Got my COBRA bill this weekend

[Harry Dresden]

Hey, banks are now people too...

But don't feel bad, here's the new people in the neighbor...maybe the kids can make new friends!

not in mine or Kennedy's Neighborhood.....yours is ok though....

No MINE!!

All I see in the pic are jobs, and a tremendous tax base.

done.....and i hear Pelosi has some guys in need of jobs.....and they work cheap....

 

[Samson]

not in mine or Kennedy's Neighborhood.....yours is ok though....

No MINE!!

All I see in the pic are jobs, and a tremendous tax base.

done.....and i hear Pelosi has some guys in need of jobs.....and they work cheap....

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I just got around to checking my mailbox, and the COBRA bill is there. It is $664 per month. the last stimulus bill will pay 65% of that, which means I am 234 out of pocket for it.

Net unemployment is 299 per week.

I liked working for the big bank. I feel really bummed now though.

Now Baruch, take cheer. Your CEO is still getting his bonus and salary. The Health Care CEO's are all still getting their salaries and bonuses. Isn't the American Health Care System wonderful?

The CEO and the managers are tasked to make sure the shareholders, (Which includes me, I have a ton of Co stock in the 401K and my kids College funds) get a good return on the money. He does his job, he earns his paycheck. Considering Big Bank has made double digit returns ever since the current management took over big bank back in 99 or 00, he has done his job and earned his paycheck.

I should have been a bit more on the ball and seen the writing on the wall. Our department has been shrinking quickly because of changes in technology and regulation for the entire time I was there.

I have been defending big corps ability to do this all along, so when my ox is gored... Well either I have been dishonest all along, or I need to swallow my pride and be consistent



As to the health care thing... I have seen what health care looks like in other places. I like the way it is here, prices and everything. I like responsible and responsive health care, clean needles...Horrors like the French system which gave thousands of people aids and hepatitis and couldn't even do boy scout level first aid during a heat wave a few years ago... I don't want that at all. If you ever examine what folks in other countries get for their cheaper care, the discount isn't worth damage.

So expensive is ok. I like the idea of getting best quality, and I am willing to pay for it.

 

[Ravi]

I just got around to checking my mailbox, and the COBRA bill is there. It is $664 per month. the last stimulus bill will pay 65% of that, which means I am 234 out of pocket for it.

Net unemployment is 299 per week.

I liked working for the big bank. I feel really bummed now though.

Now Baruch, take cheer. Your CEO is still getting his bonus and salary. The Health Care CEO's are all still getting their salaries and bonuses. Isn't the American Health Care System wonderful?

The CEO and the managers are tasked to make sure the shareholders, (Which includes me, I have a ton of Co stock in the 401K and my kids College funds) get a good return on the money. He does his job, he earns his paycheck. Considering Big Bank has made double digit returns ever since the current management took over big bank back in 99 or 00, he has done his job and earned his paycheck.

I should have been a bit more on the ball and seen the writing on the wall. Our department has been shrinking quickly because of changes in technology and regulation for the entire time I was there.

I have been defending big corps ability to do this all along, so when my ox is gored... Well either I have been dishonest all along, or I need to swallow my pride and be consistent



As to the health care thing... I have seen what health care looks like in other places. I like the way it is here, prices and everything. I like responsible and responsive health care, clean needles...Horrors like the French system which gave thousands of people aids and hepatitis and couldn't even do boy scout level first aid during a heat wave a few years ago... I don't want that at all. If you ever examine what folks in other countries get for their cheaper care, the discount isn't worth damage.

So expensive is ok. I like the idea of getting best quality, and I am willing to pay for it.

Que?

Also, what does giving people aid during a heat wave have to do with the insurance industry?

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I know of the French through very bad reputation, and when I visited Russia, the neighbor of my friend I stayed with was a doctor at the local oncological hospital. He took me on a tour. Lets just say it was a memorable experience.

Whenever I think of Government health care (The goal of the 0bamabots) I still remember what the reality of government heal care actually looks like.

 

[Ravi]

I know of the French through very bad reputation, and when I visited Russia, the neighbor of my friend I stayed with was a doctor at the local oncological hospital. He took me on a tour. Lets just say it was a memorable experience.

Whenever I think of Government health care (The goal of the 0bamabots) I still remember what the reality of government heal care actually looks like.

So you can't offer evidence to back up what you said, other than some mythological tour by a Russian.

Got it.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

NO, I was the guy who went on the tour.
This was in 92, So I am sure things have improved since then, or maybe not.

Crowded wards, 20 folks in cots per ward. Great stacks of needles waiting to be sterilized, and the slatternly kid who's job it was to do the job, dark and dusty corridors. Almost no nurses, so the patients had to depend on each other.

The doctor was quite proud of the place. It was one of the better hospitals in town. I thought it was a shop of horrors.

 

[Modbert]

NO, I was the guy who went on the tour.
This was in 92, So I am sure things have improved since then, or maybe not.

Crowded wards, 20 folks in cots per ward. Great stacks of needles waiting to be sterilized, and the slatternly kid who's job it was to do the job, dark and dusty corridors. Almost no nurses, so the patients had to depend on each other.

The doctor was quite proud of the place. It was one of the better hospitals in town. I thought it was a shop of horrors.

Because Russia in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union would be the same thing as America in 2010.

 

[Harry Dresden]

.Horrors like the French system which gave thousands of people aids and hepatitis and couldn't even do boy scout level first aid during a heat wave a few years ago... I don't want that at all. If you ever examine what folks in other countries get for their cheaper care, the discount isn't worth damage.

So expensive is ok. I like the idea of getting best quality, and I am willing to pay for it.

dont let Chris see you say this.....he says they have absolutely no problems over there what so ever.....and he knows....he is an Author...

 

[Harry Dresden]

NO, I was the guy who went on the tour.
This was in 92, So I am sure things have improved since then, or maybe not.

Crowded wards, 20 folks in cots per ward. Great stacks of needles waiting to be sterilized, and the slatternly kid who's job it was to do the job, dark and dusty corridors. Almost no nurses, so the patients had to depend on each other.

The doctor was quite proud of the place. It was one of the better hospitals in town. I thought it was a shop of horrors.

Because Russia in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union would be the same thing as America in 2010.

View attachment 9330

if the hospitals are like that were you live Bert......look around...your probably in Mexico...thats what happens when you drink to much....

 

[Modbert]

if the hospitals are like that were you live Bert......look around...your probably in Mexico...thats what happens when you drink to much....

That's why I posted the wait what? Making the argument that Government Health Care in 2010 is the same thing as it was in Russia in 1992 after the collapse of Soviet Union not so long before that is ridiculous.

 

[Ravi]

NO, I was the guy who went on the tour.
This was in 92, So I am sure things have improved since then, or maybe not.

Crowded wards, 20 folks in cots per ward. Great stacks of needles waiting to be sterilized, and the slatternly kid who's job it was to do the job, dark and dusty corridors. Almost no nurses, so the patients had to depend on each other.

The doctor was quite proud of the place. It was one of the better hospitals in town. I thought it was a shop of horrors.

How does this relate to what you posted about France giving people AIDS?

I asked you to back up your assertion that France gave thousands of people AIDS and heptitus and you come up with some personal story about a hospital in Russia???

 

[editec]

I just got around to checking my mailbox, and the COBRA bill is there. It is $664 per month. the last stimulus bill will pay 65% of that, which means I am 234 out of pocket for it.

Net unemployment is 299 per week.

I liked working for the big bank. I feel really bummed now though.

Truly sorry to read of your situation.

Not your fault.

That bears repeating because I know that many of us (at least back when we had jobs and felt secure) really did believe that our good fortune was entirely something we made for ourselves.

I know sure as hell I did think like that conceit when my fortunes were on the rise, at least.

Ergo, when that our good fortunes fades, many of us then imagine that we are failures, and that we are entirely responsible for our own plight.

Shit happens, man. Remember that.

We live in an interdependent society and when that society starts to falter, most of us are just like so much dust in the macroeconomic winds of change.

One hell of a lot of us are very likely to go through some devasting times.

Do not, do not, do not, do NOT beat yourselves up for it.


And while you're at it, if you are not caught in this mess, if you're still LUCKY enough to be doing okay, do NOT blame those who aren't so fortunate for being a drag on this economy.

Shit happens to other people, too. Remember that.

Good people, hard working people, people who did have skills, people who were productive citizens, people who did everything right, people who never in their lives thought they'd become victims of an economy gone wrong, can end up living in their cars, ya know.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Thanks for the very nice words. I am not that upset.

Actually my position is pretty secure. all you libs did me several favors in the last two stimulus bills. One is 3/5 of the cobra cost will be eaten by the state, and second, I get unemployment for going to school. Which I never had time for.

Big bank is doing ok, but most of the damage it took was from a crunching economy. And there have been huge changes in technology. Because people like me prefer online banking, Big bank is slowly closing branches all over the place, a has been for quite a while. Changing technology meant that during the good times we were doing higher volumes in our with half the staff. But volumes were also decreasing or vanishing altogether. One section of our department was being automated into oblivion. At one time they had 15 people dedicated to it. When I left, there were only four left, and they were only doing it part of the time per day, the rest of the day was dedicated to other chores.

Part of the problem of getting a new job in big bank is because of the merger they are going through.

They bought out a troubled bank ono the east coast that bought a huge S & L in CA without due diligence. The S & L was one of those making all the goofy loans that Barney Frank and Co were pushing with the badly unqualified borrowers and all those toxic loans. After Jan, Big bank had to take a hit to Equity in order to make the merged bank balance sheet conform to bank practice. Anyway, lots of jobs were being lost through the combined bank, and what few new jobs came along were mostly either in collections (Beyond my capacity) or regulatory areas. And when a job came open, they would get 3000 internal applicants per job.

Anyway, Samson gave some good advice I am looking into. It would be cheaper and the Cobra route doesn't seem to work well. I can get lots of better deals elsewhere. Fairly typical of the way congress does things.