"Call 1-800-DOCTORB... The "B"' is for, 'bargain'!"
*Spoonful of socialism to help the medicine go down...*

I've read P.J. O'Rourke scoff, "If you think Medicine is expensive now, wait until it's free." But I just never thought it'd be illustrated so clearly,

From al-BeeBeeCee,

Some GPs are earning up to £250,000 a year after expenses, according to reports. ... [T]he best paid family doctors now get more than the prime minister. Average GP pay is now about £100,000 Within hours of opening on Tuesday morning, after the Easter weekend, College Surgery received nearly 200 calls from patients asking for appointments. Under government targets tied into the new GP contract, the practice in Cullompton, Devon, had to deal with them immediately. Two thirds of the queries were answered over the phone, but scores of patients still had to be offered appointments for the afternoon or next day at the latest....

Dr Simon Fradd, a part-time Nottingham GP who earns £66,000, said: "It is true that doctors pay has done up, but it had to to redress recruitment and retention problems. "But we are also providing much more sophisticated care. We are offering all sorts of health advice on smoking, weight and exercise on top of the standard care. This is what people say they want." The government has also defended the pay rises, saying they have helped increase doctors in training by two thirds... Nonetheless, the pay rises have still been partly blamed for the spiralling deficits in the health service - over recent weeks 7,000 job losses have been announced as trusts struggle to balance the books. The King's Fund health think-tank has estimated that 40% of the £4.5bn extra earmarked for the NHS in 2006-7 will go on pay rises - consultants and nurses have both received above inflation salary increases as well.

For a hundred grand in sterling, I'll gladly consult you. Hell, I'll make a house call. If this doesn't demonstrate the fallacy of central-planning, allowing guilds to monopolize under the veil of the state provision of "public" servies, and abscence of market-forces, than you're on the wrong damn weblog. Go back to ABCNNBCBS. Still, waiting lists, 13 year olds getting breast implants, and the utter stagnation of medical research and development are all on its way. Obviously America, you have no idea just what all you're missing out on...

Red Heat update


And the FT scoops the liter-box for soundbites,

The government would have to pass secondary legislation to be able to block a Gazprom bid. Laws to reduce political interference in mergers came into force in 2003, restricting ministers’ veto right to those cases threatening national security – an exemption that would not cover the energy sector.

The two main opposition parties signalled unease about any such move. Peter Luff, Conservative chairman of the Commons trade and industry committee, said he was “torn” on the issue. “I’m not in favour of the UK giving out signals that we’re protecting our industry against globalisation – that way perdition lies,” he said. “On the other hand, there is nothing more important than our energy supplies. Gazprom does raise some very particular questions that need to be looked at very carefully.”

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem trade and industry spokesman, dismissed as “fairly bizarre” the concern that Gazprom’s ownership of a utility such as Centrica or Scottish Power – another rumoured potential target – could be used to further Russian foreign policy.
    “If they tried to run it in the interests of Russia, we would be able to act . . . the existing regulatory regime would still be there,” he said. All leading business organisations are strongly supportive of the government’s drive against the rising tide of protectionism in the US and Europe.
    But there is industry unease about the mismatch between the UK’s willingness to allow foreign takeovers and the insurmountable political hurdles that British companies can face trying to buy abroad. This unease is heightened by the fact that Gazprom is state-owned and, therefore, to an extent protected from market forces.

All things to all potential asses to kiss: Welcome to democracy...

Miscellanea

Red Heat, or, Whose hand on the fawcet?


The Pink Avenger tells a tale of free markets possibly taking it up the third-way,

The news that Centrica, Britain’s largest energy supplier, could be the target for a bid by Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, caught the government on the hop when the story broke earlier this year... The UK has made a virtue of this lack of political interference, which has allowed several utilities to be taken over by European Union companies with no political discussion and barely a murmur of public dissent. Alan Johnson, trade and industry secretary, used a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce this month to boast of Britain’s open energy market. “Downing Street’s electricity is supplied by a French company, the water is supplied by a German company and there is a choice of four gas suppliers, three of whom are foreign owned,” he said... Ministers’ concern focused instead on the implications of a Gazprom takeover for security of supply. The gas company’s decision earlier this year temporarily to cut off supplies to Ukraine was seen by some as politically motivated. The prospect – however seemingly remote – of Russia using ownership of a UK gas supplier to try to exert political influence rang alarm bells in Whitehall.

