December 14, 2017 at 12:06 pm
TomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:52 AMEd Wagner - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:33 AMHeh - since when do politicians (on either side of the political ideology) have anything to do with making the best decisions for anyone other than themselves?That's why usually decent people don't get elected - a lot of the people standing for elections are the sort of politicians that care only for their own good, not for anything else, no matter which side of the political ideology they are on, and most of the rest are people who are too stupid to do anything sensible (again, no matter which side of the political ideology they are on).
I'll go you one better. For the most part, decent people don't get elected because they don't even run for office.
December 14, 2017 at 12:09 pm
TomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:52 AMEd Wagner - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:33 AMHeh - since when do politicians (on either side of the political ideology) have anything to do with making the best decisions for anyone other than themselves?That's why usually decent people don't get elected - a lot of the people standing for elections are the sort of politicians that care only for their own good, not for anything else, no matter which side of the political ideology they are on, and most of the rest are people who are too stupid to do anything sensible (again, no matter which side of the political ideology they are on).
In theory politicians are supposed to be motivated by the fear of getting voted out of office by intelligent informed voters sadly in practice when you let people who think we need to build a wall to keep mongolians from pillaging out cities vote you end up with who we have now....
December 14, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Chris Harshman - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:56 AMEd Wagner - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:33 AMHeh - since when do politicians (on either side of the political ideology) have anything to do with making the best decisions for anyone other than themselves?You know how government works right?
- If it moves, tax it.
- If it keeps moving, regulate it
- If it stops moving, subsidize it
Unfortunately it seems like every action taken by the government just results in everything costing more for the average working person, even if that action is supposed to cancel out some prior action that resulted in everything costing more.
LMAO! I'm no stranger to watching political goings-on, but I don't believe I've ever heard that. It sure does fit. And yes, it all ends up costing the consumer more, no matter what the intention. Thank you for that one.
December 14, 2017 at 12:14 pm
Brandie Tarvin - Thursday, December 14, 2017 5:48 AMSo this article hits a little close to home (the references to poverty are so true).So how do we (the "Olds") fix this?
My opinion is that you need to make healthcare and higher education affordable again.
I don't understand how college costs are so high and continue to rise, but the quality of graduates keeps decreasing. I studied in private (bilingual) elementary and middle schools, and moved to the public education when starting high school. My college was one of the worst in the city, but I could afford it with a half-time job. I never had to worry about student debt as they do here for 10+ years. However, I prepared myself further than college education and I'm now earning a six figures salary in a foreign country and was even thinking on buying a house after 2 years of being here. I'm also married and under 35.
I can't understand either, how you pay a good amount of money on health insurance and still have to pay more than what you earn in an hour for a 15 minutes appointment with a doctor. One more thing is that people from the US are fanatics of going to the doctor for every minor issue.
It's not that you're not earning enough, is that you're paying an absurd amount of money just to have a decent life.
December 14, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Lynn Pettis - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:40 AMOne other thing that should be done is to eliminate the protectionist laws that prevent people from entering many of the fields that now require licenses to perform. Let the free market weed out the failures and reward those that perform well. I personally am very tired of the laws that are passed because they feel good but in actuality fail to do good.
I'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.
Tom
December 14, 2017 at 12:52 pm
TomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:37 PMLynn Pettis - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:40 AMOne other thing that should be done is to eliminate the protectionist laws that prevent people from entering many of the fields that now require licenses to perform. Let the free market weed out the failures and reward those that perform well. I personally am very tired of the laws that are passed because they feel good but in actuality fail to do good.I'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.
Not saying all licensing is bad, but there are things that require licensing for the "greater good" which in many areas means protecting those already in the profession from those that are trying to get into the profession. I can remember a story from many years ago where a young woman (single mom with children) tried to open a hair salon in her home and couldn't because of the licensing requirements. She was trying to better herself, and make a living, and provide for her children and get off welfare.
What is needed is a review of these laws and repeal those that are unnecessary and clearly nothing more than protectionism for the established businesses.
Again, a free market will weed out the unsuccessful and incompetent. Also, no business is too big to fail. Don't let governments bail out large businesses. If they fail, and put thousands out of work, that is the failure of the business. Other businesses will come along and replace them. If businesses know that the government won't save them, perhaps they will change how they do business.
