144. Lost Weight Before Thanksgiving

I followed through and lightened up my common stock portfolio the last two days before Thanksgiving as I noted I would in my previous post. Then the Dubai credit event on Friday gave me the opportunity to fill by IRAs with high-interest bearing preferred stocks at even lower costs. I believe half of the drop on Friday was Dubai related, while the other half was my expected beginning of a down market. How will the market react Monday? Confused! We might even see it edge back up (for a while) because people might have believed all the drop was Dubai related. Most likely I'll be heading into a short ETF on any rise in the market anticipating a 3-3.3% drop thereafter. Had sold options against some of my other common stock, but bought some back Friday. Will be selling options again Monday. This whole Dubai event might shift my expectations by about 3 days. I now expect the next low to be between December 4-8 followed by the last 2009 high around December 20-24. So, plan your year-end taxes. Remember, don't buy mutual finds in a taxable account until January and take your losses before year-end. Hope you are having a prosperous year.

143. Still Some Optimism

Ok...Mr. Doom & Gloom got over the weekend defeat in the Health Care Bill ...but, only short term. This should give us time to bail out. For some reason politics is being trumped by the speculators and Asia move. Commodities continue to rise quickly against a corresponding drop in the dollar. This can't go on forever...but come catch a wave through turkey day. I still have my exit strategy in place to offload if necessary. Yet, I'm going to ride the bubble higher while its inflating. Risky, yes. Maybe I'll trim back if the market makes a big move up today. Bottom line, don't panic yet.

142. Good Job Lions

Like all the other games the Lions came on in the second half after a dismal first half. But, we'll take the 42-14 victory over Michigan State. Clark had 4 TD passes. Suhey starred again with some good runs and a TD pass reception on top of his always excellent blocking. Looks like the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl for the Nittany Lions.

141. Thanks-Taking Market

After tonight's Senate vote on the Health Care Bill, see Post 140, I can only hope the market isn't too spooked Monday morning. If I were a betting man, I would bet an opening down about 100 and continuing down to maybe 200.I hope my gloom isn't felt by the investment community overall. If we can hold above 10,100 DJIA we might recover by the end of the year or by the time of the final Senate vote, whichever is earlier, before the real doom. I just changed my year-end prediction to no higher than Friday's close. Tonight the government sent We the People its warmest Happy Thanks-Taking.

140. Economy Doomed

Sorry to bring you the bad news, but the Senate passed its all-Democratic Health Care Bill that will doom this economy. Actually, this was only the 60 required vote to put it on the floor for debate; however, Reid WILL use the nuclear vote to get it passed after a short debate and that requires only 51 ayes. What does this mean? Starting in 2010 many of the businesses (health care insurance, medical devices, drug companies, hospitals, etc.) AND you will be "penalized" instead of "incentivized" so the Dems can continue to spend on their earmark projects (like the $300M going to Louisiana to get that Democratic senator's vote today) -- I thought Health Care Reform was to LOWER costs. What Democrats don't want you to know is that all the businesses assessed will pass along the increases to you via premium hikes and income taxes, the business will start cost reduction measures, research & development will cease, people will lose their jobs, spending will be killed, businesses will reduce inventory and more people will lose jobs, small businesses will both cease creating a new business and bail out of ones started, more people will lose jobs, many more people that the 57M now will become uninsured, insurance companies and physicians and hospitals will not be able to handle the increases (can't handle the numbers today), waiting lines will start, health care will be rationed and benefits cut, the government will brag how effective they are controlling costs now that nobody can get service, the American economy will die and bring down all American businesses, China and Japan who own about 50% of our Treasuries will punt and switch to the Euro or Yuan currency, the dollar will be worthless, and we'll be in the worse ever Depression. We the People LOSE. This will go on for FOUR years before you see any Health Care offering. Oh, also beginning in 2010, Medicare will start to be ripped apart and seniors left to die. Also, don't forget that the government is also heavily invested in several industries (autos, banks, insurance to mention a few) that will have no place to hide without MORE BAILOUT money off the Democratic money press accelerating the deficit even more faster than expected. You thought $12T (actually $105T) was enough? $14.2T has already been predicted by the government BEFORE this catastrophic blunder.

I don't know about you, but I'll be leaving the stock market before the final Senate vote. The economy is doomed and job creation has just been ruled unimportant. I would appreciate any recommendations for new living arrangements outside United States. Sorry again for the heavy rain.

139. How You Support the Illegals

(Source Unknown for the following)

Here is an example of why hiring illegal aliens is not economically productive for the United States.

You have two families: "Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal," both families have two parents, two children, and live in California:

JOE LEGAL	JOSE ILLEGAL
works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.	also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".
Ready? Now pay attention.
$25.00/hr x 40 hours = $1000.00 / week or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax Joe Legal now has $36,400.00.	$15.00/hr x 40 hours = $600.00 / week, or $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.
pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $29,200.00	has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. pays $500.00 / month for food, or $6,000.00 / yr. Joe Legal now has $23,200.00.	has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
pays rent of $1,200.00 / month, or $14,400.00 / yr Joe Legal now has $8,800.00.	receives a $500.00 / month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays $500 per month or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
pays $200.00 / month, or $2,400.00 / yr for insurance. Joe Legal now has $6,400.00.	Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal has to make his $6,400.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.	Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.	Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches Joe Legal's children go home after school.	Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program.

Do you get it, now?
If you vote for or support any politician that supports illegal aliens: You are part of the problem!
It's WAY PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!

Implement a personal TERM LIMITS STRATEGY!

138. More HC Bill Pain

Remember Section 9015 from Post 137?

• You making more than $200K? Or jointly more than $250K? Congratulations, you get to pay an additional 0.5% of you pay the hospital (your payment + insurance payment). Actually, it may be in addition to another 1.45% which is one of the few-word changes in another act on top of the 0.5%.

I forgot to mention a couple of things relevant to these amounts:

• Notice how married couples are penalized, i.e., instead of 2 x $200K the amount is as low as $250K
• Also, the amounts are not indexed to inflation/salary increases. This means that if you just luck out in the first year, you might hit it the next year or shortly after. Like the AMT. You do recall how that was meant to be for the rich only and now hits up to 25M people.
• The amounts are not adjusted for cost-of-living. We will be thanking states like California and New York where the cost-of-living is higher for their generous contribution to our health care.
• Many of other limits/ceilings elsewhere in the Senate plan are also stated without adjustments for inflation and cost-of-living.
  

