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July 25, 2016 at 2:08 PM in reply to: o.t. :braided stainless steel water line or soft copper (dishwasher) #799967July 22, 2016 at 11:43 PM in reply to: o.t. :braided stainless steel water line or soft copper (dishwasher) #799842
ucodegen
ParticipantEven though it is ‘soft copper’, it is still considered a ‘hard-line’ connect. Hard line connects have a problem with vibration (metal fatigue). You can use circular coils of copper to reduce vibration problems providing that the coil does not resonate with the device.
I wonder about the type of ‘braided’ lines we are talking about. There are braided lines and then there are braided lines.. I have found that stainless steel full closure braid will last longer than 5 years.
Participant[quote=SK in CV]
No. It did not make medical care more expensive for a greater number of people. There is absolutely no evidence to support that claim. (Your personal experience may have been different. Your personal experience however, is not evidence of anything other than your experience.) The cost of medical care has increased since the law was passed, however there is no evidence that these increases are a result of the law. Costs increased before the law was passed. Medical insurance premiums have increased at half the rate of increases in the decade immediately before the law went into effect, and at the slowest rate in almost 3 decades.[/quote] The costs are still increasing AND if you check the years immediately prior to the implementation of the ACA, you will find that the rate of yearly increase in costs was dropping prior to the ACA. When the ACA was implemented, the rate of increase did not go further down.. though it did not seem to go up. I am pretty certain that the cost tracking does not take into account subsidies – since that appears from a different bucket (often SSDI).BTW: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_bills/2015/07/health_care_premiums_going_up_obamacare_has_been_solidified_but_it_s_failed.html
25% to 36% increase on year is nothing to sneeze at.Average number of people under subsidy – 87%.
Average subsidy $268/month or 72% of the monthly payment with individuals paying avg $105/mo. Without subsidies, premiums would be 2.5x higher.Participant[quote=SK in CV]
Is there some evidence that the administrative cost of providing care has gone up? Martin Shkreli’s testimony had absolutely nothing to do with the ACA.[/quote] On the first, talk to doctors who are leaving practice. There is no ‘official’ study that I have found yet, probably because that would be incredibly non-PC. On the second, yes it did.. though he did not tie it directly to the ACA. He was able to increase the price because he knew the ACA would cover it because it was deemed ‘lifesaving’ under the ACA – so insurance must pay, and distribute the cost over the rest of their client base. If insurance was not covering it, people would stop taking it because they could not afford it(morbid/heartless/but true) – so the price would be sensitive to price/demand curves ( as I mentioned, morality was not Shkreli’s strong point ).This combined with the byzantine and lengthy process to start up production of these drugs (which were mostly off-patent) and to get approval from FDA to produce.. allowed Shkreli to charge what ever he wanted.. until someone else got through the FDA to make the drugs (at least 5 years).
When ever you introduce a unrelated payor aka insurer into a purchase arrangement – it shifts and distorts the price-demand curves. These drugs are life saving, by law must be supplied-(mandated by ACA), there was nothing in the ACA to cap the price on the drugs (charged by the manufacturer) therefore the insurers must cover the price no matter what is charged (per ACA). Shkreli did not directly state the relationship.. but he looked/smirked at the congressmen when questioned about the price increases and literally said that they created the situation. Do you think the congressmen who voted for the ACA, who said that to find out what is in it; we must pass it.. then turn around and say ‘oops’ or admit their screwup(s)?
Currently there is action to work around or try to cap the price by either direct cap action(through mod of ACA), or allow buying back drugs from other markets (ie. Canada) though the drugs are still produced in the US(ironic). I don’t expect the current congress to get anywhere on this.
Participant[quote=SK in CV]But nonetheless, the number of people who signed up for insurance, whether through a federal or state exchange is a precise measurement of the success of the ACA. It’s primary goal was to get people insured. It worked. A higher percentage of the population is insured now than at any other time. Arguing that it’s the fine is just stupid. The fine IS an integral part of the ACA.[/quote] Just because people complied due to the fine does not make it a success. The law did not do what it was intended to do – make medical care more affordable to most of the people affected. It did make it more affordable for a small number but more expensive for a greater number of people. All that the fine do was made people comply because the cost of not complying was higher than the cost of insurance.
