"Today, the fabric of our modern banking world is held together by a logical fallacy of a system, wherein central banks are afforded the asinine luxury of being able to print infinite amounts of “money”, which is then disproportionately distributed toward the ruling class, billionaires, and elites, instead of the people who need it the most.

This shows up, literally, as a widening gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” that has widened consistently since the late 1970’s.

Today, the fabric of our modern banking world is held together by a logical fallacy of a system, wherein central banks are afforded the asinine luxury of being able to print infinite amounts of “money”, which is then disproportionately distributed toward the ruling class, billionaires, and elites, instead of the people who need it the most.

This shows up, literally, as a widening gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” that has widened consistently since the late 1970’s."

I claim no special knowledge on how this will all end, just that it will, as it inevitability must.... and it will not be pretty.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-01-26/inflation-kryptonite-will-end-monetary-policy-ponzi-scheme

Legislation designed to make the U.S. more competitive with China includes millions in appropriations for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The America COMPETES Act, introduced by House Democrats late Tuesday, sets aside $2 million a year for a Department of Energy (DOE) program intended to “increase the number and the diversity, equity, and inclusion of highly skilled science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals working in Department of Energy mission-relevant disciplines.”

The bill includes a provision codifying the position of chief diversity officer within the National Science Foundation, and appropriates $5 million over the next four years for the office.

https://dailycaller.com/2022/01/26/america-competes-act-frank-lucas-diversity-china-bill/

The Potter Report

UnitedHealth's $24 Billion Profit

January 24, 2022

Just days after a Commonwealth Fund report showed that American families are sending health insurance companies more and more of their income every year even as their deductibles skyrocket, the country’s biggest insurer reported massive 2021 profits and told investors to expect even higher profits in 2022.


UnitedHealth on Wednesday reported 2021 profits of $24 billion on revenue of $287.6 billion. Executives told Wall Street they expect United will be the first insurer to take in more than $300 billion from its customers this year.


Instead of giving its health plan customers relief from ever-increasing out-of-pocket requirements, United spent $5 billion last year buying back its own shares of stock, a gimmick that boosts the value of shares and makes shareholders richer. United also paid shareholders $5.3 billion in dividends in 2021.


No insurer has ever made that kind of money in U.S. history. It’s even more notable when you consider that United is not growing by attracting substantially more new customers.


At the end of 2021, United had about 26.6 million people enrolled in its commercial (individual and employer-sponsored) health plans. That’s just 700,000 more than the 25.9 million the company had 10 years ago. Most of United’s membership and revenue growth now comes from the company’s Medicare Advantage plans and the state Medicaid programs it manages. In other words, from us as taxpayers. United and other insurers are padding their top and bottom lines by charging their existing commercial customers higher and higher premiums every year.


Consider this: an employer-sponsored family policy that cost an average of $15,073 in 2011 cost $22,221 in 2021, a 47% increase, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. And during that time, insurers have forced their health plan enrollees to pay more and more out of their own pockets through ever-increasing deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Most Americans now have to pay on average twice as much out of their own pockets as they did 10 years ago.


That Commonwealth Fund report I mentioned earlier shows that with the relentless increase in both premiums and out-of-pockets, Americans are shelling out far more of their household income for health insurance and to cover out-of-pockets than a decade ago. Premiums and deductibles now take up more than 10% of median income in 37 states, up from just 10 in 2010.


Insurers argue that high deductibles are necessary to control premium increases. Unfortunately, most employers and policymakers seem to have bought that argument. But when you look at the research from both the Commonwealth Fund and Kaiser Family Foundation–and then the record profits United and other insurers are reporting–that talking point just doesn’t hold up.

2021 Profits!
Go ahead keep defending them !
What did you get for that last $24 Billion you spent ?????????
Better healthcare?
Better. Policy coverage ?
Higher deductibles?
Lower deductibles ?
More pandemic coverage ?

Nope. Only pointier dunce hats. !