This section is a no-brainer to understand. It's the other sections within the Revenue Provisions that individuals tend to not understand or forget. Simply, ALL taxes or fees assessed to a business get passed along to the consumer! Otherwise, a business would have to cut expenses; hence, jobs.

137. Stick'em Up - The Latest HC Bill

Instead of trying to digest all of the latest Senate HC Bill released finally by Harry Reid, I went directly to the Revenue Provisions (pages 1979 through 2074) sections at the end; where else would they be hidden? Several of the sections provide only word changes to other acts, so you have to know something about the other acts to even understand what they are referring to. Here are some highlights that will scare you:

Section 9001 is a Tax on Insurance providers. Phew, not me, huh? Of course YOU; every tax gets passed through to the consumer. What? You didn't learn that yet? Given some defined annual cost limits ($8,500 for individual or $23,000 for family; what you pay + what your employer pays) on EMPLOYER health insurance plans, the insurance prover gets to pay (and pass along to you) a 40% tax on costs above those annual costs. But wait? How about UNION members? Add to these annual limitation costs another $1,350 (individual) or $3,000 (family) if you work in any of the following industries or high-risk categories: repair/installation of electrical/telecommunications lines, law enforcement, firefighting, out-patient emergency jobs, construction, forestry, fishing, agriculture (except food processing). Also increase these limits by 120% for year 2013, 110% for year 2014, and 105% for year 2015 if you are in the top 17 highest cost states in 2012. And, remind you employer to calculate and pay these taxes (ouch, poor small businesses) monthly to avoid a penalty on top. I have yet to figure out where the Insurance provider pays for it! Regardless, YOU end up paying higher premiums.

Section 9004: Have an HSA/MSA? Need to withdraw money for non-medical use. Well, the penalty for that will go from 10% to 20% starting in 2011.

Section 9008: Imposition Fee on drug companies who have revenue sales above some fixed aggregate amount. Now that's an incentive to to innovate. I would venture to guess this will kill Research and Development in America leaving us with generic drugs that may or may not absorb the same and higher risks of side-effects. If you can figure out this section, let me know. It appears that they would have to pay some proportion of $2.3B based on their revenues compared to all revenues. Good luck determining this. I wouldn't get my hopes up with my interpretation, but I did see something that eluded to the taxes collected going into the Medicare B trust fund.

Sections 9009 and 9010: Like 9008, let's tax the medical device manufacturers and insurance companies too for excess revenues/profits. More incentives to lay off people to manage operations with fewer dollars! Or, just pass the taxes through to YOU again!

Section 9013: Here's a gotcha. Remember Schedule A where you itemize your expenses? Remember that only medical expenses must be above 7.5 % may be included? Well, it's going to be 10% between 1/1/2013 and 12/13/2016. Now you are paying higher taxes directly imposed on you in addition to all the other taxes passed onto you via higher premiums as above.

Section 9015: You making more than $200K? Or jointly more than $250K? Congratulations, you get to pay an additional 0.5% of you pay the hospital (your payment + insurance payment). Actually, it may be in addition to another 1.45% which is one of the few-word changes in another act on top of the 0.5%.

Section 9017: And forget that Cosmetic Elective Surgery. You won't want that hip or knee replaced. Unless you want to pay an additional 5% tax on the total cost regardless of whether you pay or you insurance pays.

Enough? Surrender? Can you see why you will be paying more in Premiums AND Taxes? Can you understand why companies will be laying off more people? Can you understand why companies will continue to move portions of their company out of America? Can you understand why small businesses will dry up? Please note that over 70% of new jobs created are by small businesses. Can you understand why Obama has now stated (no more than 2 days ago) that we may experience a double valley recession? Is this what you want for you and your children? Killing the economy is reason enough to postpone ANY Health Care Bill that attempts to solve everything in one package. This bill is 2074 pages! Use you Common Sense. Write your congressman or congress woman. READ this article also that was just posted.

136. "My Soul To Keep" by Tenanarive Due

"My Soul To Keep" by Tenanarive Due was an excellent novel that was hard to put down. Learn of her husband's legacy and lifeblood; the clash of mortal and immortal. I definitely recommend this one.

135. Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

Mr. President. Are you proud of these:

• Time to decide on Afghanistan - deplorable, national security
  
• First Fort Hood TV appearance - Very embarrassing and deplorable
• Avoiding the word "terrorist" = Vary embarrassing, deplorable, Anti-American and deceptive
• Corruption of Legal System and Intelligence Organizations - Terrorist trials in NYC instead of Military Tribunals - Deplorable, anti-American, Unconstitutional
  
• Cash for Clunkers - embarrassing and economically deceptive
• Bank Bailouts - embarrassing and economically deceptive
• Blockading and campaigning against Fox News, conservative radio, and other Free Press media - Unconstitutional, Anti-American, Against Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech, deplorable
  
• House Health Bill - Extremely embarrassing, deplorable and deceptive
• Jail time for those who do not buy health insurance - Unconstitutional, Marxist
  
• Sticking health related regulations into Stimulus Bill - Deceptive, Marxist and deplorable
• Stimulus Package - Deplorable
• Continuous job unemployment numbers due to not stimulating small businesses - Deplorable
• Continuing to enslave poor by feeding them crumbs like more months (to 88 months) of unemployment - Deplorable, deceptive,Communism,and embarrassing
• Copenhagen Global Climate Treaty - Deceptive...hopefully not to become deplorable and Anti-capitalism
  
• Immigration - Forgotten and embarrassing, failure
  
• Auto Bailouts (union favoritism) - Despicable, deceptive, failure, Marxist, failure
  
• European Missile Defense - Deceptive and embarrassing
• Continued apologies to foreign countries - Deplorable, embarrassing, Anti-American
  
• Bank Regulation of Salaries - Marxist
• Saving Medicare & SS and recovering fraud money - Deplorable, see this article for latest
  
• Lack of medical Tort Reform - Deplorable, favoritism
  
• Czar Vetting Process - Deplorable, Marxist, national security issue
  
• Cap & Trade - Anti-capitalism, deceptive
• Reduction of Foreclosures - Failure
• Transparency - Deplorable

What part of your life isn't already controlled by this government? It's time for the States to revolt and muster two-thirds to regain our freedoms. I dread the upcoming deceptive report from Obama's corrupt team re the Russian talks this weekend - given the list above, I can only expect We the People were sold out again.Are you still awake? How about your neighbor?

