I'm not sure who that is over there. It looks like SoCal with a mustache and a cowboy hat.
27 thoughts on “August 5, 2020: New Guy”
Our daughter is now registered for online school for the fall through our school district and I mailed in my primary ballot yesterday.
Gotta admit, I didn't see this coming.
I mailed my primary ballot this morning!
Now if only the act of mailing the ballot would cause the flood of mail from candidates to end...
We mailed our (notarized) ballots in last week, and looks like we now have expanded Medicare. Finally.
Medicaid.
yeah, that
I'd love for Medicare to be expanded to those 55 or older, tbh. It would simultaneously do two things: make the universe of people on Medicare and on private insurance more healthy.
Agree 100%.
And this is just from my own family's experiences, losing a job with insurance at age 55-and-up is very difficult and needing to find a new one that also provides insurance can be even more difficult.
Also, there are people that could otherwise retire before 65 that hang onto the job just for the insurance. Our society is better if the people that want to retire can retire.
You are exactly right. I think a lot of employment opportunities open up for people backfilling for those who would like to retire early and are able to.
Expanding Medicare to 55 isn't ideal, but it's a step in the right direction.
Or move to a job/role that might be sustaining and satisfying, I would imagine, if health care costs weren't so top of mind.
Oh yes. Also, a lot of people are involuntarily retired in that cohort and all of a sudden can't afford to pay for health insurance without destroying or seriously damaging their retirement portfolio.
While I agree with the general sentiment, I would not. It would be a huge challenge to group insurance plans for employers, especially small group coverage. I'm sure that those issues can be figured out eventually, and cleaving off us old effers would presumably make group policies cheaper in the long run, it would still be a very challenging transition.
I'd rather that employers and individuals be given the option to buy into Medicare at any age, while requiring those who buy in to pay something akin to competitive (community-rated) premiums. It could be structured (I think) to drive the whole industry toward more competitive pricing, while opening the door to the power of very large group policies for purchasing/price negotiations with providers and for risk pooling.
But politicks.
I'll leave the details to the bureaucrats 😃.
I'm just really surprised we haven't seen more discussion on how taking the insurance thing away from employment could really improve our economy. More entrepreneurship, more early retirement, etc.
It has long seemed to me that employment benefits as they currently stand are a huge problem for small businesses competing with huge corporations for labor. I currently work for a huge corporation with excellent benefits and it's difficult to imagine just how much money a smaller business with less robust benefits would have to throw at me to get me to leave.
Yes.
And don't get me started on non-compete agreements, intellectual property laws, etc.
Aye. Those kinds of employee exit costs are pretty hugely in favor of larger corporations.
the teaching industry has something similar, at least in California. As I understand it, seniority doesn't really transfer across school districts, so the longer a teacher is within one school system, the harder it is to move.
Rather puts a crimp in upward mobility, doesn't it?
Let's get employers out of it entirely. The pandemic is more proof of how terrible it is.
well, yea. It's just gonna be hard to make the transition. Lots and lots of vested interests.
Expanding Medicare to age 55 would help address the growing problem of employers dumping older workers in order to optimize their group insurance rate and otherwise minimize labor costs. Decoupling health insurance from employment completely and offering Medicare for All would be better.
Well yes. I figure though that we won’t go from Medicare at 65 to Medicare at birth without first lowering the age so that people can see the benefits.
Any word on if they tracked down the illegal drone operator(s)?
You can't fool us -- we know it was you.
That WOULD be a trick!
I didn't say "...asking for a friend"
I need a pinch game logger for today's game. We did not luck into half the house having power and I doubt it'll be fixed soon.
NBA continues to have no new COVID test among their players. Obviously, I hope this continues. This non-stop NBA action has been pretty great and I'm even warming to the virtual fans in the stands. It's also fun to see guys heading to the basket, landing out of bounds safely and not on a camera man or some fans. Houston has been fun to watch, mainly because they have completely abandoned playing big. 100% all small. Portland beat them last night in a close one, but I was stunned at Portland's inability or unwillingness to pound the ball inside and make Houston pay for being small. I doubt that they can beat the Lakers doing that because AD will kill them.
Speaking of the Lakers, they aren't exactly firing on all cylinders yet. Specifically, LeBron looks out of sorts. Miami was pretty good last night without Jimmy Butler. I don't think they are gonna beat Toronto or Milwaukee, but they are a good team. Also, Toronto playing the Lakers was the best performance I've seen this year. They were absolutely spectacular in that game. Gonna be a very tough out for anybody that they play.
