Government collude with banks to screw us all, more proof of the American Klepocracy

We have spent much time trying to get the word out that, despite what the leaders of our two party system would like us to believe, This is NOT a WAR BETWEEN THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT!

Those who continue to perpetrate that myth and those that believe it will only insure that the real enemy,  Corruption, Power and Greed will win.

If you have read the post prior to this our hope would be that your scratching your head asking yourself, "how in the h ell are they getting away with it?"

A CPA friend of mine who a small but successful accounting firm laments at the oversight he and his few employee's must endure while the corporate giants with the help of members of both parties gang rape us.


 From a David Goldman (David P. Goldman was global head of debt research for Banc of America Securities and earlier global head of credit strategy at Credit Suisse. He was until July 2008 the strategist for a credit hedge fund, Asteri Capital, one of the few credit funds to show a profit between July 2007 and July 2008. He is now Associate Editor of First Things (http://www.firstthings.com) and a columnist (under the byline "Spengler") for Asia Times Online.) article posted on Seeking Alpha today

I find it difficult to own financial's when all they appear to do is to lever up 2-year notes. i can do that myself without paying a trading floor big bonuses to do that for me. Banks aren’t making money lending with their loan books down by 20% (the last reporting week for big commercial banks showed a tiny uptick — hardly a trend); they are reporting huge “fixed income trading” profits. That comes from two sources; 1) tightening of spread assets to the best levels in history in the case of mortgages and extremely tight levels in the case of corporates, and 2) a huge amount of carry-trade leverage in Treasuries.

and

In any event, with the discount rate on equities near zero at the front end and very low at the long end of the curve, any positive level of profits can produce very high valuations indeed.

Translation: You the taxpayer allowed the government to bail out banks failing as a result of fraud.
Your money was given to them with the caveat that they would lend it out to create new jobs and stimulate the economy.  Instead they are lending very little! They are buying Treasury notes at rates that you and I could not survive on. But if you are investing billions, then the return can be quite substantial.

In other words the safest play for the banks is to say "FUCK YOU" we are going to take your money
from the government at zero interest, then buy money from the government but make them pay us for it which will debited to you. We will then take said money and continue to buy politicians insuring that you will continue to pay for our lavish lifestyles and their ain't a damn thing you can do about it.

Let me ask you a question. If some dude came up to you in a bar and laid that crap on you what would you do about it?????????   O.K. then, why are you letting THEM do it to you, you family, and your future generations???  Are we all a bunch of damn chickenshits?????

Kleptocracy:
alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from Greek: κλέπτης (thieve) and κράτος (rule), is a term applied to a government that takes advantage of governmental corruption to extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. The term means "rule by thievesAdd to Technorati Favorites".

Poker Runs for charities, is our desire to help losing lives?

Although medical advance come fast and furious, even if a cure for cancer were found today most  "baby boomers" may not live long enough for the cure to make through the FDA bureaucracy.

In other words many of us who ride for various charities are not likely to see the solutions to the problems in our lifetimes.  But, if we changed tactics, could we actually save lives?

The other day we posted on the recent headline I'm sure most have heard by now in our post,

(link)Insurer flags breast cancer victims, "Bikers" riding for charities need to be forming an Army

Having to do with the revelations that Wellpoint had developed an algorithm to identify and subsequently drop the policies of breast cancer victims.

Today we spent a lot of time searching to learn a couple of things that revealed that as corrupt as we have believed insurance companies to be since the Katrina debacle, it is worse than we imagined.

The first thing we learned is that Wellpoint is huge.  It is licensed to operate in all 50 states, but in many states it operates under  names other than "Wellpoint". To make matters worse it also contracts to provide medicare and medicaid billing for the federal government.

However, as we should have known, Wellpoint is not the only Insurance company that is guilty of dropping policies, a practice known as policy "rescissions".  In fact, the more we searched the more insurance companies we found who have been found guilty of "illegally" engaging in the practice.

Policy "rescissions" were initially designed as a tool to help insurance companies fight individuals making fraudulent claims.  It did not take them long however to learn that a small mistake on an insurance policy also enabled them to drop policies. And when it came to policy holders who contracted expensive life threatening diseases, dropping policies is profitable.

And who are the Top 10 worst insurance companies according to "The American Association for Justice"?

1. Allstate
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. WellPoint
7. Farmers
8. United Health
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual

To learn more about what each of the above insurers did to earn a place on the list, click on the names above. ( Note: Wellpoint has 5 companies ranked worse than them).

Keep in mind that many  of these companies have numerous subsidiary that operate under different names in different states and have been known to change names when one name becomes tarnished.

Fortis Insurance, now known as Assurant was found guilty of targeting persons contracting HIV. Again with software developed to single out policy holders.

We could go on as the problem is bigger than probably any of us has imagined. What we find really interesting however is that this problem has been recognized since at least 2007 (See:The neutron bomb of health insurance), and little has been done about it.  Do not expect the recent passage of the health care bill to be of much help. 

And when you consider subsidiaries such as Well Points "National Government services" (National Government Services currently administers all the Part A functions for free-standing federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) nationwide serving over 3,300 FQHC clinics.) and Wellpoints "United Government Services" (United Government Services processes Medicare claims for providers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianna Islands. The company will process an estimated 30 million Medicare claims annually, with an estimated $24 billion in payments. UGS processes nearly 20 percent of the Medicare Part A claims nationwide.)then you have a very interesting and lucrative business.

