Note To Self

July 2nd, 2009 - Just met another person who mentioned civil uprising as a likely outcome given the situation in the US.

Some Happy Funny Skinny Coupons!

1. A Skinny coupon in the form of a Medifast Diet coupon code: Medifast - $50 off any purchase of $275 or more! Click and then use the coupon code: July30C during check out. This coupon code is good until 7-31-09
   
   
2. Skinny coupon for Nutrisystem diet: Get 3 weeks FREE food with Nutrisystem! //3 weeks free
   
   
3. Skinny coupon for Nutrisystem diet Save $25 off of your first 2 orders with NutriSystem! //$50 off
   
   
4. Fun & Happy Land's End coupon code: Free Shipping + up to 50% off swimwear Enter the Promotion Code JUNE30 and the PIN 00009146 in the space provided.
   

Could it be that yours truly is going to spend the 4th with a bunch of high school friends who are still as thin as they were back then? Can anything be more annoying than that?

Hardly.

RH

Hey, Bill O'Reilly - Leave Eminem Alone

Eminem has potty mouth disease, that's true, but he is a sign of the times. Frankly, Eminem deserves more admiration than scorn. He grew up during the time when you Boomers were cheering the disintegration of the American family and dismantling most of the other stabilizing social institutions.

A drug addict for a mother, a ? for a father, and yet he took life's lemons and made lemonade. He sings about stuff you may not like, but that doesn't change the fact that it's reality.

And the liberals hate Eminem, btw. I think the reason Sarah Palin is in his latest video is because she is a hottie, not because of politics. Although I could be wrong because Eminem talks so darn fast I can't keep up.

I think he probably has some anger issues regarding women, maybe stemming from mom? Writing music is actually quite a healthy way to deal with those issues - instead of becoming a rapist or worse.

If Eminem had had more milk and cookies when he was a kid, me thinks he would be singing a different tune. But he didn't so he ain't.

RH

Do Men Want To Marry Successful Women?

I just saw this question posed on eHarmony, so I thought I would pose the same question here. I think this is an interesting question - and obviously, in reality, each man will most likely have a different take on the subject.

Although, if you asked women the question:

Do women want to marry successful men?

90% would say yes and the other 10% would be lying. So, if you happen upon this page, and have a few seconds to spare, sound off to this question:

1. Do men want to marry a career woman?
   

If you answer, please be so kind to indicate whether you are a man or a woman, and by career woman, I mean a woman with the ambition to reach the top of her chosen profession.


RH

Why We Need Universal Healthcare

Since I have lived in Germany for a number of years, I thought maybe I should offer up a few thoughts about the pros and cons of both systems.

First off, let me say that I think that many of the conservatives, who I agree with in many other areas, are completely off the mark when it comes to healthcare. If there is anything worth saving about our current system, I wouldn't know what it is.

We have health insurance through my husband's company. He is an executive so I am going to take a leap and make the assumption that our insurance is above average for the private sector. (It most likely doesn't compare to what government employees have, but that is another story.)

1. Our health insurance never seems to cover much of anything - unless you follow the strict guidelines about which doctor you can see, get approvals for this, that. or the other. So, when people complain about losing the ability to "choose" their doctor and their treatment options, they either need to clearly specify which insurance company they have so we can sign up too, or just keep their mouths shut.
   
   
2. I watched an aunt of mine die of cancer while battling the insurance company to get various treatments and procedures approved. I really don't see the difference between having a bureaucrat make decisions about what treatments to authorize and some schmuck who works for Blue Cross and may or may not get a bonus based on how much money they were able to save by refusing to cover treatment. Do you?
   
   
3. My aunt, btw lived in Carmel and also had "pretty good insurance" or so they thought. What I am trying to say here is that even if you are well off, it is by no means certain that you will get the treatment you need. It just so happens that when a person is seriously ill, they are least able to summon the energy and persistence required to stay on top of the insurance companies. Guess what? Insurance companies know this.
   