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.
Author: Democritus

134. Roar

We Are Penn State. Another scary come-from-behind game. Down 10-0, the Lions woke with 24 unanswered points and ended the game a winner 31-20 against Indiana.

Tomorrow its the Steelers vs. Bengals, Cowboy vs. Packers, and Bromcos vs. Redskins. Surely the Broncos will get back on the win schedule. Steelers should be victorious and I'll predict a very, very close Cowboy win over Packers.

133. Summary of Important Events/News/Books

1. Obama still doesn't want to LEAD. Have you ever seen a leader so indecisive? See this for his rejection of the four options put forward to him re Afghanistan today.
2. We have noticed in the last month or two that Lou Dobbs has finally put his guts and opinions above the liberal CNN network limitations. Tonight he announced his last broadcast with CNN! We're with you Lou! We had both commented that he would be better off with Fox News. Rumors have it that he is going to Fox Business.
3. Fort Hood - I want to thank Bill O'Reilly for calling a spade a spade and even getting a liberal columnist to finally agree and use the words Muslim Extremist Terrorist. The Political Correctness needs to cease! Maybe to respect all religions, the words should be Jihadist Terrorists -- but still, a Jihadist is a Muslim who supports the Jihad. Its unfortunate that the Jihadists don't have a separate, distinct religion to separate the majority of peace loving Muslims and the few radical Jihadists.
4. The market continues edging upward and not losing any strength
5. We started to browse through Glenn Beck's book "Arguing With Idiots." I didn't realize it, but the succession to the presidency isn't bad enough that the next in line is Joe Biden, then Nancy Pelosi. Who do you think is 3rd? The Pro-Tempore of the senate: Robert Byrd. Wow, we need some revisions to the Constitution! What is he? 101?
6. Renewable Energy:

• 100 sq. Miles of land is required for a wind/solar farm to "produce" the same energy as a one sq. mile coal or nuclear plan
• The Energy transmission grid is a major inhibitor of wind/solar energy. Note that the green people are saying build the solar in the Mojave Desert where there are thousands of sq. miles of land, or build the wind in the plains where large farmlands are available, then send it to California and other needy states. Fact is that energy losses are 10% for every 60 miles of transmission lines. For California, only around 9% of the energy produced will be there to consume.
• Greenies site the progress made by telling you 9% of today's energy demands are met by renewable energy. Facts are that 90% of the 9% has been around for decades via Hydro plants. And, it is many of these that are being threatened because of other environmental groups who want, and have already succeeded, in tearing down dams.
• The solar energy hitting the earth results in the ability of lighting ONE 100-watt light bulb per the area of a card table IF if the techno;logy can convert at 100% efficiency. No technology has gotten over 20% yet.
• An interesting paradox realized decades ago is that any increase in improving energy efficiencies will result in more energy to be consumed. Why? I give you a car that gives you 30 mpg instead of the 22 mpg you have and you drive it more to the tune of more gas being consumed. You swap out those old light bulbs for the new ones that fail faster if you turn then off and on and you leave them on longer. Think of anything and you will see this paradox's reality.
• One type of energy production, Geothermal, is viable, but not readily availability everywhere. Iceland will enjoy 70% of the electric from Geothermal by 2010. California has Geothermal. You need a vent hole -- natural or man made drilled deep into the earth, more than the 3 miles of that of the deepest oil well. What is Geothermal? A Terrestrial energy -- the decay heat of radioactive Uranium and Thorium heats the water underground that is pumped or naturally sent to the surface (think geysers) and can be used to spin the generators. Now think nuclear energy -- produced exactly the same in a controlled environment.
• Is nuclear energy safe: Chernobyl is the only incident that harmed mankind (only 40 dead) BECAUSE the Russians did not build a plant with safety standards as were built elsewhere in the world (note, France has most nuclear generation). For example, they never built an iron and concrete containment around the boiler. They also used a graphite moderator instead of water moderator. What this? A water moderator is the interjection of elements of water whose atoms can slow down the neurons of splitting uranium/thorium which move to fast to cause a chain reaction unless slowed down. Hence, if a leak in the water cooling tank happens, the chain reaction will stop instead of continuing to heat up. This principle is a built-in safety to absolutely avoid any explosions. However, in Russia they used graphite atoms which provide more efficient chain action production, but if the water cooling leaks the graphite does the opposite. It accelerates the chain reactions and gets hotter. Eventually, it itself becomes flammable and explodes -- hence, Chernobyl. More radioactivity was reported at Three Miles Island from Chernobyl than from the minor incident there. There was no breach of any deadly/harming radioactivity from Three Miles island at that event almost 30 years ago today.
• I could continue the facts. Let me point you to "Terrestrial Energy" by William Tucker instead. Learn why the only viable solution to the energy problems is a Nuclear-Solar alliance. Nuclear for the base and solar for peak needs.
  

132. "The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide" by Martin D. Weiss

"The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide" by Martin D. Weiss was a waste. The cover was only hype. He stated a coming depression but never even attempted to make the case. His text was already outdated and must have been written when the market was still going south. His tips were no more than what you could get from a high-level primer on investing. Don't waste your time with this book.

131. Meow, Meow Lions

The Lion meows after a 24-7 loss to Ohio State. Did they do anything right? Play calling sucked, defensive corners were terrible, safeties were sitting on their cans, Clark thought he was a cannon instead of a target rifle, Royster thought he was a Franco Harris and tried running always to the middle. Only little 182 lb. Zug showed some spunk, as did Boone who saved a touchdown making a tackle on about the Penn State 40 yard line on the runner who received his punt on their 3 yard line. OS was just too fast for the linebackers. Back to school!

