Europe in crisis – Hungary

The BBC is reporting that Moody’s has downgraded Hungary to junk status. The reasons  given by Moody’s are the following:

1. high levels of debt;

2. weak prospects;

3. uncertainty as to whether the government can achieve its goals.

Hungary is the latest country to suffer from a downgrade. This is not good news because what it means that there are extra pressures because of higher interest rates required for any new investment bonds.

The Hungarian government obviously disagrees with Moody’s and on top of that Standard and Poors have taken an opposite approach, leaving Hungry to communicate with the IMF and the EU.

Since I know very little about what is happening in Hungary I cannot comment too much on the situation at present. However, I am noticing a particular trend relating to the European Union. It seems that the Eurozone is getting closer and closer to collapse with each of these downgradings.

What I do not know about Hungary are things like :

1. the welfare state

2. the level of investment in wasteful “green” projects

3. the level of unemployment

4. the rate of inflation

The only thing that I picked up from the article is that Moody’s considers the Hungarian economy to be weak and therefore they should be downgraded.

Healthcare – why socialist funding fails

I live in Australia where we have a socialist part-government funded healthcare. This is slightly different from the debacle in the UK but we are not far behind when it comes to ending up with a total disaster.

The current system is known as Medicare. The way that this is funded is through a levy on income tax. Everyone who is earning any income pays the medicare levy. The reality of the system depends upon the State where one is living, and my own experiences are within Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. In the UK the doctors are employed by an area health service called a Trust. You do not have a choice of doctor, or at least that is my understanding. On top of that, in the UK you can end up being banned from a practice for no particular reason. That kind of thing does not apply in Australia, but if Gough Whitlam had his way when he introduced this debacle in the first place, then yes it could have ended up that bad. In recent years I have read a lot of stories regarding the problems with the UK Health System, and there are many problems, especially associated with the care of the elderly. This is also outside of my experience.

In the current Australian system I can go to my GP of choice. However, what I cannot do is choose to opt for direct payment via Medicare. My current GP charges $60 per 10 minutes in a visit. Go over that 10 minutes and it is even more expensive. At least in Sydney my GP accepted just the Medicare only payment, which suited my particular circumstances. The real problem as far as I am concerned is the scheduled fee which is determined by public servant who has no real experience of what it costs to run a private practice. The scheduled fee is something like $34.90. If I was attending a specialist, where the fees range from $110 to more than $240 I am expected to pay that money and then claim from Medicare. In my latest example, the fee is $240 for the initial visit, and the scheduled fee is $70. I will get back 85% of the scheduled fee. Something does not compute!!

On top of this, even with private health insurance, these costs are not covered, and the reason that it is not covered is in fact due to the government and its legislation. Private health funds are not allowed to insure for the difference between what the doctor charges and the scheduled fee. This leaves a patient with chronic illness very much out of pocket. Until the legislation is changed there is nothing that can be done about the situation.

There are other costs not covered by the government – physiotherapy is a prime example of something that is not covered under Medicare. To this you can add the cost of seeing a podiatrist and purchasing orthotics, the cost of visiting a dentist, and other associated costs, dietician, pyschologist etc. (although I think psychology now gets some cover). People with weight problems and who are Diabetic need to see a dietician but the cost is not covered. The health funds will only cover up to about 50% of the fee in some of these cases.

Prior to the interference by Gough Whitlam our system was not that bad, and it was not broken. People from the lower income brackets could still afford to see a doctor, and they were not turned away from the public hospitals. Here in Australia we have State run public hospitals such as the Victorian Women’s Hospital, or a more recent example of the Monash Medical Centre, and then there are the private hospitals. No one gets turned away from these hospitals. However, if one goes in as a private patient to a hospital, the bills will stack up!!! Over time government payments to the hospitals have been reduced leaving them quite often in crisis and unable to pay their bills on time.  Some hospitals are good with their payments but others have a really bad history when it comes to paying suppliers. The situation has been getting worse and worse.

Why is this the case? First of all, when it comes to the hospital system, accident and emergency is overused for non-urgent cases. Yes, it is true, I have gone to the local hospital, on the weekends when my doctor is not available!! I have had legitimate reasons to seek that help when I have gone to the accident and emergency department of the local hospital. So yes, I plead guilty. However, this is not the case for people who turn up when they have colds or similar minor complaints. These people need to be seen in a different context – they need to be removed from the Accident and Emergency Departments of the hospital system. Perhaps they also need to pay a small fee for the visit, I do not know the right answer for this problem.  Second, we have an ageing population requiring more in the way of what is considered “non urgent” operations and procedures. Third, we have an increasing number of women seeking expensive IVF treatments.

Let me address this last point: I do not believe that women should be entitled to receive IVF at public expense. It is not because I do not have sympathy for someone who has difficulty in getting pregnant, it is because in a number of cases, the women think that they have some right to this procedure even though they are: single, Lesbians, or mature-aged. Yet, this is so very wrong. A woman is only fertile for a certain length of time and then the ovaries and the eggs start to disintegrate or putting it another way, our hormone levels change over time so that we are no longer as fertile as we were when we are in the prime age (between 16 and 30) for giving birth. Over time we start producing fewer eggs. As women mature there is a greater propensity to have a baby with birth defects, especially Down’s Syndrome. However, more than that, giving birth at an age when most women have gone through menopause, means that any children who are born under such circumstances are less likely to have a mother as they mature into adulthood.  Given these reasons, I certainly think that the public purse should not be used for such indulgences. IVF is an expensive procedure, and since the Medical budget is finite, not infinite, then this is taking money away from other areas, including taking away resources for cancer treatments.

