Thursday, November 29, 2012

Life "Progress" Country - Portugal edition


Obamacare here we come.................


High
Armando Costa, 73, is waiting for an outpatient’s appointment in one of the seemingly endless corridors of Hospital Santa Maria, a huge 1950s building on the edge of Lisbon, teeming with medical staff, orderlies, the sick and their families.

The retired business manager could afford private care, but prefers crowded, noisy Santa Maria because of the quality of treatment on the national health service. As well as social security contributions, patients typically pay a small amount. “I’ll be charged a few euros today, but I’d be happy to pay more,” he said.

How much the Portuguese are prepared to pay for public health, education and welfare services has become the focus of national debate after warnings from Pedro Passos Coelho, the prime minister, that the country’s economic future depends on root-and-branch reform of what the state provides.

But redefining the state’s responsibilities is highly contentious for many Portuguese, who see universal health care and education, free or subsidised at the point of delivery, as fundamental achievements of the 1974 revolution that overthrew 48 years of dictatorship. The government’s opponents fear it wants to destroy the welfare state.

The country has to choose between higher taxes or fewer state services, Vítor Gaspar, finance minister, said. “There appears to be an enormous divergence between what the Portuguese believe the state should deliver and the amount of taxes they are prepared to pay,” he told parliament recently. 

More.........

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Life in "Progress" City - San Bernadino edition



Saying it had little choice, the San Bernardino City Council voted to cut $26 million in spending in an effort to keep the bankrupt city from dissolving and being governed by the county.

The city is already in bankruptcy proceedings and facing a $45.8-million budget shortfall. The $26 million in cuts will help the troubled city stay afloat.

The austerity plan is a required step in the federal bankruptcy process. It freezes vacancies in the Police Department even as the city deals with an increase in violent crime. The Fire Department’s overtime budget also was slashed by 35%.

The city already had stopped making payments to CalPERS, the state's public employee pension fund, since filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection Aug. 1, a move city officials estimate will save San Bernardino more than $12 million.

“This is a document that I’m holding my nose and voting yes on,’’ said Councilwoman Wendy McCammack.

The council voted 5-2 in favor of the plan, which both Mayor Patrick Morris and City Atty. James Penman said was a mandatory step in the city’s effort to restructure its debts and repair its finances under federal bankruptcy protection.


"Austerity"? What European county is San Bernadino in anyway?


So how many republicans were involved in this?

More.....

John Galt leaves France



You know a European country is in trouble when its business leaders complain about government spending and taxes. You know it’s seriously in trouble when it happens in France, whose business elites are more left-wing than the left.

Nearly 100 French CEOs, among them the heads of Accor, the hotel chain, Air France, Carrefour, L´Oréal, Peugot, Siemens, SociétéGénerale and Veolia, the giant waste and water utility, are urging socialist President Francois Hollande to reduce government spending by 60 billion euros (about $76 billion) over the next five years, and reduce payroll taxes by 30 billion euros over the next two years. The cost of government, they say, has reached “the limits of what is bearable.”

They also are asking Hollande to undo the suffocating regulations that have made research and development too costly, that unrealistically limit carbon emissions, and have curtailed development of shale gas in France.

 
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/11/17/france-rebellion-ceos/#ixzz2DTlmcJhZ

Why I'm a conservative

Let's play a four letter word game.

You say corn, I say food...... a liberal calls it fuel.............

President Barack Obama’s administration rejected a request from the governors of eight U.S. states to waive requirements for blending corn-based ethanol into gasoline, said a person familiar with the decision.

Market conditions don’t justify such a move, said the person, who declined to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak for the Environmental Protection Agency. Gasoline refiners will be required to blend 13.2 billion gallons of the biofuel this year, the EPA said in rejecting petitions from the governors of Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, Virginia, New Mexico and Texas as well as members of Congress.

This year’s U.S. corn harvest is forecast at 10.725 billion bushels, the smallest in six years because of the drought. About 4.5 billion bushels will be used to make ethanol in the year starting Sept. 1, or about 42 percent of the 2012 crop, the USDA estimated on Nov. 9.


Are you freakin' kidding me? We're going to use all that food to fill our gas tanks when a couple of wells in Youngstown will do the job just fine.

Let me ask this question, what happens to the price of food when we take 42% of a corn crop and just waste it? Hint........ beef and chicken won't be getting cheaper anytime soon.

Now let's ask the important question. who pays the price for this travesty ?

a) Warren Buffett
b) A retired homemaker living on Social Security
c) Brett Favre
d) An auto mechanic




Life in "Progress" Country - Greek edition

Here's my question for any liberal/"progressive"/democrat.

When you watch this video, do you not think the US is heading on this collision course?



Monday, November 26, 2012

Public Health

So a company fires 150 employees for failing to get their flu shots.

One of Cincinnati’s largest employers fired approximately 150 employees Wednesday for failing to get a required flu shot.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM1TcT19


One hundred and fifty employees at Tri-Health received termination letters after not getting a mandatory flu shot.



According to a company official, employees were asked to get a flu shot which was offered on-site at the workplace and was free of charge. Employees that didn't get the required flu shot got termination letters this week.

Those employees who were terminated can go through an appeals process and get re-instated, but that process begins with verification of getting the flu shot.



For the record, my wife works for Tri Health. She told me that many of the people who have not received these shots are third shift employees who can't make it into employee health due to scheduling problems; it's not a rejection of the shots themselves.

None the less. This issue has been a big bone of contention for a number of the employees for the past couple of years. 

In order to avoid the shots, some employees have gone to the extreme getting doctor's notes saying that they are allergic to egg products. Some were willing to work with a mask to avoid the shots.

Which begs the question. These are people in the health care industry. When given to their own device, most would reject getting the flu shots. Why?

It says something about the trust level people have with our public health system when even people closest to the system reject their recommendations.



One of Cincinnati’s largest employers fired approximately 150 employees Wednesday for failing to get a required flu shot.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM1TcT19


Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM1TcT19
TriHealth offered all of its 10,800 employees free flu shots. Employees had a month to get the flu shot. The deadline was Nov. 16. Employees who did not get the shot were terminated Wednesday, a company spokesperson said.
Employees who were terminated can appeal to be reinstated after receiving the shot.


Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM1Yod00
One of Cincinnati’s largest employers fired approximately 150 employees Wednesday for failing to get a required flu shot.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM2DtJRO
TriHealth offered all of its 10,800 employees free flu shots. Employees had a month to get the flu shot. The deadline was Nov. 16. Employees who did not get the shot were terminated Wednesday, a company spokesperson said.
Employees who were terminated can appeal to be reinstated after receiving the shot.


Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/TriHealth-fires-150-employees-for-not-getting-flu-shots/-/13549970/17523386/-/3khe3s/-/index.html#ixzz2DM2rzW94
One hundred and fifty employees at Tri-Health received termination letters after not getting a mandatory flu shot.