[quote=SK in CV]Administrative costs are not higher now. As a matter of law, they’re capped. As part of the law. If you’re referring to providers administrative costs going up, there is no evidence to support the claim.[/quote]
Only the administrative costs on the part of insurance companies are capped. This does not include drug companies, hospitals etc. If you remember, Martin Shkreli basically testified to congress that they created this situation when brought in to testify why he jacked up the price on several of his companies drugs (One of them being a lifesaving AIDS drug that he boosted the price 50x from $13.50 a tablet to $750 – because of insurance, the market would bear it). He was slimy, smirking.. etc but unfortunately he was also correct. He was not convicted for what he did (though it was immoral) He was arrested on fraud due to a different issue.The cap on administrative costs and limit on the loss ratio can be gamed by the insurance companies. The number is calculated as a percentage of premiums paid. If the underlying costs (hospital/drug etc) go up, the premiums have to go up… and therefore the insurance profits also go up (because their allowable charge is based upon percentage of premiums). This is why Defense contracts are sooo expensive. They are limited to about 8% of costs on profit (I used to work as a Defense Contractor). Yet we still see ridiculous costs on defense items that really should be cheaper.
Participant[quote=SK in CV][quote=ucodegen]BTW: Name calling is known as a logic fallacy (argumentum ad hominem). [/quote]
Please review your logical fallacies. This wasn’t one. What I did was a straight out insult. There was no logical fallacy involved. Some insults are ad hominem. Some are not. Mine wasn’t. Her lousy opinions stand on their own. They don’t need personal insults to support them. The personal insults were just an extra bonus.[/quote]I am quite aware of the definitions of logic fallacy. If you resort to a personal insult/attack in the process of trying to justify your position, it is an “argumentum ad hominem”. You are attempting to ‘dirty’ the opponent by insult, calling name, etc w/o dealing with the facts at hand. It is like calling someone an idiot, therefore they don’t know what they are talking about — in the process not dealing with the facts of the discussion.
Just because the current political climate seems to feature many logic fallacies (including argumentum ad hominem, guilt by association, etc) does not make the logic valid. While in the political climate, it may be easier for either sides of the isle to resort to these types of attacks, we and democracy are cheapened by them.
ParticipantBack to the original channel..
[quote=deadzone]This topic has been debated countless times already on this site. Bottom line is, yes, the idea of shortage of STEM graduates is propaganda and not backed up by factual data. The assumption is this purpose of this propaganda is corporate interests wanting to increase hiring of H1B visa workers.[/quote]
More Info:
As of April, all of the allotted 2017 H1B visa’s have been spoken for http://www.theindianpanorama.news/united-states-america/h-1b-cap-reached-majority-applications-indian-companies-250k-applications-5-days/ . The H1B visa lasts about 6 years (There are extensions https://www.usavisanow.com/h-1b-visa/h1b-visa-resources/h-1b-renewal-extension/ ), this years allotment was about 65,000. This would also mean that there may be about 390,000 people currently in the US under H1B visas. I would hazard that the number is actually significantly more due to use/abuse of extensions.
Considering that the income floor is $60,000 on getting a H1B visa approved, it is easy to game – particularly when Masters and PhD candidates are given preference. Remember that the suggested min wage of $15/hour comes to almost $30,000/year – so the floor requirement on H1Bs is just twice minimum wage. (NOTE: I need to track down the ref for the $60k and preferential treatment of advanced degrees – oh, just found it https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/FactSheet62/whdfs62Q.pdf)
What I have been seeing are job reqs that are requiring a very large skill-set, but are for Associate/Junior Engineer categories. The skill-set required would not be found with a Associate or Junior engineer. Note that the $60k is just a little above what Bachelor of Science Engineering graduates currently make. http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Engineering_%28BEng_%2F_BE%29/Salary The high reqs make it hard for anyone of that job ‘category’ (ie: Associate/Junior Engineer) to have the required skills. The H1B rating for ‘Prevailing wage’ is match to job Category/Grade and NOT the actual required skills.
I suspect the whole thing is being played to reduce wages of US citizens who have taken the STEM route – to the benefit of companies (and their directors/CEOs), detriment of the US workers; increase supply of workers above demand to push down wages. Everything is supply/demand in a Capitalistic system.
Here are some:
Generic “Computer Programmer”, York PA at Cillium Corp, offering $54,059 for an H1B worker.
Java UI Developer, Worcester MA, AVCO Consulting @ $69,160
Cute one here: It seems they want to have any ‘checking’ think it is a grade I when it is a grade III? (what is a grade Iii???)
Computer Systems Engineers/Architects- Iii, Sunnyvale CA, HCL America Inc, $71,032.00 (This is not even a level 1 wage)Some of the H1B sponsor postings I saw looked valid, but a lot are fishy.