130. Oil versus Foreign Debt

Everyone knows how much in debt we are to foreign countries, particularly China. Yet, we continue to print money and go further in debt when another country buys our debt. How do you stop this and the sorry trade deficit where we continue to import more and more while exporting less and less. Our dollar is be driven down to a very unhealthy price -- one that other countries may not want to own. It will only be a matter of time, shortly unfortunately, that China will not only stop buying our debt, but dump its dollar reserves completely. Many foreign countries have already been stockpiling Euros and other currencies in anticipation of this. How to we recover our dollar?

Here's an idea: Since it will take 10-15 years to build a nuclear plant (some are already started and were abandoned 30 years ago thanks to our leaders), oil must be drilled. We have promising volumes of oil off shore. Now, consider this. We start getting that oil up in the next 3-7 years (yes, we already have some derricks built off California) and start using it, we immediately reduce our dependency on foreign oil. This would shrink the trade deficit in a more positive direction and strengthen the dollar while ensuring America's credit rating in the world markets which will pul in more foreign investors. America would grow rapidly again. Jobless numbers would disappear. Drill more oil than needed or export some and we grow even more and more.

Hello Congress and Obama. Is anybody listening out there? We must get the oil our of the ground and give America the recovery needed to allow full exploitation of nuclear and renewable energy dreams. What are we waiting for! Stop the politics and do something that should have started/continued 30 years ago!

129. Book Reviews to Come

I also started to read the following books and will post my reviews in the future:

"Terrestrial Energy" by William Tucker explains why Nuclear Energy is our only hope to curtail the deadly emissions from coal burning and our dependency on oil. Renewable energies can only be "peak" and/or emergency suppliers of the electric demands in America -- that is needed, but along side the main supplier of Nuclear. As a tease, did you know it takes about 100 square miles of land for wind farm or solar producing electric to produce the same amount of energy from a ONE square mile nuclear or coal producing plant? Do the math yourself. America doesn't hand enough land to rely solely on renewable energy. From where do the facts come? The scientists in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. All energy producing technologies and fuels are discussed in this 2008 copyrighted book.

"The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide" by Martin D. Weiss c2009. Protect your savings, boost your income, and grow wealthy even in worst times. Sounds catchy. I haven't started this one yet.

128. Still Jobless? Shame On You

"Apprenticeship, with and without pay, has been a centuries-old institution in many parts of the world, and unpaid labor was not uncommon in the United States as late as the Great Depression of the 1930s, when people desperate for work took jobs without pay for the sake of gaining work experience that would improve their chances of getting paid jobs later, either with the same employer or with other employers who were hiring only experienced workers." People like F.W. Woolworth who was a "country bumpkin who was so inept that his duties were at first confined to sweeping the floor" turned his life around with UNPAID EXPERIENCE to become the founder of the F. W. Woolworth retail chain.

The above quotes are from "Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One", a highly recommended book by Thomas Sowell and previously posted on my blog. Mr. Sowell will tell you the truth about:

• Politics versus Economics
• Free and Unfree Labor
• The Economics of Medical Care [don't miss this chapter if you believe Gov't option is good]
• The Economics of Housing
• The Economics of Immigration [also a must chapter -- there cannot be a "general" immigration plan]
• The Economics of Discrimination
• The Economic Development of Nations
  

127. Obama Needs to Become Jobless!

"The extra 20 weeks could push the maximum a person in a high unemployment state could receive to 99 weeks, the most in history. Unemployment checks generally are for about $300 a week."

This is a quote from this article: "Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance"

Give me $300/week and I'd go cut grass when I want to -- certainly no more -- and pocket my tax free dollars too! What an incentive to find work. And, for 1.9 YEARS. $15,600/year is probably as much as many pensions or social security payments. Why don't we let all people collect welfare? Now we definitely don't want to ask these people to take a minimum salary job at $14,336/year do we? I need only ask, is the $300 tax free too? That is, are they really making the equivalent of $365 taxable dollars or $18,980/year? I want to thank these jobless people for not taking a lower or equal paying job than they have-- I enjoy paying your lazy butt. Personally, two days of this crap would make me feel totally guilty that I wasn't contributing to the America's growth instead of America's destruction. GET A LIFE.

By the way Michigan auto workers who are still jobless. Why don't you move to Delaware so you can work in Joe Biden's new GM plant being built? Can't you see that you job is most likely lost forever? Is the plant being built in Delaware because the state taxes are lower offer businesses? Or because of pork politics? WAKE UP.

126. The Running of the Bulls

Nice spark to the market today -- up 203.82, 2.08%, to 10005.96. My calls have been pretty accurate -- check if you like by clicking on "Stocks." With that I'm going to venture another prediction. I've already predicted an 11,000 DJIA high by year end, but have to first guess how that will occur. Signs in the grass tell me I can lift my nose up and enjoy the squirrels in the trees for the next 8-9 trading days before I should get back to sniffing out the next breather in the market which should be a short one with recovery already in place by Thanksgiving. The oscillations still predict only about a 10,800 high in December, but I see a recovery from a small December drop passing the 10900 mark heading upward by year's end. Something has to happen to drive the DJIA to the 11,000 mark before January 5th -- maybe another better-than-expected GDP report and FED ignoring the inevitable rise in inflation and some false reduction in job employment numbers. But, I'm sticking to my story -- 11K by year end. However, I feel pretty pessimistic about early January -- hope that feeling goes away, but am afraid it would only be a delay.

125. A Cup of Tea

Today Master and wife came back from the park with a brighter aura than ever. They said they were at a Tea Party and said the American Patriot shirts they wore were representative of the party theme. Master also said that today, 37 years after he was released from the Navy in 1972, was the very first time ever he was personally thanked for his service in the Viet Nam war -- many individuals came by and shook the hands of the patriots who help preserve our freedom to date. A special attribute to all the war veterans from years past was part of the festivities that focused on getting our country back and preserving our freedoms and values. This was a most memorable day. A rough estimate of 400-500 (at one time) were engaged civilly partaking the activities while four mindless protesters carried their signs -- they looked like mindless robots. Master said he could imagine, if they had brains, how embarrassed they must have been to do that while the crowd sang America the Beautiful and other patriotic songs while they wove their way through the crowd. The leaders of the Tea Party were amazing, instructing the crowd not to hate them but to embrace them for it is because of America and its freedoms that they can do this.

