Please, Don't Kill Me

Hey Barry:

So exactly how does insurance make us better, Barry?

It's a big question because nobody likes insurance companies 'cept some of the crooked ones in Congress.

I goes to the doc and I waits while they checks my card - if I'm lucky enuf to have one - then I fill out a bunch of forms that don't do anything cept cover the insurance's ass, then tell the doc my problem and he says he'll let me know if the insurance will cover it or whether I should go to the ER.

Total time in office one hour, total time with doc, 180 seconds.

If its the ER, we're talkin four to eight hour wait for 180 seconds with the doc.

What the hell is that? It ain't workin, Barry. It just ain't workin.

But, you already know that, right?

Everybody in the country wants single payer, Barry, cept you and the insurance. Even most of the docs want it.

I gotta think ya really want it Barry.

So, are you afraid or are you just waitin?

Ya gotta do this one Barry, ya gotta do this one. Single payer. This is why you're there.

Your pal

Better Society: $25

Wow.

A new San Francisco program improves families' lives for $25 a pop.

Read it to believe it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/21/MN0J17O5RJ.DTL&hw=newsom&sn=006&sc=515

Guns and Credit Cards

Hey Barry,

What the hell is wrong with them gun guys in DC anyways?

We both know that some folks is gonna die in the parks this summer. Why do ya go to parks anyway? Ya go to get drunk and stoned - ain't nothing else to do. That's the point, ain't it?

So now some of those effin idiots will have a loaded 45 or AK in the tent. Wonnerful.

Might as well stay home with the gang bangers shootin up the town every night. No point in drivin all day to get shot at - do that at home.

Here's a proposition: give me one of the folks who pushed this law and I'll put him in a car in the hood at night with all the guns he wants. See if he's there in the morning.

Anyways, I can dream.

Good deal on the credit cards, even it it costs a life or two. It's worth it. The life's on the banks, anyways.

Your pal

After Them Banks

Hey Barry:

Good on ya. Some moves on the banks, I read and I like.

Bernanke ups the ante on control - that's good.

Geithner goes after derivatives - that's good even tho Congress has to step up.

But, but...we want a better system Barry.

Think about it - bankers just cannot run investments, Barry. Even you said it: repeating the same action and expecting different results is INSANE.

So, Barry, let's get off the nut express and separate loans from gamblers. Don't know about you, but I don't want my little cash stash managed by gamblers and junkies. A little help here Barry.

Your pal.

Too Big To Fail - ??

So Barry, I hears lot of gum flappin on the idea that some of them banks are just too big to let go. Well, if some of them banks are too big, then some of the car makers are too big, too. And if they are too big, then what about my cousin's rib joint? Why he's got 100 chairs in that sucker. Course, it's in Detroit, so mebbe he's a goner. No saving cousin Phil, huh Barry?

So riddle me this Barry - just exactly what are the rules about too big to fail, anyway? Where can I read them?

Is it who I know? Or, my skin color? Or, who I pray to??

And, anyway, why not just let them fail, Barry? Sell off the good parts and deep six the bad and there ya go. Been done before.

But, Barry, here's the question: What about the ol' US of A? Are we too big to fail, Barry? What about us?

See, what I'm lookin at is the idea that us workers don't have enuf money to buy shit. We were borrowing, but the payback to them good ol banks runs 30% a year. Screw that.

But, Barry, even I know that if guys like me don't buy stuff, we all done. And, well Barry, I'm damned if I'm goin into hock at 30% any more.

And, Barry, our national credit card to pay for the stimulus, well it's there, ain't it? And it will take a lot of growth to get out of it. Now, growth - it sure as hell ain't comin from me.

So Barry, there's the question: Where in the hell is all this growth comin from?

The only answer I hears is that ya gotta raise all our wages so's we can buy stuff without borrowing at no 30%

Cause, if we don't do that, even the good ol' US of A ain't too big to fail.

Your pal,

Riverboat Gamblin

Hey Barry:

Who woulda thunk it? Effin amazin.

100 gold plated economists and we get riverboat gamblin.

Trillion here, trillion there, OK. But, we gotta pay for that.

The only ways I sees us payin is old fashion growth. Ya gotta grow us Barry.

You'se lockin us in to a treadmill. The only way it works is if we just keep on growin.

And, ya know what Barry, that's just how the bankers screwed us up. They made their beds so that if things ever stopped goin up, they were screwed. Then we were screwed.

Them econs of yours better start putting in night hours cuz we got no room for mistakes here Barry.

And, God knows it's real easy to make mistakes.

We're with ya, but ya gotta watch it like a hawk.

Your pal,