Participant[quote=bearishgurl]Well, uco, I there were two posts by me with relevant ACA links (as it applies to CA) on this thread but the one I brought to SK’s attention was on page 4 or 17, depending on how the reader has his/her Pigg site set up. Hope that helps.
When I did “hover” over the title to my post on that thread and click it, it gave me the link of page 1 only (or the latest page, as you posted here).[/quote]
I noticed the ‘page 1’ behavior and was in the middle of fixing my post you replied to — which locked me out of fixing it… To me, the item was on page 5.. I don’t have anyone ignored.
—– snip — replacement post was going to be—–
[quote=bearishgurl]
Had you even bothered to read any of the links I carefully referenced for your information in the following thread OR the CA agent-facilitator-in-the-trenches blogs they came from, you would have known this.http://piggington.com/ot_predictions_2016_presidential_election?page=3
[/quote]I would suggest being careful of using the ‘page number’ links, they don’t always end up at the same location. (depends upon who ignored who, what has since been deleted etc). I it showed up on page 5, not page 3 for me.
http://piggington.com/ot_predictions_2016_presidential_election?page=5
Rich T;
It would be nice to be able to have ‘links’ to specific comments, but the ‘#’ target codes will not work across page boundaries. May want to add a cgi/asp/jsp key for comment number.. something along the line of ?comment=264580 to allow jumping to that portion of the thread and viewing from there… and have the links in the individual posts ref that instead of #html_target..
(ok.. engineer hat off – to bed).
—– end snip ——-now really off to bed..
Participant[quote=bearishgurl]
Had you even bothered to read any of the links I carefully referenced for your information in the following thread OR the CA agent-facilitator-in-the-trenches blogs they came from, you would have known this.http://piggington.com/ot_predictions_2016_presidential_election?page=3
[/quote]I would suggest not using the ‘page number’ links, they don’t always end up at the same location. If you ‘hover’ over the title to your post, you will notice a link popping up. That would be better to copy-paste (has comment number in it).
Your ref to links did not show your post in my ‘view’ of the thread. Did you mean this one?
http://piggington.com/ot_predictions_2016_presidential_election#comment-264482Or maybe this one?
http://piggington.com/ot_predictions_2016_presidential_election#comment-264580
Participant[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]You don’t have to be insulting, SK. I didn’t see you post any links here to your “anecdotal `evidence.'”[/quote]
It wasn’t anecdotal. If it was anecdotal, I’d be you. I’m not. As of the latest year available, 41% of children 0-18 were on Medicaid and other public insurance. More than 50% are covered by private insurance.
You’re right. I don’t have to be insulting. And you don’t have to be a bigoted racist. So it goes.[/quote]BTW: Name calling is known as a logic fallacy (argumentum ad hominem). This whole ACA is kind of OT to the original thread; but adding a point here that should be considered, particularly due to your ‘links’ reference. When you make participation in the ACA mandatory to the point that fines are as significant as they are, it is not really valid to count the number of people who have signed up or are now on insurance as a validation of the success of the ACA. It might really be the success of the fine and NOT the ACA. (This stick might be more successful than the meager carrot here). Now anecdotally here; I have paid out more, just for mandated coverage in one year, than I paid out over the entire year when I was very sick and turning jaundiced (and I footed that entire bill myself).
What I have noticed, though not so anecdotally, is that a greater amount of the cost is now administrative. Some doctors have avoided doing insurance covered work because they don’t want the costs, but now with the ACA being mandatory, there really is no choice. They may feel that forgoing the entire business might be a better choice for them.
This also should bring into consideration the costs to the doctor of any software/computer systems required to keep records as well software and systems having to now be completely compliant with HIPAA (as well as all of the software support/maint costs). – I think the open source group might want to take a look at this area. It could drive the costs down for smaller offices.
It is better to keep the doctors, doctoring, than pushing paper.
April 7, 2016 at 1:16 AM in reply to: HOA emergency special assessment in the amount $4000.00 dollars!! #796517Participant[quote=The-Shoveler]There was a meeting where the board voted on it but there was no notice sent to vote on the issue, something of this magnitude should have been voted by Mail by all members IMO.
