There is this little story out there...mostly in business or economic areas....which the national news probably won't carry. Walgreens is discussing the idea of offering health insurance. There's not a lot of description to this....mostly because Walgreens is simply talking right now....nothing else.
So settle back and imagine this picture. Walgreens offers up six different plans to fit various folks. They start hiring these guys from various third-world countries who have doctor degrees. They hire up physician's assistants. They hire up some fairly smart nurses.
You go and buy package "A"....for a single guy....$699 a year for out-patient care only. You call up the local Walgreens about a problem...show up at 7AM as you drive to work. You pay $12 as your deductible, and he writes out this great prescription for a Walgreen's discount drug that only costs you $9 for a full ten days of drugs. If they only have a nurse on duty....no problem....a VTC is set up and the nurse checks everything and talks to Doctor Hun from China who sends a prescription over the fax to the local Walgreens for your ailment.
You go and buy package "B" for a family....$999 a year for out-patient care only. Your deductible is $10.99 total. Same deal for the prescriptions being discount and cheap.
You want the full-up in-patient and out-patient package? $499 a month for a single guy. You have to use one particular hospital in the local area.....but everything gets covered and all your drugs are via Walgreens.
I suspect at the heart of this matter....Walgreens suspects that the President's health care program is to be tossed out by the Supreme Court. They will waltz into the mess with this five-star program that fits the little guy better than any program in America. Discounted drugs, cheap policies, a doctor in every Walgreens and an established name. Within weeks after this....Wal-Mart buys up Walgreens and builds this into a five-star medical cheapo program that would even make Ronald Reagan weep.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Baptists and Tasers
This is what we know. Down in Saint Elmo, Alabama....the cops got called out to the local Baptist Church. To be honest.....this was at the New Welcome Baptist Church. It's not a familiar name, but I'm guessing that they practice mostly Baptist traditions and incoporate a few new things.
What the cops ended up finding....here was the church minister....all tased up and some older gal who'd been cut on the arm. In Bama....this is a pretty dire situation when cops get called to a Baptist Church.
The best we can say.....somewhere after the Sunday service.....things went out of control. The minister had decided that the music director was not the kind of guy he wanted working for the church. So there was notice given after the service, and the music director....Simone Moore....got fairly riled up.
Simon is apparently a locally known R and B musician and he had run for the US Senate (unsuccessfully). Simon took things personal when told he was fired....and then pulled out a taser. Things got heated up....so one of the deacons (Harvey Hunt) pulled out a pocket knife to let Simon know that when you come to a fight.....tasers are mostly for wussies and knives for real men. Sadly, Simon's mother was attending services reached up to protect her son....and got jabbed with the knife.
All total....six folks got hurt....none seriously.
Presently, both Simon and the deacon are the ones in a fair amount of trouble. Typically in Bama, the next Sunday will be this occasion where the minister asks everyone to pray for the deacon and just kinda skip over Simon's situation. I'm guessing neither Simon, his mama, or any of their relatives will ever attend this church again.
From my prospective....the best question to ask....is it really necessary to carry a taser to church, or a fair-sized knife? I'm asking this because most of us guys who've all attended some service at a church....all get fairly bored.
I can just see this episode developing....where Gus is sitting in the back pew....bored....and he pulls out his fancy new taser to check things out, and accidentally presses the on-button and gives himself a couple hundred watts of juice....falls out on the aisle floor. The minister seeing this....naturally in a Baptist Church....yells out that Satan is amongst you folks....trying to bring harm. A dozen folks will want to run and confess something that it'd be better off not confessing.
Meanwhile, Denny, buddy of Gus, is trying to pick up the tasered guy and just lay him flat on the pew until he comes around.....hoping that no one figures out how stupid Gus really was.
Only in America.
What the cops ended up finding....here was the church minister....all tased up and some older gal who'd been cut on the arm. In Bama....this is a pretty dire situation when cops get called to a Baptist Church.
The best we can say.....somewhere after the Sunday service.....things went out of control. The minister had decided that the music director was not the kind of guy he wanted working for the church. So there was notice given after the service, and the music director....Simone Moore....got fairly riled up.
Simon is apparently a locally known R and B musician and he had run for the US Senate (unsuccessfully). Simon took things personal when told he was fired....and then pulled out a taser. Things got heated up....so one of the deacons (Harvey Hunt) pulled out a pocket knife to let Simon know that when you come to a fight.....tasers are mostly for wussies and knives for real men. Sadly, Simon's mother was attending services reached up to protect her son....and got jabbed with the knife.
All total....six folks got hurt....none seriously.