I know I'm going to get extra hugs and maybe a fresh bone tonight. Maybe you too should get to a Tea Party and grab some of that aura. God Bless Y'all.

124. House Bill 3962 – Part 7

This is my last post re HR3962. Did I read it all? Yes and No. There is NOTHING informational in the remainder of the document. The Medicare Division section is a joke. 99.9% of what I browsed is bureaucratic construction, studies, analysis, regulations. I can't find ANY benefits for We the People. How can you possibly estimate a cost when most of the details are UNKNOWN?

We are in deep doo-doo if they push this bill forward! There is absolutely no reason for including 75% of the crap they included in here. What shocks me is that can't Medicare make any changes without going through the Bill-Process? This alone is why we don't ever want a government run program of any kind, particular Health Care!

Here's a suggestion. If they really want a government run health care program, then BUY an insurance company and declare it as THE public option. NO changes would have to be made to any staff, administration, etc. Costs would be maybe $50B for the company and $1B for any modifications. A whopping $51B instead of $1.3T!

This administration is either really stupid or trying to break our economy and people's spirit on purpose! Wake up America. I hope everybody gets out tomorrow's D.C. Tea party or local one soon. I WILL be attending the one here tomorrow at noon at John Stiff Memorial Park. Join me local residents.

Grade for entire bill = "F"

123. House Bill 3962 – Part 6

Now that you know the IMMEDIATE Reforms, on to Protections and Standards for Qualified Health Benefit Plans, TITLE II of Division A starting on Page 89.

This will be brief as possible since some of the plans were already discussed under Immediate Reforms and similar here.

We already know that no one can be denied insurance regardless of preexisting conditions for NEW plans (available some time 3-5 years from now?). Remember, existing insurance plans must conform to lower limits of periods for which they do not have to cover preexisting conditions; there was no provision though between now and when new plans become available at exchanges that address new applicants. I believe it is still the case that you can be turned away and forced to apply for the high-risk pool insurance that the federal government or maybe the states will administer (undecided yet and probably not priced by CBO).

Guaranteed renewal is goodness as is prohibiting rescissions, but these might increase premiums.

Insurance premiums, like policies today, can vary by Age, Geographical Area, Family Size. The nice part is that the Age equation cannot be greater than 2:1 (High:Low). This will benefit the 50-65 bunch. Don't quite understand how this older health care pool is going to be funded with just a maximum of 2x the lower age group premiums. Unless -- ahah -- the premium picked is the same as that of the 50-65 group now and the younger groups get blistered a higher premium no less than 1/2 of that. The devil in the details. 2:1 could be good for the old folks if their premiums are based on a low younger group premium equal to those today, However, somebody will pay more while the other the same. Hence, higher premiums on the average!

Ensuring adequacy of networks would be nice. This means the government will examine the networks providers and ensure they are adequate to the population for specific areas. Does that mean they are going to build hospitals in the rural areas or improve hospitals in your area? Does that mean they will ship in physicians? Not necessarily -- could mean that you may still have to travel 30-60 miles to get to an "adequate" facility or physician. I don't have a clue how they are going to ensure adequacy and sure they don't either. These are just political propaganda words.

Already covered dependency changes to include children (hah, children) up to 27 years old (at a higher premium) in previous posts.

Consistency of costs and coverage is simply the insurance companies must notify you 90 days in advance of a change. Big deal.

The NEW plans will be "Essential Benefits", "Enhanced", and "Premium" with coinsurance of 70%, 85%, and 95% respectively; that is what the insurer will pay after deductible and out-of-pocket expenses. The "Essential Benefits" plan (also included in other plans) excluded annual and lifetime limits, limits cost sharing (coinsurance, co-pays -- out-of-pocket dollars) to under $10K for family or $5K for individual, included preventive care for whatever grade A/B is at no cost (no limits on quantity defined yet),and does NOT cover abortions -- "Enhanced" and "Premium" apparently do cover abortions.

Oral Health Care? Not defined in the packages, but availability is open later. I am sure this is another way to defer additional cost estimates.

This takes us to Page 119. Having read the previous House Bill, we can expect pain at the end of the bill that deceptively tells us a little about how we are going to be taxed. Done for tonight. Peace.

122. House Bill 3962 – Part 5

Last section in the IMMEDIATE REFORMS section is Administration simplification. Hah! All but simplification. Maybe if everybody conforms to standards, regulations, electronic records, electronic payments, websites, additional informational packages, etc., then, some remote day in the future when we forget the cost of all this additional effort in a short period, thing will be more simple. But, most of this is already driven from technology and would happen anyway. I see only the standardization of forms, bills, etc. to be our benefit. The cost will be more government bureaucracy to build and administer this, plus huge changes to private insurers. Oh-oh, there goes the premiums up some more. What happened to the original goal - affordable health care? I'm a believer in computer technology and its benefits. The future will be benefit with or without the standardization. Grade this one a "C".

121. House Bill 3962 – Part 4

I’ll now continue my attempt to address more of the IMMEDIATE REFORMS.

Section 103. Ending Health insurance rescission. I guess I never realized the insurer for reasons other than fraud could cancel insurance. Fraud will remain as a reason, but they suggest a practice already exists where insurance can be rescinded. I’ll take their word for it and give them a PLUS for the guaranteed renewal and must continue in force law. They will also offer third party review of cases where insurance was cancelled. You know, like most states already do.

Section 104. Sunshine on price gouging. Already done by states, but definitely not effectively, reviews of premium changes will be done to ensure premium increases are not out of line. Like the government can do it better. The government will staff its bureaucracy with redundant people and duplicate efforts. Dream on. This is fluff.

Section 105. Dependents less than 27 years old. Yes, you 20-year old couch potatoes, you're parents will come to your rescue to make sure you are insured right up to 27 years old. The government will let you fight for its country and vote at 18, but you will be allowed to continue to get your diapers changed through the ripe old age of 27. Do we need this? My kids already had their own insurance in college. More Fluff! Just skip the 4-5 repetitions of the same text and go to Section 106. Oh, there go the Employer policy insurance premiums up! Guess where the cost gets transferred -- yes, you..