December 14, 2017 at 12:54 pm
<headdesk>
Seriously with the ;CTE issue?
Not a post. Happened at work. Something like this:
Declare @MyVariable Datetime;
Set @MyVariable = GETDATE();
;WITH CTE AS (....)
You ALREADY had the semi-colon in the line above. You don't need to repeat it!!! (not anyone on this thread. Just that mysterious "you" that everyone likes to talk about).
GAH.
Okay, rant done.
December 14, 2017 at 1:12 pm
Lynn Pettis - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:52 PMTomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:37 PMLynn Pettis - Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:40 AMOne other thing that should be done is to eliminate the protectionist laws that prevent people from entering many of the fields that now require licenses to perform. Let the free market weed out the failures and reward those that perform well. I personally am very tired of the laws that are passed because they feel good but in actuality fail to do good.I'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.
Not saying all licensing is bad, but there are things that require licensing for the "greater good" which in many areas means protecting those already in the profession from those that are trying to get into the profession. I can remember a story from many years ago where a young woman (single mom with children) tried to open a hair salon in her home and couldn't because of the licensing requirements. She was trying to better herself, and make a living, and provide for her children and get off welfare.
What is needed is a review of these laws and repeal those that are unnecessary and clearly nothing more than protectionism for the established businesses.
Again, a free market will weed out the unsuccessful and incompetent. Also, no business is too big to fail. Don't let governments bail out large businesses. If they fail, and put thousands out of work, that is the failure of the business. Other businesses will come along and replace them. If businesses know that the government won't save them, perhaps they will change how they do business.
Totally agree.
December 14, 2017 at 1:25 pm
TomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:37 PMI'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.
But here's a question on bartender licensing for you...
Why should it be the bartender or the bouncer or the hostess responsibility to stop serving someone? When does it become the responsibility of the *individual* who has made the choice before even walking into the bar to get hammered? OK, they're so wasted they can barely form a more coherent sentence than "gim' another" and at that point the bar staff could say "no," as part of a "we reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone for any reason." But then your drunk guy wanders over to the bar that keeps serving.
But, in all of that, *why* should the government at any level have any say at what point the bar stops serving?
As Lynn pointed out, a large chunk of "licensing" is little more than a protection racket for already ensconced businesses. While I strongly dislike the company, look at the trouble Uber keeps getting into, less because of the service the provide, as the fact that the existing taxi companies are getting whupped in the market. Taxi companies pay small fortunes for "taxi medallions" provided by the city (IIRC, in New York a medallion can go for upwards of $1,000,000)
Now, as to medical costs, I saw an interesting post earlier today by someone in the medical industry in the US...
The amount of regulations that hospitals and Doctors have to deal with on a regular basis is immense. Want to put in a new MRI machine? It has to be approved by various regulators AND other hospitals in the area. Requirements to keep certain levels of perishable emergency supplies on hand (this one I'm sort of on the pro-side, at least for things they could use before they expire so they aren't wasted,) the cluster-f**k that is Medicare / Medicaid (both gov run programs) billing (there's a reason Dr offices limit how many patients from those programs they'll take.)
So, really, I think Lynn has the right of it, at least here in the US, we need LESS regulation, not more.
December 14, 2017 at 1:36 pm
jasona.work - Thursday, December 14, 2017 1:25 PMTomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:37 PMI'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.But here's a question on bartender licensing for you...
Why should it be the bartender or the bouncer or the hostess responsibility to stop serving someone? When does it become the responsibility of the *individual* who has made the choice before even walking into the bar to get hammered? OK, they're so wasted they can barely form a more coherent sentence than "gim' another" and at that point the bar staff could say "no," as part of a "we reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone for any reason." But then your drunk guy wanders over to the bar that keeps serving.
But, in all of that, *why* should the government at any level have any say at what point the bar stops serving?As Lynn pointed out, a large chunk of "licensing" is little more than a protection racket for already ensconced businesses. While I strongly dislike the company, look at the trouble Uber keeps getting into, less because of the service the provide, as the fact that the existing taxi companies are getting whupped in the market. Taxi companies pay small fortunes for "taxi medallions" provided by the city (IIRC, in New York a medallion can go for upwards of $1,000,000)
Now, as to medical costs, I saw an interesting post earlier today by someone in the medical industry in the US...
