A Little Happy Dance

My new laptop arrives tomorrow!

Yes on Prop. 45

I'm always amazed at the willingness of the punditry to accept dumb arguments when they're made by rich people.  The arguments against Prop. 45 are right up there with the argument landlord groups made during the foreclosure crisis, which was that the tenant in a soon-to-be-foreclosed property shouldn't get a copy of the Notice of Default, since that violated the landlord's privacy rights.  Huh?  The Notice of Default is a public record ferhevensake.  What it would have done was to give tenants an early warning that the landlord was in trouble, and a tenant might decide to move, rather than deal with the inconvenience and hassle of the landlord's foreclosure.  I expect this kind of silliness in landlord-tenant battles.  There's no argument too stupid to make and there's no argument too silly for the Legislature to accept.

The arguments against Proposition 45 are just as silly.  What Proposition 45 would do is to allow our elected Insurance Commissioner to reject health insurance rate increases that the Commissioner found to be excessive.  That's what the Commissioner does now with car and property insurance, and it has saved Californian oodles of money.  But the health insurers are looking at that, and looking at Dave Jones, the present Commissioner, and throwing fits.  So is Covered California, which is, shock of all shocks, making the same arguments that the health insurance industry is making.  Wow, it's only been in existence for a year, and it's already too cozy with its industry!

So far as I can see, the arguments against it are two.  The first is that, somehow, having rate regulation will increase rates.  I don't think so.  It didn't raise rates for other insurance, and it hasn't done so in the 35 or so other states that do allow rate regulation. Their second argument is that we could get an Insurance Commissioner who is too cozy with the industry and would allow excessive increases.  Yes, you did just suffer whiplash.

What they're really afraid of is Dave Jones, who has been a very good Commissioner, and would probably scrutinize rates pretty closely.  He might also look at other bad habits of the health insurance industry like, oh for instance, classifying all drugs for a particular health condition as high-tier, requiring larger copays, in an attempt to discourage patients with particular pre-existing conditions, just like the bad old days.  One of Covered California's problems is that the Insurance Commissioner might get involved with plan benefits but, with bad behavior like this and the cozier-by-the-day relationship between CC and the insurance industry, we can only hope that would be true.

It's true that we could get a bad Commissioner--Chuck Quackenbush comes to mind--but I think the industry is more concerned that, given the direct impact on their lives, voters might elect a string of pro-consumer Commissioners.

The Smart Phone

Yes, the phone is still smarter than I am, but I'm learning to use it.  I don't need to use the 4G that much because I have wifi at home and Comcast seems to have it everywhere.  In particular, I use it to do a quick check of my email when I don't feel like turning on the computer.

Be Still, My Ego

Someone I don't know has actually signed up to get my blog on some kind of feed.  I guess I should be flattered that someone wants to read me. Well, I am flattered.  Welcome, Reader.

Bumbling About the Internet

This morning I spent a few minutes looking at how the Arab world looks at ISIS.  After all, it's not likely that the United States will become a caliphate, but many Arabs are already looking at the rule of the Caliphate.  Not surprisingly, there's a good deal of ridicule out there.  One rather amateurish Palestinian production suggests that only Israel will benefit from ISIS.  Another much better piece notes that ISIS won't take over Lebanon, as they need a functioning government to overthrow.

I'm amazed, though, that our pundit class has failed to notice that (a) a lot of people in the Arab world are going to be seriously unwilling to take the hit for us and (b) that in the complicated politics of the Arab world, we're way out of our competence.  ISIS seems to have a lot more competence, having already cut a deal with the moderate Islamists in Syria that the US was planning to fund.  And why would the Saudis, who share much of the ISIS vision, be willing to help defeat ISIS, and help Iran in the bargain?  And Israel is already complaining that the struggle with ISIS will strengthen Iran.

My Phone is Smarter than I Am

My stupid phone was at my level of competence.  I can't figure out how to enter contacts, how to get rid of errors, how do do anything.  A steep learning curve and a bunch of reading the manual.

Update: For some reason this is one of my most popular posts in months. Are other people afraid of their phones too?

ISIS Has One Mother

The United States.  No, let's not blame it on NATO or Shiites in Iraq or anyone else.  ISIS would never have existed in Syria and Iraq but for our incompetent aggression.  Whenever I think of this mess, I am reminded of what should be Fidel Castro's most famous line, when informed of the selection of George W. as President--"[w]e can only hope he is not as stupid as he appears."

Technology Upgrades

We'll be learning new technology this month, as I'm getting both a new laptop (this one has the slooows) and my first Smartphone.  J has chosen to stay with his dumb phone.