Section 106. Preexisting conditions. This is a convoluted section. Suffice it to say that within many other pieces of legislation the terms stated in those legislations will change as follows: 6 months to 30 days, 12 months to 3 months, 18 months to 9 months. Now, I believe, but I could certainly be wrong, an example of how this applies to you might be the clause in your insurance policy that says no coverage of your preexisting condition will be offered for the first 12 months of your policy. Now this would be only 3 months. Get it? I believe this section applies to those INSURED people who have a rider excluding coverage for some term. But, who knows – it isn’t in English.

Section 107. Domestic Violence? I give up. The next several sections are related to minute numbers of people too. So far, VERY FEW people are going to benefit from anything.

Let me break away from the order and skip a few.

Section 109. Lifetime limits eliminated. We all understand this. But, do you also understand that this WILL increase premiums!

Section 112. Wellness program grants. This benefits employees and owners of small businesses. The Secretary will later after the bill is enacted define employers included in the small business definition. So, how do you estimate the cost when you don’t know the specifics? Here we go again. Anyway, grants of 50% of incurred Employer cost for qualified wellness programs will be given to small business owners up to an annual limit of $150 per employee and $50,000 over the grant period up to 3 years. The employer must choose three areas from a list on page 66 (c). Who do you think will pay for these? Get out your wallet. Do you think the CBO factored in cost here?

I have reached my limit of tolerance. Maybe I’ll return with more posts. There were some positive benefits in this analysis, but there were also a lot of costs not defined. The latter will prevail given the current economic conditions. Thus, again, grade=”F”

120. House Bill 3962 – Part 3

I’ll now continue my attempt to address the remainder of the IMMEDIATE REFORMS.

Section 102 Ensuring value and lower premiums. This section, also labeled as Section 2714 in another act, attempts to punish the private insurers IMMEDIATELY if they make too much profit. If you were reading the news, the insurance companies made an average of 2.2% profit last year, 34^th I believe in the list of industries. So, first off, we’re punishing an industry already punished by rising medical costs. Now, what is the new punishment? The government will assess whether they are making too much and will make them return some amounts above some average “medical loss ratio” to the insured. Guess what happens if the insurers decided that the government was wrong? Maybe they incurred some catastrophe within the company. Maybe they need to expand and need the extra change to cover that. No-no. All companies must be equal and will not be allowed to grow or provide any additional client beneficial features because they are being forced to stay close to status quo; unless, of course, they increase your premium to cover the rebate to you in the prior year. Oh no, they wouldn’t do that would they?

So, now we have the Federal Government regulating prices within the Insurance industry, as they are already in Banking, Auto, FCC (to come shortly with Net Neutrality). Wasn’t it bad enough they threw our dollars away to the Auto industry, CIT, and all the other bailouts? I haven’t seen so many Marxist moves since the Soviet Cold War days.

Can you believe the bill called this section “Ensuring value and lower premiums?” That’s all folks. Don’t see this goal met here. Another grade = “F”

119. House Bill 3962 – Part 2

This is a review of pages 1-26.

First Division A, Title I. IMMEDIATE reforms.

Whereas the big stuff like exchanges and government public option come later in the bill and are implemented up to 5 years from enactment, there are some things that will take effect IMMEDIATELY and therefore impact Health Care providers, Insurers, States, and you. These are covered in Sections 101 through 115 and summarized following:

1. Creation of a High-risk pool for people with no insurance who were turned down because of preexisting conditions. – Section 101 beginning on Page 16.
1. Temporary program until exchanges become available but limited to 3 years.
2. It is undecided whether federal government will administer this or states. Thus, it’ impossible to come up with a cost. Will this be an additional bureaucracy in the federal government (additional federal taxpayer dollars) or additional effort for states (additional state taxpayer dollars). Get the drift? UNKNOWN TAXPAYER dollars assigned.
3. Are you eligible? Good luck deciphering the text in this bill. My understand of it though is if you are uninsured for more than 6 months and your employer does not offer you insurance and you tried to get insurance but you were either denied or offered an existing high-risk pool package (some states already have this) that was unaffordable, you may be eligible. Otherwise, sorry, you remain uninsured until you qualify.
4. If you are eligible, how do you enroll and are there other qualifications? Well, the Secretary will tell you how (I guess when he determines who will pay for it and who will administer it). But you must be a resident of one of the 50 states or District of Columbia. Interesting that NO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT statements appear! Thus, I would say if you are an illegal immigrant but declare residency in a state, then you qualify.
5. What will prevent me from dropping my inadequate insurance coverage for my high-risk condition and getting into this pool of “supposedly” lower cost? The watchdogs will not allow you to do this! Nor will it allow your employer or insurer to “encourage” you to do this. Sanctions will be imposed.
6. Now for some real funny math and deception. Page 22 begins an explanation of Premiums and coverage. The Premiums can vary by Age or Geographical Area as in all policies today. Also stated was the Premium “shall be set at a level that does not exceed 125 percent of the prevailing standard rate for comparable coverage in the individual market…Health insurance issuers shall provide such information as the Secretary may require to determine prevailing standard rates.” What does this mean? I can only assume the Secretary will gather the current premiums private insurance companies charge for the high-risk pool people, take an average, and then charge no more than 125% more. Let me see – if the individual already could not afford it, how is this going to help? It may allow some people to GET insurance, but the COST IS STILL HIGH. Then when they follow this up will benefits like no annual or lifetime limits and under $5000 (individual) or $10,000 (family) out-of-pocket (excluding premiums), you have to wonder how they cannot charge the maximum 125%.
7. More funny math. Where do the funds to pay claims come from? This is where the $5,000,000,000 comes in from the Treasury (or should I say your pocket). I have no idea how many people are sitting without insurance because of preexisting conditions, but I know a few personally. Shall we say of the 57M or so uninsured, maybe 5M? Let’s use just 1M. To fund the claims of 1M people who will be sucking the fund dry due to very, very high medical costs (say, conservatively an average of $100,000 per year – but more likely $200,000), the fund must have $1,000,000,000,000 – that’s $1 Trillion. There goes the $5 Billion government added amount in year 1 leaving $995B to be funded by premiums. Ouch, that’s $995B/1M = $995,000/year per person or $79170/month per person. WOW. Why did we waste our time with this “benefit?” So you say my assumptions are wrong. Work it again with lower assumptions. Assume only $50,000 average per year for 500,000 people = $25,000,000,000 ($25B). $25-$5B=$20B funding required. $20B/500,000=$40,000/yr=$3333/month. Ok, what ARE the CORRECT numbers? What will be the cost? Isn’t even $3333/mo. too high? Can we agree it is UNAFFORDABLE and the fund will be insufficient?
8. But wait, we forgot the clause about what happens if the funds are insufficient. Remember on Page 26 and as stated in Post 118: “adjustments … to eliminate such deficit, including reducing benefits, increasing premiums, or establishing waiting lists” will be necessary. Well, doesn’t this bring us back to start?
9. Not to worry. Remember, this is only a temporary (VERY) program (that benefits nobody) and will expire when exchanges become available. In other words, sit it out like you are doing. There is no hope for you to get insurance any less expensive than already exists in states that offer high risk pools. For those that don’t, sorry. Nancy Pelosi and Dingell and crew have already wasted your tax dollars creating a Frankenstein out of the first 26 pages for nothing in return by added bureaucracy costs to implement.