The amount of regulations that hospitals and Doctors have to deal with on a regular basis is immense. Want to put in a new MRI machine? It has to be approved by various regulators AND other hospitals in the area. Requirements to keep certain levels of perishable emergency supplies on hand (this one I'm sort of on the pro-side, at least for things they could use before they expire so they aren't wasted,) the cluster-f**k that is Medicare / Medicaid (both gov run programs) billing (there's a reason Dr offices limit how many patients from those programs they'll take.)So, really, I think Lynn has the right of it, at least here in the US, we need LESS regulation, not more.
Too bad I can't click Like more than once on both of these posts. 😉
December 14, 2017 at 2:56 pm
Brandie Tarvin - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:54 PM<headdesk>Seriously with the ;CTE issue?
Not a post. Happened at work. Something like this:
Declare @MyVariable Datetime;
Set @MyVariable = GETDATE();;WITH CTE AS (....)
You ALREADY had the semi-colon in the line above. You don't need to repeat it!!! (not anyone on this thread. Just that mysterious "you" that everyone likes to talk about).
GAH.
Okay, rant done.
But I wasn't yet sure if my previous statement had been terminated so I wanted to make sure;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;with MyCTE as
_______________________________________________________________
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December 14, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Sean Lange - Thursday, December 14, 2017 2:56 PMBrandie Tarvin - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:54 PM<headdesk>Seriously with the ;CTE issue?
Not a post. Happened at work. Something like this:
Declare @MyVariable Datetime;
Set @MyVariable = GETDATE();;WITH CTE AS (....)
You ALREADY had the semi-colon in the line above. You don't need to repeat it!!! (not anyone on this thread. Just that mysterious "you" that everyone likes to talk about).
GAH.
Okay, rant done.
But I wasn't yet sure if my previous statement had been terminated so I wanted to make sure;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;with MyCTE as;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
There, fixed the unterminated CTE for you...
😀
December 14, 2017 at 8:44 pm
Luis Cazares - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:14 PMMy opinion is that you need to make healthcare and higher education affordable again.
I don't understand how college costs are so high and continue to rise, but the quality of graduates keeps decreasing. I studied in private (bilingual) elementary and middle schools, and moved to the public education when starting high school. My college was one of the worst in the city, but I could afford it with a half-time job. I never had to worry about student debt as they do here for 10+ years. However, I prepared myself further than college education and I'm now earning a six figures salary in a foreign country and was even thinking on buying a house after 2 years of being here. I'm also married and under 35.
I can't understand either, how you pay a good amount of money on health insurance and still have to pay more than what you earn in an hour for a 15 minutes appointment with a doctor. One more thing is that people from the US are fanatics of going to the doctor for every minor issue.
It's not that you're not earning enough, is that you're paying an absurd amount of money just to have a decent life.
I saw an interesting article somewhere that pointed out that when the government started subsidizing student loans, it allowed students to have access to more money, which allowed colleges to charge more and still have kids attend. Since the schools kept upping their costs, and loans kept pace, we're now at unsustainable levels of debt for an education.
I've pointed several people to the University of the People, I'm not sure how well it works, but if it really does what it says it does, you just pay for tests, books and professor time are donated/volunteer. You can get a BS for around $8k US. I spent that much on 8 classes just a couple years ago.
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December 15, 2017 at 2:32 am
Brandie Tarvin - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:54 PM<headdesk>Seriously with the ;CTE issue?
Not a post. Happened at work. Something like this:
Declare @MyVariable Datetime;
Set @MyVariable = GETDATE();;WITH CTE AS (....)
You ALREADY had the semi-colon in the line above. You don't need to repeat it!!! (not anyone on this thread. Just that mysterious "you" that everyone likes to talk about).
GAH.
Okay, rant done.
