People are People

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Never, ever underestimate the effect of basic human emotions. Want to understand why people continually make decisions that, if looked at objectively, are pretty stupid?  Simply remember that people are always capable of doing things that are illogical because they are possessed of emotions and those emotions are far more powerful than any logic.

Keep that in mind as you read this piece in the Economist that explores why poor people are less likely than you'd expect to be in favor of increasing taxes on the wealthy.  Several socioeconomic factors are explored, but the one I found most interesting is the propensity of people to care more about not being lowest on the totem pole than about the actual amount of money they have.  From the article:

Instead of opposing redistribution because people expect to make it to the top of the economic ladder, the authors of the new paper argue that people don’t like to be at the bottom. One paradoxical consequence of this “last-place aversion” is that some poor people may be vociferously opposed to the kinds of policies that would actually raise their own income a bit but that might also push those who are poorer than them into comparable or higher positions. The authors ran a series of experiments where students were randomly allotted sums of money, separated by $1, and informed about the “income distribution” that resulted. They were then given another $2, which they could give either to the person directly above or below them in the distribution.

In keeping with the notion of “last-place aversion”, the people who were a spot away from the bottom were the most likely to give the money to the person above them: rewarding the “rich” but ensuring that someone remained poorer than themselves. Those not at risk of becoming the poorest did not seem to mind falling a notch in the distribution of income nearly as much. This idea is backed up by survey data from America collected by Pew, a polling company: those who earned just a bit more than the minimum wage were the most resistant to increasing it.

Poverty may be miserable. But being able to feel a bit better-off than someone else makes it a bit more bearable.

To put it simply Joe the Plumber is much more likely to fight higher taxes on Larry the Lawyer if he thinks the result will be Ernie the Electrician moving from the bottom rung to the same or higher rung on society's ladder.  Of course there are many more reasons why someone would be opposed to higher taxes on the wealthy, but I don't think you can discount the import of peoples' fear, greed or jealousy.

Liquidation

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Borders is in the midst of liquidating so I thought I’d see if I could find one of my daughter’s required reading books there and get a good deal in the process. I didn’t hold out much hope since the required reading books tend to sell out early under normal circumstances and I figured the chances were slim that I’d beat the organized parents to the punch when discounts were involved.

Much to my surprise I found several copies on the shelf and when I went to check out the clerk said “Oh you found one! We were out if them when I checked yesterday so we must have gotten a shipment in.” That surprised me because I always assumed that in a liquidation they sold the items already in the store and wholesaled whatever was in the warehouse. Shows what I know.

Anyway, if you’re looking for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” you can get a copy at Borders. For now.

Replace Lawyer with Banker

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Want to double your stable of jokes without having to learn any new jokes?  Just take every lawyer joke you've ever heard and replace "lawyer" with "banker."  I'm not sure bankers ever enjoyed a "warm and fuzzy" perception with the general public, but I believe the economic calamity they helped usher in has reduced them in the public eye to some kind of hybrid of an ambulance chasing lawyer and a serial killer. Think I'm exaggerating?  Well watch the video below and tell me it doesn't strike a chord.

BTW, the video was first posted at Fec's place and in the comments you'll find what Lex identified as the quote of the day: "Reasonable people tend to agree that the benefits of an apocalypse are overrated." 

Five Feet

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Want to know the difference five feet makes? When the city/county water department comes out to your neighborhood and digs a hole and that hole is over the water main five feet from where the water line for your house connects to the main, and the water department shuts off the water where the hole is, you miraculously end up with water while all your neighbors on the other side of that hole have no water service at all.

Note to the water folks – if you’re going to shut off the water for a bunch of folks on Sunday evening you might want to let them know. A note on the door letting them know what you’re doing and giving them an idea of what lies ahead (nature of the work being done, time til water service is turned back on, etc.) would be a good idea.

No Need for Healthcare Reform? Really?

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Two months ago our daughter was in Myrtle Beach for beach week and while there make the regrettable decision to drive a jet-ski.  The result was an accident that led to a trip to the ER in an ambulance.  Initially our health insurer denied the claim because we hadn't cleared the trip to an out of network ER with them, but once we appealed and pointed out that she was already at the ER before we even knew about it they reversed the decision. That's a good thing, because if they hadn't I'd be writing this from the poorhouse.