Gee. Only 1970 odd pages to go. I’m already certain it is worthless to continue, but I have already gotten to page 119 and will post Part III shortly.

Grade for Section 101 = "F"

118. House Bill 3962 - Part 1

House Bill 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act’

Is it readable? Well, it’s constructed, organized, and written at a level not “as smart as a 5^th grader.” If you can get past a document that violates all outlining rules you learned in junior high school English and want to jump around in the document instead of going to one logical place or in a logical order to get an answer, then you might have a shot at wading through the muck. But, don’t count on it without some additional guidance, like expecting things to be repeated 5-6 times because the same change might affect 5-6 different, existing pieces of legislature. This is one example of poor organization and a major reason the bill is five times longer than it should be.

Here are a few things that need to be overlooked to get you through the bill:

1. Page 2 begins an overall outline of the bill. TITLE V has some Subtitles under it. Oops. They are wrong! The detailed outline for Division A begins on page 5 and is different for TITLE V – compare Page 7 to Page 2! Looks like the bill is off to a wrong start – how about a “D” for the table of contents!
2. General Definitions on beginning on Page 9 are a real kick. Instead of creating a section of definitions one could reference when required, they created a mix of some of that, but mostly an index into the 1900+ document or other documents where the word is “supposedly” defined for real. Give them an “F” for this.
3. What about the repetitions? If they would have listed all the other acts/legislation that also change in one place you’d have a picture of the complexity of changing a single piece of legislature. I would have them created an appendix for each of these acts/legislature and put the specific changes within the appropriate ones. Up front then they would have only needed to tell you IN ENGLISH what is new or different and refer to the appropriate appendices for specific changes in those acts/legislature. Thus, just give us a clear shot at understanding what this bill is about, then allow us to go to the appendices for details elsewhere. Again, another “F” for organization and complexity.
4. My first hang up though was on Page 1 – the goal “reduce the growth in health care spending”. Isn’t it clever that the word “spending” was used instead of “cost”! What’s the difference? If you read my Posts 113 and 111, you’ll understand that “spending” = “Perceived costs” and are the dollars you take out of your pocket to pay the insurer or to pay the medical provider; whereas, “cost” is the dollars it takes to provide the medical good/service. COST = SPENDING (Insurance Premium + Out-of-Pocket co-pay or co-insurance + TAXES (a hidden cost) + Additional Waiting costs (loss pay, etc.). Reducing “spending” doesn’t cut Health Costs! Insurance premiums go up because the overall cost continues to go up. We must reduce COST! Since the goals are wrong, I must already give this bill a double “F-” (did you know there was something less than an “F”?)
5. The outline structure is almost completely opposite of good document organization – we would expect I.A.1.a.(1),(a) as the logical indentation order. Expect instead to see (a).(1).a.1.A. Also, don’t expect to see things indented always to the right. The lack of structure makes this document almost impossible to follow to determine where a particular paragraph belongs.

These shortcomings contribute greatly to the reasons why this government has lost its way and is no longer trusted. It looks like it is intentionally written like this to “hide” something. Well, you’ll see that it is, e.g.:

• You’ll read about an undecided benefit that may be included after the bill is signed – specifically oral health care. Of course these costs aren’t going to be part of the original estimate.
• You’ll also see the use of large figures (e.g., $5,000,000,000) to entice you into believing that this amount can’t possibly be exceeded, but on Page 26, you’ll find hidden actions that if it is actions such as “adjustments … to eliminate such deficit, including reducing benefits, increasing premiums, or establishing waiting lists” will be necessary.

Additional Posts will be my interpretation of the bill IN ENGLISH. Maybe this will help you understand what this bill is about.

117. Buyers Getting Anxious

All aboard the bus. Buyers have been trying to raise the DJIA, but there are still sellers determined to drop it. The last 2 business days have been a volatile roller coaster with today ending up. I feel with the buyer pressure we'll win shortly. Maybe some more volatility tomorrow -- I started edging back in today at market lows. Guess you could call me anxious -- 9550-9600 was my original estimated low, but each day moves that upward. So, following a low of 9664 and then a 9679, the floor may be under this market. This may be the time catch the bus to the DJIA 11,000 New Year's Eve Extravaganza.

116. Broncos Pull Up Lame; Boys slay Seahawks

While the Broncos pulled up lame after a 30-7 beating from the Ravens, the Cowboys rounded up and devoured the Seahawks 38-17. Loss number 1 for the Broncos -- soon to be 2 when the Steelers show up at Mile High Monday , November 9th (Steelers had a bye this week).

115. John Stossel on Health Care while Still at ABC

The following came via an email from a friend (Aa): "John Stossel was fired from ABC (20-20)'s shortly after he covered Obamacare in a news feature. The actual airing of the special was delayed until AFTER Henry Waxman's House committee voted on HR3200. All this was, of course, "coincidence." John is now on FOX News. View his telecast here. This is a MUST to see and further clarifies what I have been posting.

