If I can pop back to the gas tax for a second, I think the nature of gas pricing can make a high tax a good thing. Take for example these prices across Canada (with a few reference points in the 'States):
At first it seems like Vancouver residents are getting totally screwed. They're paying almost three and a half more cents per litre than those in Toronto! But Vancouver has a local gas tax of 45.89 c/L, whereas all of Ontario is at 24.7 c/L. So for 3.5c more at the pump, the government is raising an additional 21.19c.
Obviously this is a regressive tax, so it hits poor people hardest. But it doesn't seem to be a major factor in what gas companies actually charge.
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited March 2019
gas companies charge based on what the surrounding local gas stations charge. back when I worked for ameda hess here in Florida we had to check prices on four or five different local stations and report that to corporate before they set our price for the day.
As an aside, gas stations that are not corporate-owned have to report what they're charging their customers to the provider of their gasoline and the provider uses that data to set the wholesale price. This is because the provider owns the gas until it is pumped. 'Independant' gas stations don't make much money off the gas, no matter what they charge. They rely on inside sales for almost all of their profits.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
This article includes a detail none of the others on Mlive or local news stations seem to include: The state has to have a special senate election in 2020 instead of 2022.
The CEO of Michigan Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was paid $19M in 2018, a 43% increase in pay from his $13 million in 2017, while 790,000 Michigan residents go without health care and many more can't afford to use the insurance they have. We must pass a single-payer health care system so ordinary Americans won't have to forgo getting the care they need because they can't afford it.
The breakdown of Loepp's compensation last year was a $1.5 million base salary, a $16.2 million cash bonus and $1.4 million in "other" compensation, such as car allowance and life insurance. The size of the bonus each year depends on whether Loepp meets various goals.
This is crazy as people don't have health insurance in Michigan and yet this guy is raking in bonuses for making goals.
And how did he make some of those goals?
Loepp also oversaw Blue Cross' initiative that slashed administrative expenses by $360 million over the past three years. Many dozens of jobs were cut to make that goal, according to reports by Crain's Detroit.
Look, not going to go all in on justifying CEO's crazy bonuses. However, if he really did slash 360 million from administrative costs that kind of bonus is justified. He just saved the company in costs greater than two orders of magnitude of his base salary. Did he actually save costs in clever accounting, manpower reallocation, or reforms? Or did he just fire a lot of people?
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
The CEO of Michigan Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was paid $19M in 2018, a 43% increase in pay from his $13 million in 2017, while 790,000 Michigan residents go without health care and many more can't afford to use the insurance they have. We must pass a single-payer health care system so ordinary Americans won't have to forgo getting the care they need because they can't afford it.
The breakdown of Loepp's compensation last year was a $1.5 million base salary, a $16.2 million cash bonus and $1.4 million in "other" compensation, such as car allowance and life insurance. The size of the bonus each year depends on whether Loepp meets various goals.
This is crazy as people don't have health insurance in Michigan and yet this guy is raking in bonuses for making goals.
And how did he make some of those goals?
Loepp also oversaw Blue Cross' initiative that slashed administrative expenses by $360 million over the past three years. Many dozens of jobs were cut to make that goal, according to reports by Crain's Detroit.
Look, not going to go all in on justifying CEO's crazy bonuses. However, if he really did slash 360 million from administrative costs that kind of bonus is justified. He just saved the company in costs greater than two orders of magnitude of his base salary. Did he actually save costs in clever accounting, manpower reallocation, or reforms? Or did he just fire a lot of people?
As somebody who has Anthem insurance, he did it by killing people. Most of their savings were by outsourcing their entire prescription coverage to the king of medical malpractice.
Since these savings were announced, my wife and I have had thirteen prescription refills. SEVEN of those we got the wrong drug. Four of those seven replacement bottles were also wrong. Also, we just randomly got a bottle of Adderall for no explainable reason. No stickers on the bottle, was never billed to Anthem, just... In the bag with my nitro.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
As somebody who has Anthem insurance, he did it by killing people. Most of their savings were by outsourcing their entire prescription coverage to the king of medical malpractice.