Our daughter is now registered for online school for the fall through our school district and I mailed in my primary ballot yesterday.
Gotta admit, I didn't see this coming.
I mailed my primary ballot this morning!
Now if only the act of mailing the ballot would cause the flood of mail from candidates to end...
We mailed our (notarized) ballots in last week, and looks like we now have expanded Medicare. Finally.
Medicaid.
yeah, that
I'd love for Medicare to be expanded to those 55 or older, tbh. It would simultaneously do two things: make the universe of people on Medicare and on private insurance more healthy.
Agree 100%.
And this is just from my own family's experiences, losing a job with insurance at age 55-and-up is very difficult and needing to find a new one that also provides insurance can be even more difficult.
Also, there are people that could otherwise retire before 65 that hang onto the job just for the insurance. Our society is better if the people that want to retire can retire.
You are exactly right. I think a lot of employment opportunities open up for people backfilling for those who would like to retire early and are able to.
Expanding Medicare to 55 isn't ideal, but it's a step in the right direction.
Or move to a job/role that might be sustaining and satisfying, I would imagine, if health care costs weren't so top of mind.
Oh yes. Also, a lot of people are involuntarily retired in that cohort and all of a sudden can't afford to pay for health insurance without destroying or seriously damaging their retirement portfolio.
While I agree with the general sentiment, I would not. It would be a huge challenge to group insurance plans for employers, especially small group coverage. I'm sure that those issues can be figured out eventually, and cleaving off us old effers would presumably make group policies cheaper in the long run, it would still be a very challenging transition.
I'd rather that employers and individuals be given the option to buy into Medicare at any age, while requiring those who buy in to pay something akin to competitive (community-rated) premiums. It could be structured (I think) to drive the whole industry toward more competitive pricing, while opening the door to the power of very large group policies for purchasing/price negotiations with providers and for risk pooling.
But politicks.
I'll leave the details to the bureaucrats 😃.
I'm just really surprised we haven't seen more discussion on how taking the insurance thing away from employment could really improve our economy. More entrepreneurship, more early retirement, etc.
It has long seemed to me that employment benefits as they currently stand are a huge problem for small businesses competing with huge corporations for labor. I currently work for a huge corporation with excellent benefits and it's difficult to imagine just how much money a smaller business with less robust benefits would have to throw at me to get me to leave.
Yes.
And don't get me started on non-compete agreements, intellectual property laws, etc.
Aye. Those kinds of employee exit costs are pretty hugely in favor of larger corporations.
the teaching industry has something similar, at least in California. As I understand it, seniority doesn't really transfer across school districts, so the longer a teacher is within one school system, the harder it is to move.
Rather puts a crimp in upward mobility, doesn't it?
Let's get employers out of it entirely. The pandemic is more proof of how terrible it is.
well, yea. It's just gonna be hard to make the transition. Lots and lots of vested interests.
Expanding Medicare to age 55 would help address the growing problem of employers dumping older workers in order to optimize their group insurance rate and otherwise minimize labor costs. Decoupling health insurance from employment completely and offering Medicare for All would be better.
Well yes. I figure though that we won’t go from Medicare at 65 to Medicare at birth without first lowering the age so that people can see the benefits.
Any word on if they tracked down the illegal drone operator(s)?
You can't fool us -- we know it was you.
That WOULD be a trick!
I didn't say "...asking for a friend"
I need a pinch game logger for today's game. We did not luck into half the house having power and I doubt it'll be fixed soon.
NBA continues to have no new COVID test among their players. Obviously, I hope this continues. This non-stop NBA action has been pretty great and I'm even warming to the virtual fans in the stands. It's also fun to see guys heading to the basket, landing out of bounds safely and not on a camera man or some fans. Houston has been fun to watch, mainly because they have completely abandoned playing big. 100% all small. Portland beat them last night in a close one, but I was stunned at Portland's inability or unwillingness to pound the ball inside and make Houston pay for being small. I doubt that they can beat the Lakers doing that because AD will kill them.
Speaking of the Lakers, they aren't exactly firing on all cylinders yet. Specifically, LeBron looks out of sorts. Miami was pretty good last night without Jimmy Butler. I don't think they are gonna beat Toronto or Milwaukee, but they are a good team. Also, Toronto playing the Lakers was the best performance I've seen this year. They were absolutely spectacular in that game. Gonna be a very tough out for anybody that they play.