scaling solutions. South Korea’s biggest bank also launching a custodial service. They’ve patented that there. We’ve got the me clearing up some guidelines around holding bitcoin for people. That’s the next story I want to get to in just a second here as well. Sorry backed in terms of the physical delivery rising 44 percent in March. So this is very similar to the gold market where normally people are just trading and they don’t want to take delivery but all of a sudden when they think the prices are low to what represents intrinsic value they want their gold delivered that actually what they Bitcoin delivered to the to their address. So that’s actually what we want to see that gets rid of any of these games that you can play by not holding real gold a real Bitcoin. So back to the same age group here this story I want to mention was about adding mining to what they’re doing to boost profits. So for the last couple of years I’ve been talking about anywhere that has excess energy. It’s a no brainer if that is going to waste to start mining bitcoin or different cryptos. And someone like to see me mentioning that they want to get into Bitcoin mining. You know that’s that’s really big news that I think fell on deaf ears this week. We’ve got bit was looking to launch a retail fund. So one of my thesis is if you’re new is that money is going to flow into large cap coins whether it’s the grayscale products or all this beat was 10 10 index fund. They want to open that up to retail investors and some of the prices we’re seeing at the moment with top 10 coins down over 90 percent still. You don’t necessarily have to go scouring for these hidden gems to get fantastic returns in the next bull market. So block one have absorbed EOS New York. Now these guys were top three or four block produce for iOS and there’s one thing that really frustrates me from the outside looking in watching some of these block produces that were really there for the community side of things no longer actually being able to afford to operate because of the way the voting is working and a lot of the exchanges are still I believe gaming the system to some degree and a lot of the Chinese block produces. So if you’re from the iOS community let me know what you think about that down below but kind of sad to see someone like iOS New York going out of business or being absorbed by block 1 themselves now. BLOCK One investing 150 million into a voice that a centralized social media app but a lot of privacy concerns linger because you get after KYC to use these. So to me that certainly is a step away from a fully decentralized you know anonymous private online social media app because they are going to be storing all that user data with third parties and block one and what not. So let me know what you guys think about that in the comments down below. Micah have decentralized their governance that M.K. token now has more guest value or power in terms of what you can do to make decisions. A lot of the community members and team hold a lot of make a token so they’re still going to have a say. But it’s a step in the right direction to fully decentralizing maker and I think the die a stable coin is my favor and the most important in the ecosystem at the moment because of how integrated is with everything Microsoft have filed for a patent for a crypto mining system that uses a body activity data. So it’s called these black mirror world we’re living in when I read these headlines but this is what I’m going to talk about more in future and we’re gonna get a privacy expert on to talk about what is happening because I think the boundaries that were already being pushed are really being crossed with what’s happening with the coronavirus. Now Bitcoin the hash rate we’ve had a big fall lately 45 percent was a 16 percent difficulty adjustment. The other day. So hopefully that equals out. We’ve got our monthly crypto mining episode coming out next week. We can talk about that in more detail but a lot of mines are having to shut down because they’re simply not profitable at this level. It does make Bitcoin slightly more vulnerable to attack you get to hear about those headlines but the reality is the hash rate is still you know far bigger than anything else out there. And it’s where it was you know just months ago because of how quickly it has grown. But