Since these savings were announced, my wife and I have had thirteen prescription refills. SEVEN of those we got the wrong drug. Four of those seven replacement bottles were also wrong. Also, we just randomly got a bottle of Adderall for no explainable reason. No stickers on the bottle, was never billed to Anthem, just... In the bag with my nitro.
That sounds more like your pharmacist is criminally incompetent.
The pharmacist is Express Scripts. Its the only pharmacy Anthem will pay for (except for controlled substances that can't be mailed). The bulk of these administrative savings were done this way - their whole prescription program was passed off to Express Scripts, including customer service and grievance resolution.
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
This article includes a detail none of the others on Mlive or local news stations seem to include: The state has to have a special senate election in 2020 instead of 2022.
The Michigan Senate appealed this to the US Supreme Court now. Two other cases are there from NC and Maryland regarding it.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
The pharmacist is Express Scripts. Its the only pharmacy Anthem will pay for (except for controlled substances that can't be mailed). The bulk of these administrative savings were done this way - their whole prescription program was passed off to Express Scripts, including customer service and grievance resolution.
Have you tried reporting the pharmacy to the DEA for drug trafficking? Adderall is a controlled narcotic, afterall.
They probably wont do anything off your one report, but if they get enough they will get off their bums and do something
Amash has now left the GOP entirely, so that'll be a three way race in the fall. And a potential pickup.
In that case, no matter who wins, I hope the GOP candidate winds up a distant 3rd.
It's West Michigan so brand loyalty is pretty high out there and I doubt it.
Also, just knowing how dumb Democrats are a bunch of them will probably vote for Amash.
We haven't really been going to Meijer's for a good long while now- mostly because they opened a Wal-Mart a hell of a lot closer to me. Also, Amash isn't really that beloved among people around here- well, that and Amash 1) consistently voted against restoration of the Great Lakes (kind of a huge thing here in MI because we have shoreline on four of them), 2) was the only MI representative to vote against federal $$$ to help the Flint water crisis, and 3) isn't exactly a fan of much of anything the EPA does.
Though I'd rather have him as my rep than Fred Upton, that's for sure...
Amash also voted against making USAG/USOC mandatory reporters in the wake of the Nassar scandal. One of three congressmen nationwide.
*suddenly recalls why he hates libertarians*
I'd rather not have an asshole in the seat, but I'd rather have an asshole with some personal integrity, than the hypocritical/craven assholes that make up the Republican party.
The one thing Amash's resignation from the party means, is that now I don't have to caveat calling Republican legislators cowards.
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
Amash has now left the GOP entirely, so that'll be a three way race in the fall. And a potential pickup.
In that case, no matter who wins, I hope the GOP candidate winds up a distant 3rd.
If you look at the Congressional Map and who won, I'm thinking the GOP wins it easily. It's been Republican since 1993 and voted Republican since 1992 in all the presidential elections.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
I had a volunteer drop off a leaflet on a state senator. The interesting thing was even though he was a Republican there was no mention of that on the leaflet at all. I’m deep in Republican territory and it should be a badge of honor but nothing there.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
If my state of residence, Virginia, is of any use here. When a republican politician starts to exclude their party identification, that's usually a sign that they feel the label is detrimental to whatever they are trying to do. Given that I don't know what the leaflet was dropped off for, I can't determine if said republican might have concerns about election prospects or if this is a policy area where the GOP has pretty much poisoned the well with everyone, including a decent chunk of their fellow republicans that aren't in government (aka they want bolster support for a specific policy, but now that attaching the term republican to it could either make no one want it or bring in enough awareness that it gets found to be a horseshit position).
lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
Way to go, Amway. You get all those tax breaks and now you are shipping off your IT to "global vendors" so that you don't have to pay them benefits. On top of that, the ones leaving need to train those taking their jobs as another kick 'em while they're down. I guess all that travel back and forth to DC for Betsy is starting to add up.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
Currently the governor has the emergency power to do all these orders.
The Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 says that after declaring a state of emergency, “the governor may promulgate reasonable orders, rules, and regulations as he or she considers necessary to protect life and property or to bring the emergency situation within the affected area under control .”
The lockdown plan shouldn't be going in 30 days - the idea is to burn out existing cases and use brute force to halt the ongoing spread. Afterward loosen the chains and this time do better on containment so you don't take a running start at the cliff.
If 30 days from now we still need bars closed and McDonald's on drive tru only and senior citizen shopping hours at Walmart, then even this has failed and we might as all start licking doorknobs because shit's far past sideways.
Edit: I'm exaggerating and I feel like I don't need to say, "Don't lick doorknobs," but a dumbass in Saginaw apparently has hantavirus because a pretty lady on Tiktok convinced him to lick gross things because God has abandoned us.
The lockdown plan shouldn't be going in 30 days - the idea is to burn out existing cases and use brute force to halt the ongoing spread. Afterward loosen the chains and this time do better on containment so you don't take a running start at the cliff.
If 30 days from now we still need bars closed and McDonald's on drive tru only and senior citizen shopping hours at Walmart, then even this has failed and we might as all start licking doorknobs because shit's far past sideways.
Edit: I'm exaggerating and I feel like I don't need to say, "Don't lick doorknobs," but a dumbass in Saginaw apparently has hantavirus because a pretty lady on Tiktok convinced him to lick gross things because God has abandoned us.
That'd be the one who filmed herself licking the toilet seat, then. Just... ugh. These imbeciles will get people killed just so they can get hits and views nowadays. I mean, what, the whole fucking mess with Tide pods wasn't enough?
The lockdown plan shouldn't be going in 30 days - the idea is to burn out existing cases and use brute force to halt the ongoing spread. Afterward loosen the chains and this time do better on containment so you don't take a running start at the cliff.
If 30 days from now we still need bars closed and McDonald's on drive tru only and senior citizen shopping hours at Walmart, then even this has failed and we might as all start licking doorknobs because shit's far past sideways.
just, FYI, China basically locked the entire country down for a solid month, and it's still only gradually relaxing those controls; I still have to to through a health checkpoint to exit my neighborhood, and I've missed 2 months of work
Also, comparing China's use of this to disappear entire corporations and minority communities doesn't compare very well to what any other country is doing even if the legal terminology is the same. In even the most generous read of China's actions (particularly now knowing it started November 17, not December 1), even with our government still poking the stock market and dragging its feet on proper response, we're still actually ahead of them on the curve.
Posts
At first it seems like Vancouver residents are getting totally screwed. They're paying almost three and a half more cents per litre than those in Toronto! But Vancouver has a local gas tax of 45.89 c/L, whereas all of Ontario is at 24.7 c/L. So for 3.5c more at the pump, the government is raising an additional 21.19c.
Obviously this is a regressive tax, so it hits poor people hardest. But it doesn't seem to be a major factor in what gas companies actually charge.
As an aside, gas stations that are not corporate-owned have to report what they're charging their customers to the provider of their gasoline and the provider uses that data to set the wholesale price. This is because the provider owns the gas until it is pumped. 'Independant' gas stations don't make much money off the gas, no matter what they charge. They rely on inside sales for almost all of their profits.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
This article includes a detail none of the others on Mlive or local news stations seem to include: The state has to have a special senate election in 2020 instead of 2022.
Look, not going to go all in on justifying CEO's crazy bonuses. However, if he really did slash 360 million from administrative costs that kind of bonus is justified. He just saved the company in costs greater than two orders of magnitude of his base salary. Did he actually save costs in clever accounting, manpower reallocation, or reforms? Or did he just fire a lot of people?
Many Bothans were fired to cut those costs.
Since these savings were announced, my wife and I have had thirteen prescription refills. SEVEN of those we got the wrong drug. Four of those seven replacement bottles were also wrong. Also, we just randomly got a bottle of Adderall for no explainable reason. No stickers on the bottle, was never billed to Anthem, just... In the bag with my nitro.