Presently, both Simon and the deacon are the ones in a fair amount of trouble. Typically in Bama, the next Sunday will be this occasion where the minister asks everyone to pray for the deacon and just kinda skip over Simon's situation. I'm guessing neither Simon, his mama, or any of their relatives will ever attend this church again.
From my prospective....the best question to ask....is it really necessary to carry a taser to church, or a fair-sized knife? I'm asking this because most of us guys who've all attended some service at a church....all get fairly bored.
I can just see this episode developing....where Gus is sitting in the back pew....bored....and he pulls out his fancy new taser to check things out, and accidentally presses the on-button and gives himself a couple hundred watts of juice....falls out on the aisle floor. The minister seeing this....naturally in a Baptist Church....yells out that Satan is amongst you folks....trying to bring harm. A dozen folks will want to run and confess something that it'd be better off not confessing.
Meanwhile, Denny, buddy of Gus, is trying to pick up the tasered guy and just lay him flat on the pew until he comes around.....hoping that no one figures out how stupid Gus really was.
Only in America.
The Flushed Money
It kind of shocked me....there is still 2009 stimulus money left in the pot. You would think....that we would have burned through all that cash in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The amount? Between $100 billion and $150 billion.
The money is tied to what you'd consider slow-moving infrastructure projects (bridges, roads, high-speed rail, etc).
Some folks have commented on this....that we ought to bundle it up and hand out another round of tax-credits to folks....to boost up the American economy. That would go against the White House plans and what the expert economists recommend.
So the over effect of the $800-billion spent over what is now perceived as almost four years? Nothing much. You can't find anyone who'd tell you that they feel the money did much of anything. The plain truth is that we kind of just spent $200 billion extra a year.
My own perception is that the next time some guy stands up and says we need a stimulus package....he's likely the first guy that we need to fire.
The money is tied to what you'd consider slow-moving infrastructure projects (bridges, roads, high-speed rail, etc).
Some folks have commented on this....that we ought to bundle it up and hand out another round of tax-credits to folks....to boost up the American economy. That would go against the White House plans and what the expert economists recommend.
So the over effect of the $800-billion spent over what is now perceived as almost four years? Nothing much. You can't find anyone who'd tell you that they feel the money did much of anything. The plain truth is that we kind of just spent $200 billion extra a year.
My own perception is that the next time some guy stands up and says we need a stimulus package....he's likely the first guy that we need to fire.
Simply Observations
Over the past two weeks....I've watched about sixty minutes of MSNBC's Al Sharpton. He's the new "talker" for the late afternoon. Frankly, he carries himself for the introduction, and it's downhill from that point on. I kinda feel sorry for the guy because he might have done better thirty years ago in his youth in this kind of position. So I'm predicting a short run with Al.....maybe six months, and he'll disappear from MSNBC.
The White House has authorized massive assistance to help make the 'get-Bin-Laden' movie. It's supposed to be made and released by October of next year....obviously in time for the elections. Here's the one problem I see out of this. If all the budget cuts come to the Pentagon like folks expect....to save Medicare and Social Security....then the folks who might have an appreciation for the movie.....will actually blast the administration for downsizing the Pentagon....instead of enjoying the American mission to get Ossama.
Several comments from journalists and focus groups over the past month have asked the question if it would have been wiser to have Hillary as President instead of President Obama. Frankly, there is zero value in even mentioning this.....you have what you have. You can't go back. But, if you were reading into some script....then maybe VP Hillary makes perfect sense and she'll help to fix all the broke things.
Finally, Moodys....the ratings service....has spoken out and said that cities and states are on their horizon to downgrade their bonds. Yes, it may finally come to California, Chicago, and various locations that we thought were immune. So you might just be looking at phrase two and phrase three of the economic mess. The stock market might be a up and down for months to come.
The White House has authorized massive assistance to help make the 'get-Bin-Laden' movie. It's supposed to be made and released by October of next year....obviously in time for the elections. Here's the one problem I see out of this. If all the budget cuts come to the Pentagon like folks expect....to save Medicare and Social Security....then the folks who might have an appreciation for the movie.....will actually blast the administration for downsizing the Pentagon....instead of enjoying the American mission to get Ossama.
Several comments from journalists and focus groups over the past month have asked the question if it would have been wiser to have Hillary as President instead of President Obama. Frankly, there is zero value in even mentioning this.....you have what you have. You can't go back. But, if you were reading into some script....then maybe VP Hillary makes perfect sense and she'll help to fix all the broke things.
Finally, Moodys....the ratings service....has spoken out and said that cities and states are on their horizon to downgrade their bonds. Yes, it may finally come to California, Chicago, and various locations that we thought were immune. So you might just be looking at phrase two and phrase three of the economic mess. The stock market might be a up and down for months to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)