   
4. I have lived in Germany for a total of 5 years. One year as a college student - and I enrolled directly at the University so my experience was the same as that of the German kids. I was a bit of a hypochondriac in those days, so I actually saw quite a few doctors and also had occasion to land in the hospital.
   
   
5. See one day I was over at my boyfriend's house watching a soccer game when I found myself doubled up in pain which was coming from my abdomen. It hurt like the dickens. 15 minutes later I am being carried out on a strecher by some really cute German paramedics and taken to the hospital. I get poked and prodded and ultrasounded and they figure out what is wrong with me (ovarian cyst - not that serious - but gosh darn painful), stick an IV in my arm and put me to bed.
   
   
6. The room had no television. I can offer that up as a criticism.
   
   
7. The one thing I did find odd is that they didn't seem to want to let me out of that hospital. Once I felt better, I wanted to split like a banana but they kept telling me I needed to stay and be observed.
   
   
8. On the third day, I snuck out when nobody was looking.
   
   
9. On the fourth day, I felt bad about sneaking out when nobody was looking so I went back to wrap things up properly and talk to my doctor. She wasn't even mad at me and even gave me a prescription for the pill, which apparently will take care of an ovarian cyst in no time flat.
   
   
10. Then, like a month later, I got the bill in the mail. It was for DM 15. Which at the time was about $5.00. I paid it.

I have more stories which I will try to tell, but I really must say that I do not recognize the horror scenario that some conservatives are describing. The other 4 years I had two small children, and you all know how that is with doctor visits - just the planned ones alone will have you there almost monthly - especially with two kids.

I would take the German system over the mess here in a heartbeat. And guess what - German doctors make plenty of money - and their practices are usually very modern and stylish. Overall, it is a very good healthcare system.

There may be countries which have screwed up their healthcare systems, but I can't speak to those. I do know that done right, the only complaint we Americans will have is:

Why the hell did we wait so long?

RH

Sad Sad Day.

Today we lost Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Both pop icons of unmatched dimensions. It's very sad.

RH

Short Takes: On The Pay Gap & Passing Open Windows.

Feminists often cite the disparity of earnings between men and women as evidence of sexism. It occurred to me that one might (and I say might because I don't know the answer) find that the pay gap reflects a conservative life strategy rather than actual discrimination.

Huh?

Consider a business with two employees, Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill do the same work, but Jack makes 25% more than Jill.

Sexism! Horrid, Evil Sexism! Bad Jack! Bad Business! Poor helpless Jill.

This is the implicit conclusion - right? Jill has to be sort of helpless because we are assuming that Jill has marched into the boss's office, made a solid case for a pay increase and has been denied. Maybe Jill broke both her legs in a skiing accident, for example and has trouble marching anywhere. Another possibility is that Jill is just stupid.

Or, maybe Jill is not so stupid after all.

What happens when the economy heads south and the business is forced to cut costs? Mr. Business Owner looks at Jack and Jill and thinks, "Hmm... I get the same amount of work out of both, but Jack costs me 25% more."

Who do you think gets the pink slip? If we assume that Mr. Business owner is one of those evil types who is in business to make a profit, then we can conclude that it is Jack who is shown the door.

That means that Jack's pay is now a big goose egg, but Jill still collects a salary and is able to pay her mortgage and phone bill and occasionally splurge on a gorgeous pair of shoes.

Suddenly, Jill doesn't look so dumb anymore, eh?

Some weirdos might even describe the situation as follows: Jill, who is risk averse, pursues a life strategy that is in line with what she considers to be an acceptable level of risk and reward. Kind of like an investor who chooses to place their money in low risk money market funds instead of the fancy new double-whammy-high-yield-subprime-mortgage-credit-default-swap-with-a-cherry-on-top fund.

That investor knows that the return on their safe money market fund will look rather skimpy when compared to the cherry-on-top fund when it is doing well. The investor also knows that it is far more likely that he or she will still be earning a positive rate of return on their money when the cherry-on-top fund has gone into a tail-spin and its investors are jumping out of windows.

