Quote of the Day
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Chinese proverb
Best Campaign Spot of the 2012 Campaign (So Far)
Nate Smith's $50K Hockey Shot Denied?
I'm a disgrace to my Franco-American heritage; I rarely, if ever, watch hockey. I once worked for a middle-tier accounting/management consulting company based out of Chicago which rented boxes for the season. For whatever reason management or clients weren't going to be using their tickets, so my project team was offered the tickets for one of the Blackhawk games. I think the home team lost. (We still had to pay parking.) I may watch, say, an Olympic final or one or 2 periods of Stanley Cup finals, but that's about it.
I don't see the ethical dilemma here. Eleven-year-old Nate Smith recently had a cast removed, and when his father purchased tickets for his sons to take a charity hockey shot, Nate thought his twin Nick stood a better chance of sticking a 3" puck into a 3.5" hole from 89 feet away, and so Nick's name was put on the tickets. Nick's name was chosen to take the shot but he was not readily available so Nate was sent in his place and sank the improbable shot. The issue comes into the fact that Nate did the shot using a ticket with Nick's name. The paperwork included certification that the person making the shot is the person whose name is on the ticket. It seems clear Nate was a worse risk than Nick. Some paperwork was signed certifying Nate was Nick, the name on the ticket. The father realized the mistake the next day and corrected the record.
The insurance company needs to do the right thing here. You cannot argue that a brother whom just had a cast taken off his arm made an improbable shot more probable than his healthier brother. I don't see this much different than a group of co-workers buying a set of chances in a lottery agreeing to split the winnings. Trying to weasel out of paying off a debt on a legal technicality is pathetic.
Change the Military Pension Plan? Thumbs UP!
This topic so annoys me I went on a Fox News forum to make 2 separate comments. First, I wanted to discuss the core issue itself of the need to reform the pension system. Second, I was disgusted with the preponderance of comments I found on the forum which, loosely described, focused on "hypocritical" Congressman interested in just their own pension system, all but willing to throw the military pensioners under the bus--and a number of self-serving commentators pointing out they deserved the pensions they've got.
Reform of the military pension system was being discussed over 3 decades ago (if not longer).
The Defense Business Board wants to convert the current system to a 401K style system much the same as we have seen in business since the 1980's as companies realized they couldn't sustain existing pension systems given actuarial factors and higher numbers of retirees but needed to limit contributions in a more feasible fashion. In many pension systems, you need to work, say 20 to 30 years--and if you retire even as close as a year or so before hitting 20 years, you get ZERO of the half-pay pension for, say, the remaining 40 or 50 years of your life.This is unfair. The board also wants to weigh more contributions for hazardous duty.
This reform could save the Defense Department over $12.5B a year--about a quarter-trillion dollars over the next generation. This is necessary given the unsustainable nature of most pension systems in general. Vesting of employer contributions would address the fairness issue. Some fret that veterans would leave early under a less lucrative arrangement that the status quo. I don't think so. There would be ways to set up suitable vesting schedules. The point is, veterans would more likely reenlist if they vest more in Uncle Sam matches towards their retirement, just like employees in the private-sector.
Political Humor
"Only 39 percent of Americans approve of the job President Obama is doing. Ratings are at an all-time low, but ratings for “Jersey Shore” are at an all-time high." - Jimmy Kimmel
[Obama thought about visiting Italy, too; Italy objected when rumors of his visit also led to the downgrade of their sovereign debt.]
"Tim Pawlenty announced that he’s dropping out of the race for president. Pawlenty said he wants to spend more time with his family because even they don’t know who he is." - Conan O'Brien
[There was a strike against taking out the trash, and Tim Pawlenty picked the short straw.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Eagles, "How Long"