The final bills just came in and this is what they show:

  • The original hospital bill totaled: $21,214
  • Our insurer paid $4,151
  • We owed $150
  • The ambulance ride cost over $800, mostly due to a non-resident fee imposed by the county where the accident happened.  We owed $400.

A couple of thoughts here.  Our daughter was discharged hours before we could even get to the beach.  She was in the hospital's care for maybe 2 1/2 – 3 hours, so even taking into consideration that  due to the nature of the accident they treated her in the trauma unit and ran the various MRI-type scans, how can that possibly total over $21,000?  Also, what happens to the poor schlub who doesn't have insurance?  Does $16,000 magically disappear from his bill too?

Believe me, we're very thankful for the care our daughter received.  I'm also not so bitter about the insurance premiums that are deducted from my paycheck because, frankly, our insurance is getting a workout this year.  In addition to this accident we've had a surgery and an illness in our family so we've gone from hardly ever using our insurance to being uber-users.  Of course our premiums are likely to go up again next year, but at least we aren't being bankrupted in the process (at least not yet).

Still this episode drives home the point that there are many people out there who ARE bankrupted by our health care system.  I'm not going to sit here and point the finger at any one person, company or industry, but I am going to say that anyone who thinks our health care system doesn't need fixing has a head full of rocks.  

Harper’s Weekly

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One of my favorite reads is a free weekly email newsletter published by the folks at Harper's Magazine. Basically it's a bunch of disparate news items crunched into a few paragraphs, and instead of trying to describe it the best I can do is share one paragraph that I think is representative:

Despite having overestimated the U.S. federal debt by at
least $2 trillion, Standard and Poor's downgraded the
Unites States' long-term credit rating from AAA to
AA-plus, prompting one market analyst to warn, "This
crisis will run and run, and could make Lehman look like
a Tupperware party." In session for a total of 59
seconds, a skeleton crew of Senate Democrats ended a
partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration,
putting 4,000 employees back to work and allowing the
government to resume collecting $200 million per week in
airline-ticket taxes. Former New York gubernatorial
candidate Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High
Party and Oscar-winning actress Faye Dunaway faced
eviction from their rent-regulated apartments. "You
don't tell an American how to live," McMillan said to
reporters. "I hope you have a terrible life," Dunaway
said to her landlord. Governor Rick Perry, whose April
entreaty to his fellow Texans to pray for rain failed to
alleviate the state's devastating drought, led some
30,000 worshippers in the Response, a Christian prayer
gathering at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Though Perry and
others urged attendees to fast, concession stands sold
nachos and smoothies throughout the seven-hour event. A
San Angelo revivalist skipped lunch but bought a hot dog
around 4:00 p.m. "That's the agreement I made with God
earlier," he said.

You can get your own subscription here.

Alternative Housing

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Our son isn't the only one getting an education by heading off to college.  For instance Mom and Dad discovered last week that his school of choice has some communication issues.  As in the school was quick to let our son know that he'd been bumped off the housing list because they hadn't received a $200 deposit, but in the two months they'd had his registration and zero dollars they'd said nary a word about a deposit not being in hand.  That included two days spent on campus by our son and his mom for a mandatory orientation that ran a couple hundred bucks.  The result was that Mom and Dad ended up spending a Sunday looking at off campus apartments while their son was at work.  That led to the next lesson.

Off campus apartments are not what we had back in the dark ages of the 80s.  These apartments feature three or four private rooms (lockable) with private bathrooms attached to a common area that includes a living room, a full kitchen (granite counters and stainless steel appliances), and a laundry room. Free wi-fi comes with the cable and utilities that are all-inclusive.  The community's clubhouse has a game room (foosball, ping pong, pool), a computer lab, a fitness room (real weights and nicer cardio equipment than we have at our gym) and a pool.  In other words we're worried he won't come home.

BTW, the cost is comparable to the cost of the on-campus housing with the exception of the lowest end dorms. But since the lowest end dorms looking like something out of 60s-era Soviet Russia and smell like feet I'd say that's not a bad deal.

Wallpaper

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I found the following in the excellent "Now I Know" free email newsletter:

Bonus fact: In 1990, Rickey Henderson signed a five year, $8.5 million contract with the A's, which included a $1 million signing bonus.  About a year later, the A's were trying to balance their books, and kept coming up $1 million short.  The team called Henderson and asked him what he did with the check.  His answer: He put it up on his wall, uncashed, as a daily reminder that he was a millionaire.