Maybe, Jill just doesn't want to jump out of a window!


RH


PS: Passing open windows is a reference to
The Hotel New Hampshire, a very funny book by John Irving.

Burned Alphabet Soup - The Death Of California

Yup, here I am again, yacking about politics - I made the mistake of buying a newspaper and thus lost my blissful ignorance of the many ways those idiots in Sacramento are killing my state. I had to brush the mental cobwebs off my various degrees in economics - (I really only have two) and start running certain "budget remedying proposals" through my rusty econ brain.

I have to wonder whether anybody up there in Sacramento ever attended a class in economics. In case they have not, I thought I would offer up a neat little equation they may have missed.

It goes like this:

GDP = C + I + G

It says our Gross Domestic Product is the sum of how much consumers spend (C) plus how much is invested (I -like when a business builds a new factory) plus whatever the government spends (G).

When C, I and G get bigger, GDP gets bigger and we hear on the radio that the economy has grown. Whoopee we think.

Sometimes one of them gets bigger and one of them gets smaller - or two get bigger and one gets smaller, or two get smaller and one gets bigger or they all get bigger - in any of those combinations, we can still get happy news on the radio that our economy is growing. (As long as whichever one(s) get bigger do so by more than the other(s) got smaller.)

There is one combination of C+I+G though, that is unambiguously bad. That is when C, I and G all get smaller. That is the opposite of growth. That is shrinkage. We also call that a recession.

Wise government types - or at least those who want to get re-elected, will try not to cause any more shrinkage in either C, I or G. Indeed, many will expouse the virtues of deficit spending to help "kick-start" the economy or of cutting taxes to help "kick-start" the economy.

Notice I said deficit spending and not just spending. Deficit spending implies you spend more than you bring in - Gov. Terminator is a big fan of this. Deficit spending makes our equation look like this:

Before deficit spending:

GDP = C + I + G

After deficit spending:

GDP = C + I + G

G grows, C and I stay the same - economy grows.

If the government raises taxes, then C and I get smaller but G grows - and then everybody argues about whether G grows by enough to offset the now smaller C and I. Although it doesn't and cutting taxes would make C+I grow more than G shrinks

So, our state government here in California has put together a budget that both slashes spending and raises taxes. Meaning all three of our letters get smaller!

Like this:

gdp = c+i+g

Do you want to live in that economy? Note that this is on top of everything that is happening due to the financial mess. Our only option is to cut taxes by more than we cut spending. Or we are going to be in big, big trouble.

RH

Obama Is Not The Bad Guy - Pelosi, Schumer and Barney The Dinosaur Are

It irritates me that many people cast President Obama as some sort of socialist in sheep's clothing. Maybe I am missing something, but whenever I listen to what the President says on a given topic, I have a hard time finding fault with what he is saying. He comes across as a very sober, rational person - in stark contrast to some of his critics - specifically Rush Limbaugh and the Sean Hannity, who seem to be caught in a state of permanent hysteria.

(And Even though I agree with many of the things they say, I really wish the right would find some spokespeople who were more interested in facts and reality than spin. But I guess they wouldn't be quite so entertaining and lovably hate-able.)

To be perfectly honest, I think Obama's biggest enemies are in his own party. The aforementioned Pelosi, Schumer and Barney Frank who seem to live in a permanent fantasy world and have only contempt for those who don't or who actually dare to pull back the curtain just a tad and expose the wizard. Where is little ToTo when we need him?

They are the ones that will bring down President Obama -and the country, as they skip through the poppy fields fighting imaginary dragons while the real dragons are burning down the villages.

Anyway, before I start on too long a lecture, as my kids call it, I saw this video on WSJ.com and I felt it lended some credence to my own assessment of the president. If anyone is interested in trying to separate fact from fiction, have a watch.

Sign me, really would rather not spend the next 10 years suffering through a national crisis RH

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Thank you for always helping me when I need it, and for putting up with 4 women who haven't always made your life easy. I do appreciate everything you have done for me.

Signed, Your daughter #1
- (The one with the blog)