It seemed like a good idea at the time.
A couple of days ago, my boss called to see if I would be willing to work a few extra hours this week because the ER was short staffed. Against my first instinct, which is always to say “No”, I agreed and told her I would work the four hour slot that was open today. Imagine my surprise as I walked in and saw my co-workers wearing masks – the ones we use to prevent us from inhaling any number of viruses – and looking for all the world like they would rather be anywhere else.
One girl quickly pulled down her mask to talk. “Did you hear about the positive cases of Swine Flu?" Her face was tense and I knew there was going to be a good story – I just wasn't sure I wanted to hear it. She told me that in my home state today the CDC had confirmed 3 cases of Swine Flu (2 of those 3 coming through our hospital) and that now seemingly everyone in the area who had a cough or fever was coming to the ER to get checked out. Earlier (I missed it because I don't have TV) the governor had held a press conference to discuss the 3 confirmed cases and warned that more were certain to follow. Now, individuals were scared and coming to the ER; primary care providers were also getting into the act and sending their patients to us so we could test them.
To make matters worse, hospital personnel who had any contact with the confirmed cases in our facility were also being sent to us for evaluation – some from work still in scrubs. We were called by news crews and reporters; the regional Emergency Medical Services office called to see if the rumor was true that we had closed (really - I cannot make this stuff up). The phone never stopped ringing.
By 6:00PM I was wishing I had not been such a team player and agreed to work the shift.
I don't know how many flu swabs we did or even how many people we saw, because my 4 hours there were a complete blur. I went over the same instructions with patients, answering as best I could their questions and trying to allay their fears of certain and impending death from Swine Flu. I talked to our infection control officer, the CDC and any number of potential patients on the phone. Now, as I sit here, my feet tired and my frustrations high, I am happy it has become someone else's problem. Now, I am happy that I am not going back to that nightmare tomorrow.
At 6:45 PM I was notified that 1 of the positive 3 cases was a mistake. My understanding is that the other 2 confirmed cases are still actually pending confirmation. Someone must have jumped the gun. The result of that little mistake was chaos in my ER for the better part of the day.
What I wanted to do all afternoon was tell people, "Look, just go home. You don't have to worry. Most of you don't even appear to be ill. We only want REALLY sick people in here. The rest of you are just risking exposure to something you don't currently have." But that would never fly. People don't think about things like prevention when they are already convinced they have something. And all of our patients today just "knew" they had the Swine Flu. They knew all about it because they saw it on TV. Good for them.
As for me, the best thing I could think to do was to write this and pass along some advice to those interested. Here's the basics folks:
1. Don't panic - I cannot stress this enough
2. Wash your hands after you touch things in public areas and before you touch your face
3. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze
4. Take it easy – rest when you are sick
5. Stay home from work or school so you don't become a vector of disease
6. Don't call the ER and ask us to tell you if we think you have Swine Flu – we have no idea and can't diagnose people over the phone
The CDC has good information on their site about the Swine Flu. Read it and help to limit the spread of the virus.
Oh, and don't come to the ER looking for me. I will be off for the next several days. And just to make sure I don't do anything stupid, I'm not answering any calls from my boss.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Kicking the Credit Card Habit
My name is John and I'm a recovering credit-aholic.
When I was younger (read: without children and less concerned about money) I had a habit of buying things with a credit card. It was not the smartest thing I ever did, and one day I found myself wondering just how I had managed to build such a huge amount of debt. So several years ago, my wife and I began the process of weaning ourselves off credit cards. We have managed to reduce our credit card debt to very reasonable levels today (though we still have balances) and we did it without taking out home equity loans to do so. We just worked harder at not buying stuff we didn't need and began to purchase only what we could pay for with cash. If the cash was not available, the item was not purchased. It seems we changed our ways just in time.
Last week I was sent a letter from Bank of America. They own one of the 2 credit card accounts I have. They wrote to notify me of a pending rate change – a big one. After more than 15 years, first with MBNA and later with Bank of America (BoA) following a buyout, I would have thought that perhaps someone there appreciated my business. But apparently not.
It seems BoA does not care that my outstanding balance is less than 25% of my available credit line. It would appear that my predictable and reliable monthly payments (on which I am never late) also don't matter to them. They have decided that effective May 2, 2009 my rate should be more than doubled from 8% to 19%. That seems a bit excessive to me for an account in good standing that is being paid without issue.
