Patient Dumping For Fun And Profit

In another sign that nothing is wrong with the healthcare industry and reform is just a pointless endeavor only to be used to deny people care/coverage, it's great that we have people like AETNA to deny people care/coverage now.

In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.

"The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering," said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. "We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year."

The stricking thing about this is that they are very open about the fact that these people are being dropped. And it's not like AETNA didn't turn a profit, they just want MORE of one.

Greatest healthcare industry in the world. Right?

Bend Over And Get Ready

Careful with those songs you've d/l'd from Kazaa or Limewire or whatever P2P platform you use. The RIAA is not fucking around around anymore.

Recording Industry Association of America is going for the jugular in an ongoing file sharing trial in Massachusetts, urging a federal judge to clarify jury instructions so panelists would award up to $150,000 in damages for each of 30 songs at issue.

The move, made Thursday in the Joel Tenenbaum case, suggests the RIAA stands behind its $1.92 million jury verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the nation’s first defendant to take on the RIAA at a file sharing trial.

The RIAA has until Aug. 12 to inform the Thomas-Rasset judge whether the $80,000 fine a jury awarded for each of two dozen songs was so out of whack that it was unconstitutionally excessive. The June verdict garnered national headlines because of the unusually large award.

One has to wonder exactly who determines the overall value of a not just the song, but the potential after-effects. Are these people that d/l songs online never going to buy liscensed recordings again? Are they going to stop going to see concerts? After all, the concert circuit if where bands make their real money. You tour and get your talent out there and people will buy your CDs.

Also, you get something unique when you purchase a CD. Aside from the artwork, labels may add incentives for the consumer, like exclusive content ( i.e. programs to run on your computer or video and unreleased tracks ). And for all the speculation that downloading tracks from the internet is going to destroy the recording industry, the RIAA has yet to produce any viable information that would support their claim.

This isn't to say that buy a CD is cheap, it actually isn't. With the average cost of one CD from just about any band ringing up at close to $20 for a single disc, it's no wonder that many people are turning to the internet for free music. But how does the RIAA justify fining someone such an unblushingly massive amount of money for one song?

I think Gordon Gecko has the answer.

I Can Has Bonuses?

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!

How about a nice piece of FUCK OFF!!

Merrill Lynch & Co. chief John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered securities firm's compensation committee is resisting his request, according to people familiar with the situation.

From The Wall Street Journal



Yeah, this is the guy that headed Lynch and lost almost $12 billion ( yes, kids, that's with a big-ass B ) and he's asking for a bonus.

That's like driving drunk, running over some pedestrians, punching a cop in the gooch, and then asking for a double-shot of J&B scotch ( neat ) once they get through processing you at the station.

Not only that, but Lynch was bought out by Bank Of America, and he's somehow staying one. In what capacity, no one is saying at this time.

This corporate hack should have been tossed out on his ass.

More here from a story at Reuters

And we should have this guy tossing John Thain out of the building when he gets told: