Prediction for 2009...

[drhulsey]

... Makes me proud...

My father-in-law worked for the Corvette Assembly Plant here from its opening until he retired several years ago. He was one of the few they hired locally. Most came from St. Louis where the plant used to be. He has told stories of drug use on the job. There have been drug raids at the plant. Many employees want to go to the JOB BANK where they get paid to sit all day, doing nothing. The pendulum is definitely not in the center
You've got to have honesty and balance to get things on track
Liability has sucked the fun out of life Our city built a skate park, and I marvelled at their guts in doing so I don't know how they afford the liability What kind of human being do you grow up to be if never scrape your knee or break an arm. But people have to take responsibility for their own action for that to work

...I'm not sure free health care is the way to go even though everyone gets it...

The "Haves" will always have to take care of the "Have-nots" in civilized society. I don't believe it is an inherent right to get health care, but it is something we should strive to provide those who truly cannot provide for themselves. We do it either in taxes, in increased insurance premiums, through charities, or, for a physician, provide free health care. Physicians have done that throughout the history of mankind. However, we still have to be able to make a living and provide for our families. When insurance companies reimbursed well, we had more latitude to absorb the cost to us for providing free care to needy individuals. Yes, I know there are physicians who were greedy and never did it, but they are a minority, as in most professions. Since insurance reimbursements have been cut to the bone (insurance companies all want to pay the same low fees Medicare does), physicians have to be more business-like, and try to keep their practices out of the "red." Don't be fooled– it is a direct cost to the physician to provide free health care
I am lucky, and have had the opportunity to provide a good deal of free care in my >26 years of practice, both at home and abroad. All of you do that in your own way.
As Dan said, "WANT LESS" and be as compassionate as you can afford
My rules of life: Work hard. Be honest. Have fun.
That could cure most of our problems.

...it doesn't freeze before it hits the ground...

I sometimes have trouble gettin' stuck to the ground, though

...I wonder how many congressmen are screened randomly for drug use?

I'm thinkin'.... ZERO

[drew]

in the next few years, North American business men will bring back production and manufacturing where it belongs...in North America...

The only way I can see this happening is if the Somali Pirate Navy expands to the point that they start buying submarines and go global, and the cost of shipping goods from China to here goes up by a factor of 100.

[selloutrr]

or we go to war with china and ban imports? from what i hear it might be a good idea to learn chinese.

[gahult]

drhulsey wrote:

I sometimes have trouble gettin' stuck to the ground, though

Like the two guys in the toilet stalls at the bar one says "damn that water's cold" the other says "yah, and it's deep too".
I always hated the ice in the floor length urinals.

And

I am lucky, and have had the opportunity to provide a good deal of free care

Our small town doctor years ago before he retired used to write a scrip for the "Hultgren children". When one was sick with a cold or flu cause he knew they would pass it back and forth. Charged for one office visit $10.00. Those days have long since passed. Oh, and he made house calls too, especially for the elderly. Not easy as he was not young either, just an old school Army doctor in a small town. Later in his practice he was the head of the trama center in Vegas and would spend a lot of time out there but, when he was in town here his faithful would always go to him.

Gary

Gary

[Tubetwang]

in the next few years, North American business men will bring back production and manufacturing where it belongs...in North America...

The only way I can see this happening is if the Somali Pirate Navy expands to the point that they start buying submarines and go global, and the cost of shipping goods from China to here goes up by a factor of 100.

They will eventually have no choice but to bring everything back here...

Why?

Simple...

Folks won't buy anything...

Why??

They'll be broke...

[drhulsey]

... and he made house calls too...

I actually do make house calls, at times. It's much easier to see patients in the office, 'cause that's where all my doctorin' stuff is, but ocassionally its just the right thing to do.

...They will eventually have no choice but to bring everything back here...

Especially if THEIR stuff is contaminated with lead, melamine, etc.

[skyboltone]

I just watched a show on History Channel says we're doomed anyway. Winter soltice 2012 we get this gigantic pole shift and the earths mantle moves, changing our orbit and leveling everything currently standing up on the ground. Kool. Time to move to Kansas and built a sod hut. Store up acorns and Ezra Brooks. Bring an acoustic though. To bad about that vasectomy thing. King Dan, the last of the world's great human beings strumming "A hard rain's gonna fall" while fireballs fill the heavens.


Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son ?
And where have you been my darling young one ?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son ?
And what did you see, my darling young one ?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand takers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son ?
And what did you hear, my darling young one ?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet my blue-eyed son ?
Who did you meet, my darling young one ?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded and hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son ?
And what'll you do now my darling young one ?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the deepths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my songs well before I start singin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

[dartanion]

Riddle me this:

We buy Chinese products with money borrowed from the Chinese...this helps us how?

(You want real economic disaster, all China has to do is call in our loans and we're done.)

I don't blame the Chinese for this at all. They were just the next inline to be exploited to fuel the US consumer market. Where's the next source of plentiful cheap labor going to come from? Within our own boarders maybe?

[Tubetwang]

Riddle me this:

We buy Chinese products with money borrowed from the Chinese...this helps us how?

(You want real economic disaster, all China has to do is call in our loans and we're done.)

I don't blame the Chinese for this at all. They were just the next inline to be exploited to fuel the US consumer market. Where's the next source of plentiful cheap labor going to come from? Within our own boarders maybe?

Yup!

US economy is based on service with 85% of the workforce...

These guys won't get a raise anytime soon...i don't think.

But at least they will have a job...

Gotta make the money here, save it here, spend it here...

The old fashion way...

[ampdoc1]

I agree with most everything posted. The problem is not the average worker, it's the greedy "heads" at the top.

Our current problems with industry started in the mid 70s when all the guys that built our great production companies (steel, textiles, electronics, etc) got old and retired.

But my generation (the Boomers) stepped in with their MBAs and suddenly decided if a facility wasn't profitable in one quarter, just sell it off. It ALL became about the almighty dollars in the short term. And that kind of thinking has led us to where we are.

Yes! Let's get back our production in the USA. A lot of the goods we buy from overseas are crap, but they are very cheap. I for one would be glad to pay twice as much for an American DVD player, or TV. Really, how often do you have to replace these items?

Let's jumpstart our industries by imposing huge tariffs on imports worldwide. Stop the influx of those cheap products and American business will rise to the opportunities of profitability.

America, WAKE UP!

ampdoc

[jaysg]

SETI will finally receive a short incoming transmission, with the immortal request, "Send more Chuck Berry."

[declan]

Government deides to print lots more money

Create hyperinflation to ease paying off the massive debt they just got us all into

Currency becomes useless, (buy in your bottles of whiskey for bartering now)

To restore financial order a new world currency will be introduced, the Amero will be the first step.

One world government

then SETI will announce the radio transmissions and ET will arrive and microchip every one of us.

head for the hills now

[skyboltone]

I agree with most everything posted. Let's jumpstart our industries by imposing huge tariffs on imports worldwide. Stop the influx of those cheap products and American business will rise to the opportunities of profitability.

America, WAKE UP!

ampdoc

Oh Lord how I wish it was that simple. Not. Did you know that we export too? Retaliatory tariffs. Multinational companies based here move out completely so they can buy parts to make stuff with. Yer talking 60%-70% unemployment here. AND WW-III eventually. This is not a good idea. The bursting bubble is driven by new technology. "I want, I want!" How many of us use more than 25% of the features and benifits of our cellphones, DVD players, computers etc. Did we need Windows Vista or did Billy decide we were getting it regardless of need.

The upside of hyper inflation as you pointed out is we get to pay back the Chinese with worthless dollars. There is hell to pay for this in future. Anticipate disaster. Get out of debt. The part of this I'm really really pissed about is that I'm not in trouble so the government won't pay down half my mortgage on the boat or my lot in Port Townsend. Instead, on fixed income, I got to pay down some worthless asshole's lack of perspective. Class warfare coming. Blood in the streets.

In the late 50's houses were $10,000 and 1000 square feet. How come we all got to have 3500 square feet to raise one kid in? If it ain't got a jacuzzi tub and central air we can't live there. Cars used to have things called window cranks. You rolled up the windows manually. Can you imagine? You stuck a key in the door to get in the thing. Now we got touch sensitive side window glass with a combination lock attached to it. Do we really need that? What did Walt Kelly say? "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Want Less.

[deiseldave]

SETI will finally receive a short incoming transmission, with the immortal request, "Send more Chuck Berry."

Thanks for that. If that came off the top of your head, you should consider starting a comic strip.

[gahult]

Let's not forget remote control air conditioners.
Wouldn't want heat stroke going over to set it colder.

Gary