THE ROAD TO HELL

It appears the officials of the nation in which we live are in the process of going insane.  In the aftermath of the June 12th mass murder spree by a deranged terrorist in Orlando, Florida, and amidst a general deterioration of the social order by an ever increasing portion of the population, our elected and appointed leaders at all levels of government demonstrate their complete indifference to the problems faced or the remedies required.

There’s no denying that homelessness is a scourge.  To be without a place to live is among the most debilitating afflictions a person can suffer.  And one of the principal causes for this, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, is mental illness.  Equally high on the list of reasons is chronic drug abuse, which many would class as a variation of mental illness.  And a survey by the United States Conference of Mayors concluded that better coordination with mental health service providers by the cities would be a top item in combating homelessness.

We must ask how the eradication of homelessness is coming along?  America’s second largest city, Los Angeles, typifies the approach, as countless nonprofit organizations cooperate to provide shelters of one sort or another to house the ever-increasing number of homeless.  And although many of the persons using these services must agree to forego drug use as a condition for entry, there are no meaningful mental health services offered.  It’s understandable; the funds for such treatment are not available.

So what sort of substitute is offered?  Angelenos can take meaningful, personal steps to address the homelessness crisis through Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new Welcome Home Project.  As the mayor says, “Everywhere I go, people ask how they can help end the homelessness crisis.  The project reminds us that homeless residents are not statistics. They are people with stories, families, and dreams for their futures.  The Welcome Home Project will provide basic necessities for our formerly unsheltered neighbors, encourage dialogue, and contribute to a cultural shift in the way we treat those experiencing homelessness.  We must do it together.  I am asking everyone to do their part.”

Whether a one-time visit by the Welcome Wagon, with a few items of food or knick knacks, will do anything to impart rationality to a schizophrenic is doubtful, but I suppose it can’t hurt the mayor’s image for his next reelection campaign.

In another arena, in search of a method to prevent the next Orlando, the nation is involved in a heated debate over ways to inhibit a future terrorist from trying to set yet another record in the number of victims killed in a single episode.  While the antigun crusaders attempt to remove all firearms from private hands, the National Rifle Association resists these efforts in every way possible.  The arguments, pro and con, normally revert to the standard talking point each side has employed over the years.  There’s a bit of reasonableness to both points of view, but it’s unlikely either course of action would prevent a determined gunman from wreaking havoc. 

At the same time, the crusade goes on to protect our society by preventing more foreigners from entering the country, as well as somehow extracting the millions of illegal aliens—excuse me, undocumented immigrants—already here.  Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to embrace both policies, vowing to promptly send the eleven million (other estimates indicate there may be more than twenty million) back to their countries of origin.  If, through the use of executive order, and a sizeable staff devoted exclusively to the program, he could actually manage to locate, process and deport as many as a thousand per day, it would take over thirty years to accomplish.  Do you detect a touch of absurdity here?

Although we’ve explored the proposals of a few of our nation’s prominent leaders, with views which border on dementia, there’s yet one statement which thoroughly defies reality.  The source: none less than the U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.  On June 21st, in her comments, largely directed at the LGBT community, and relating to a Muslim’s terrorist’s massacre of forty-nine persons at a gay nightclub in Orlando, she said:

“We stand with you to say that the good in this world far outweighs the evil, that our common humanity transcends our differences, and that our most effective response to terror and to hatred is compassion, it’s unity, and it’s love.  We stand with you today as we grieve together, and long after the cameras are gone, we will continue to stand with you as we grow together in commitments, in solidarity, and in equality.”

I can only hope that the actual author of those lines, spoken by the nation’s senior law enforcement officer, was a third tier speech writer, somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department, who has since been fired, and that the attorney general is actually in the process of taking action to address the real problems which confront us.  If I thought otherwise, I’d be far more scared than at any time since the 9/11 kickoff of our war with Islamist terrorism nearly fifteen years ago.

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If you enjoy this weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity

Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

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AMERICA: LAND OF THE OBESE

The news is not encouraging!  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal agency directing public health in the United States, recently issued its most unfavorable report ever on America’s obesity epidemic . . . with the hypertension, immobility, arthritis, heart disease and diabetes which accompanies it.  Overall, 38% of U.S. adults are obese, with another one-third overweight.  These two conditions are based upon the relationship of weight to height, known as body mass index (BMI).  A person is overweight with BMI between 25 and 29.9; obesity is reached at a BMI of 30.  If you want to check on yourself or anyone else, the calculation is easily done.  Simply divide weight in pounds by height in inches squared, and then multiply the result by 703.  For you math buffs, the formula is:

                    BMI =  703 X MASS(lb) ÷ [HEIGHT(in)]²

Though the CDC has waged its war on obesity over the past three decades, they claim it’s unclear why the problem continues to worsen, despite countless studies trying to pinpoint the problem.  It appears that, despite hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to support clinical trials and observational studies by numerous foundations, professional societies and governmental agencies, it remains a mystery why Americans continue to add pounds.

