Looking Beneath the Hype in Late Stage Capitalism

Can we agree that insurance companies are not your friends?

They make a bet with you that something bad will happen and you lose until it does. Then they use every excuse to exclude the claim & not pay.

So, why is one running ads all the time selling the idea of more exclusions on their policies? “Only pay for what you need” means a broad policy pays out more often than they like. If they get you to buy a narrow policy instead, they make a higher profit.

Don’t fall for their bs.

Meanwhile, another big firm sells personal discounts in every ad, which means their policies normally are so profitable to them that they can afford to cut some profit out to compete against their rivals.

A good rule of thumb in understanding what’s going on is to ask why they are pushing that aspect so much. It’s likely they want to cover something up and sell you a POV that makes them more money.

A third big firm is running ads that show all the unusual claims they’ve received. Note that every one of them features someone being an idiot & they never say they paid the claims — just that they’ve learned a thing or two. Is the point to insult the behavior and intelligence of their customers? IDK, but maybe farmers should tend to their farms & leave insurance to others.

And on it goes.

Pay attention & use logic to think when you need insurance.

Shop on sites that let you compare rates — but be aware that some or all of those sites get a fee if you buy there, as does Experian and the AARP when you buy from links on their sites. There must be a ton of profit in insurance, with all their spending on ads & referral fees.

And it’s all legalized gambling.

I’m Angry

I received my Covid19 booster shot today at Kroger . One dude waiting had on no mask. I gave him grief about it. He said he had all 3 shots & Omicron so… I told him I was there to get my shot, so put on a mask or leave. He left.

While I was waiting, another maskless dude sat down. 🤬😡

I’m angry at people who choose to treat the pandemic as optional.

I’m angry at Kroger and Walmart and the other big chains that could have enforced their own mask mandates from day one & saved lives while bringing consequences to the anti-maskers.

I’m angry at the CDC for messing up the message on wearing masks over & over under two administrations.

Don’t even get me started on their silence on filtering the air to remove the aerosols that allow this pathogen to spread.

I’m angry at everyone who treats this as an excellent time to “cull the herd” — which is what happens when you rely on herd immunity instead of sacrifices from all of us and competent, rational help from our government to get through this.

Most of all, I’m angry at the 1% that divide us into groups that cannot even have a civilized conversation with one another. Their greed for wealth & control is sending us toward fascism and climate crisis.

Plague Doctor — a tattoo I may get

Welcome to 2021

Happy 2021

Welcome to 2021, you beautiful pile of potential ! You are awesome and wonderful.

What will you accomplish this year? While circumstances will always play a large role, your choices and actions will often determine the outcome. So, choose well and act carefully.

What passions stir you at this cusp of another year? Dreams become reality when you put planning and action into them. Be bold and passionate in 2021, more so than ever before.

Stay aware of the ongoing crises (pandemic, inequality, injustice, climate change, fascism, and others) and what you can do to be safe as you fight for a better world. Take advantage of all the resources at your disposal to help others and to engage in self care.

Spend time in educating yourself on history and science and logic and law so you can be a better citizen of your country and the world. We can’t truly love something that we don’t understand or fix what’s broken in it. Aren’t you old enough to put aside the myths & fables taught to you as a child? Replace that childish mythology with truth.

Truth

Be mindful that not everyone wants to be a better citizen or to improve their awareness of the truth. Don’t pity them; they are on their own journey. Freely avoid them as much as you can, as life is too short to spend it on arguing with those who don’t agree with you on first principles.

Rest up. Enjoy your time off. Life is full of challenges and you need your strength to get through it or make a difference.

You know who you are. Now go on and be the best you that you can be.

Project Semicolon

Why is Atlanta burning?

Reblogging to boost the signal. This is a message we all need to hear.

#blacklivesmatter #justice

Charles write here

When they ask you why Atlanta was burning last night, tell them it was an uprising.

If you want a quick answer, you can quote the economist Thomas Piketty

Every human society must justify its inequalities: unless reasons for them are found, the whole political and social edifice stands in danger of collapse.

Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty

Tell them that a Black life should be worth more than a pane of glass, or a store, but that nearly a thousand Black lives in Atlanta’s surrounding counties have been lost because a governor refused to take action to protect them from deaths of inequality.

There were fires and police beatings taking place down on DeKalb Avenue not far from where I live. If you know Civil War history, this was where General Sherman began his march to the Sea in 1864.

They will tell you that this 1864 march this…

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On Causes versus Coincidences

“Correlation does not equal causality” is an often-heard phrase when someone says “I did X and Y happened.” It occurred to me a while ago that we should stop saying it that way.

If I do a thing one time and get a certain result, that’s just a coincidence. One data point is not enough to even begin to establish a correlation.

This is on the same level as anecdotal evidence versus statistical evidence. One time is an anecdote or a coincidence; many times under different circumstances involving different people is statistics and correlation.

Eliminate the variables that can logically explain or account for the correlation and you have a reasonable hypothesis about causes. Then, if it’s testable, you have a theory.

Far too many people stop at the level of anecdotal or coincidental and think they know something. This can be seen in many of the books written by so-called self-made men: they don’t have more than their own personal experiences to go on, so that’s all they know.

It is possible to do research and compile a collection of results (called a survey) that compares these anecdotal reports to see if their knowledge applies beyond their coincidental situation. Actually converting such a survey into a testable theory is very difficult in many areas of life, which is why we get computer modeling presented as if it were science.

Computers can be very useful and they can do amazing things, but they’re limited in ways that actual real-world testing and experience are not.

It’s human nature to shy away from what’s difficult, so I don’t blame people for doing that. I do think we need to recognize that facts and reality don’t care whether we find them difficult or inconvenient. They’re still going to affect us, no matter how we feel about them or even if we ignore or deny them.

My point is that your experience is valid, as are your feelings about that experience — but it tells us next to nothing about causes and even less about reality beyond your circumstances.