Monthly Archives: December 2019

12/5/19

Impeachment — Decisive Engagement

Today, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi directed the House Judiciary Committee (Jerry Nadler, Chairman) to draft Articles of Impeachment saying, “The President has given us no choice.”

This decision came after a meeting of the Democrat caucus and a day of riveting testimony from a panel of four law professors. [For those of you whose sarcasm meters are in the shop for holiday repairs after Thanksgiving — this is sarcasm.]

This calls to mind two things of some portent:

If you come to kill the king, make sure to kill the king.

The importance and danger of a decisive engagement.

Continue reading →

12/4/19

Welcome Home

I was at Lowes today buying a dehumidifier for a little stone repair I am in the midst of. It seems that water got behind some Carrera marble and some pinwheel stone flooring and I have to suck it out using a huuuuuuge dehumidifier. So, I park at the Veterans Parking Spaces at Lowes.

I love that Lowes has parking spaces reserved for veterans and provides a 10% Veterans Discount. Well played, Lowes.

I do my business and I get my 10% veterans discount. I return to my vehicle with my $300 dehumidifier.

There are several other cars parked in the spaces. One is a Jeep looking SUV with a Bronze Star on its license plate. I witness a conversation.

The Bronze Star recipient and another gentleman, whose age suggested he was a Vietnam War Era veteran, strike up a conversation. I listen to it as I’m stuffing my enormous humidifier in my truck.

They have a nice chat. If you have never been in the Army, you don’t understand that soldiers when they meet compare where they were and what units they served with. It’s a soldier thing.

The Bronze Star guy had been awarded his medal for valor in Iraq.

Continue reading →

12/3/19

Medical Pricing Transparency

When we think of medical treatment, we rarely think of competitive bidding, but that concept is as applicable to medicine as it is to construction. Pricing transparency, anyone?

The Trump admin did something to make the price of medical treatment more competitive, by issuing new rules via an Executive Order.

Trump explains pricing transparency.

The new rule that impacts healthcare pricing transparency the most is:

Calendar Year 2020 Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Price Transparency Requirements for Hospitals to Make Standard Charges Public.

Who makes up these names?

By way of background, hospitals and healthcare providers do, in fact, publish lists of what they charge for various treatments and procedures. The problem is that they are not the same prices they charge to insurance companies. They are hugely inflated. They are difficult to obtain.

Continue reading →

12/3/19

eBay and PayPal — Creating Gobs of Value

I always think of eBay as a scavenger hunt type of site which is totally unfair. I know that. I apologize.

But one of the things that I admire about eBay is the wisdom of their acquisition of PayPal back in 2002.

Back in 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5B which turned a lot of heads. Wow! Unicorn meat! How do you cook it?

Continue reading →