what the worry is that if the smaller house right coins don’t pick on they’re the folks but Bitcoin Cash have their halving in 10 days at that price. It becomes half as profitable to mine Bitcoin Cash and we’re already seeing all those miners leave that network. So these are the communities that are going to be more vulnerable to attacks particularly BSB. They’ve gone even lower hash rate again. And it’s actually being gamed this week. So half of the network got taken over by someone that was just trolling as they say here they don’t know who the miner is and they’re just collecting blocks and not processing some of the data that should be going into the block chain. So crazy crazy stuff. And it’s only likely to get more of an issue we’re gonna see more 51 percent attacks as the coins go down in value. If that bear market continues and after the harmonies occur now it’s not all bad news for Bitcoin. A lot of what I’m talking about is short term. You guys know that I’m still boys for the long term and we’re seeing tweets for buy Bitcoin and buy gold rise. So as I mentioned at the very start of the episode people want to know what’s going on why are they losing their jobs. Why is there people printing trillions of dollars. I’ve never heard this before and they’re going down the rabbit hole. So it’s great to see all this is happening. The ingredients are coming together for the greatest bull market in history once the soul passes and the dust settles unchain data still shows us that people are huddling exchange flows people are buying and then taking their coins off in exchange to horror. So that’s all heading in the right direction. So when I talk about bitcoin going down it’s kind of putting my trading hat on its for the short term. I haven’t sold any of my long term coins at all guys. You know I’m a hustler. I’m happy I want to have a seat on the train and it takes off. I don’t wanna be late to the party but at the same time if we can do our technical analysis look at patents make some money hedge on the way down. This is one that I shared actually on Twitter as well as in our group where I do give more detail and daily rundown is about what I see happening in different markets and explained how to use the move contract. So as I said on FCX before one of the products they’ve got their move contracts week actually bet on how big of a move bitcoin is going to have on any given day. So you don’t need to know if it’s going to go up or down. You don’t have to have a direction you can just bet on the move and that was one of the best trades on a hate TV court. That as well as great to get some of those messages some of you want more education around that. And I will be doing that for you as well. So tying it all together let’s have a look at the Bitcoin price. It looks like we are heading lower out of this wedge. Look the first test that I would be watching he guys is that sixty one point eight percent some of you have asked about the Bollinger bands and moving averages. I’ll do more write ups about how they work at different times but the Bollinger bands for me most valuable when we get to extremes like a big sell off here and then we tend to mean a little bit as we spoke about at the time. So that’s what that is what I’m watching now technically when we have a patent like that we get a target down below 3000. But there’s so many people I know whether it’s raw poll from real vision or the big funds people that are cashed up at the moment that huge demand for US dollars. All those people want to push their money into assets. So whether it is the stock market whether it’s gold and we have another liquidity crunch where gold silver Bitcoin oil and everything goes down the Fed are going to fight this thing and print as much money as they can. It’s going to lead to hyperinflation eventually that he’s gonna be so so bullish for Bitcoin. But I will keep you guys up to date every day with what is happening. Head over to our website. If you do want to join our group for those daily updates. Otherwise I hope you’ve enjoyed that content guys. Place it that lock button. Subscribe to have an already he goes around and I’ll talk to you again soon. Cheers.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news-march-29th-2020 source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/614020229653250048