According to the notice, I had the option to refuse the increase in writing, which I did (and not in a nice way I may add). But refusing the increase means that any charge to the account from that moment on results in the higher rate being applied to current and future balances. Thus, the card came out of my wallet and I began to track down any automatic charges from places like Maine's Turnpike Authority that resupplies my EZPass account with the card. Luckily, this process was short and I was able to turn the automatic payment options off.
My balance is small enough that I can pay it off in a few months, which will be my focus from today forward. I will then cancel the account and never do business with BoA again.
I am left by the experience feeling more than angry. First of all, BoA received TARP funds in a tax-payer funded bailout for their losses. Now, they are coming after more of my money via a massive rate hike. There just never seems to be an end to their need for cash. Therefore, I can only deduce that they are in even more trouble than we have been led to believe. If BoA is in enough trouble that they are willing to sacrifice the future for today – because I am sure I will not be the only account holder they will lose as a result of this tremendous increase – then they must be looking at the very real possibility of not being around in a few years.
But they are not alone in their fear. The government is also very concerned that the financial industry is falling down around us, and will do almost anything to boost confidence in the banks. The recent “stress tests” the government conducted on the biggest banks in the country (BoA included) was mostly smoke and mirrors (see Nouriel Roubini's blogpost from April 13, 2009) and thus should not be relied upon for any accurate picture of the banks' stability.
But it's not just big banks that are in trouble. All financial companies are facing huge defaults on auto loans, mortgages and credit cards. No one appears to be immune in today's environment.
I have only one other credit card and that is through Discover. While I have been writing this post, I received a notice from them as well (ironic, no?) that also advised me of a rate hike on that account. While that one is not as steep (from 7% to 13%) I don't have a balance there to worry about. But that makes the next step that much easier. The letter canceling the account will be what I type as soon as I am finished here.
Like any addict in recovery, I have learned to live without my abused substance. Now, I will just take the final step and remove what I had considered to be an insurance policy from my wallet. It's long past time to operate strictly on a cash only basis.
When I was younger (read: without children and less concerned about money) I had a habit of buying things with a credit card. It was not the smartest thing I ever did, and one day I found myself wondering just how I had managed to build such a huge amount of debt. So several years ago, my wife and I began the process of weaning ourselves off credit cards. We have managed to reduce our credit card debt to very reasonable levels today (though we still have balances) and we did it without taking out home equity loans to do so. We just worked harder at not buying stuff we didn't need and began to purchase only what we could pay for with cash. If the cash was not available, the item was not purchased. It seems we changed our ways just in time.
Last week I was sent a letter from Bank of America. They own one of the 2 credit card accounts I have. They wrote to notify me of a pending rate change – a big one. After more than 15 years, first with MBNA and later with Bank of America (BoA) following a buyout, I would have thought that perhaps someone there appreciated my business. But apparently not.
It seems BoA does not care that my outstanding balance is less than 25% of my available credit line. It would appear that my predictable and reliable monthly payments (on which I am never late) also don't matter to them. They have decided that effective May 2, 2009 my rate should be more than doubled from 8% to 19%. That seems a bit excessive to me for an account in good standing that is being paid without issue.
According to the notice, I had the option to refuse the increase in writing, which I did (and not in a nice way I may add). But refusing the increase means that any charge to the account from that moment on results in the higher rate being applied to current and future balances. Thus, the card came out of my wallet and I began to track down any automatic charges from places like Maine's Turnpike Authority that resupplies my EZPass account with the card. Luckily, this process was short and I was able to turn the automatic payment options off.
My balance is small enough that I can pay it off in a few months, which will be my focus from today forward. I will then cancel the account and never do business with BoA again.
I am left by the experience feeling more than angry. First of all, BoA received TARP funds in a tax-payer funded bailout for their losses. Now, they are coming after more of my money via a massive rate hike. There just never seems to be an end to their need for cash. Therefore, I can only deduce that they are in even more trouble than we have been led to believe. If BoA is in enough trouble that they are willing to sacrifice the future for today – because I am sure I will not be the only account holder they will lose as a result of this tremendous increase – then they must be looking at the very real possibility of not being around in a few years.
But they are not alone in their fear. The government is also very concerned that the financial industry is falling down around us, and will do almost anything to boost confidence in the banks. The recent “stress tests” the government conducted on the biggest banks in the country (BoA included) was mostly smoke and mirrors (see Nouriel Roubini's blogpost from April 13, 2009) and thus should not be relied upon for any accurate picture of the banks' stability.
