10 thoughts for November 15, 2013

I have a lot of thoughts going through my head, all the time.  Here's some of the minor ones.

1. Earlier this week I wrote (see item #10) that the idea of paying for only what you need in health insurance, is a rather dumb argument, because it negates the point of pooled money.  Today, Jonathan Chait breaks this whole thing down to demonstrate that, absent pooled money, all you're basically doing is getting charged by an insurer to take your money then pay it back later on.  Consider: If exactly half the population no longer needs to pay money into a pool to help offset the cost of child birth, now one half of the population must bear double the cost of what they were paying before.  Fewer mothers would want children, and so on.  It's a self-destructive feedback loop.
2. Democratic reaction to the ACA issues perfectly illustrates the difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate.  House members are continuously working on defending their seats because of their two year terms and gerrymandering of their district borders, while Senators have six year terms and aren't affected by gerrymandering as they represent the whole state.
3. The House passed a bill that would effectively delay the ACA for an entire year, by allowing insurers to sell old plans to old and new customers for the next year.  Because the bill would allow insurers to sell old plans to new customers, it is a non-starter with most Democrats.  Why, after all, did they spend all this political capital only to allow insurers to continue to scam people with lousy plans?  However, it must be said that some of the better providers -- Kaiser -- would probably ignore this, and simply move to 100% ACA plans.  There is a very solid, moral foundation for keeping Americans healthy and productive, regardless of risk.
4. You really need to read the online Politico Magazine, a long form tradition of print, for the internet.  It is written by people from all colors of the political spectrum, so there's going to be something interesting for everyone -- I've already read three articles from the November magazine.  If you look carefully, they have a digital magazine layout version, and a downloadable PDF for offline reading in print-like format.
5. Prudential Northwest Properties was apparently bought out last year by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.  I didn't notice this until today, because today, the Pru-nw.com site was redirected to bhhsnw.com -- Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Northwest Real Estate (whew, that was long).
6. And of course, the reason why I was accessing a real estate website, was to search for large, cheap, empty parcels of land in rural Oregon.  Like this one.  Kind of nice, with a sweeping view of snow-capped mountains near John Day Fossil Bed Monument.  Extra money?  Why not buy some empty land, then build a couple of rustic cabins and rent them out for vacationers?  Or if you can find really cheap land, use it as a private campsite for yourself and your friends.  I'm all about isolation...well except for the lack of internet -- I couldn't do blog posts or work remotely.  This one's 20 acres near Goldendale, WA, and costs just $27,000.   Buy it so that during Summer, you can camp outside and watch the Milky Way, meteor showers, the northern lights and more.
7. Been watching season 5 of Misfits.  A lot of crazy turns this season, and some really uncomfortable topics for some people!
8. Damn, Pinterest. Why are you clogging my screen with stuff that I didn't sign up to see?  I don't see the point then, of following boards, if you're going to clutter my screen with pins from people I haven't a clue who they are, with things I have zero interest in repinning.
9. This season's Grimm is absolutely, freaking awesome!  I love the implications of his current "powers" and the complexity of his conscience.
10. All the odds makers have Stanford as the favorite, but many sports pundits are picking USC as the upset special this weekend.  This I know: The last three straight losses to Stanford were under Lane Kiffin's coaching, but under Ed Orgeron the energy is back and confidence is soaring.  Under the bright lights in a sold-out Coliseum, there's a lot of incentive to pull a major upset on national TV.