Of what happens when faith-based organizations provide public services:
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, concerned about the relationship between Caritas Christi Health Care and an insurance plan that covers abortions, is seeking modifications to the joint venture that the beleaguered Catholic hospital chain has entered into with a St. Louis-based healthcare company to provide insurance to low-income [...]
Read Full Post »
I’ve been trying to figure out the best deal on phones, because my contract is up next month. (This is the first time my contract actually expires, since I started buying used phones instead of trading up - and incurring another two-year obligation.)
My head hurts.
Read Full Post »
You might want to take the train next time:
In a review of NTSB accident records, USA Today yesterday revealed that in most serious accidents over the past decade, pilots who had a history of failing skills and performance tests were at the controls.
Most of these accidents involved smaller regional airlines, which account for roughly half [...]
Read Full Post »
If at first you don’t succeed, report the bastards. Because apparently that’s what it takes!
Read Full Post »
I saw the orthopod again today. He told me a month ago if the cortisone shot didn’t work, he’d authorize an MRI.
So today he looked at the ankle (much less swollen but still painful) and said, “So it’s okay now, and you can just follow up with ibuprofen and whatever exercise you want.”
Dear reader, I [...]
Read Full Post »
Sounds sensible to me!
April 8 (Bloomberg) — A congressional panel overseeing the U.S. financial rescue suggested that getting rid of top executives and liquidating problem banks may be a better way to solve the economic crisis.
The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released yesterday, also said the Treasury may be relying on too rosy [...]
Read Full Post »
To turn Social Security into a true national pension plan so we don’t have things like this happening to people.
Read Full Post »
Claire McCaskill is Very Serious about entitlement reform.
Read Full Post »
Duncan:
I know I’ll make this point a billion times before this is all over, but there’s a difference between thinking that well run financial intermediaries (which, in theory, competition will create) are necessary for a modern economy and believing that the semi-oligopolistic system of financial intermediaries which have demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that they’re [...]
Read Full Post »
Apparently the Republicans really did shrink government down so they could drown it. Nice work, Bushie!
It might make more sense to outsource some of the oversight to state agencies, which could really use the influx of new staff:
The Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan could end up wasting billions of dollars by attempting to spend money [...]
Read Full Post »
Don’t count on your credit card to see you through:
‘The U.S. credit card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source [...]
Read Full Post »
Remember when the Postal Service actually did its job?
In interviews with the Daily News, postal service employees and a manager have described chaotic conditions in the chronically understaffed plant, which processes nearly six million pieces of mail a day on Lindbergh Boulevard near Island Avenue.
In recent months, a manager and several employees said, unsorted [...]
Read Full Post »
Just got screwed with GINORMOUS AT&T cell phone bill. Had to agree to take expensive monthly plan in order for them to backdate it and wipe out the balance - and not coincidentally, keep my cell phone operating.
Again, a want perceived as a need. I mean yeah, sometimes I actually “need” a cell phone, but [...]
Read Full Post »
Never a good idea to mess with women’s childbirth options!
Read Full Post »
Do I have to point out that the education bubble is just as inflated as the housing bubble? When families have to go deep into hock to send their children to second- and third-tier schools, there’s obviously a problem:
The financial and economic tsunami that has ripped through Wall Street and the housing market is beginning [...]
Read Full Post »
Krugman:
And in the process of comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted, the McCain plan would also lead to a huge, expensive increase in bureaucracy: insurers selling individual health plans spend 29 percent of the premiums they receive on administration, largely because they employ so many people to screen applicants. This compares with costs of [...]
Read Full Post »
I forgot to mention that my insurance provider is “converting” (and yes, I use the term ironically) to a for-profit company (something I like to call “more openly for profit”, since the Blues simply use the non-profit status as an umbrella for numerous for-profit subsidiaries), and they’re cutting their contracts with two of the biggest [...]
Read Full Post »
Take it to the limit:
Comcast Corp. says Internet users who download and upload the equivalent of 50 million e-mails a month could lose their Internet access.
Those obsessive Internet customers will first be asked in a warning phone call to dial it back. If that does not happen, Comcast could cancel their service for a year, [...]
Read Full Post »
What moron decided to do this?
More than one in 10 private drinking-water wells in New Jersey are contaminated, new data indicate, and residents may never know it.
Even if they do, they’re not required to install treatment systems, and state law “suggests” only that officials notify neighbors.
A report prepared by the state Department of Environmental Protection, [...]
Read Full Post »
Echidne takes a look at Obama’s health care plan.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Customer Service Hell on Aug 15th, 2008
My brother just forwarded me this email and it really is true, you can go look for yourself. Why hasn’t anyone ever told me this before? WHERE THE HELL WAS MARTHA STEWART?
I’ve been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain.. [...]
Read Full Post »
Well, of COURSE the local eyeglass store says it will take several days to get the lens, they have to order it. And when I look at the prescription, I see that it’s for an entire new pair of glasses - which, of course, will cost a lot more.
They want me to get the glasses [...]
Read Full Post »
They’re watching us:
Most borrowers know a late payment or high outstanding balance can hurt their credit. But what about frequenting a massage parlor, retreading a tire or visiting a marriage counselor? Such activities count, too, according to a suit filed June 10 by the Federal Trade Commission in Atlanta federal court against card issuer CompuCredit.
Lenders, [...]
Read Full Post »
Yet another scam. Teach your children well:
EARLIER this year, Kris Steele, a Web developer in Madison, Wis., who was planning to buy a car, decided to check his credit score.
Mr. Steele, 27, remembered a number of commercials for FreeCreditReport.com featuring a young slacker singing about various life problems — living in the in-laws’ basement, dressing [...]
Read Full Post »
Soon most of us will be keeping our cash in a shoebox, anyway:
For years, banks have charged customers hefty fees for overdrawing their checking accounts. Now a growing number of institutions are charging customers such fees even before the transaction overdraws their account.
Bank of America and TD Banknorth started doing it earlier this year. SunTrust, [...]
Read Full Post »
I’m looking for more ways to cut expenses, and was wondering how many of you have Vonage or Comcast for their home phone. (Not wireless, I already have a good deal on that.) I’ve stayed with Verizon for years to support union jobs, but they’ve outsourced most of them (and helped Bush spy on us, [...]
Read Full Post »
You have to see this one:
Read Full Post »
Geeze, talk about bad customer service. They work on the wrong body part and still charge you? I’m shocked they have the balls:
Hospitals and doctors who operate on the wrong limb or give a dangerous dose of medication will no longer be able to bill the state of Massachusetts or its largest private health insurer [...]
Read Full Post »
Q: My comment has been deleted or wasn’t instantly approved. Does this mean that this site is part a grand conspiracy to silence me and my millionaire candidate?
A: No.
Q: Nobody has responded to my intense and thought provoking comment. Does this mean that everybody who reads this site is too stupid to comprehend the [...]
Read Full Post »
When even Republican evangelicals get it, why don’t our politicians?
This especially resonates with me today because I have to go to battle with my insurance company. I need an MRI on my ankle, which most likely has a protruding bone chip from when I sprained it in September. (It’s gotten to the point where I [...]
Read Full Post »
