I had originally planned for one huge blog post about public healthcare, but have since decided to split it up into a number of smaller posts, owing to me being quite busy this time of year. I think that it is shameful that we are one of the few (if not the only) developed nations that does not have universal healthcare. The majority of the country wants a public healthcare option (75% according to a recent NBC/WSJ poll . . . Google it). These posts are part of my contribution to the public discussion.
Objection: Countries with universal healthcare make people wait in line for services.
This has been used as a scare tactic for many years. Yes, Canada and other countries that have universal healthcare do ration care. If you need to have an elective procedure, you wait in line until your turn come up. This is not really different than in the United States . . . for a routine physical, I need to schedule an appointment with my doctor at least eight months in advance. My dentist requires six months. I've never had to have non-emergency surgery, but I'm sure that I can't just walk into my local hospital and demand to be serviced that day.
We ration care in the United States, but we don't ration it in a way that promotes the overall health of our population; we ration it based on who can pay the most. That means that, if a millionaire wants a nose job, s/he can and will get care before a poor person who needs cancer screening. Under our system, doctors who do elective plastic surgery make more than primary care physicians who work with patients to keep them healthy. I can't imagine any framework in which this makes sense.
Care should be prioritized/rationed based on what is most effective at keeping people healthy. Countries with a public healthcare system can do this because, under a public system, there is no incentive to chase after a profit.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Oh, Delta (Rant)
I'm taking a trip out to Seattle to see my cousin, Cody, get married. I'm flying Northwest Airlines, but some of my flights were operated by Delta. Today, the flight (Delta) from DSM to SLC got canceled and my itinerary was replace with the following:
At first glance, I was happy that they still had me getting into Seattle at 11:20am, as I have plans for that afternoon. But, upon closer inspection, they had me getting into Salt Lake City at 2:12pm and leaving at 8:30am.
My question is: How do things like this happen?
Fortunately, Northwest Airlines was able to fix my itinerary with a phone call, but, seriously . . . if this is what I should expect from Delta, I'm not excited.
Fri 4SEP Delta 6151* LV Des Moines, IA (DSM) 730A Coach
AR Cincinnati, OH (CVG) 1014A
*operated by Freedom Airlines Inc
Fri 4SEP Delta 1424 LV Salt Lake City, U (SLC) 830A Coach
AR Portland, OR (PDX) 922A
Fri 4SEP Delta 1419 LV Cincinnati, OH (CVG) 1225P Coach
AR Salt Lake City, U (SLC) 212P
Fri 4SEP Alaska Airlines 2142 LV Portland, OR (PDX) 1030A Coach
AR Seattle, WA (SEA) 1120A
At first glance, I was happy that they still had me getting into Seattle at 11:20am, as I have plans for that afternoon. But, upon closer inspection, they had me getting into Salt Lake City at 2:12pm and leaving at 8:30am.
My question is: How do things like this happen?
Fortunately, Northwest Airlines was able to fix my itinerary with a phone call, but, seriously . . . if this is what I should expect from Delta, I'm not excited.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Travel Deals
Okay, many people following this blog (surprisingly, there are actually quite a few more than I expected there to be) have expressed an interest in learning how I score awesome travel deals.
This year, I have been on a bit of a travel binge, venturing to Asia twice, Virginia, Seattle, California, Germany, Oregon and (in the coming months) Tokyo, Michigan and Australia.
One of the secrets to traveling cheaply is traveling where the cheap fares lead you. It sounds much less glamorous when put that way, but that's essentially how I travel. Most of the time, I haven't said that I wanted to visit X in Y, but have taken the opportunities to visit my friends when there have been reasonable fares available. (When I do decide to visit a specific person in a specific location, I cash in some frequent flyer miles.)
One of the tools that can help you find cheap travel deals is FareCompare.com's "Top Deals From" tool.
http://www.farecompare.com/maps/compareDestinations.html
Simply enter your origin airport and FareCompare will tell you where you can go (including internationally) for cheap.
Later this summer, I will be doing a bit more blogging on my experiences in certain airports . . . stay tuned.
This year, I have been on a bit of a travel binge, venturing to Asia twice, Virginia, Seattle, California, Germany, Oregon and (in the coming months) Tokyo, Michigan and Australia.
One of the secrets to traveling cheaply is traveling where the cheap fares lead you. It sounds much less glamorous when put that way, but that's essentially how I travel. Most of the time, I haven't said that I wanted to visit X in Y, but have taken the opportunities to visit my friends when there have been reasonable fares available. (When I do decide to visit a specific person in a specific location, I cash in some frequent flyer miles.)