I feel your pain. Makes me nuts. So many people have done demos that way that others think that's how it's supposed to work. Makes me crazy too.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
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December 15, 2017 at 5:36 am
jasona.work - Thursday, December 14, 2017 1:25 PMTomThomson - Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:37 PMI'm not sure what fields are protected in the USA; I suspect that there will be quite a few that are protected for no good reason, because the article mentions at least one (cutting hair) where the need for a state license seems ludicrous. Bar tender is maybe less so - a bar tender should know when to refuse to serve someone and be willing to do it; a state license seems a bit over the top, but maybe an approval statement by local police (signed by someone ranked lieutenant or higher after a very short interview) could reasonably be required. A technician connecting equipment to high volume and pressure gas pipes probably needs to certified as knowing what he is doing, since if he gets it wrong he may kill people, and certainly medical people who prescribe controlled drugs need certification (although the number of drugs that can be obtained only with medical prescription should be very small - out of 16 drugs that between us my wife and I have to take to stay less than totally decrepit now that we're getting distinctly only 1 requires a medic's prescription in Spain but 14 require it in the UK which demonstrates how utterly stupid it is to requires a licence to authorise someone to take at least 13 of these things.But here's a question on bartender licensing for you...
Why should it be the bartender or the bouncer or the hostess responsibility to stop serving someone? When does it become the responsibility of the *individual* who has made the choice before even walking into the bar to get hammered? OK, they're so wasted they can barely form a more coherent sentence than "gim' another" and at that point the bar staff could say "no," as part of a "we reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone for any reason." But then your drunk guy wanders over to the bar that keeps serving.
But, in all of that, *why* should the government at any level have any say at what point the bar stops serving?As Lynn pointed out, a large chunk of "licensing" is little more than a protection racket for already ensconced businesses. While I strongly dislike the company, look at the trouble Uber keeps getting into, less because of the service the provide, as the fact that the existing taxi companies are getting whupped in the market. Taxi companies pay small fortunes for "taxi medallions" provided by the city (IIRC, in New York a medallion can go for upwards of $1,000,000)
Now, as to medical costs, I saw an interesting post earlier today by someone in the medical industry in the US...
The amount of regulations that hospitals and Doctors have to deal with on a regular basis is immense. Want to put in a new MRI machine? It has to be approved by various regulators AND other hospitals in the area. Requirements to keep certain levels of perishable emergency supplies on hand (this one I'm sort of on the pro-side, at least for things they could use before they expire so they aren't wasted,) the cluster-f**k that is Medicare / Medicaid (both gov run programs) billing (there's a reason Dr offices limit how many patients from those programs they'll take.)So, really, I think Lynn has the right of it, at least here in the US, we need LESS regulation, not more.
Well, I agree 100% with Lynn, as I think should be obvious from my comment. However, I disagree with you on bartenders. I don't give a a toss what damage a drunk does to himself, but I do care what damage he does to others, and a bartender who serves alcohol to an aggressive drunk who is already drunk is in some sense an accessory in whatever damage to other people results from that.
The biggest problem with requiring state licenses is that politicians will manipulate the system for all sorts of reasons, and inevitably far too many things will end up requiring licences. And this will push costs up.
Requiring recognition by a learned society is perhaps better, but still a pain because learned societies also manipulate.
Requiring a degree from a university is completely pointless (unless specific universities that require genuine competence to get a degree in the required subject are listed and no other university degrees count) - the typical bachelor's degree from most universities in the USA and the UK is awarded to abysmally uneducated students - I've had to cope with people with 4-year degrees in electrical engineering supposedly specialising in communication theory (from universities in the UK and from universities in the USA) who think that the sampling theorem means that the maximum bit rate achievable using X hertz baseband bandwidth is 2X bits per second, and then go on to claim that since the signal to noise ratio is never infinite you can't even get that many bits per second out of that bandwidth. Claude Shannon's 1948 paper was of course far beyond anything that was covered in their degree courses, even Weaver's popularisation of it wasn't covered, and even the simple result for a channel with gaussian white noise wasn't taught; and they still claimed to be qualified telecomm engineers despite never having heard of signal theory.
A comms engineer not being aware of the formula C = B logbase2((S+N)/N) is a bit like a SQL Server DBA not knowing how to get the time of day in T-SQL.
And in response to the original question of this thread (and in the light of Jeff's recent post here) I think that the posted questions are no longer getting worse - we see plenty of questions which are so bad that nothing worse is imaginable.
Tom
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