I guess the real and true question is when this American and political travesty will be finally rectified! It has been so obvious that you have one 2020 candidate campaigning from literally his basement and then you have one candidate that went out and speaks to the people where collectively there were hundreds of thousands of people from damn near every single state that held his campaign events with a simple but very profound logo. It is and was "Make America Great Again"! Now we as a country that have this ridicules "Build Back Better" slogan that has been completely rejected by the masses!
Mike

https://youtu.be/5t1U6dymCqM

If you couldn't beat FJB who is hanging on by a thread, you might as well take your beautiful and head for the Bahamas. Of course, Trump's showing at Florence, AZ just gives America of exactly how fed up this country is with the current resident of the WH. I mean, it's overwhelming. And numbers at rallies do matter....especially when half of those in Biden's parade are telling how disgusted they are. Right now, I'll bet FJB wishes he was out of the picture. Is it safe having him carry around that nuclear football? Just think, half of Democrats...that's right, 49% don't want FJB to run again. That's the Democrat side. 110% of the GOP don't want him to run. https://www.lifezette.com/2022/01/trump-outshines-biden-in-every-category/?utm_source=home-top-stories

After the Dems were accused of corruption and election fraud during the 2020 election. Now, they are making accusations, that it will be the GOP in 2022/2024. So, DeSantis has offered to help the libs put a stop to all the accusations. https://www.middleamericanews.com/news/desantis-proposes-election-crimes-agency-with-unprecedented-authority/?email=mikespringer2010%40yahoo.com&aid=4&ptn=mlnm Thank God the Dems never accuse you of criminal behavior, and then turn around and do it themselves. They would never stoop that low. (sarc)
https://www.middleamericanews.com/news/desantis-proposes-election-crimes-agency-with-unprecedented-authority/?email=mikespringer2010%40yahoo.com&aid=4&ptn=mlnm

There remain many "See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil" types here on OPP when the subject of election fraud is raised.

I will not waste my time asking them to read the linked article below, because they will not do so. They will reiterate the same refrain that there is "no proof" of election fraud. It is the "That's my story, and I'm sticking to it" mentality.

But for all the rest of you independent thinkers seeking answers and evidence please check out these two links:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/01/when_a_states_secretary_of_state_is_in_on_voter_fraud.html

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/01/no_author/did-over-100000-people-older-than-124-years-vote-in-wisconsin/

From Quora...What is the best-spoken line in any movie?

One of the best-spoken lines is one bitter truth of the world from the movie Shooter (2007). The scene in which Senator Meachum (Ned Beatty) and Colonel Johnson (Danny Glover) meet Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) and Memphis (Michael Pena) on an icy mountain top and eventually destroy evidence. On confrontation, Meachum replies:

"There are no sides. There's no Sunnis and Shiites. There's no Democrats and Republicans. There's only haves and have-nots."

And that’s one bitter truth of the world. Justice, freedom and all fancy words may exist and be even implemented to a certain level but in the larger picture, it’s only haves and have-nots. Whether it's one section of elite getting richer globally during pandemic while the middle and lower classes getting pushed down to poverty, the disparity in vaccination between developed and developing countries, or even dispensing of justice to a poor vs rich criminal, it all boils down to one thing. Haves and have-nots. Every society has their own criteria of haves and have-nots. For some it's the rich, for some it's the Brahamin, for some it's the skin color, for some it's the feudal lord or military personnel, king and their favorites, for some it's some other criteria or maybe some of them fused together but in the end it's all about two classes of people.

"Haves and have nots".

The bitter truth expressed in such a brilliant way in the movie's dialogues.

In what I believe is a marketing ploy my wife got a free copy of ‘The Epic Times’ in the mailbox yesterday. On the front page was an article entitled “Unbuilt Border Wall Could Now Be Sold for Scrap”. This is just another example of government waste. One party wants to do something and after the next election parties change all is undone. Both claim to be righteous but both are wasteful of tax money.
Right or wrong the materials cost a lot of money and are now perhaps to be sold as scrap. The American People are being used to foster the stupid plans or ideas of the people that they elect. It is time to leave the Rep and Dem Parties and join some party that at least is not on a rampage to see whether it can outspend the other.
It being time for the American Public to tell the Rep and Dem Parties that it has become imperative that the other Parties be allowed a seat at the Debates each four years. When that happens the American’s will see there are much better alternatives. Of course that will never happen as then the Rep and Dem parties would be threatened with being ousted. Their mantra is "We are in charge and will never let rational idea see the light of day."