One of the tools that can help you find cheap travel deals is FareCompare.com's "Top Deals From" tool.
http://www.farecompare.com/maps/compareDestinations.html
Simply enter your origin airport and FareCompare will tell you where you can go (including internationally) for cheap.
Later this summer, I will be doing a bit more blogging on my experiences in certain airports . . . stay tuned.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Back in Germany
Note: This was originally written on April 25th, on a train from Zweibrücken to München.
Well, I’m back in Germany, for the first time in several years. Since I’ve been travelling all over Asia, some of my German friends had felt that I had abandoned them . . . well, no longer. As I’m writing this, I’m currently sitting on an ICE Train (German Bullet-Train) to Munich, in complete comfort, but without an internet connection.
I’ve missed Germany . . . the food, the trains, the scenery, but above all, the people. Since I’ve been working all week (almost 10 hours/day, plus social outings with my colleagues), I haven’t had much time to think about that . . . and it hit me for the first time when I was on a train to Saarbruecken. There’s something about riding a train that makes me realize that I am actually here . . . in Germany . . . and quite a bit at home.
When traveling internationally, even in a country as safe as Germany, it’s important to do basic things like lock the car when you leave. This is a lesson my colleagues found out the hard way. To make a long story short, this resulted in a trip to the police station on Friday afternoon, with me feeling out a police report. Earlier in the week, I had asserted that the German police were both friendly and professional. Fortunately, this was the case. An experience which might have tainted my colleague’s perception of Germany was turned into a pleasant experience with the German police and disaster was averted. (I even got to sign my name to the police report that I translated it.
One of the things that I need to put on my to-do list is to re-learn how to drive a stick-shift. It’s kind of embarrassing that I am a bit afraid of the things, but, you lose any skill you have if you fall out of practice. Some weekend, I’ll rent a stick-shift car and practice. If I’m going to destroy someone’s transmission, it can be Hertz’s. Then, next time when we go to Germany, I can feel comfortable driving.
Now, it’s off to Munich to see Katha and Nowy.
Well, I’m back in Germany, for the first time in several years. Since I’ve been travelling all over Asia, some of my German friends had felt that I had abandoned them . . . well, no longer. As I’m writing this, I’m currently sitting on an ICE Train (German Bullet-Train) to Munich, in complete comfort, but without an internet connection.
I’ve missed Germany . . . the food, the trains, the scenery, but above all, the people. Since I’ve been working all week (almost 10 hours/day, plus social outings with my colleagues), I haven’t had much time to think about that . . . and it hit me for the first time when I was on a train to Saarbruecken. There’s something about riding a train that makes me realize that I am actually here . . . in Germany . . . and quite a bit at home.
When traveling internationally, even in a country as safe as Germany, it’s important to do basic things like lock the car when you leave. This is a lesson my colleagues found out the hard way. To make a long story short, this resulted in a trip to the police station on Friday afternoon, with me feeling out a police report. Earlier in the week, I had asserted that the German police were both friendly and professional. Fortunately, this was the case. An experience which might have tainted my colleague’s perception of Germany was turned into a pleasant experience with the German police and disaster was averted. (I even got to sign my name to the police report that I translated it.
One of the things that I need to put on my to-do list is to re-learn how to drive a stick-shift. It’s kind of embarrassing that I am a bit afraid of the things, but, you lose any skill you have if you fall out of practice. Some weekend, I’ll rent a stick-shift car and practice. If I’m going to destroy someone’s transmission, it can be Hertz’s. Then, next time when we go to Germany, I can feel comfortable driving.
Now, it’s off to Munich to see Katha and Nowy.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Updating Multiple Social Networking Sites with Ping.fm
I have tried to reduce the amount of time I spend pecking away at a keyboard in front of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. These sites have a lot of utility, but also can be a HUGE time-sink.
One of the things that I would like to do is to get to the point where I can automate status updates across several social-networking platforms, based on location. If, for example, I am at Stomping Grounds in Ames, I can have some application broadcast that to the world, without me having to update the status message. This would save LOTS of time, as my statuses could be mostly updated without any effort on my part.
Earlier this week, I've discovered Ping.fm, which gets me half-way there. In short, it allows me to update my various statuses from a single text message. Now, I can have AIM, Facebook, LinkedIn, gMail, etc. updated from one location. The site also supports a host of other applications. If you have several social networking sites and are constantly trying to keep them all updated, check out Ping.fm. It will save you TONS of time.
What tools do you use to manage your online social networking world?
One of the things that I would like to do is to get to the point where I can automate status updates across several social-networking platforms, based on location. If, for example, I am at Stomping Grounds in Ames, I can have some application broadcast that to the world, without me having to update the status message. This would save LOTS of time, as my statuses could be mostly updated without any effort on my part.
