DadTalk

Health Care Expenses Exceed Housing, Food, Times Reports

“ ‘The kid isn’t that sick; her temperature is only 102.’ ”
– Dr. Richard Lander, a pediatrician in Livingston, N.J. explaining how parents are responding to rising health insurance costs.

Rising gas prices are an inconvenience. There are ways around higher food prices, however unpalatable. But how do families cope with rising health care costs when it is too costly for Americans and their children?

It’s hard for me to fathom, but consumers are now spending more money on health care than food or housing, reports The New York Times:

Since the recession of 2001, the employee’s average cost of an annual health care premium for family coverage has nearly doubled – to $3,300, up from $1,800 – while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household’s income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s spending.

Tom Chapin Video Slams No Child Left Behind

My wife is currently exploring the idea of becoming an urban public school teacher, which I firmly support. But I can’t help wonder why anyone ever goes to the hassle:

• Low pay that starts around $32,000 and never grows much beyond $50,000 except in elite school districts.
• Tough certification rules.
• The cost and time of obtaining a masters.
• Inadequate buildings and learning supplies.

Perhaps the worst thing a teacher must face is No Child Left Behind, which I’ve been calling No Child Gets an Education. It seems to me that teaching elementary school students to a “test” would be the final straw for those men and women who already put up with so many career negatives.

But forget anything I write. Watch this Tom Chapin video, which I discovered via Thingamababy, a great blog on parenting. And here’s Chapin’s website against NCLB.

Additional
A review of a Tom Chapin album.

Are You an Economic Optimist or Realist?

Why are some humans optimists and others pessimists? I was discussing this question with an acquaintance on my bus to work last week.

My theory: optimists often don’t see or simply ignore the downside to trying out a new restaurant, athletic fete or business.  A pessimist – though I substitute the word realist – viscerally sees the downside to new and old ideas.

Without optimists, we’d still be riding horse and buggies (or walking), the moon might never have been explored and supercolliders never built. Without realists, planes would fall from the sky and even worse politicians would be elected to office.

No place is the tug of war between optimists and realists more evident than the economy and the housing market. Here’s the historical smack down:

What Kind of Bricks Is World Financial System Made From?

Each morning, I get off the bus early and walk down a mile or so of fabled LaSalle Street, home to Chicago’s banks, trading firms and other financial institutions.

At the beginning of the walk, I pass under the rusting elevated trains that mark the northern end of the Loop. Right after the bluish glass of the James R. Thompson building (state government) comes the imposing City Hall.

Or rather, the building would be imposing, except for all the larger financial buildings that surround it. Although most of Chicago’s largest buildings do not line LaSalle, the imposing Chicago Board of Trade at the end of the street got me to thinking about the relationship between cultural institutions and buildings.

Music That Works for Me

For the last year and a half, I’ve had an office to myself, something I’ve never had before. One of the best things? I can listen to music in the background.

I tend to love Ambient radio stations on iTunes because they help me concentrate.  Usually, I listen to Groove Salad on SomaFM, because the music plays well in the background.

After being out sick for a WEEK, I came back to discover Gotradio – The Big Score. I’ve only been listening to the station for 20 minutes, and love it so far.

Not because the tunes remind me of movies – heck, I’ve hardly seen any in recent years – but because the music is often so rich and interesting. So far, the station is picking out songs that generally play well in the background.

The only problem? I keep checking to see what’s playing. As I’m writing this, I started thinking, “that sounds familiar.” It was a song from Lord of the Rings.

I may never get up again.

The Real Problem With Economy: Americans Are Out of Money

“We are probably going to have one of the worst recessions we’ve had since the Second World War. It’s not a good scene.”
– Famed investor Jim Rodgers

Before you all scream this is a doom and gloom post, let me point something out: Jim Rodgers could care less if the market goes up or down, he gets wealthier either way. Why? Because Rodgers has access to some of the best financial intelligence in the world, lives in Singapore and subsequently looks at the U.S. economy more objectively than most of us.

Unfortunately, we are forced to rely on freely available source material and the often misleading commercial media.

As you may have noticed, the market bears – that is the folks who expected the economy to slide into recession – were either in the minority, drowned out or ridiculed through most of 2007. Worse, many of us expecting a recession were accused of being the reason the economy is going down.