But it's not just big banks that are in trouble. All financial companies are facing huge defaults on auto loans, mortgages and credit cards. No one appears to be immune in today's environment.
I have only one other credit card and that is through Discover. While I have been writing this post, I received a notice from them as well (ironic, no?) that also advised me of a rate hike on that account. While that one is not as steep (from 7% to 13%) I don't have a balance there to worry about. But that makes the next step that much easier. The letter canceling the account will be what I type as soon as I am finished here.
Like any addict in recovery, I have learned to live without my abused substance. Now, I will just take the final step and remove what I had considered to be an insurance policy from my wallet. It's long past time to operate strictly on a cash only basis.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Adaptation
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. - Charles Darwin
The most successful people are those who are good at plan B. - James Yorke
I have always paid attention to the world around me, but over the last two years I have become a daily reader of financial and economic sites and blogs in addition to the several news sites I had always read. I have tried to learn as much as possible about the deteriorating economic situation around the world and its pending impact on individuals as well as nations. It has become like a train wreck from which I could not avert my eyes. My focus has been too intense at times, and my time spent reading and blogging has only increased as things have gotten worse. But recently, I stopped paying attention.
Over the last several weeks, I have been unable (or more accurately, unwilling) to watch the larger world around me as it has continued on its downward tack. I have also been unavailable to do so because the smaller world - specifically my world – has been through its own changes that took time to navigate and to understand. As I wrote here a couple of months ago, my wife's employer has been poised to layoff workers in an attempt to bring costs under control. We had been worried that her time there may be short, and so began the process of looking for a new job for her.
After finding a comparable job, albeit with significantly fewer benefits, she applied. After being interviewed, she was offered the position. She then began a very real and painful grieving process.
She was not happy to be leaving a facility where she had worked for 11 years. She was not happy to be forced into a decision she was not ready to make. She was not ready to leave those who had become a second family over time – those who have been there for her as she has grown both personally and professionally over the years and who will be missed as much as any other loved one. She felt traitorous; like she was leaving a sinking ship and her friends were still on board.
Adding to this stress, we both have parents who are retiring within months of each other – the first coming on the same day my wife finished work for her previous employer. Both families have some resources, but after all the recent losses of retirement savings, no one is feeling certain that they will have the means to be self sufficient as long as they thought they would.
Needless to say, my focus had shifted inward towards my own family and away from the world at large. My wife and I had many difficult discussions, some emotional moments, and a few frustrating times over the past weeks, but we have begun to come around. I believe a corner has been turned in our small world – my wife has begun her new job and feels better about her decision. She is encouraged so far by the people she has met and again feels fortunate to have a job she likes in our small city. For the moment, our changes seem smaller and easier to accept than many people's. We still have jobs; we still have our health; we still have our home. We continue to be fortunate. We have adapted for the moment and continue to avoid major disaster.
As I turned my attention back to the larger world yesterday, I noted that not much has changed: the bear market rally has continued, the economic commentators are calling a bottom (still) and people want to believe that the worst is close to ending. But the jobs numbers still seem shocking, the cost of oil is increasing, Goldman Sachs is looking at raising capital, and the Toll brothers (owners of one of the largest home manufacturers in the country) are selling their own company's stock. Yeah. That's better. Nothing new here. I have not missed much. The rest of the world is still falling apart.
But my own small family has reluctantly (and hopefully successfully) moved on to Plan B.
The most successful people are those who are good at plan B. - James Yorke
I have always paid attention to the world around me, but over the last two years I have become a daily reader of financial and economic sites and blogs in addition to the several news sites I had always read. I have tried to learn as much as possible about the deteriorating economic situation around the world and its pending impact on individuals as well as nations. It has become like a train wreck from which I could not avert my eyes. My focus has been too intense at times, and my time spent reading and blogging has only increased as things have gotten worse. But recently, I stopped paying attention.
Over the last several weeks, I have been unable (or more accurately, unwilling) to watch the larger world around me as it has continued on its downward tack. I have also been unavailable to do so because the smaller world - specifically my world – has been through its own changes that took time to navigate and to understand. As I wrote here a couple of months ago, my wife's employer has been poised to layoff workers in an attempt to bring costs under control. We had been worried that her time there may be short, and so began the process of looking for a new job for her.
After finding a comparable job, albeit with significantly fewer benefits, she applied. After being interviewed, she was offered the position. She then began a very real and painful grieving process.