As you might guess, I have a few thoughts on this matter.  In our quest for well-being, we must first consider how our bodies react to what we ingest and the activities in which we engage¾or fail to engage.  One of the more heavily promoted businesses in America is the diet industry.  The desire to be thin constitutes a national obsession, with no limit to the books, articles, and programs promoting weight loss.  Bookstore shelves are filled with such titles as Eat More, Weigh Less Diet and Eat, Fast & Stay Slim.  The most sought-after female fashion models are clearly skeletal, and the eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia are common, with sufferers frequently featured on TV talk shows in all their emaciated horror.  Is it any wonder so many persons fall victim to fad diets which do nothing of value?

Consumption of food¾the intake of calories¾is only half the equation.  Bodily activity¾the burning of those calories¾is the other half, the two as inexorably related as yin and yang.  Attendant to these are individual factors such as appetite, metabolic rate, and physical limitations.  The goal for each of us: to optimize our bodily appearance and function over a lifetime in a prudent manner.  That, of course, requires development of reasonably sustainable eating and exercise habits.  More specifically, any program requiring abnormal effort over a prolonged period of time will fail.  The clear significance: "Diets" do not work.  So the obvious question becomes: "What, if anything, does work?"  You’re in luck, because something does indeed work.

Over the years my reading included such best sellers as The Drinking Man's Diet, Dr. Atkin's New Diet Revolution, and The Beverly Hills Diet, to mention just a few.  Some of the books and articles contain a strain of reasonableness, while in others the recommendations are literally off the wall.  Of them all, one author was clearly ahead of his time.  That man, the late Nathan Pritikin, truly revolutionized the world's thinking with his Live Longer Now, first published in 1973.  Eventually the medical community came to accept his concept of a regimen high in complex carbohydrates while low in fats, sugars, salt, and caffeine.  Although that book is now out of print, a more recent work, The Pritikin Program for Diet & Exercise is available.  It lays out a program that can promote a long and healthy tenure on this earth.

The second half of the quest for health involves a commitment to physical activity.  As expected, there’s no limit to the number of books and articles offering the ultimate exercise program, with each title suggesting its own view of nirvana.  If you’re not intrigued with Stretch Yourself for Health & Fitness, perhaps The Superstar Workout will suit you better.  Then again, Hanging Out: The Upside Down Exercise Book may strike your fancy, unless a time shortage drives you instead to Thirty Days to a Beautiful Body.   As with books on diet, some of the exercise programs seem reasonable, others make little or no sense and more than a few are potentially dangerous.  And while on the subject of danger, be aware that many persons in the physical fitness business, particularly health club counselors and high school physical education instructors, are sadly out of their element.  It’s at your risk that you accept their counsel.

So again the question: Is there a guide on physical fitness by any author in which you may place confidence?  This surely is your lucky day; the book is there to be found.  The author is Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., and the approach outlined in his book, The Aerobics Program for Total Well-Being formed the basis of the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise program.  Though long out of print, it can still be found, and is as close to must reading as you’ll find.  The essence of his method is selection by the participant of one or more exercises of choice, in which the benefit of each activity can be assessed by an easily measured point system.  Dr. Cooper’s concept is a technique to encourage life-long activity.  I know it works, for I’ve been a devotee for decades.

A final word: As you age, ailments will come your way.  They’ll be less debilitating if you maintain an easily carryable weight along with useable muscles and an efficient circulatory system.  Although each of us will eventually conclude our visit to this small planet, the time we spend here will be far more sustainable if we treat ourselves kindly.

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If you enjoy this weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity

Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

♦          ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦

 

 

 

 

AMERICAN HEALTH CARE CRISIS

Do you recall President Obama’s proclamation on September 20, 2012, when he informed us that his signature health law, the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, would reduce annual insurance premiums by $2,500 for the typical family”?  If you’d care to know how things are working out, you should note the following recent report by the Associated Press.

The nation’s major health insurers, citing financial losses, are requesting massive premium increases for 2017, this to account for a variety of unanticipated circumstances.  North Carolina’s largest insurer will seek an 18.8% increase; the requested hike in Vermont is 44%; Texas’ major health firm wants to raise its rates by nearly 60%.  And what sort of circumstance is triggering these financial losses?  It’s that under Obamacare, millions of health care recipients who fit into carefully contrived politically favored classes are shielded from price hikes by government subsidies.  It will be those consumers not eligible for the government grants who must pick up the tab.  And remember, under the law most Americans are required to have health insurance or risk being fined.

In connection with the delivery of medical services in America, a number of things deserve to be said.  Over the past couple of decades an unmistakable trend developed, and it may well be that none of us will escape the inevitable.  The problem is remarkably simple.  While medical technology becomes increasingly complex and costly, a substantial and growing portion of the population, with little or no financial resources, is guaranteed limitless access to the services.  The solution to the problem is far more complex, involving the political quandary of requiring massive transfers of wealth among various groups of the society.  As difficult as this might seem, there are three factors that will make it all the more unresolvable.

The first is that the retirees eligible for Medicare number in the tens of millions and continue to grow steadily.  The second is that an increasing number of employers, many for pure survival, are ridding themselves of employees and transferring their assets outside our borders to be beyond the reach of the regulators and tax collectors.  The third, and perhaps most crucial of all, is that the effective tax rate on a middle class working American is approaching 50 percent.  Not only is there little slack, but the rate is reaching historical revolt conditions.  Although The Affordable Care Act was enacted ostensibly to address these problems, it’s clear that it cannot do so.  Instead, it’s pitting class against class . . . income group against income group . . . American against American.