0 notes

orbemnews · 3 years

Link

Biden’s Recovery Plan Bets Big on Clean Energy WASHINGTON — President Biden’s next big thing would fuse the rebuilding of America’s creaky infrastructure with record spending to fight climate change, a combination that, in scale and scope, represents a huge political shift, even for Democrats who have been in the climate trenches for decades. A guiding philosophy of the Biden proposal argues that the future of good jobs is the transition to an economy that no longer churns out carbon dioxide through the burning of coal, oil and gas. Aides are set to brief Mr. Biden this week on plans to invest between $3 trillion and $4 trillion in spending and tax credits on a wide range of efforts meant to bolster the economy. The money is currently planned to be split between two packages, starting with an infrastructure bill that is rooted in the effort to halt the emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide. Administration officials stress that the details remain in flux. But as currently constructed, accelerating a clean energy transformation underpins nearly every part of the plan, people familiar with it said. It includes building electric power lines that can deliver more renewable energy, building electric vehicle charging stations, capping oil and gas wells to reduce emissions and reclaiming abandoned coal mines. There is money to build a million new affordable, energy-efficient housing units and to make existing structures more energy efficient. Hundreds of billions of dollars would go toward “high-growth industries of the future,” such as advanced battery manufacturing. The underlying message — that the next step of America’s economic recovery is fundamentally tied to countering the climate crisis — represents a major pivot in the way Democrats make the case for tackling global warming. No longer merely an environmental imperative like saving the polar bears, or a side element of a stimulus package like it was under the Obama administration, climate change has become the centerpiece. Administration officials say they view averting catastrophic warming and pursuing American dominance of the emerging global industries as inseparable. That is a sharp break from even the most recent Democratic administration, when Mr. Biden was vice president, let alone the Trump era, when the president denied the existence of climate change. “Thinking about addressing climate change through infrastructure is in itself not a revolutionary idea, but if you said to most people, ‘Is America’s infrastructure in trouble?’ I think the first words they would mention to you are bridges and roads, not E.V. charging stations,” said Robert N. Stavins, an environmental economist at Harvard University. White House officials would not put a dollar figure on the amount dedicated to climate change, but one person familiar with the talks said climate and clean energy spending could exceed $2 trillion. Some climate activists say the plan suffers from a lopsided approach that would increase the supply of clean-energy projects and products while doing little to spur demand by forcing reductions in fossil fuel consumption. Republicans, who unanimously opposed Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, and even some independent analysts recoil at wrapping climate policy in the widely popular mantle of infrastructure, which raises old arguments against government-driven industrial policy. Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said in a statement that Mr. Biden should focus on working with Republicans “to fix America’s crumbling roads and bridges,” rather than “raise taxes while also spending trillions on a bill that includes the punishing regulations of the Green New Deal.” But Mr. Biden is not straying from his recent positions. He promised during his campaign to “build a more resilient, sustainable economy” that puts the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury, while creating “millions of good paying jobs.” He has continued to hit the theme since his inauguration. Along with more than $600 billion for the construction of roads, bridges, rail lines, and electric vehicle charging stations, the infrastructure package will incorporate some form of a rebate program championed by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, to replace millions of gas guzzling cars in the next decade with electric vehicles. Some environmental groups on Monday criticized Mr. Biden for not proposing an even bigger package for climate change. But Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, who has championed the Green New Deal, an aggressive plan to address climate change and revamp the economy, called reports of the infrastructure package “encouraging.” “One of the big goals we had when we introduced the Green New Deal was to shift climate change from being a billion dollar problem to a trillion dollar opportunity,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview. “The fact that climate and infrastructure is seen as part of the same endeavor is, I think, highly reflective of that shift,” she said. So far, the package excludes the one thing that economists agree is the most efficient way to draw down planet-warming emissions: taxing or otherwise putting a price on the carbon dioxide emissions that cause it. Instead of a gasoline tax, for instance, the president plans to greatly raise fuel efficiency standards for cars, forcing automakers toward electric vehicles through regulation, not legislation. Similarly, Mr. Biden plans to reimpose strict emissions regulations on electric power plants to move the sector away from coal. Frequently Asked Questions About the New Stimulus Package How big are the stimulus payments in the bill, and who is eligible? The stimulus payments would be $1,400 for most recipients. Those who are eligible would also receive an identical payment for each of their children. To qualify for the full $1,400, a single person would need an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or below. For heads of household, adjusted gross income would need to be $112,500 or below, and for married couples filing jointly that number would need to be $150,000 or below. To be eligible for a payment, a person must have a Social Security number. Read more. What would