Not sure what the correct response here is, are you?

Still, I'm a bit surprised Mother Russia, all things considered, is vying for such a foothold into Britain. Given what Jane's was saying, my original contention was that they were going to use the inertia of Europe's thirst for energy to drive them into Russia's wating arms, and more importantly, Russia's waiting terms. Still, upon consideration, this would potentially be the badge of repute and legitimacy Gazprom could be looking for; a chance to play nice with a major world power like Britain and show that it can do the Rule-of-Law song and dance. Perhaps far more importnatly, in the near-term, it would create a lucritive influx of the world's most solvent major currency into their coffers. I haven't bothered to look at the state of the ruble in some time. I suppose since I'm opining on it, I should bother...

Not much luck finding any free charts there, but still, the basic economics of the influx of a stronger currency into the reserves of a weaker one's bank always works out well for the recieving end.

Still, Gazprom would have likely foreseen potential hostility of proud Britainia being beholden to the potentially unsound interests of its friends to the East. This move could very well be simply to get knickers in a twist, and raise its own profile in the European markets.

This will be an interesting one to follow out...

Propaganda and Human Nature
From a new link on the D & D

Stats.org, illustrates the oft-diduction between well-meaning, sound-on-paper ideas and reality

New York Times Impressed by Grim Anti-drug Advertising Campaign
11:57, March 01 2006
But Montana's new meth ads may do more harm than good

The New York Times this Sunday spotlighted an ad campaign, sponsored by a Montana-loving millionaire, aimed at fighting methamphetamine use in the state.

It noted the gritty, disgusting nature of the images in the ads — which blanket the airwaves in the state and have generated public conversation. The story mentioned that other states have expressed interest in similar anti-drug advertising.

But what it didn’t include was any information at all on the research suggesting that such scare tactics actually do not deter teen drug use and may sometimes increase it. While “gross out” and fear-provoking ads may affect adult behavior and win advertising awards, many studies suggest that these do not deter teen use and there is great controversy in social marketing research over whether the known potential of such ads to backfire is worth the risk

Shouldn’t coverage by the paper of record of an area on which there is a great deal of relevant research at least mention the existence of the data—especially when the data suggests that the approach to a social problem implicitly promoted by the article may do harm?

I found this observation personally humorous. Having grown up in the (one of many) buckle(s) of the meth belt, I can tell you that this kind of propaganda had little to do with my declining the "many" lines of crank I had offered to me on a daily basis. In short, this type of "scared straight" advertising is pretty transparent to your average teenager, and when coupled with the "crying wolf" factor created by their friends using meth and not dropping dead on the spot, will probably encourage them more than otherwise. I was surprised, growing up, at how many of the "in crowd" got into that shit. You could see it steadily trickle up the social ladder, from rednecks and hayseeds, to the waifer-thin "middle class" of my home town, to the affluent children of farmers, buisiness men, and such. Sad as it is, about the only two things that drill an idea into your typical know-it-all teenager is frank, bull-shit free dicussion of the actual risks involved, and/or witnessing first-hand someone they personally know of, dying or getting vary sick from the shit. Watching the meth-culture blossom from its nascency also meant getting to watch the tons of cold-medicine(Psuedo-ephedrine and dextromethomorphine), acids, chemicals, and other shit that actually went into it. Fortunately, none of my friends have died from that shit. But still, having seen exactly what went up their noses, made me give out the resounding, "Uh 'No', Holden McNeal" every time I was offered a line.

Truth works.

Easter Buzz Dive on the Eff Tee

Bush declares ‘full support’ for Rumsfeld

President George W. Bush on Friday mounted a vigorous defence of Donald Rumsfeld in the face of a growing insurgency from retired generals over the defence secretary’s handling of the war in Iraq.

