http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080130/fed_interest_rates.html

“The Fed’s hope is that by making credit cheaper, it will encourage more borrowing, giving the economy a needed boost.”

Tell me how the fugg that makes sense?

The “economy is in shock” due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Which is what happens when greedy mortgage brokers lend money to people who shouldn’t be allowed to borrow any, then those debts get sold as an investment package. Then the investment goes south and people who bought the debt that poor people owed are losing their money so all the wallstreeters are panicking.

So the Fed cut rates again. To stimulate growth by making it cheaper for banks to borrow money from other banks, and hoping the banks will lower the rate they charge when loaning out money to customers.

And since people borrowed more than they could afford and investors were stupid enough to take on these debts thinking they’d get paid back eventually but are not, now the government is making it easier to rack up debt, so we can buy crap and keep the economy growing.

“To combat the threat of a recession in an election year, the Bush administration has been negotiating with congressional leaders for an economic stimulus package of around $150 billion, focused on tax rebates for households and business tax breaks to spur investment. The House passed its version of the proposal on Tuesday but Senate action could be delayed by efforts to expand the relief to senior citizens and the unemployed.”

So after making it easier to borrow money, they divert taxes away from things we want to spend them on (like education and social services and OUR national defense) and give some of it back to us right before we have to turn around and give it back to them. Probably costing more in postal services than the “boost” will provide to the economy.

How about doing something that will actually boost the economy. Like keeping jobs in America. And refining corporate tax breaks to stimulate industry that actually needs help. Or how about a program to create a new infrastructure to support our energy needs. Imagine the number of jobs that would be created if an entire generation / distribution system based on solar/geo/bio energies was started RIGHT NOW. Sure, they’d be construction and manufacturing jobs, but the work would take decades and the resources / manpower / money would all stay here.

Unless we hire a bunch of migrant workers to do it because manual labor is beneath Americans.

We just moved, and I changed my address with the DMV, and they said they would forward the address to the registry of voters. So I didn’t know if I’d vote at my old polling place or a new one. The old one worked fine. I got checked in, went to go to the machine and someone had to “get it set up for me.” I was sure that we weren’t getting electronic voting machines, but I was wrong. I asked for a paper ballot and was told “It’s electronic or nothing.”

“Fine. This fkng sucks. Scratch my name off, I’m not voting.”

Blank stares.

“Just record him as a canceled ballot.”

Yay. I wonder if that counts as “none of the above” like in “Brewster’s Millions”?

my favorite so far:

$591,017,000 added in conference for eight additional C-130J aircraft. A February 2005 Associated Press article noted, “A 2004 report from the office of the inspector general of the Department of Defense rated the J model unsatisfactory and cited deficiencies in, among other things, its defensive systems.”

One of the reasons I hate health insurance is that I have never found a plan that I will use. I want emergency medical (ER, bambulance etc) for trauma. I want some help with glasses and dentist (one must see and chew to survive, no?). That’s it. But I can’t find a minimalist plan like that. Why pay for services that aren’t going to be used?

It’d be great to find a plan that covered prevenative health programs (not just disease management) like exercise clubs, chiropracty, nutritional supplements etc. Something that pays to stay healthy so there’s fewer actual medical bills.

Eddy and Allison have both been to see doctor’s recently (one is sick, the other pregnant). The bill shows that the doctors charge more than the insurance will pay, and then choose not to bill us for the balance. What that means is the medical industry is intentionally marking up their bill to get the most money from the insurance company that they can. If the cost of the service actually represented the charge, they would have to come after us in order to keep from losing money. And this is apparantly standard practice.

rawr. I hate insurance. I hate doctors and hospitals. I hate the state of health care and that victims of malpractice and mistake are being blamed for driving up the costs with “frivolous law suits.” How about frivolous markups? How much does actually marking the price up drive up costs?

Man, if I get cancer… fuck it. I’ll live it out as best as I can. Go carrot juice and algae 24/7. Sad thing is, insurance would pay for the drugs and surgery to make my longer life hell, but not the actual things that might take care of my health. yeah yeah. I’m young and invincible, right? sure. If that makes you feel better, think that.
/rant

Mass.LawmakersOKMandatoryHealthBill-YahooNews