the relief bill do about health insurance? Buying insurance through the government program known as COBRA would temporarily become a lot cheaper. COBRA, for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, generally lets someone who loses a job buy coverage via the former employer. But it’s expensive: Under normal circumstances, a person may have to pay at least 102 percent of the cost of the premium. Under the relief bill, the government would pay the entire COBRA premium from April 1 through Sept. 30. A person who qualified for new, employer-based health insurance someplace else before Sept. 30 would lose eligibility for the no-cost coverage. And someone who left a job voluntarily would not be eligible, either. Read more What would the bill change about the child and dependent care tax credit? This credit, which helps working families offset the cost of care for children under 13 and other dependents, would be significantly expanded for a single year. More people would be eligible, and many recipients would get a bigger break. The bill would also make the credit fully refundable, which means you could collect the money as a refund even if your tax bill was zero. “That will be helpful to people at the lower end” of the income scale, said Mark Luscombe, principal federal tax analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Read more. What student loan changes are included in the bill? There would be a big one for people who already have debt. You wouldn’t have to pay income taxes on forgiven debt if you qualify for loan forgiveness or cancellation — for example, if you’ve been in an income-driven repayment plan for the requisite number of years, if your school defrauded you or if Congress or the president wipes away $10,000 of debt for large numbers of people. This would be the case for debt forgiven between Jan. 1, 2021, and the end of 2025. Read more. What would the bill do to help people with housing? The bill would provide billions of dollars in rental and utility assistance to people who are struggling and in danger of being evicted from their homes. About $27 billion would go toward emergency rental assistance. The vast majority of it would replenish the so-called Coronavirus Relief Fund, created by the CARES Act and distributed through state, local and tribal governments, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. That’s on top of the $25 billion in assistance provided by the relief package passed in December. To receive financial assistance — which could be used for rent, utilities and other housing expenses — households would have to meet several conditions. Household income could not exceed 80 percent of the area median income, at least one household member must be at risk of homelessness or housing instability, and individuals would have to qualify for unemployment benefits or have experienced financial hardship (directly or indirectly) because of the pandemic. Assistance could be provided for up to 18 months, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Lower-income families that have been unemployed for three months or more would be given priority for assistance. Read more. “Biden never made a carbon tax the center of his proposal,” said John Podesta, a former adviser to President Barack Obama on climate change. “I think he believed that the combination of investments and standards with a focus on equity was a winning formula both for the economy and was more politically viable.” Others, though, said they worried that Mr. Biden’s strategy — long-term projects and regulation that could take years to finalize — was too lengthy, too pricey and too uncertain to cut enough emissions. “The scale of the climate problem demands the most economically efficient response, and because it’s politically difficult to talk about pricing carbon we’re drifting toward a really expensive way of addressing climate,” said Alex Flint, executive director of the Alliance for Market Solutions, a conservative nonprofit group that supports a carbon tax. “A carbon tax at least has to be part of the discussion,” Mr. Flint added. Mr. Stavins of Harvard University cautioned that using government spending to achieve both job creation and climate change, while popular, isn’t always compatible. Quick boosts to the economy rely on so-called “shovel-ready” projects — and those aren’t necessarily the ones that will lead to deep decarbonization. But, he conceded, if Mr. Obama could not secure legislation to cap carbon emissions when he had 59 Democrats in the Senate, Mr. Biden cannot win a similarly tough plan with 50 Democrats, one of whom, Senator Joe Manchin III, represents the coal state of West Virginia. Supporters of the package say tying climate action to fiscal growth is good politics and grounded in fact. A federal report in 2018 found that failing to curb planet-warming pollution could result in more record wildfires, crop failures and crumbled infrastructure across the country, shrinking the U.S. economy 10 percent by the end of the century. Jamal Raad, who co-founded the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action, said both the politics of climate change and the market for clean energy have changed dramatically over the past decade. “There’s been a whole lot of work telling a broader story about what climate change means and what the transition to clean energy would mean for our economy and jobs,” he said. “This investment package is about telling a positive story about economic growth in clean energy.” Source link Orbem News #bets #Bidens #Big #clean #Energy #Plan #recovery

0 notes

heatherrdavis1 · 4 years

Text

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Finance & Global News March 29th 2020

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news-march-29th-2020

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news-march-29th-2020

0 notes

cryptosharks1 · 4 years

Text

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Finance & Global News – March 29th 2020

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bitcoin-cryptocurrency-finance-global-news-march-29th-2020

0 notes

scottmapess · 4 years

Text

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Finance & Global News – March 29th 2020

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

0 notes