Admit it, it's funny...

Theme park tags on to ID chip expansion

Visitors will be given an RFID-enabled wristband on entry to the Staffordshire amusement park. It will allow them to be identified and videoed by cameras as they go on rides and attractions. The technology will help with park security – allowing parents to locate lost children, for example – but its chief publicised purpose will be to create a unique personalised DVD of the visitors’ day at the park, which can be purchased on leaving.

"Privacy"?! We don't need your stinkin' privacy!" In all seriousness, though, notice the need to bill this to the fomenting "outer party" in the consumerese-dialectic of OFFER x MERIT(S)= POTENTIAL PERSONAL GAIN. It's going to be excruciatinglyinteresting to see just what all they get people to "buy" down the road with this conditioning.

FT shows strongest monthly growth

The Financial Times recorded the strongest month-on-month growth of any national newspaper in March as sales of tabloid and mid-market titles continued their slump. The FT’s circulation rose 1.17 per cent month-onmonth to 445,986 for a year-on-year gain of 2.8 per cent, second only to The Guardian, which relaunched in the smaller Berliner format in September. Circulation of Sunday papers was down 5.2 per cent year-on-year, led by a 6.4 per cent drop at the News of The World and double-digit declines at the Sunday Express, The People and the Daily Star Sunday. Daily newspapers suffered a 3.2 per cent circulation decline, with a 5 per cent year-on-year drop at the Daily Mirror, a 4.3 per fall at the Sun and an 11.4 per cent slide at the Daily Express.

Not to, toot your own horn, or anything...

Globalisation ‘could raise inflationary pressure’

The IMF’s April World Economic Outlook says that “globalisation has undoubtedly provided some break on inflation in the industrialised economies in recent years”, allowing central banks to tighten monetary policy gradually. But it cautions that “globalisation cannot be relied upon to keep a lid on inflationary pressures in present circumstances”. Indeed, the IMF warns that globalisation could even help fuel inflation over the next few years, with rising import prices pushing up overall price levels. The difference is largely due to the decline in global spare capacity, eroded by strong economic growth worldwide.

Looking like Roci's been vindicated on the trade balance begining to correct itself.

The commodities binge will lead to indigestion

Even gold is part of this story. Although gold is not an industrial commodity, Indians have long been the world’s largest users of gold, most of it for jewellery (India now accounts for 23 per cent of the world’s consumer gold sales). Growing prosperity in India is driving its demand for gold to new heights. Jewellery sales in India last year were 25 per cent above 2004.
    There is a mystery in all this, which relates to gold. The price of gold has doubled since early 2002, when central banks were still happily selling off stocks of gold into the open market. Even events in India cannot explain an annual growth rate of almost 20 per cent in the gold price. The gloom-mongers have an easy answer. Gold is through the roof because any day now the dollar will go down the tube. Yet there are no confirming signs of anxiety about the dollar. Indeed, the inflow of private capital to the US exceeded $1,000bn (£571bn) last year and the year before, and has surpassed the outflow of American capital to foreign economies every year since 1996.  Furthermore, although we may have a sense that the rise in the price of gold has been spectacular, the price of gold has risen no faster than the producer price index for crude materials since the end of the recession in early 2002. It rose more slowly than raw materials prices right up to the recent spurt in gold to $600.

Which begs the question, "Are the markets not checking their commodities with equal due dilligence?" The under-examined commodity being, of course, their currency. To merely conceptualize the dialation of commodity prices vis-a-vis their capacity-to-output ratio is not far off from chunking the bread loaf in the oven and waiting until you smell smoke to to tell you it's cooked. While the author demonstrates that capital is still pouring into the US and that extensic factors are largely indictive of gold's price rise, it doesn't take into account the exponential leaps the money supply in America has undergone in the last several years, and the the upwards effect this will inevitably have if the trend continues. Price changes are a posteriori indications of inflation and the deflation that will be inherent to the distortion. To ignore this is to rob yourself.

A Thumb through the Scum

And when's the last time you flipped open the Metrhole or some newspaper in your co-ed workplace breakroom and saw that? Gotta love Britain. That I do. Seems the Brits in their wisdom exported all of Cromwell's ilk to the 'States and the people kept the people chill with titties, casinos, and other harmless vices. Speaking of vices, I saw basically this story in the Scum today, but because they're miser-fuckwipes, I'll just copy the jist of it from the Scottish Daily Mail,

POLICE officers are calling for all drugs to be legalised in Scotland . In a hugely controversial move, an influential group of frontline officers is demanding a radical change in the law. They say that even Class A drugs such as cocaine and heroin should no longer be illegal. The call comes from rank and file police in the country's biggest force who say radical measures are essential to tackle the spiralling drug problem.

Strathclyde Police Federation which represents nearly all 7,700 officers in the area, says all drugs should be licensed for use by addicts. The Association says millions of pounds are wasted on futile efforts to tackle the issue, with resources diverted from other police duties.

"Oh, but if only one my little bright eyed, artless suburbanite child is kept free from the taint of substance, than all the wars, murders, racketeering, unjust imprisionments, and pain it causes the rest of the world to supply a demand that has never deminished will be all worth it!"

And this one actually is from the Scum,

New jobs taken by oldies
*The Dismal Science*

MEN aged 65-plus and women of 60 and over took more than HALF of all new jobs in the past year. A total of 85,000 of the 147,000 new workers in the 12 months to February were pensioners, the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday. One in ten state pensioners is now working past retirement age, with 1.13 million of the growing army of OAPs holding down jobs. The trend is put down to pension shortfalls and people living longer.

Alas, all those tomorrows central banking borrowed from all those todays of yesteryear are finally catching up with the benighted.

It's admittedly a simplification of the matter, but as Robert Twigger points out in a paper he submitted for the House of Commons,

• Over the period as a whole, prices have risen by around 118 times. Thus one (decimal) penny in 1750 would have had greater purchasing power than a pound in 1998

• Since 1945 prices have risen in every year with an aggregate rise of over 22 times. By contrast, prices were lower in 1939 than in 1919.

Thus it seems the Keynsian gamble that ""A movement by employers to revise money-wage bargains downward will be much more strongly resisted than a gradual and automatic lowering of real wages as a result of rising prices." has worked out well for those who have leveraged themselves into solvency above the "scientifically" engineered "prosperity" of our fiat-world. Like Nicky Wire and Richey James Edwards would tell ya,

From feudal serf to spender, this wonderful world of purchase power...

Today's Eff-Tee Buzz Dive

While belief in God may increase wealth, actually attending church makes little economic sense

Sure, the spike in church attendance on Easter Sunday results, in part, from the special pleasure people derive from marking Easter in church. But the supply-side product enhancements many churches offer in holy week – special choral and flower arrangements and the increased networking opportunities that come with a full house – also help to tilt the cost-benefit balance towards Easter Sunday attendance.
Laurence Iannaccone of George Mason University, author of a comprehensive survey of the economics of religion, has his tongue nowhere near his cheek as he cites the premise that “individuals allocate their time and goods among religious and secular commodities so as to maximise lifetime and afterlife utility."

But where two countries had similar levels of church attendance, economic performance was superior in the one where belief in hell was stronger. In the same vein, countries with high church attendance had a worse economic performance than less observant countries with similar levels of belief in God or hell.

Robert Barro and Rachel McCleary of Harvard University found, not surprisingly, that countries with high church attendance had high levels of belief in God and hell. Belief matters more than belonging, they concluded. The threat of hell stops people cheating and increases trust, a valuable public good. But actually attending church wastes time that could be spent engaging in more profitable activities. ”

We're all living in Amerika Phenomenologica! Quantifiable,and in pan-physical accord! Still, it's nice to see their sciencetism doesn't blind them to the fact that moral religion is the axiological glue that binds society.

Differences in financial reporting between continental Europe, the UK and the US are hindering global competition,

Differences in reporting standards and procedures are ever more important because of the internationalisation of capital markets. It is increasingly unacceptable that investors in continental western Europe, the UK and the US are not similarly well informed.