But I need to think this through as well as it maybe bread on the water.[/quote]
Per Davis-Sterling, a quorum of the homeowners had to be present on such a vote. The board can not pass a special assessment that exceeds 5% of the yearly assessed fees without a homeowner vote with enough homeowners there to make a quorum (50% of homeowners).Participant[quote=bearishgurl]I am continually appalled at how some people actually live and believe it’s due to laziness derived from untreated depression. Especially in able-bodied senior citizen homeowners. I also missed more than one of my “callings.” I believe I would have been a good “interior designer.” :=)[/quote]I don’t think the ‘laziness’ derives from untreated depression. I feel it is more like ‘inertia’. People need to get into the regular habit of picking up a little at a time – continuously(making things cleaner a little at a time, each day). It is kind of like developing momentum. However, I do think that a messy and disorganized environment can lead to depression, which then makes developing a pattern to clean up harder. I also feel that messiness is taught, often at a young age (minimal boundaries, minimal or non-existent expectations).
April 6, 2016 at 12:27 PM in reply to: HOA emergency special assessment in the amount $4000.00 dollars!! #796493Participant[quote=The-Shoveler]Thanks ucodegen
The roofs are old so I am thinking that should have been in the budget as it was (400+ per month),
There was nothing that looked like a real emergency situation that would cost that much.
Got to go through all of this but there was no meeting no nothing just a notice we had to pay this by July etc…
Seems kind of arbitrary and made up.[/quote]
There should be some sort of accounting for it and what it is to be used for. There should also be yearly budget reports sent to all the residents – per California code (Davis Stirling Act placed it in California Civil Code) section 5300 and 4525(a)(4) – see also section 4530(a) involving required requests of the HOA for documents by any of the homeowners. 5300(a)(5) refs special assessments; should be on the annual budget that is sent out. Also check section 5605 – prerequisites to levying assessment increases and special assessments. 5605(b) shows vote is required on greater than 5% special assessment. 5605(c) indicates that a quorum is required on vote.–Just pointing out things to look at in Davis Stirling.
April 6, 2016 at 11:17 AM in reply to: HOA emergency special assessment in the amount $4000.00 dollars!! #796486Participant[quote=Blogstar]Sorry, it would be a big disappointment to find that out.
I don’t know the audit rules but something is required as part of an HOA and maybe “special audits” can be demanded too. My MIL has been president of a HOA in a pretty high end detached home community and also on the Architectural review board. She says this stuff can get pretty heated at times. Don’t be shy about making them show you what’s going on , somebody has to do it, or maybe they will go to Brazil with your money.[/quote]
Take a look at the Davis Stirling act.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Stirling_Common_Interest_Development_Act
http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/DavisStirlingAct/tabid/427/Default.aspx
Under assessments: if the assessment is more than 5% of the annual budget, it must be approved by the membership.
Looks like the $4000 had to be approved by membership – unless meets the grounds for emergency assessments.
Your HOA should also be sending you an annual budget report:
http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/Disclosurechecklist/tabid/456/Default.aspx#axzz3OtyTLrVrStatute: -linked pages
http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/Statutes/DAVIS-STIRLINGACT/tabid/3667/Default.aspxStatute: PDF
http://epsten.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-Davis-Stirling-Booklet-Final-Website-Version.pdf
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5268479fe4b0d94adb89065f/t/534447aee4b0d6c12fe5ffdc/1396983726531/Angius+and+Terry+2014+Davis+Stirling+Book+FINAL.pdfParticipant[quote=FlyerInHi]ucodegen, sounds like you’re a health care pro’s dream patient and worse nightmare all in one.[/quote]
You are probably right. I can describe symptoms in great detail and describe conditions and actions before and after. I also have a Physicians PDR (details on drugs, effects, warnings etc), and look up causes, read medical research papers when I can get my hands on them etc.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
About Atkins, I personally don’t believe in too much meat so I will have carbs with lots of veggies and different fruits everyday. I’m lucky i prefer fruit over bakery as sweet stuff. A modified Thai/Vietnamese diet with lots of veggies, some carb is ideal for me. I love my local Thai restaurant. Of course, each person is different.
[/quote] I grew up with part of an old orchard at my parents house (the land was formerly an orchard that was turned into housing – house was built by the architect for himself and he kept most of the trees instead of scraping). I prefer fruit to carb based ‘treats’, but most of the fruit I find is not really up to snuff – picked too soon and expected to ripen on the shelves. The result is fruit that is a bit starchy and lacking in taste. Apricots seem to be the most sensitive in this respect. Mandarin oranges that you get in the store are nothing like the real thing.Atkins does not rule out lots of greens/fruits with some meat..
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