She was not happy to be leaving a facility where she had worked for 11 years. She was not happy to be forced into a decision she was not ready to make. She was not ready to leave those who had become a second family over time – those who have been there for her as she has grown both personally and professionally over the years and who will be missed as much as any other loved one. She felt traitorous; like she was leaving a sinking ship and her friends were still on board.
Adding to this stress, we both have parents who are retiring within months of each other – the first coming on the same day my wife finished work for her previous employer. Both families have some resources, but after all the recent losses of retirement savings, no one is feeling certain that they will have the means to be self sufficient as long as they thought they would.
Needless to say, my focus had shifted inward towards my own family and away from the world at large. My wife and I had many difficult discussions, some emotional moments, and a few frustrating times over the past weeks, but we have begun to come around. I believe a corner has been turned in our small world – my wife has begun her new job and feels better about her decision. She is encouraged so far by the people she has met and again feels fortunate to have a job she likes in our small city. For the moment, our changes seem smaller and easier to accept than many people's. We still have jobs; we still have our health; we still have our home. We continue to be fortunate. We have adapted for the moment and continue to avoid major disaster.
As I turned my attention back to the larger world yesterday, I noted that not much has changed: the bear market rally has continued, the economic commentators are calling a bottom (still) and people want to believe that the worst is close to ending. But the jobs numbers still seem shocking, the cost of oil is increasing, Goldman Sachs is looking at raising capital, and the Toll brothers (owners of one of the largest home manufacturers in the country) are selling their own company's stock. Yeah. That's better. Nothing new here. I have not missed much. The rest of the world is still falling apart.
But my own small family has reluctantly (and hopefully successfully) moved on to Plan B.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Silk Purses, Sow Ears and Reality
I spoke with a friend yesterday about his new change of career. He is going to become a hedge fund manager. To start his business, he's going to get a business loan from Citi. This should be easy because my friend's going into business to help Citi out. He'll be independent of Citi of course, at least on paper, but they will work closely together. After he starts his business, he's going to get a government loan to buy some bad assets from Citi that have been hard to value. Even though Citi can't sell these assets for more than about 10-20% of their book value in the open market, they still insist that the assets are worth closer to 80-90% of book value currently. These are the so-called “toxic assets” that people talk about on the news.
What my friend will do is negotiate with Citi (a mere formality, really) to purchase these toxic assets at near what Citi wants for them, thus limiting their write downs, and then try to sell the assets himself on the open market. If it becomes obvious that they really are worthless, he will walk away and leave the government with the bad assets and default on the loan he received from them. That's because it's a non-recourse loan and there will be no action against him for defaulting – because really, he was just trying to help.
If the bad assets do increase in value from what he paid for them, then he and the government will split the profits 50-50, despite the fact that the government put up 93% of the money for the purchase.
Wow. And the best part is it's all legal.
Okay, so I don't have a friend who is planning on starting a hedge fund. But the above scenario is not only plausible, but likely. Large banks and financial companies will soon have the ability to set up third-party organizations to buy troubled assets at close to face value to get them off their books. The banks and financial companies get to be made whole, or close to it with government funded purchases of the toxic assets made by the third parties who will negotiate directly with the banks on price. The government puts up money via non-recourse loans to the third party purchasers and bears all the risk, yet only gets 50% of any potential profits on the future sale of the toxic assets.
Fine. If the government and their regulators want to believe that these toxic assets really are worth more than they would get today on the open market, then buy them outright and keep all the profits if they increase in value. Why expose taxpayers to risk and simultaneously limit their potential for profit?
But more importantly, why is it O.K. for the taxpayers to take a huge loss on these toxic assets, but not the banks. Why is it that these banks, the ones who wrote the bad loans to begin with, are excused from their poor decisions and the rest of us are made to pay for their greed and short-sightedness?
Well, that is what happens when the guy who runs the treasury department is in the pocket of the banks. Timothy Geithner is the financial industry's whore and we are all being played for fools.
What my friend will do is negotiate with Citi (a mere formality, really) to purchase these toxic assets at near what Citi wants for them, thus limiting their write downs, and then try to sell the assets himself on the open market. If it becomes obvious that they really are worthless, he will walk away and leave the government with the bad assets and default on the loan he received from them. That's because it's a non-recourse loan and there will be no action against him for defaulting – because really, he was just trying to help.
