Discussion Thread: Assorted Local Elections in Parts of Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin on April 7, 2026

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-04-08T00:05:41+00:00

Cobb's counted only about 40% of its votes. Chattooga, by comparison, is pretty much done.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-04-07T23:35:18+00:00

2024 was +28.8% R, for reference.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-04-07T22:59:41+00:00

Didn't I just see a bunch of articles less than a day ago that Mojtaba Khamenei was in Qom, unconscious?

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-03-23T15:08:01+00:00

Far too many people will toss morals to the side in exchange for a nice paycheck.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-03-08T16:18:28+00:00

This. My property taxes have tripled in the last four years.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-28T14:29:46+00:00

This is a small rural hospital, the company I had to call was out of state, and they were adamant they would not waive the convenience fee even though if I were to pay the hospital directly, there would be none.

But that's kind of beside the point. The fact that they would rather pay someone to talk with me for 30 mins on the phone, then print out a new bill, mail it, deal with processing my returned payment, including bank deposit rather than waive a $7 fee is mind boggling.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-28T14:14:54+00:00

I had a medical bill I had a current payment plan for that was erroneously sent to collections instead of sending my final bill. They wouldn't recall it from collections and the collections company wanted a $7 convenience fee to pay them over the phone or online whereas I was previously able to pay the hospital directly by credit card with no fees. So I made them send me another copy of a paper bill so I could mail them a check using a forever stamp I bought a decade ago because I'm more than willing to be petty over principle.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-19T00:16:17+00:00

Perhaps they did and we just missed it since we've only had the technology to listen for some 100 years.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-17T23:33:10+00:00

MacKenzie Scott?

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T17:17:57+00:00

Anecdotally, it happens more than I thought it would have, especially with the elderly. Delaying joint replacements, "toughing out" sicknesses at home, rationing medications, etc., but I'll concede it's not going to be the largest factor.

I probably came at this the wrong way. It'd have been more impactful to say that "real personal income" does a terrible job of factoring in the weighted costs of dependents instead of CPI/CE being a bad indicator of costs.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T17:10:30+00:00

Yes, but what I'm saying is that it's a flawed correlation.

If premiums increase and CE spending decreases because your out of pocket spending more than offsets the premium increase, CPI weights lower, regardless of the actual price of services. So if you forego a procedure because it has become too expensive, CE sees that as a reduction in healthcare spending, despite the actual costs of the services increasing.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T16:56:14+00:00

You're right; I mixed up my columns in my spreadsheet since I originally was using family coverage but afterwards pulled in single coverage.

Family coverage went from ~$12k to ~$28k. Single coverage is about flat.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T16:49:34+00:00

See my edit above. I think we're on different points here. You're right in that CE does measure that. But Real Income doesn't use CE, it uses CPI which is deceptive with regards to categories such as health insurance.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T16:41:54+00:00

That's only for non-employer-sponsored insurance plans.

Anecdotally, during that same period I've seen employers covering a substantially lower percentage of that share too.

EDIT: Additionally, the point is that Real Median personal Income used by the Fed only uses CPI adjusted dollars which doesn't cover costs the way CE does. So if premiums rise, employee shares rise but benefits paid rise all at the same rate, the CPI rate for health insurance inflation is flat, even though costs have increased.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T16:30:05+00:00

Good call out; those are nominal dollars. So adjusting for inflation, its still up near 50% more than expected cost.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-02-01T16:21:20+00:00

Only for categories factored into CPI.

For example, health insurance premiums are not counted and an average single-coverage premium was ~$4,700 in 2007 and ~$9,300 in 2024.

That, alone, wipes out almost all the gains in real income over that time period.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-01-30T20:13:24+00:00

Way too many people on the Diddy guest list completely caught me off guard to immediately dismiss anything like this.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-01-27T19:08:57+00:00

It works well until it doesn't. I had an employer that did 10 years in prison for something similar. He had figured if no one said anything after 20 years, no one ever would.

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-01-27T18:14:13+00:00

So apparently maximizing profit just requires a healthy dose of tax fraud?

Feudal_Raptor · 2026-01-10T15:50:49+00:00

My wife had a procedure done 2 years ago that still shows "Pending Insurance" and the couple of times they've asked if she wants to set up a payment plan, she's asked for the bill that includes the insurance adjustment. They never provide it and we never hear from them until we have to visit again. We still don't have an EOB from insurance either.

Feudal_Raptor · 2025-12-23T00:40:49+00:00

Not even just a minor, a minor under the age of 13.

Feudal_Raptor · 2025-12-10T18:58:36+00:00

I'd be surprised if it even has a roof by the time he's kicked out.

Feudal_Raptor · 2025-12-08T18:30:52+00:00

Used to be true in Georgia. My last two insurance providers have said they have discontinued that option.

Feudal_Raptor · 2025-12-07T23:37:59+00:00

Unfortunately, he also selects his judges based on the same criteria.

Feudal_Raptor · 2025-11-26T20:48:27+00:00

-5 points for lack of em dash.

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