A dozen or so years ago, under a prior administration, the country was responding in a different fashion in the search of ways to reduce services and the attendant costs.  The main vehicle for this change was the health maintenance organization (HMO), ideally set up to ration health care.  The fact the federal government aggressively promoted this concept for Medicare and Medicaid recipients was understandable.  Of course, this was not happening without severe upheaval, as the HMOs were squeezed between the medical recipients demanding ever more benefits, and the payers seeking to reduce expenses.  What developed, as a logical response, was the capitation arrangement by which medical providers agreed to accept a set fee per patient per month.

The effect on the entire medical establishment became strained as physicians, pharmacies, therapists, and the like, saw their fees reduced to unacceptable levels.  In the meanwhile, the financial position of many HMOs deteriorated, with mergers and bankruptcies increasingly common, and the attempt by many to shed themselves of unprofitable Medicare patients were opposed by the government in a variety of ways.  It became obvious that the nation would eventually decline to extract money from $9.50 per hour service station attendant Billy Rae Campo so that the bunions from both feet of Myrtle Fellers, a ninety-four-year-old penniless widow, could be removed at a cost of $9,700 to the Medicare system.  In the meantime, however, it was business as usual.  With such expenditures, of course, there would be corresponding economies such as Billy Rae's wife, Sue Ann, not having her cervical cancer diagnosed in time to save her life.

There’s no point in relating the many tales of medical malpractice; you’ve heard the horror stories told and retold.  As members of a prestigious California HMO for fifteen years, my wife and I discovered how the system could¾in fact, was designed to¾break down.  The only thing that need be said is that for us things turned out satisfactorily: In 1981 we escaped with our lives.

This brings us to the point where we must ask: What will be the ultimate resolution of our health care crisis?  I believe I see where it’s going.  I’m convinced the Obamacare advocates knew from the beginning that their program would be unworkable.  The actual aim was a single-payer system providing universal coverage to all Americans, operated by the federal government.  What we are witnessing is the piece-by-piece dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid, private hospitals and pharmacies, health insurance companies and all individual medical practitioners.  In its stead will be a single entity, operated and funded by Uncle Sam.  Welcome to your health care organization of the future:  the U. S. Government HMO.

♦          ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦

If you enjoy this weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity

Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/

♦          ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦

 

A WARNING TO YOU ALL

For those of you not aware of it, it’s a nasty and dangerous world out there.  And with the proliferation of technology, the people who are prepared to take advantage of you are becoming ever more pernicious and proficient.

With that as my introduction, I’ve reproduced below an email I received today.  Except for the alleged sender’s name and email address, nothing has been altered.

Hello Al Jacobs,

I noticed and believed you are a trusted person, so i decided to share business opportunity with you. My name is xxxxxxxxxxxxx, i am a banker by profession. I have a good business deal that can change our entire lives without involving any problem, i only requesting for your good cooperation with me as a foreigner.

There is an abandoned fund in my branch which belongs to one of the deceased customers who happens to came from oversea, the amount in question is $18.5 million and it has been in the deceased account for over 4 years without any claim. I was his personal account officer and has every information to reclaim this fund through your help, because your surname is exactly the name showed in his account next of kin file.

You only have to provide your account where my bank will transfer the fund to you as the located next of kin. I will be in position to handle everything here on your behalf and providing every necessary information that bank might requested for approval and release of this fund to you, and as soon as the transfer is successfully done to your account then i will immediately come over to your country for the sharing and good investment.

Please i want you to be rest assure that this business is completely risk free and the fund will be legally transferred into your account without any delay. If you are interested to cooperate with me then kindly respond back to me immediately through this email address (xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx).

I will be waiting to read from you.

Best Regards,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I hope you all recognize this as the scam it is.  The only thing the sender really wants from you is your bank account number.  You may be certain that once they receive that, any transfer of funds will not be to your account—it will be from your account.  This is a standard theft technique, with the only variation being the story they concoct as a justification.

You should notice that the pitch for your cooperation is phrased in a way that invites you to collude with the sender to defraud a third party—in this case, whoever is the rightful owner of the abandoned account.  Apparently the factor of greed acts for many persons as a strong inducement to engage in such a scheme.  I suppose there’s a certain perverse glamour arising from circumstances where you fancy yourself in a thick as thieves association.

A final word of caution: Be aware that the illicit solicitations you will receive in the future will not only come from a semi-illiterate source, as is this one.  They will become more sophisticated and plausible.  Expect to see what appear to be demands from firms with which you do business, threats from governmental agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, and pleas for help from close friends and relatives.  Some of these will be frighteningly convincing, so that it will take a strong nerve on your part to avoid prompt, though unwise, action.  All I can do is urge that, before you do anything in each case, you conduct as thorough an investigation as you can, and as quickly as possible, so to corroborate the validity of whatever story you receive.

And with that, I can only add: Good luck!