After all, how does a company such as Wellpoint get rewarded when caught ripping off the government (you and I)? They get more government business!You get paid by the government (our tax dollars) to provide services and then you make more money by insuring that people die without help!!!!!!!!!!

WTF??????????????

So we have to ask? If any of the number of charities that we ride for were to actually come with a cure for a number of the "help find a cures" we ride for, how many of us would actually have access to them.  They will most assuredly be expensive meaning we will most assuredly be dropped.  In the new health bill the fines for dropping a policy are cheaper than the cost of leaving it in force. (Ed. Note: more research needed here).

So we were wondering which would be more effective at saving a life, 350 bikers riding in a poker run raising money for charity, or 350 pissed off bikers landing on the doorsteps of the people who write and cancel the policies???????

See Insurance: Maximize your benefits The do's and don'ts of working with insurers.for ways you can protect yourself from the greedy bastards.

Liberty does not come without a fight!Add to Technorati Favorites

latest Update Florida stiffer penalties bill for those who inijure or kill motorcyclists

And as we worded it last year and ABATE of Florida chose to word it this year, to include, pedestrians,
Bicyclists, or any other form of conveyance.


SB1918 after being stripped yet again of any thing close to what might be considered a sufficient penalty for negligently killing somebody was read the third time by the transportation committee and sent to the
Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee in the house of Representatives.

Prior to 5:00pm this date I was informed by the Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee
that Since committee meeting are finished in the house that the bill was "dead".  I asked the individual I spoke with if it were not possible for the bill to be called out of committee to the floor for a vote.

I was advised that yes, this possibility exists.  However it is highly unlikely.  That for intents and purposed it was dead.  However we would caution all that this is Florida politics and anything is possible.

The latest incarnation of the bill reads as follows, we have highlighted, in red, the body of the bill that has been altered:

CS for SB 1918                                   First Engrossed
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       20101918e1
       
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to traffic offenses; creating s.
    3         318.195, F.S.; providing penalties for the commission
    4         of a noncriminal traffic infraction or certain other
    5         violations that cause or result in the serious injury
    6         of a motorcyclist, bicyclist, pedestrian, or person of
    7         other means of conveyance; providing enhanced
    8         penalties for such violations that cause the death of
    9         such person; providing that the victim of a crash that
   10         causes death or serious bodily injury or the victim’s
   11         representative is entitled to certain rights regarding
   12         any judicial proceeding relating to the crash;
   13         requiring the state attorney to consult the victim or
   14         the victim’s representative about the disposition of
   15         any such case; providing that the act does not
   16         prohibit the person from being charged with, convicted
   17         of, or punished for any other violation of law;
   18         providing an effective date.
   19  
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Section 318.195, Florida Statutes, is created to
   23  read:
   24         318.195 Enhanced penalties for moving violations causing
   25  injury or death.—
   26         (1) A person whose commission of a noncriminal traffic
   27  infraction or any violation of this chapter causes or results in
   28  the serious bodily injury, as defined in s. 316.1933(1), of a
   29  motorcyclist, bicyclist, pedestrian, or person of other means of
   30  conveyance shall be fined $1,000 and have his or her license
   31  suspended for a minimum of 90 days. If the infraction or
   32  violation causes the death of a motorcyclist, bicyclist,
   33  pedestrian, or person of other means of conveyance, the person
   34  shall pay a fine of $2,500 and have his or her license revoked
   35  for a minimum of 2 years. The person shall also be required by
   36  the court to complete a 12-hour driver improvement course and
   37  may be ordered by the court to serve 120 community service hours
   38  under s. 316.027(4), plus an additional 120 community service
   39  hours as required by the court.
   40         (2) Any victim of a crash that causes death or serious
   41  bodily injury or the victim’s lawful representative, including
   42  the next of kin if the victim is deceased, is entitled to be
   43  informed, to be present, and to be heard, when relevant, at all
   44  crucial stages of a judicial hearing, to the extent that such
   45  rights do not interfere with the constitutional rights of the
   46  accused. The state attorney, if applicable, shall consult the
   47  victim or the victim’s lawful representative about the
   48  disposition of such case.
   49         (3) This section does not prohibit a person from being
   50  charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation
   51  of law.
   52         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.

Note the original bill had jail time in it, see it here

The committee substitute reduced some jail time to house arrest see it here 

In it's current form even if by some miracle it made it to the floor we could not support as we would

agree with Biker Rogue that it is nothing more than a added tax on the florida motorist 

Last year a small group of Tallahassee Motorcyclists identified a way to, rather than make

new law, Florida alter statute 316.192  Reckless driving.-which already had jail time

included.  We gave a rough draft to Representative Evers who commented, "this could work". 

I  personally did not get involved in the legislative action regarding this bill this session for two

reasons,

1. Since it is believed that the bill submitted was a direct rip-off I supported the original version

2. Last year, and this year at the ABATE FREEDOM RALLY at the capital The ABATE of Florida

President and lobbyist James d. Reichenbach accused everybody but himself of being ignorant,

uneducated re: the ways of the legislature, in the way of ABATE and swore the bill would have

passed had we not "killed it".

Our Question?  Who will he blame this year since he seems incapable of accepting responsibility for

his own ineptitude?

How long will the general membership pay $50,000.00 +/- minus to a man who even when he steals or

copies the work of other people, such as he did with the helmet law, fails consistently? 

Yo Doc, how is that, "I am the voice of the Florida motorcyclist thingy working out for ya?"Add to Technorati Favorites