Oh, and let me guess, the solution here is an unaccountable body of whatever variety, taking its cues from corporatists with a cozy seat on the board of directors for the sound, as Humpherey Applebee used to say...

Eurozone economy growing at 0.8%

Eurostat yesterday confirmed that the eurozone economy grew by 0.8 per cent during the final quarter of last year.

Man, watch out for that Socialism! And you thought "you" had it figured out?!

Relic of US Central America policy hits deportation plans

With Congress in the midst of a heated debate over immigration reform, the Department of Homeland Security is trying to overturn a nearly 20-year-old injunction that has made it extremely difficult for the US government to deport undocumented workers from El Salvador.
    Roughly 30,000 undocumented Salvadoreans arrive undetected annually, and there are as many as 550,000 Salvadorean illegals in the US, according to demography expert Jeffrey Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center. That makes El Salvador the second biggest source of illegal immigration into the US, after Mexico.
    Owing to an obscure order issued by a federal court in Los Angeles in 1988, known as the “Orantes injunction”, it is far more difficult for US immigration authorities to deport Salvadoreans than other illegal immigrants.

Oh don't worry, folks! Just keep payipng your federal income taxes! Your leaders know exactly what they're doing!

Governor signs radical health cover law

Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, yesterday signed into law a landmark bill designed to provide almost universal healthcare cover for the state’s residents.
    The law, which requires all Massachusetts residents to obtain health insurance by July 1 2007, is the first of its kind in the US. It is being touted nationally as a model for providing healthcare cover without establishing a single government-controlled system.

It's like car insurance, for your body! Hmm... grant you, it's basically just corporatism working well in the favor of, oh, I don't know, say, insurance providers. But Within the twisted frame-of-logic that governs the AMA-HMO-Medicaid/Medicare-Insurance corporate gangbang of the medical-industry, I guess it's only fair... to someone, anyhow.

Pashtun traders have a monopoly on the lucrative drugs trade in Badakhshan province

    Argu is the biggest heroinprocessing district in northeastern Afghanistan, home to at least 14 laboratories run by Pashtun traders from the violent tribal borderlands near Pakistan, where the Taliban are waging an insurgency against US troops which is fuelled by drug money.

Without delving into the perfunctory conspiracy screed you might expect here, I will just point out that the profits made from heroin derrive exclusively from the fact it's illegal in most countries. But alas, where there's a market...

De Villepin avoids clash on smoking

The French government yesterday postponed legislation banning smoking in public places, less than a week after a humiliating climbdown over labour reforms.
“Once again the government is backing down. It is total confusion,” said Claude Evin, an anti-smoking advocate and opposition Socialist deputy.

Ne me demandez pas qui je suis et ne me dites pas de rester le même : c'est une morale d'état civil ; elle régit nos papiers. Qu'elle nous laisse libres quand il s'agit d'écrire "


On that note, I bid you fair well, Good Friday, and encourage you to think about the One that died for you a couple of thousand years ago, and had you in mind then, and now...

EFF-TEE buzz dive

New Hampshire battles to keep primary privilege

The DNC contends that New Hampshire and Iowa, two small, rural and primarily white states, are not sufficiently representative of the nation to justify the power they have over which candidate becomes a party’s nominee. States with larger minority populations and economies with greater union representation ought to have a bigger say in narrowing the field, it argues.
Jim Splaine, a state representative who has twice sponsored legislation requiring New Hampshire to be first in the nation, says taking away the state’s primary tradition, which dates back to 1916, goes against the American political ideal.

Hmph, you'd been better off trying to save the Old Man of the Mountain than this doubious distinction. New Sate Motto: Live Free or on Your Knees to Democracy (huh, think I'm keeping that one!)

Poland urges end to merger challenge

Poland yesterday called on the European Commission to stop its legal challenge against Warsaw over the government’s opposition to a bank merger involving Italy’s UniCredit.

Like, national sovereignty is so 19th century, man!