114. CBO Confirms Higher Premium Costs

Go to this article for details of the latest on the House Health Care bill. As I mentioned in many previous posts, premiums in a price-controlled system will go up. I'm glad to see the CBO agrees. From the article is the following:

"Who's likely to sign up?

The budget office said "a less healthy pool of enrollees" would probably be attracted to the public option, drawn by the prospect of looser rules on access to specialists and medical services.

As a result, premiums in the public plan would be higher than the average for private plans. That could nudge healthy middle-class workers and their families to sign up for private plans."

So, as with computer processes the House proved "Garbage In, Garbage Out" after many, many months of time and taxpayer dollars ONCE AGAIN! Good job Pelosi! The Senate bill won't be much different.

113. Who Can't Read? Who's Stupid?

What can’t the congressmen and congresswomen understand? Well, besides everything! My family just finished discussing government control of Health Care yet AGAIN. If you remember in a previous post, we received a letter from Unicare stating termination of business in Texas. Fortunately Master and wife have guaranteed coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield thanks to Unicare negotiation. However, they also applied for even cheaper insurance with Humana. This all started a discussion about just how are the REAL medical care costs paid and by whom.

Thomas Sowell in his book “Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One” explained it best. The answer: YOU always pay. The smoke and mirrors Congress is using to get you to believe you will be paying less refers ONLY to what you think you will actually pay out of pocket ("perceived costs") and ignores the hidden costs. Look at it this way. If you were providing a service, your costs would include time and labor, goods and materials, travel, advertising, insurance, taxes, etc. On top of these costs you would appreciate a profit, say 20%, so you can grow your business and have needed reserves as a buffer in tough times. So, let’s say your costs are $1000, meaning you will charge $1200 for the service. If your client has no insurance, he gets charged $1200. Already you see that some people will pay full price – the uninsured. Unless, of course, they are poor and you the taxpayer gets to pay a portion of that $1200 bill.

To make you “feel” like you are getting a bargain, a medical insurance provider will negotiate prices (price control) with medical providers and maybe get the service for $1000 instead of $1200. Well, how will the medical provider grow without its 20% profit margin? No problem, the service now becomes $1500 for uninsured people to cover the negotiated price between the insurance company and medical provider. As you can see, there is always a tier-pricing scheme when a group negotiates price controls -- and you get to participate even more when they can't pay for it.

So far, so good? I’ll not get into risk pools within an insurance company which also shares the cost of people highly utilizing medical care versus those who seldom do – surely you can see that those healthy people paying premiums end up paying more than their share of the total premiums collected since they are getting nothing out of it. Instead, let’s now create a HMO and/or Government Health Care plan. Both would negotiate prices, as did the insurance companies. Again, both would get reductions in what THEY would pay equal to less than what the medical providers charge. Again, who will pay for the difference? Yes, YOU. How? Taxes are one way – these are hidden in an overall Income Tax and/or in surcharges/taxes on goods and/or services. The charges you “feel” are just the insurance PREMIUMS. We all know how much they go up every year. Want to guess why? The original charge for a medical service = negotiate price + difference. Additionally, your premium will now reflect the original cost + bureaucracy costs (insurance company, HMO, Government) + additional overhead costs (to follow). There are many ways to charge you without you even knowing it. Are we finished now? NO.

What happens when the “perceived cost” of a product/service (the cost you readily see disappear from your pocket at the time of the service) that is highly desired and demanded gets cheaper? Hmmm – more people demand it; the waiting queues increase both in a medical provider’s facility or the time-to-service-begin gets longer. Its no wonder, as in Sowell’s book, the Canadian had to wait 15 weeks for the same surgery that in America would be only 2-3 weeks. If you recall my previous post re his book, the cost of being out of work and being debilitated and/or in pain were additional “hidden” costs not factored in when the politicians push their agendas. Because the queues become so long, doctors start using more aides to see you instead of him/her (lower quality) and spend less time with you (lower quality). Now that things get rushed because queues continue to get long for the now “affordable” treatment, doctors halve or third the results of each visit and ask you to return (additional visit charge) and order more tests (additional charges). If the prices keep getting negotiated down, the doctors will have to weigh the consequences as they did in Britain – over 1/3 or its doctors had to be imported, i.e., not from in-country educational institutions, to fill in for those who decided to move elsewhere (yet another quality issue as well as a quantity issue). Who pays for this new ineffectiveness and inefficiency? YOU of course.

All price-controls do is shift the charge of service or good to others or to hide the charge in something you never think about, like withholding tax. YOU ALWAYS end up paying. As Sowell points out with facts, NO price-control system ever cuts overall, real costs of a product or service. They only HIDE the real cost and show you a “perceived” cost to make you think you are paying less.

You can do your homework now and understand this, or suffer a Government Health Care plan later. Oh, by the way, Sowell also informs you that price-control effects on the economy can take up to a decade to surface (i.e., to become a real pain in the butt) to where you now “perceive” them. Folks, that's 2 presidencies down the line. Thus, why the bills in Congress won’t begin until 2013! Would you want to explain crappy results before a reelection? The bills are 100% politics and 0% medical reform.

The clocks have fallen back early this morning. You now got your extra hour to sleep. It’s again time to face the facts and stand up for America.I am truly puzzled why the humans in Congress can't read! Maybe we need an educational program for them. Who's stupid? Does anybody really expect more than 10% of the doctors to take Medicare patients in 10 years? The percentage has been dropping yearly! Oh gee, Medicare is another one of those price-control government programs!

112. We Are!

We Are Penn State...and a very nice victory over Northwestern 34-13. However, the first half was not only lackluster for the Lions, but scary. The defense didn't show up until the second half when Odrick,Crawford, and Lee unloaded. Clark (71% completions and 274 yards) and the offense followed suit with great offensive line blocking, super running by both Royster (another 123 yards) and Beachum, and exceptional pass receiving by Moye. Plus, if you were looking at the hidden stars, you would have noticed Suhey cleaning the lanes for Royster. Let's hope all the remaining games are like the solid second half.

Today: Broncos behind at the moment, Cowboys are up, and the Steelers off.