NY Post: Blame the Garbage Bosses
Today in blizzard finger-pointing: “Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts — a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned. Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south…
Today in blizzard finger-pointing: “Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts — a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned. Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.” The subject line of the email from a reader yesterday morn that included this photo: “This is Fulton street?”
Sanitation Department’s Slow Snow Clean-Up Was a Budget Protest [NY Post]
hey lechacal,
Too bad you were snowed out of NY.
Have you made special plans for New Year’s
at the inlaws?
Typical union behavior. Get what you want through dishonesty and threats, not hard work.
And, of course, typical liberal behavior to blindly support that kind of thing. It’s amazing how many people are here actually SUPPOIRTING this union after what happened.
“Liberalism is like the moral equivalent of a logical contradiction: you can’t really debate it; all you can do is point it out. Those who understand will see, and reject it; those who don’t will continue in ignorant and or deliberately obtuse rants.”
hi dibs and ishtar,
…fancy meeting you here at this hour!
I’m hanging on my couch with legiondog,
we’re watching Nine.
ishtar,
check out this study by the Empire Center:
http://www.empirecenter.org/pb/2009/10/empirestateexodus102709.cfm
New York is a “gateway” state, so we always have a
great deal of immigration.
If you look closely though, the numbers are just being replaced by immigration which is fine but for the problem
of tax revenues.
Those leaving are being replaced by people producing less tax revenue per capita.
Legion, the population in NY state has grown, but other states had higher population growth rates. There is no mass exodus from this state based on tax rates.
All of that was way too much for me.
smeyer418,
Let’s go through this one by one:
-When Teddy Roosevelt was President we had 76 Million Americans and life expectancy was something like 46 years.
Today we have 306 Million Americans and life expectancy is more like 76 so it’s safe to say that not only is the scale much different but the outcomes have definitely improved. Of course this is mainly due to breakthroughs in antisepsis, vaccinations, antibiotics, sanitation and health education but it nonetheless goes into the category of a plus for the American healthcare system.
-Medicare prescription formularies are not outsourced to private companies (unless you are talking about Medicare Advantage plans which include Part D prescription coverage as part of their plan). I’m referring to the millions of Medicare patients who have Medicaid as a secondary insurance. They get a prescription from the doctor, that prescription is brought to a local pharmacy which promptly charges medicaid the highest possible rates going. Target, WalMart and other big companies have $4 dollar prescription programs with most major medications prescribed. Considering that Medicaid costs in New York State are approx. 55 Billion annually as compared to 38 billion anually in California with twice our population, I’d say, something stinks here in NY.
-Whether it’s Cipro (trademark) or Ciprofloxicin(generic), it’s gonna treat gram negative infections like nobody’s business. When I take an aspirin, I’m not looking for Beyer(the original). I’m looking for Salicylic Acid to treat the pain.
-We most certainly have 87% coverage currently. Your numbers are off I’m afraid. In fact, Obama’s own team has been forced to scale back the talk of “45 million uninsured” to the more realistic 30 million. Take out those who are eligible for State Health Insurance Plans under a sliding scale, those children who are eligible for free coverage but the parents haven’t applied, those who do not qualify because they are citizens of another sovereign nation and those who are already in Medicaid programs but were listed as uninsured, and your uninsured numbers come down to something like 18-20 million.
I suggest you review the numbers more closely and check out many sources.
-We seem to agree on Tort reform, something which any serious attempt at Healthcare Reform MUST address.
How about increasing the standard from Negligence to Reckless Endangerment?
In a rare moment of candor, DNC chairman Howard Dean stated why Tort Reform wasn’t included in the healthcare bill, he said:
“We didn’t want to take on the lawyers.”
As long as we have “special” exempt sectors of society like lawyers and unions, we will continue to fail to address the problems head on.
health care reform was first proposed by Roosevelt. teddy Roosevelt- a republican. Healthcare access in the US is abysmal and the outcomes are also terrible for an excess cost. health insurance costs have gone so high that many/some/most employers want out of the system(and its cost). About 1/3 of any cost paid for either insurance or at the hospital is to pay for care of others that is not paid for at all. Medicare prescription formularies ARE outsourced to private companies BUT the government plan(the fall back) is not allowed to negotiate for lower rates(the rates that the VA pays are among the lowest). You can’t get Cipro for $4.00 but its generic equivalent.
You don’t have 87% of coverage now. Approximately 56 million are uninsured. an additional 43 million are either underinsured or loss the coverage sometimes during the year. Roughly an additional 40 million are coverage by Medicaid even though they work. So that Brings these numbers up significantly.
I don’t agree with all that was done in the health care law(I thinks its too generous and doesn’t have enough incentives for quality care) and I think real malpractice reform is a good idea(collateral source off sets, limitations on pain and suffering and prohibitions against punitive damage awards except in truly egregious cases. I oppose losers pays because that will increase costs-ask me why)….
Noki,
My ER comment was by no means, intended as a comprehensive evaluation of affordable healthcare options currently available. It was simply a response to the previous statement that people weren’t being treated.
I’ve gone on about the healthcare debate here on brownstoner, enough to write a book about.
(memo to myself, write a book rant about healthcare)
Seriously,
Healthcare was not in a crisis of access perse but of cost.
Those without means get healthcare free, those considered well off pay for it.
The national debate was started on the wrong footing to begin with, out of necessity, because without an “urgency” there would be no political momentum. Even with President Obama’s formidable election mandate of 2008.
In the end, we got a 2800 page farce of a Healthcare Reform bill that was passed against bipartisan opposition in a manner which will go down in political history for its cynicism.
What’s worse, it is unworkable.
Why?
Simply put, it attempts to place a massive entitlement program inside the framework of a free market system.
The proof it doesn’t work?
The hundreds of vouchers, exemptions and carve-outs which the administration has been forced to dole out in response to major companies stating that they cannot pay for the mandates. (example 3M corp. one of the dow 30).
As I stated before Noki, we currently have 87% coverage with the current system. We will be moving up to 93% coverage with the new, flawed Obama healthcare plan.
Millions remain uncovered.
Solution:
-Tort reform
-Inter-state Healthcare insurance competition, like the auto insurance industry.
-Health Savings Account models which reward good health and place the economic incentives for good health in the hands of the individual, not a government bureaucracy.
-Health Record portability to eliminate massive redundancy in health testing and diagnostics. (this has been in the works already)
-Malpractice insurance industry regulation.
-Healthcare courts to weed out malpractice recidivists driving up healthcare costs.
-Outsource Medicare/Medicaid prescription formularies to big business. If Target can get a one month supply of Cipro for $4 bucks why is Medicaid being charged ten times that amount?
there is more, but it’s late,
and we have all of 2011 to hash this out further. :o)
Hey Dave in BedStuy, guess what, there all all types of unions in all types of industries. Yeah sure, some are broken & corrupt, but there are plenty that function well & serve their purpose to protect workers from employer abuses. Unions created the middle class in this country and self righteous pricks like yourself need to remember that.