Earlier this week, I've discovered Ping.fm, which gets me half-way there. In short, it allows me to update my various statuses from a single text message. Now, I can have AIM, Facebook, LinkedIn, gMail, etc. updated from one location. The site also supports a host of other applications. If you have several social networking sites and are constantly trying to keep them all updated, check out Ping.fm. It will save you TONS of time.
What tools do you use to manage your online social networking world?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Book: Hot Commodities
On my recent trip to Hong Kong (which reminds me, I really need to get pictures from BOTH Hong Kong and Japan up for people who are not on Facebook) one of the people I met recommended the book "Hot Commodities" by Jim Rodgers. While on a business trip in Moline, I spent some time reading this book and as a result, have decided not to start investing in commodities.
I'm always skeptical of any book that starts off sounding like a sales pitch for some "hot new thing" and this book was no different. Jim's first chapter explains that you are missing out on a great opportunity to make a lot of quick cash if you do not start investing in this hot market. It sounds much like hyperbole . . .
To its credit, the book does touch on a number of investing strategies which jive with my thinking, including investing with a long time horizon. But, I will remain out of the commodities market with my personal investments because commodities do not fit with my investment strategy. The things that I really like about stocks, compared to commodities are:
1. With stocks, the intrinsic value of the companies I am investing in is increasing. Generally, companies are growing, developing new products, improving their operations, etc. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold and will never change.
2. I do not wish to take the risks of timing the speculative whims of the market. Jim Rodgers flatly states that you make money in commodities because of speculation. Since there is no increase in the intrinsic value of any given commodity, the gains made are purely speculative. At best, success requires time and effort spent doing analysis that, quite frankly, isn't a good use of my time. (At worst--and most likely in my view--this is a game that nobody can win in the long-term.) Since the intrinsic value of commodities is not increasing, for every dollar (or euro, yen, etc.) that is won in the market, another is lost . . . and the brokerage houses are always taking their rake . . .
What are your thoughts on commodities? Are you investing in commodities? Have you made money? Have you lost it?
I'm always skeptical of any book that starts off sounding like a sales pitch for some "hot new thing" and this book was no different. Jim's first chapter explains that you are missing out on a great opportunity to make a lot of quick cash if you do not start investing in this hot market. It sounds much like hyperbole . . .
To its credit, the book does touch on a number of investing strategies which jive with my thinking, including investing with a long time horizon. But, I will remain out of the commodities market with my personal investments because commodities do not fit with my investment strategy. The things that I really like about stocks, compared to commodities are:
1. With stocks, the intrinsic value of the companies I am investing in is increasing. Generally, companies are growing, developing new products, improving their operations, etc. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold and will never change.
2. I do not wish to take the risks of timing the speculative whims of the market. Jim Rodgers flatly states that you make money in commodities because of speculation. Since there is no increase in the intrinsic value of any given commodity, the gains made are purely speculative. At best, success requires time and effort spent doing analysis that, quite frankly, isn't a good use of my time. (At worst--and most likely in my view--this is a game that nobody can win in the long-term.) Since the intrinsic value of commodities is not increasing, for every dollar (or euro, yen, etc.) that is won in the market, another is lost . . . and the brokerage houses are always taking their rake . . .
What are your thoughts on commodities? Are you investing in commodities? Have you made money? Have you lost it?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Understanding the Financial Crisis
So, you want to know more about the financial/housing crisis? I've scoured the interwebs for you to bring you these three links:
1. This short video explains how the mortgage stuff happened . . .
http://vimeo.com/3261363
2. NPR's "Planet Money" podcast recently collaborated with "This American Life" on an hour-long special entitled "Bad Bank" which does a fair job explaining the collapse of the banking system:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=375
3. If you still need more, "Planet Money" and "This American Life" also collaborated last year on another hour-long special:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242
Do you feel like you understand enough about how financial markets, banks, subprime mortgages and corporate paper work? If not, what do you want to know? What do you read/listen to/watch to find out more about this?
1. This short video explains how the mortgage stuff happened . . .
http://vimeo.com/3261363
2. NPR's "Planet Money" podcast recently collaborated with "This American Life" on an hour-long special entitled "Bad Bank" which does a fair job explaining the collapse of the banking system:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=375
3. If you still need more, "Planet Money" and "This American Life" also collaborated last year on another hour-long special:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242
Do you feel like you understand enough about how financial markets, banks, subprime mortgages and corporate paper work? If not, what do you want to know? What do you read/listen to/watch to find out more about this?
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