IEA warns of Russian oil shortfall

“The key issue for Gazprom’s production is the large amount of capital spending needed to monetise its huge reserve potential and to achieve stable and slightly growing production,” S&P said. However, concerns about the stability of gas supplies to Europe are unlikely to affect Gazprom’s ratings.

"Fuck you, pay me!" Seems to translate into any language...

Beijing allows postal service to start making small-scale loans

The sprawling savings arm of China’s monopoly postal service has begun making loans for the first time, a move intended to help it prepare for its transformation into the country’s fifth-largest bank.
    After years of delay, officials say Beijing is close to launching reform of the Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau, which has more than 36,000 branches and held Rmb1,300bn ($162bn, €134bn, £93bn) in deposits at the end of 2005.
    “It should happen very soon,” an official at the China Banking Regulatory Commission said yesterday.
    As part of preparations for life as an independent bank, the CBRC has granted the postal savings bureau permission to offer small loans to rural customers on a trial basis.

Huhhuh, looks like they're about to start doing to the Chinese what they've been doing to Americans these last few decades. Seems a bit early in the game to gut China through credit expansion/fiat banking, but I guess you gotta hook 'em while their economy's young, eh?

Investor cleared of market abuse faces six-figure bill for legal costs
It was attacked yesterday by Mr Baldwin and his lawyers, who claimed there was a fundamental unfairness in making people pay the legal costs associated with clearing their names.
    Mr Baldwin, who has been involved in the stock market for about 18 years and previously worked for brokers Greig Middleton, Investec and Canaccord, described the process as “morally bankrupt”.
    “The biggest problem is the lack of accountability,” he said, declaring the decision would mean the FSA could pursue cases with relatively little fear of sanction.
the FSA said the cost decision had been based on a finding that it had not acted unreasonably in pursuing the case.
    The question of costs was also debated in parliament when the new FSMT regime was brought in. One of the arguments against cost orders was that the agency might be deterred from pursuing harder cases if this was a concern.

And what about innocent people who can't afford to defend themselves against the harder cases? Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll just start allowing plea-bargaining. Welcome to your first little taste of Ajudication: Americana-style...

Cameron takes on critics with drive for women MPs

David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, signalled his determination to take on rightwing critics of his reforms yesterday by issuing rules designed to ensure the Tories have far more women MPs after the next general election.

"JaneDavid, you ignorant slut. " Just when I was thinking about volunteering to campaign for the Tories...

And to all you Republicans, that help me to win, I'd sincerely like to thank ya. Cause now I got the world swinging from my nuts, and damn it feels good to be a gansta...


Not sure quite what to make of this one. He seems to be in lock-step with what those who want to make war on Persia want to hear out of him. They say those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad. And this guy is pushing all the right buttons (or wrong, depending on which end of the missle you're on).

The only advice the slue dispenses: Reserve your own judgement at all times...

A Case of the Mondays... All fucking week long


Hello skinny dippers. The posting has been light this week. Then again, my job involves sitting in front of a computer, not too much unlike this one. My job pays the bills. My job beats hard labor, prision, bondage, and other awful institutions. But I'm not giving it much more credit than that. In truth, it's decent money for no more than you actually do. It's just unfortunate that I'm paid 3% for my labor, and 97% for my patience. 4 days, 7 hours of this shit is enough to make anyone leary of a computer.

What I have been up too, is reading a bit. I'm slowly plodding through Henry Miller's "Money and How it gets in the Way". For an A-D-D addled pornographer, he ain't a half bad economist. He touhes well upon the fact faith in money isn't far off from faith in God. I've had Alfred North Whitehead floating around in the back of my head, as of late. I, of course, have the attention-span of a gnat, and have opted to puruse a couple of summary treatments by Donald Sherburne, Key to Whitehead Process and Reality, and John Lango, Whitehead's Ontology. These, are in fact a substitution for a book by Nicholas Rescher, Process Reality, which I cannot afford right now. I'm also re-reading parts of "Quantum Psychology" by RAW.

This week should be less aggrevation. Happy Palm Sunday