That sounds more like your pharmacist is criminally incompetent.
The Michigan Senate appealed this to the US Supreme Court now. Two other cases are there from NC and Maryland regarding it.
Have you tried reporting the pharmacy to the DEA for drug trafficking? Adderall is a controlled narcotic, afterall.
They probably wont do anything off your one report, but if they get enough they will get off their bums and do something
American elites have fewer morals than me when I play Crusader Kings.
Rick Snyder is an uncharged criminal and the former governor of Michigan and happily not a Kennedy School Fellow.
You poison one municipal water supply and all of a sudden...
The best burn, from our friend southpaw.
Poison one water supply, subvert democracy, cover up crimes...
They recruited a Meijer to run against him in the primary.
I still don't trust a store that sells live fish on one side and frozen fish on the other.
How dare you?
Meijer is one thing I miss since moving to Florida. Their store brand tortilla chips are the best.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Amash has now left the GOP entirely, so that'll be a three way race in the fall. And a potential pickup.
In that case, no matter who wins, I hope the GOP candidate winds up a distant 3rd.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
It's West Michigan so brand loyalty is pretty high out there and I doubt it.
Also, just knowing how dumb Democrats are a bunch of them will probably vote for Amash.
I've vacationed on the Western side of the state like half a dozen times now, including for the last week.
It's hard to imagine any Democrat winning out here
Come Overwatch with meeeee
We haven't really been going to Meijer's for a good long while now- mostly because they opened a Wal-Mart a hell of a lot closer to me. Also, Amash isn't really that beloved among people around here- well, that and Amash 1) consistently voted against restoration of the Great Lakes (kind of a huge thing here in MI because we have shoreline on four of them), 2) was the only MI representative to vote against federal $$$ to help the Flint water crisis, and 3) isn't exactly a fan of much of anything the EPA does.
Though I'd rather have him as my rep than Fred Upton, that's for sure...
I can has cheezburger, yes?
*suddenly recalls why he hates libertarians*
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I'd rather not have an asshole in the seat, but I'd rather have an asshole with some personal integrity, than the hypocritical/craven assholes that make up the Republican party.
The one thing Amash's resignation from the party means, is that now I don't have to caveat calling Republican legislators cowards.
If you look at the Congressional Map and who won, I'm thinking the GOP wins it easily. It's been Republican since 1993 and voted Republican since 1992 in all the presidential elections.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
Tax cuts!
I have 549 Rock Band Drum and 305 Pro Drum FC's
REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS
However, after 30 days she'll have to go to the legislature to have them extended which will be interesting.
If 30 days from now we still need bars closed and McDonald's on drive tru only and senior citizen shopping hours at Walmart, then even this has failed and we might as all start licking doorknobs because shit's far past sideways.
Edit: I'm exaggerating and I feel like I don't need to say, "Don't lick doorknobs," but a dumbass in Saginaw apparently has hantavirus because a pretty lady on Tiktok convinced him to lick gross things because God has abandoned us.
That'd be the one who filmed herself licking the toilet seat, then. Just... ugh. These imbeciles will get people killed just so they can get hits and views nowadays. I mean, what, the whole fucking mess with Tide pods wasn't enough?
I can has cheezburger, yes?
just, FYI, China basically locked the entire country down for a solid month, and it's still only gradually relaxing those controls; I still have to to through a health checkpoint to exit my neighborhood, and I've missed 2 months of work
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
Also, comparing China's use of this to disappear entire corporations and minority communities doesn't compare very well to what any other country is doing even if the legal terminology is the same. In even the most generous read of China's actions (particularly now knowing it started November 17, not December 1), even with our government still poking the stock market and dragging its feet on proper response, we're still actually ahead of them on the curve.
Just that we will probably still need some social gathering restrictions after 30 days AND we will most likely again in the fall.
I suspect by May it can lighten up some but it's expected to flair again and really until we have a vaccine we are kinda in this.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm