US shutdown - safe mode

flyboy:
@Wizdum
The wadded up cash story didn't come from the media. I worked in a grocery store while I was finishing my college degree. I saw it happen numerous times. It IS common, probably more than most people realize.

So, what percentage of the US population would you say checked out at the grocery store where you worked?

flyboy:
@Wizdum
I saw it happen numerous times. It IS common, probably more than most people realize.

lesto:
if you didn't denounce them, then you are complicit.[...]
YOU are one of the root of the problem you are complaininig.

I partly agree with your statement. While complaining and taking no other actions doesn't solve the problem, it doesn't actually make me complicit in the problem.

The root of the problem depends on what problem we're talking about. My complaint was about the misuse of funds, not about the complaints. My complaint does not cause the problem. While it does nothing to solve the problem, it didn't create the problem. It is only one of many results related to the initial problem.

i'm not sayng your complain are the problem, but the lack of real action against these misuse.

it doesn't actually make me complicit in the problem

why not? if you see someone mureding someone and you do nothing, are you a complicit? (in italy, yes you are, complicit beacuse you didn't denounce, AND "Duty to rescue")

if you get cought with passenger without safety bell, in italy the driver is fined if the passenger doesn't have a driver licence (because it can be unaware of the law) BUT if the passenger has a driver licence, then the passenger AND the driver are fined because the driver id complicit (as above, i'm talking about italy)

All very nice to have these laws, and all very nice to have "mandatory reporting".

The problem on reporting is what the person whom you report might do to you in retaliation before and whilst the "due process" of the law churns along.

Traditionally, this problem is particularly a matter of concern in Italy. :smiley:

at the question "why you do this?" from a reporter to Gaiovanni Falcone, one of the most famous, with Paolo Borsellino, magistrate who fought and died fighting the mafia, the response was

Soltanto lo spirito di servizio

that literally is

Only the spirit of service

also from Paolo Borsellino

La lotta alla mafia, il primo problema da risolvere nella nostra terra bellissima e disgraziata, non doveva essere soltanto una distaccata opera di repressione, ma un movimento culturale e morale che coinvolgesse tutti e specialmente le giovani generazioni, le più adatte a sentire subito la bellezza del fresco profumo di libertà che fa rifiutare il puzzo del compromesso morale, dell'indifferenza, della contiguità e quindi della complicità.

the figth versus the mafia, the first problem to solve in our country, shound be only a repression, but a cultural movement of everybody, especially the new geenration, the most adeguate to feel the beauty of the freedom and the orro of the moral compromise, indifference, contiguity and then complicity

Traditionally, this problem is particularly a matter of concern in Italy.

well, they are afraid because they feel alone, and they are quite right, and because this less people talk and so on.. If someone speech, and then anoter and so on, the mafia can't kill them all. It is a recursive problem

Reboot in Progress.....

wizdum:
Reboot in Progress.....

Same set of buggy drivers.

pico:

wizdum:
Reboot in Progress.....

Same set of buggy drivers.

Time to nuke and re-pave then.

Looks like the same operating system.

Don't get too giddy. Sometime in February we're expecting one of these...

Edit: Replaced with a "better" image.

Reminds me of when I saw the Blue Screen Of Death at an airline check-in terminal. At least I know what operating system they use, now. :slight_smile:

I've done charity work and have seen people stand in lines for food (for the needy) holding iPads. Yeah, OK, that's probably not the best way to spend your last $500. OTOH, I also saw them crawl back into their rusty hatchback with the muffler duct-taped on. Don't misunderstand, these folks aren't living in luxury.

I've also seen people with productive lives fall ill and become utterly incapable of supporting themselves financially. Not only do you get the blow to your self-worth, you become concerned with how you're going to continue paying your mortgage, buying food, and heating your home. Think about it, everyone. If you were to suddenly lose your health -- and I mean big time, like debilitating cancer, or back problems that prevent you from being able to walk -- what would you do? When one night in the hospital costs you a month's rent... how long are you going to be solvent?

The American system is broken. We're complacent and entitled. (Myself included.) We can't afford to make sure everyone can get flu shots and a doctor that cares enough to do more than prescribe Tylenol, but we're so well off that we can complain about having to wait out a 24 month contract before we're allowed to upgrade our cell phone?

Listen to some of the Republicans from congress talking about how inconvenienced they were by the shutdown. Not a single one of them had any doubt whatsoever that their paycheck would show up, on time and fat as ever. And if it didn't, I'm sure the one from the Koch brothers, the oil companies, and the healthcare industry would cover their deficit.

These rotten socialist ideals got us roads and railways across the country, and phone lines to any rural community. Yet for some reason we're going to draw the line at healthcare? No. Fix the real problem -- why it costs you (and/or your insurance company) $100 for a cotton swab.

SirNickity:
Listen to some of the Republicans from congress talking about how inconvenienced they were by the shutdown. Not a single one of them had any doubt whatsoever that their paycheck would show up, on time and fat as ever.

What's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah. Hypocrite. Could the Speaker of the House, the person who claims to be fighting the good fight for a much smaller government, be a hypocrite? I guess you could make the argument that he's just forgetful: "I want a much smaller government (except for the services the government provides to me and my cronies)".

Cruz has not been a senator long enough to collect much dirt but our other senator, who has claimed daily to be fighting the good fight, has earned the same label...
Cornyn, a Republican, racked up the highest travel bill in the Senate by spending more than $38,000 on a St. Michaels, Md., retreat for 59 staffers and by taking expensive, multicity charter flights throughout his home state of Texas. #

He may or may not deserve the same label but I can think of a few others that apply...
Schumer, a Democrat, ran up the second-highest bill by routinely flying private charters to cities in New York served by commercial airlines. #

# Thanks to Politico for the dirt.

After reading that statement again, I almost cringe at having used the "R" word. You're absolutely right -- political party has little to do with the blatant mis-use of funds and ... let's say, "questionable" benefit the public gets out of those expenditures.

I don't entirely identify with any party, but I do believe this whole shutdown was a manufactured event... a partisan ploy. And an incredibly irresponsible one at that.

Obamacare won't fix everything, it's not perfect (what law is?), but it's a single step in the right direction. The whole argument about "not wanting to subsidize others' poor health choices" is deeply flawed. That's entirely the point of insurance. That's how it works. That's how it has always worked. This new requirement for having insurance is no different than how you're required to have liability insurance to drive a car (at least where I live), or full coverage if the bank still owns it. Or for that matter, how I have to have mortgage insurance until I've paid 20% of my home loan. Insurance isn't solvent if only those who need it, pay for it. That wouldn't be insurance anymore, it would just be called "paying your medical bills." Insurance is legalized gambling. This should not be news to anyone. The attempt to convince voters of anything different is merely an effort to rally a superficial cause -- a means to an end -- manipulation.

You are right. This is how insurance works. Also, you subsidise roads that pass houses other than your own. And you pay for a police force, even if you are not personally being robbed (although you may be one day). You pay for the building of schools, even though you may not have children, although you may, one day.

That's how society works.

So, just because you exist then that places an interminable obligation on me to make sure that you, and yours are provided for?

I think one of the basic things a society does is to take care of the sick (which could be any one of us at any time). If you don't do that do you have a society?

Potentially the cheapest and most uniform way of providing health care is via the tax system where we collectively pool our money.

The objective of Insurance Companies is to make a profit. That has two major consequences firstly it extracts money (the profit) from the system secondly, to maximise profit, it denies insurance to those who really need it.

If you have ever tried to make a claim on any kind of insurance you will be aware it is a very one-sided system.

It's the profits that make the insurance company efficient. If they get too greedy, a competitor may have a plan that costs less. This helps control the costs. When the government runs the program, there is no incentive to be efficient. Just look at the budgets, or lack thereof, of the major governments of the world. In the USA, we just spend the money whether we have it or not. That kind of fiscal wrecklessness causes currency failures, inflation, etc. Greece, anyone?

nope, capitalism is not about efficiency, it is about PROFIT.
To make more profit your industry have to be efficient, but for herself, not for the user.

When the government runs the program, there is no incentive to be efficient

but also there is no incentive to SPECULATION.

we have free healt care, but everyday medical, like aspirin and souch, aren't free.
Many times doctor are paid to sugget the use of some brand instad of other. That is illegal, obviusly, but around the sanity run a lot of money, and where there are a lot of money, there is always someone looking for a way "to get a bigger slice"

In the USA, we just spend the money whether we have it or not

you have A LOT of money, you just spend almst all playing the war. AND YOUR war is moving a lot of illegal immigrant to Italy, because they escape from war, so you are damaging those country and our contry (all the europe infact).

And please, don't say you are exporting democracy, a sniper or a drone (or a sniper-drone?) and a good plan should have suffice to eliminate "the bad guy" without involving the death of a lot of people

flyboy:
It's the profits that make the insurance company efficient. If they get too greedy, a competitor may have a plan that costs less.

You, quite clearly, have never shopped for nor purchased an individual or family health insurance policy in the United States. I suggest you educate yourself before you cause yourself more embarrassment.