Category: Politics, Religion & Money

A President vs. an automaton

For a supposedly religious man, Mitt Romney sure does lie an awful lot. He’s taken every position on every issue there is, depending on the audience of the moment, and he denies that he’s ever changed his mind. The second half of his one term as governor here in Massachusetts, he was already off running for President, badmouthing the state in the process. And now, in all three debates, he’s been saying how wonderful we are and taking credit for it! Despite that, Mitt says he wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, which was patterned after legislation that he signed. What’s wrong with this guy?

Watch The Choice 2012 on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

I haven’t watched Frontline’s The Choice 2012 documentary yet, but I will. The New Yorker is the only print magazine subscription we have, and its endorsement of Obama is well worth reading.

There is, come to think of it, one reason to vote for Romney. If he wins, Jon Hamm can play him in a TV movie bio-pic.

Underwater on land, and seaside

Yesterday’s Boston Globe had this article about mortgage lenders that are giving homeowners of underwater properties a break, thanks to pressure from the federal government’s Make Home Affordable program. Not every bureaucrat is on board with the idea. Edward DeMarco, a government official who is temporarily overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned Congress of the moral hazard of forgiving mortgage debt, as if that would give homeowners an incentive go into default. This is ironic, to say the least, because the Wall Street geniuses that transformed mortgages from a safe commercial banking practice into a risky investment opportunity are guilty of moral hazard on a grand scale. The essence of this is the “Too Big to Fail” doctrine. Wall Street wins, Main Street loses. The Globe article says that tens of thousands of underwater homeowners could receive a reduction in the principal balance. That’s a token gesture at best, but it’s better than nothing.

In contrast to that article, yesterday’s paper had this ad for a property in Massachusetts that’s going up for auction. “Previously marketed at $12,500,000. NAME YOUR PRICE.” If you try to download the brochure you’ll be prompted to register, but a direct link to the PDF is here. I’d love to know what the story is behind this property. I assume that a fantastically rich person had a phenomenal fall.

All of the troubles that continue to plague the mortgage market are now academic to me. My mortgage was at a local savings bank, and that’s where it stayed until last week, when I made the final payment. Do I resent those who are getting a loan reduction? Nope. No more than I think gay couples getting married in Massachusetts are a threat to my marriage.

Mitt Romney, chameleon candidate

I’m watching the first Presidential Debate, and Mitt Romney is infuriating. When he was governor here in Massachusetts, he did at least this much:

  • Romneycare
  • Retained the assault weapons ban when it expired nationally
  • Signed the same-sex marriage law
  • Supported a woman’s right to having an abortion
  • And a personal favorite, forced Billy Boy Bulger into retirement

Of course Romney had to compromise as governor of Massachusetts! He was a Republican governor in a Democratic state. As President he wouldn’t have to compromise so much. The one, and only, hopeful outcome of a Mitt Romney Presidency is that he would be, as he was here in Massachusetts, willing to do the right thing, rather than adhere to party ideology. But I don’t trust him to do that again. He just said moments ago, “Massachusetts schools are #1 in the nation.” Why is that? It’s because we aren’t just Democrats, but realists. Romney’s problem is that at the national level he’s stuck with the platform of the Republican National Committee, which is determined to take us backwards in every way.

The outs of insurance

I received a statement from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, saying my wife wasn’t covered for a hospital visit she had back in June, and I would be responsible for the $2000 in charges. She did indeed have an appointment there in June, but not on that day. The form said she didn’t have insurance on the day services were provided, which of course she would have, if she had been at the hospital that particular day.

So what was the problem? The hospital had sent BC/BS a bill for charges belonging to another woman who happens to have my wife’s name. BC/BS claimed innocence, that it was the hospital’s mistake, but they also screwed up. The statement had the wrong middle initial for my name, which was what made me suspicious in the first place.

It was possible, if unlikely, that the woman with my wife’s name is married to a man with my name, but I was told by BC/BS that their computer system had replaced my middle initial with my wife’s. Having spent more than 30 years in the healthcare computing business I felt confident in saying to the representative, “unless somebody entered that by mistake manually, that’s a bug in your software, and you need to kick this upstairs.”

Speaking of healthcare, this is worth watching…

Watch Making Sen$e: Competing Claims About Healthcare Reform on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.