In fact, there are plenty out there still complaining. Here’s what Ben Stein has to say in his New York Times column:

Money and Understanding the Wonders of Self-Delusion

A few months ago, I took part in a financial forum sponsored by a well-respected stock brokerage. Message 1: America’s stock market growth will slow, but remain in positive territory. Message 2: Invest in Asia because its markets have decoupled from the United States and will continue growing regardless.

Although by the time of that phone conference I had taken all our money out of stocks, it was then I came to the conclusion that delusion had taken over the markets. I’ve long felt this was true of the housing market, but was less sure about equities, (a fancy term for stocks.)

But don’t take my word for it, read what they’re saying in The Star in India:

The myth that the Indian economy can be decoupled from the global markets lay shattered last week in the wake of a weeklong carnage on the share markets.

Buoyed by 9 percent growth on the trot over the last seven years, and a booming share market, economic pundits had advanced the thesis that the economy was strong enough to repulse global shocks.

In seven cataclysmic trading sessions, which saw more than 20% shaved off the values of shares, that self-serving theory was fully laid to rest. The meltdown triggered by fears of a full-blown U.S. recession hit world markets. India could not be an exception.

Oops.

I never really understood why economists and pundits – who constantly tout the interdependence of globalization – would ever think markets could become decoupled. How can markets be connected on the front end, and disconnected on the back end?

More from the Star:

The markets had been taught a bitter lesson, which was that there was no way of insulating the Indian markets from the global shocks. The decoupling argument, based essentially on the fact that the Indian economy was not overly dependent on exports, had been proved wrong. … Pundits of decoupling were, at long last, made to eat crow.

How could the pundits be so wrong? It seems self-delusion works in all walks of life when it comes to money. Nowhere is that more measurable than housing, which promised quick and unending riches.

Chicago Transit Is a Rip Off

Last week my Chicago Transit Card started to die. The card, which automatically deducts $1.75 from my credit card for every bus ride, was refusing to register without 3-4 swipes.

Actually, Chicago Transit makes interest off the $60 it deducts from my credit card whenever the balance drops below a few bucks. Then the agency takes $1.75 a trip from an interest-bearing account that benefits Chicago Transit.

Gee, $1.75 to ride on buses that pump diesel directly into the cabin. I’m paying to get lung cancer.

So I ordered a replacement card and Chicago Transit, in all it’s rip-off splendor, CHARGED me $5 for the new one. I paid that same amount for the original less than a year ago.

It’s not my fault those things are JUNK. Worse, Chicago Transit deactivated my card immediately. In other words, BEFORE the new one arrives. I guess I’ll be walking home. Oh wait, it’s 8 degrees outside.

Double bonus: it’s $2 for cash payers. Meanwhile, Chicago-Transit continues to make interest on the $60 they pulled out of my credit card the other day.

It’s hard to understand why the transit agency continually threatens to cancel bus routes; is it really running out of money? (Yeah, probably.)

Still, this is the third or fourth time Chicago Transit has scared the heck out of commuters since the summer. Talk about customer service.

If it didn’t cost $32 a day to park in the Loop, I’d drive to work and say to heck with the environment. My Toyota Echo, which is still in storage, puts out fewer fumes anyway.

How Looming Economic Woes Will Trickle Down to American Families

Debates are raging across the blogosphere about whether there should be a bailout for the housing crises. In American politics, it’s already been decided there needs to be one; the debate is how big and for whom.

Here’s what we’ve seen so far:

• A Bush plan to freeze mortgage interest rates for a very limited number of homeowners. It will be amazing if this plan helps more than 100,000 Americans out of the roughly 2 million facing mortgage resets. (Failure out of the starting gate.)
• A Federal Reserve plan designed to allow banks wider access to credit via international credit auctions. The Term Auction Facility, as this plan is being called, allows cash-strapped banks to borrow money at a slightly better rate than they currently can. (A small solution for a HUGE problem.)
• A super Structured Investment Vehicle Fund that allows banks to sell their highest-quality junk before writing off their worst quality junk. (Starting to look like a failure.)
• The Fed has lowered the lending rate several times. (This has failed to help the credit markets, but has done much to devalue the dollar and our homes via inflation even further. Total failure.)

So dear parent, I bet you are wondering what all this means to you. Nothing. And everything.

Life Needs a Few Laughs

One  year ago, I knew very little about editing video. My new job has changed that somewhat – I know enough to be dangerous.

After all, I built a 7.5-hour long trading course that is now for sale. My brother was so relieved at the end of one taping, that he let it all, um, hang out in this video.

Humor is still the best way to get through life’s rough patches.