Masters of the Universe category archive
A. Workers in China 0
Q. Who polishes the Apple?
El Reg reports
(snip)
“Currently, Apple’s profits are declining, and the effects of this decline have been passed on to suppliers. To mitigate the impact, Pegatron has taken some covert measures to exploit workers.”
Follow the link for the complete story.
Only In It for the Money 0
Wendell Potter doesn’t try to hide his disgust at Aetna’s antics.
If that means making it more difficult for low- and middle-income Americans to get the medical care they need, so be it. “Too bad, so sad,” to use a phrase one of my former colleagues used to say when people complained about the way health insurers routinely screw their customers.
(snip)
In fact, it is Aetna’s government business (Medicare and Medicaid–ed.) that is the only segment that is growing. Aetna and most of the other for-profit insurers have been losing private-paying customers on a regular basis for some time. But not to worry. As long as Uncle Sam has the Medicare and Medicaid faucets wide open and flowing straight into the insurers’ bank accounts, they couldn’t care less.
Read the rest.
Original Spin 0
Via Rants from the Rookery.
The Fee Hand of the Market (Update) 0
Monopoly: it’s not just a game; it’s a business plan.
Addendum, Later that Same Day:
At The Guardian, Liz Richardson Voyles writes of living with her daughter’s food allergies, which necessitates having EpiPens in the ready. A snippet:
The World Is Their Oyster (and Their Oyster Knives Are in Hock) 0
I was lucky. My parents paid for my college education. Back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un, that was indeed possible for middle class families. Hell, when I was a young ‘un, there was still a “middle class.”
That was before college tuition became incredibly expensive and student loans became an instrument for perpetuating penury and paying for banksters’ country-club memberships.
Aside:
I got a letter today asking me to contribute to some memorial for Ronald Reagan. I shall answer it with an envelope full of subscription cards for The Nation, hoping that the senders will read it and learn something.
But they won’t.
David Dayen on Wall Street’s Foreclosure Three-Card Monte 0
Part One:
Part Two:
Three-Card Monetary Monte 0
We get a lot of mail inviting us the “free meals” to learn about “exciting investment opportunities” to provide “financial security.”
So does Tony Brown.
We always chuck the mail directly into the round file, but Brown decided to accept some of the invitations. He writes of them at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):
This issue — the financial-services business’s habit of exploiting rather then helping people who are preparing for retirement — is why the Obama administration in April enacted so-called “fiduciary” regulations for financial planners and advisers.
These rules will require the financial-services industry — for the first time — to conduct business “in the best interests of their clients.”
You thought that already was the obligation. It is not.