Good grief!

“... I have...asked my Judiciary committee staff to prepare legislation to make it a crime to scalp inaugural tickets... This inauguration will be the major civic event of our time, and these tickets are supposed to be free for the people. Nobody should have to pay for their tickets... This legislation is meant to immediately stop the unscrupulous behavior of those who obtain these tickets for free and then seek to profit by selling them, often at dramatically inflated prices. This bill also would target those duping the public with fraudulent tickets or promises of tickets they don’t actually have... This is unconscionable and must not be allowed..."

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to sell or attempt to sell tickets to the inauguration. The penalty for violations? Fines of up to $100,000 and one year in prison. News reports say that the bill also makes it "... illegal to create fake or forged tickets..."

Hmm, this blogger hadn't realized that creating fake or forged tickets and then selling them to unsuspecting dupes, cheating them out of their money, was currently legal and needed a bill to outlaw! But yes, something definitely needs to be done about people trying to profit!!

Trying to keep inaugural tickets priceless
Feinstein seeks to penalize inauguration scalpers
Feinstein: Inaugural passes not ‘tickets to a football game’

Thirty years later...

Tomorrow, November 18th is the 30th anniversary of the events at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana i.e. "Jonestown." On that day over 900 died in a mass suicide; a Congressman - Leo Ryan (D-CA) - and others were murdered; and the events that occurred led to the term "drinking the Kool-Aid" entering the American lexicon...

Today, nature/the jungle has reclaimed Jones' putative "socialist paradise."

Jonestown Memorial
Jonestown - Wikipedia
Jonestown - Google images
Jonestown - Google video
An anlayisis of Jonestown
Lessons from Jonestown (APA)
30 Years Later, Survivors Remember Jonestown Massacre
Jonestown - The life and death of Peoples' Temple (American Experience)

G20

Picture credit: G20 communique via Wordle

World leaders at the G20 meeting labored mightily... and brought forth a communique! It remains to be seen what measures the various governments will take, and how well they will be able to mitigate the financial pain that is occurring...

G20 Communique

What G20 leaders must do to stabilize our economy and fix the financial system - a collection of essays by leading economists from around the world on what the G20 leaders should do this weekend. Four priorities are identified: nations should act quickly to strengthen and coordinate their firefighting responses; they should immediately reinforce the IMF’s ability to fire-fight the crisis as it spreads to emerging markets and vulnerable developing nations; they should 'above all, do no harm'. Finally, they should start 'thinking outside the box' when it comes to long-run fixes.

Mental health break

Studies of Interest - IV

Provider of audit, finance, consulting, tax, and risk management services, Deloitte has produced 'Industry Compass 2.0' - a framework to look at the forces shaping healthcare. From their web site - this framework:

"... goes beyond traditional industry boundaries to help examine dynamic zones of impact and make sense of complex transformations across six drivers of change. Our Compass map provides a framework for discussing how potential trends and issues might interact over the coming decade and how your organization might respond to or even co-create the future... Industry Compass 2.0 is a visual guide designed to help you think about, plan for and navigate the future in an engaging and constructive way. It supports strategic analysis and planning around the puzzling grid of potential trends and issues confronting life sciences companies, health care providers, health plans and other stakeholders in the coming decade. The major elements of the Compass map – Drivers, Impact Zones, Trends, Signals, Hurdles, Landmarks and Artifacts – provide a framework for discussing how the elements might interact and how your organization might navigate the future ..."

Studies of interest - III

In an ominous sign for U.S. retailers and the economy as a whole, American Research Group, Inc.'s 2008 holiday shopping survey shows that "... Shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of $431 for gifts this holiday season, down from $859 last year... The overall average planned spending is down almost 50% from 2007 and it is the lowest level of planned spending recorded by the American Research Group since 1991 ..."

Hmm, this blogger's household seems to be rather counter-cyclical - paying off all credit cards when others were racking up charges, a home purchase Q1 of 2007, a car purchase this month, plans for robust Christmas spending (mostly on a nice trip), etc., etc.

Studies of interest - II

Picture credit: AmericanaAirFilter

From the American Society for Quality:

"... October 1, 2008, marked a watershed event in the pay for performance movement in healthcare. That is the day when Medicare stopped paying hospitals for care related to so-called “never events”—errors in medical care that are preventable, clearly identifiable, and serious in their consequences for patients. This Quarterly Quality Report offers suggestions for ways that healthcare institutions can prevent such “never events” from happening. The suggestions range from simple, common-sense steps to solutions afforded by modern technologies. It also points out things that patients can do to reduce the likelihood of suffering one of these unfortunate occurrences. The solutions are drawn from a survey of healthcare quality practitioners conducted by ASQ in late August and early September 2008 ..."