The Socialist response, that is universal healthcare is not the panacea as claimed by its proponents. In fact it is a very flawed system, and it means that in the long run choices have to be made about rationing resources. Inevitably, this means that when rationing is applied, older people will miss out on necessary treatment for their ailments.

A look at the Occubagger movement

The Occubagger movement has spread throughout the world. These anarchist left-wing communist, watermelon individuals are to be found in lots of cities around the world, and the USA has more than its fair share of violence associated with the movement. There are plenty of blogs dealing with the filthy things that these individuals have been doing and there is no need to repeat the disgusting habits of occubaggers.

Instead, I want to look at some other aspects of the movement, including some of their motivations, as well as in the way that they have been hijacking the Scriptures to try and give themselves legitimacy. Specifically, I want to look at the nonsense being claimed by members of the hierarchy of the Church of England in London, but they most definitely have lost the plot.

First of all, I want to explode any myth about “my brother’s keeper”. Since I am a person who is Bible literate, I can say with some certainty that I know of no Scripture passage that states that anyone must be “my brother’s keeper”. The only time that this phrase is used is in Genesis, after Cain has murdered Abel, and is challenged by God. It is Cain who exclaims: “Am I my brother’s keeper”. The Beattitudes that are found in Matthew’s Gospel do not expound upon the theme of being “my brother’s keeper”. This is mythology from the left wing of politics. It is an attempt to hijack the Scripture and to dish up what is not written for those who are quite frankly, illiterate.

Second, Jesus did not condemn the use of money as some who are trying to bring down capitalism are claiming. On the contrary, Jesus was railing against the “love of money” which is simply not the same thing. Jesus spoke of choosing between God and mammon (money and wealth) but it must be remembered that Jesus had some very wealthy benefactors who helped him during his three year public ministry.

Third, much of what is written in the Scripture is about individual responsibility. Isaiah for instance spoke out against  those who neglected the widows and orphans. It has to be remembered that in those ancient Biblical times, there was a family hierarchy and it was the responsibility of the family to care for family members who were less well off; the fact is that nothing changes in the human condition except of course that families have tried to shift their responsibility to government, or putting it another government has taken over the role of “charity” for the widows and orphans. The problem is that government has not performed well in such a role.

Fourth, let me talk for a moment about ENVY. Yes, it is quite a nasty word, but the truth is that the Occubagger movement is one that is based upon envy, rather than any true altruistic notions of doing what is right for all people. The underlying themes of the movement is Selfishness, Greed, Sloth, and a whole lot more. It is true, that ENVY, not some sense of charity has been the motivation behind the movement. This is despite the fact that there are good reasons to be uptight about some of the bonuses etc. received by CEOs of various companies. There is that illusion of rich vs. poor, and the agitators try to make out like the “rich” are getting richer at the expense of the poor.

This last point is one that can have merit depending upon how we interpret these matters. Take for example the situation at QANTAS airlines in Australia. Last weekend the CEO announced that he was locking out staff and he grounded the fleet. The travelling public were extremely inconvenienced. The CEO, an arrogant Irishman by the name of Alan Joyce, had just received a 71% increase in his salary package. Since he has been CEO of QANTAS several thousand employees have been tapped on the shoulder and have been made redundant. No one has been saved from the horrible policy that was implemented after this particular weasel took up the job of CEO. The man who was overlooked though, is  laughing because Virgin Airlines now have the advantage with the travelling public (and he maintains a good relationship with airline staff). The facts here are that the contracts for union employees are up for negotiation. The unions decided to “screw” QANTAS or at least that is what we are being told. There are several issues to be resolved including the fact that Joyce, this Irish upstart, wants to establish QANTAS in Asia and take the airline offshore – he cannot do that. What is not being told by some members of the press is that the amount of disruption due to the “negotiations” had been quite minimal when the lockout was pulled, but the Irish weasel insists that QANTAS had no other choice. It is BS. The fact remains that QANTAS management has been refusing to negotiate with the unions. The issue of stability is a very real one. What looks bad, however, is that Joyce is doing a song and dance about what the unions wanted, yet he asks for and receives a 71% increase in his salary package which is at the expense of QANTAS employees. This type of story in fact bolsters the arguments of the Occubaggers, and yes there is some GREED involved.

However, can one judge the actions of individuals and then blame everyone? In the UK the CofE has decided to take on the bankers, calling them greedy. However, if people are not paying their mortgage payments on time, then they have  to bear the consequences. They, after all took out those mortgages in order to purchase their homes.

None of this accounts for the present crisis in Europe, let alone address what could be a new round of businesses in the banking sector going broke. (Think Jon Corzine). What we are seeing is the fallout from what Greece did several years ago, with the help of Goldman Sachs. People take risks, and Jon Corzine took unnecessary risks. There are others just like him who took risks and they lost… big time. It does not mean that they are greedy. With regard to Corzine, though I see him being found guilty of various crimes and ending up in prison. His risks did not pay off, but he had a duty of care with regard to client money and he breached that duty.  Bank of America is not evil, neither are any of the banks. The troubles stem from having to give loans to people who were never able to pay them back.

Greed and Envy, these are the things that are causing the most angst in our society today. The Occubaggers, as well as emitting large doses of noxious gas, really do have a problem when it comes to envy. The bankers and other professionals have a problem with greed.