2000 or 4000?

My wife had pain in her leg. So she went to the Doctor. His response was,  “Don’t worry about it.” I think the reason he took this attitude was a combination of incompetence and the quite understandable desire to avoid an MRI and the costs associated with it.

We were scheduled to leave for Russia so we could not follow up.

As my wife is also a citizen of Russia, she got an MRI there. It was done on equipment imported from Israel. Her leg was fine. They decided to send her to a specialist. The appointment was a few days later, not a few weeks as in America.

They did an X-Ray and discovered she has a pinched nerve.

Why am I relating this story? It is to bring out the problems with American Medicine. I estimate that the costs if the tests had been done in America at $2000. This may be a little on the high side, as I have never figured out billing in America. It cost 4,000 in Russia. That is rubles. So divide by 30. You do the math.

Our current system cannot continue much longer.  Already medical “vacation clinics” are popping up all over. We do not have the money to continue business as usual. What will replace the current system? Who knows?

Why Is Manufacturing Going Overseas?

The reason that manufacturing is going overseas is not labour, it is the government. Here is an example, 

Good Television

The way that media slants its coverage is rather amazing. If you watch network news uncritically, you are being played.

In the Tea Party movement, if you have 100 protestor signs, which one will be on the news? It will either be the one that is misspelled, the one that shows Obama as the Joker, or the one by the local Nazi crazy. This may not be bias so much as "good television.”

This same kind of thing goes on with the Occupy movement. You cannot trust the images or the interviews. If the nightly news producer has two clips—one of a crazy defecating on the flag, or one of a person with a cogent argument—the crazy is going to get the spot. This may be bias, or just more "good television.”

Readers of this blog will not be surprised that I am no fan of Nancy Pelosi. Yet I still see news bias against her. I have cable news right now because I am in Missouri, and I have satellite there until my contract expires. Twice I have seen Nancy Pelosi accused of saying, "We need to pass the bill to find out what's in it." She is referring to the Obama Health care bill. 

Yes you can see where she said this, in an out of context clip. When she is viewed in context she is saying something different. Pelosi is saying that once the public knows what is in the bill, they will support it. I think she was wrong on this, but she is not a crazy woman. (I will show a clip tomorrow of Pelosi, where she says that Boeing should fire the workers in S. Carolina, realizes that is not what she meant, and corrects it with the change that she wants them to be Union workers. I am not as confident in the veracity of the clip in terms of editing as I was when I put it in my blog queue. But I will leave it there as it does illustrate one point I wanted to make, the Union template.)

The Oakland Police has estimated that there are 100 people at the Occupy Oakland protest that are violent, out of an estimated 10,000 protesters.

So I will leave you with a question. If a news producer has a clip of people throwing rocks (I do wonder who these people really are, are they planted?), or a video of the Occupy protesters locking arms to prevent property damage, which is most likely to be aired-which is "good television”?

Money For Nothing

I suggest that our national anthem be replaced with the Dire Straits song "Money For Nothing." It seems to fit our national desires better than claiming to be the land of the free. Instead, because of our desire for something for nothing, we will become the land of the fee.

The Roman Empire took hundreds of years to ultimately fall. America has been an Empire for at least 100 years, so we may go on for some time. I have been predicting 5 to 8 years untill we have a crisis more severe than 2008—a few more years if the recovery next year is stronger than I think. I am certainly no economic expert. I can only look at my situation and extrapolate. Extrapolation of our current spending issues leaves little doubt that an even bigger crisis is coming relatively soon.

There were gasps in the audience when Michelle Bachman recently suggested a cut of 40% of government expenditures. Instead there should have been applause. I was talking to my son Dmitry about politics and said our politicians were either liars, or idiots who think that 2+2=6. The fact that Republicans think 2+2=5 is not particularly comforting.

I am guardedly pessimistic because I expect budget cuts when a crisis forces it. Waiting until then makes the coming crisis worse and the cuts greater.  Every few years we have "kicked the can down the road." Is there a cliff coming? At the very least we are headed for a ditch. Fasten your seat belt.

Doubling Down On Debt

France, Germany and the EU Look For SolutionsThe central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending. Most policy failures in the United States stem from a failure to appreciate this truism.

This Larry Summners quote seems to be in agreement with the philosophy of the current European Economic Community. This video explains some of the odd details of the bailout just announced. 

I think that this deal is doomed to collapse, but I doubt that one very interesting article is right and that it will collapse in two weeks: 

The eurocrats, of course, lack the guts to trim back monetary union to a more manageable size. Too much face would be lost. So "euroquake" fears, once viewed as outlandish, are gaining pace. Despite Thursday's deal, and all the reassurances of a "durable solution", the Italian government on Friday paid 6.06pc for 10-year money, up from just 5.86pc a month ago and a euro-era high. Such borrowing costs are disastrous, given that Rome must roll-over €300bn of its €1,900bn debt in 2012 alone. A default by Italy, the eurozone's third-biggest economy, and the eighth-largest on earth, would make Lehman look like a picnic.

I think the crisis will come and the longer it is postponed the worse it will be. I hope she is wrong and that we have some time to deal with the issue of excessive debt.