If the bad assets do increase in value from what he paid for them, then he and the government will split the profits 50-50, despite the fact that the government put up 93% of the money for the purchase.
Wow. And the best part is it's all legal.
Okay, so I don't have a friend who is planning on starting a hedge fund. But the above scenario is not only plausible, but likely. Large banks and financial companies will soon have the ability to set up third-party organizations to buy troubled assets at close to face value to get them off their books. The banks and financial companies get to be made whole, or close to it with government funded purchases of the toxic assets made by the third parties who will negotiate directly with the banks on price. The government puts up money via non-recourse loans to the third party purchasers and bears all the risk, yet only gets 50% of any potential profits on the future sale of the toxic assets.
Fine. If the government and their regulators want to believe that these toxic assets really are worth more than they would get today on the open market, then buy them outright and keep all the profits if they increase in value. Why expose taxpayers to risk and simultaneously limit their potential for profit?
But more importantly, why is it O.K. for the taxpayers to take a huge loss on these toxic assets, but not the banks. Why is it that these banks, the ones who wrote the bad loans to begin with, are excused from their poor decisions and the rest of us are made to pay for their greed and short-sightedness?
Well, that is what happens when the guy who runs the treasury department is in the pocket of the banks. Timothy Geithner is the financial industry's whore and we are all being played for fools.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Journalism 101
It may have been the very best 24 minutes of television I have ever seen.
On Thursday March 12, 2009, a comedian proved to be the absolute best investigative reporter in America. Well, that might have been the easy part because what he actually proved was that he is THE ONLY investigative reporter in America.
For several nights this past week, the main stream media has been called on the carpet by the less than main stream media, namely The Daily Show, for their complete lack of credible coverage of what has turned into the greatest financial disaster of generations. The host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, showed clip after clip from CNBC and their myriad of shows whose hosts / reporters / commentators were proven to not only be wrong, but to be completely oblivious about the risks and pending collapse of the financial world. On Thursday night, Stewart finally got one of the CNBC bozos on his show.
Jim Cramer from CNBC's Mad Money had been a frequent target of Stewart's over the previous several nights and had been shown in various clips encouraging his viewers to buy stocks that then tanked. The clips were juxtaposed with simple black and white text that then detailed exactly what happened to the stocks he was hocking. Simple. Effective. It left little doubt that a man of Stewart's caliber should be taken lightly.
On the show Thursday, Cramer was reduced to a fool and hack who not only missed the signs of impending doom, but actually knew the game being played and encouraged people to continue to invest their hard-earned money into banks and investment companies who could not possibly continue in their march forward. Several clips of Cramer speaking to another man about how to manipulate stock prices and whip up speculation were shown, much to Mr. Cramer's dismay. He was seen and heard on one saying, “I'd never say this on television”, implying that he wanted his TRUE nature and thoughts kept from the public. He became red and very uncomfortable after being exposed for who he really is.
Time after time, Cramer and the Daily Show audience and viewers were shown proof of his own inside knowledge of the gaming of the system. It was right there on video for all to see and appreciate. Stewart managed to get Cramer on one video basically admitting to committing fraud while running a hedge fund. It was a thing of beauty.
Now the whole premise was not to go after Cramer personally. Stewart's point was that CNBC had done a very poor job of reporting, and that, in fact, they had more or less been a cheerleader for the same financial system that has now reduced the retirement savings of most Americans by nearly half. His questions to Cramer were mostly in the vein of “where were you?” and “why didn't you tell people what you knew?” about what was going on. He actually held Cramer's feet to the fire and made him squirm on national television.
What does this say about America as a nation? Why is it that the single best piece of investigative reporting on the economic disaster occurring right now has come from Comedy Central? We should all be disgusted with where we are as a nation. Where is our fourth estate when the only reporting I trust on television comes from a comedy news show?
Hey main stream media people – were you paying attention? Did you learn anything Thursday night? Like maybe, HOW TO DO YOUR JOBS? What the hell have you folks been doing over the last 10 years? You who work in the news media should all be ashamed and hang your heads today – and for many days. You have been shown to be inconsequential and soft by a guy who makes “fart noises” for a living.
Perhaps those in the main stream media will go back and watch that tape from Thursday night and learn just how a professional reporter operates. It should become mandatory viewing from now on in all journalism classes as well. Perhaps we can expect more from our next generation of journalists than what we have today. Maybe someday soon, the spirit of Edward R. Morrow won't have to be invoked by a comedian.
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