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November 26, 2003

Greed and truth don't mix

Just when you thought Bush had cornered the market on lying to people's faces, without batting an eye:

I want to thank and congratulate the members of Congress for their hard work. You see, we have a responsibility in Washington, D.C. to solve problems, not to pass them on. And today, the United States Congress met its responsibility. We inherited a good Medicare system. It has worked, but it was becoming old and needed help. Because of the actions of the Congress, because of the actions of members of both political parties, the Medicare system will be modern and it will be strong.

From MSNBC:

THE LEGISLATION that won final congressional approval Tuesday would allow seniors to buy coverage — at an estimated monthly premium of $35 — for their prescription drugs beginning in three years. After they agreed to the monthly premiums and paid their first $250 in pharmacy bills, the coverage would kick in, paying 75 percent of their bills between $250 and $2,250.

After that, there would be no further coverage until beneficiaries’ drug bills for the year reached $5,100, leaving a gap of $2,850 that they would have to pay out of their own pockets. Above $5,100 the insurance would pick up roughly 95 percent of costs.

Those are the numbers supporters of the bill have used, with little mention that they would change in future years. But after just one year, the Congressional Budget Office projects that seniors would see their $250 deductible and the $2,850 gap for which there is no coverage both jump 10 percent.

By 2013, the eighth year of the program, the deductible and the coverage gap are both projected to grow by 78 percent. In other words, seniors would pay a $445 deductible, and those with the largest drug bills would be entirely responsible for more than $5,000 in drug costs.

“I think these numbers will come as a shock to consumers, and they are pretty optimistic projections based on what drug costs are going to do,” said Gail Shearer, a health policy analyst at Consumers Union and an opponent of the legislation. She noted the focus has been on 2006, the year the prescription drug benefit begins.

Watch out Dubya, here comes Bill Gates:

Remember, there are hundreds of incompatible versions of Linux. The fact that we call it Linux hides the fact that this driver works on this version, and this app works on that version. But there is a world where you don't test for binary compatibility because you don't have testers. It's just a different world than ours. That approach has certain benefits and advantages in terms of the way things get put together and ours has certain benefits and advantages. It's the primary operating system we'll be competing against.

Five years ago it would have been Windows versus OS/2. A few years before, it would have been Windows versus Macintosh. Before, maybe it would have been C/PM 86, and before that, maybe CP/M 80. There's always been some challenger to the operating system. Linux--which is only a kernel--is not where the interesting stuff is going on nowadays.

Like I said, sometimes greed and truth don't mix.

Posted by Mike at November 26, 2003 03:17 AM

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