Day: July 23, 2014

Phillies Players Among Best Paid (In World)

The Philadelphia Phillies last night, July 22, blew a lead in the top of the ninth to the San Francisco Giants when ace reliever Jonathan Papelbon gave up a home run to Buster Posey.

In the bottom of the inning, they squandered a chance for victory when clean-up slugger Ryan Howard struck out with Jimmy Rollins on third with one-out.

The Giants would go on to win 9-6 after 14 innings.

Forbes magazine, last month, published a list of the world’s top paid athletes for 2013. In fairness to Papelbon, he wasn’t on it. Howard was, however, ranking 53 with a income of $22.4 million of which but a mere $700,000 came from endorsements not unsurprisingly.

The top paid Phillie was Cliff Lee coming in at 30 with a salary of $25 million of which $200,000 came from endorsements. Lee has spent most of this season on the disabled list returning Monday to lose to the Giants 7-4.

Cole Hamels is the other Phillie on the world’s top 100 ranking 70th with a salary of $20.7 million of which $200,000 came in endorsements.

The world’s best paid athlete last year was boxer Floyd Mayweather who earned $105 million none of which came in endorsements. He was followed by Portuguese soccer star Christiano Ronaldo who earned $80 million of which $28 million was endorsements and basketball star Lebron James who earned $72.3 million of which $19.3 million came in salary and $53 million came in endorsements.

Imagine that, Howard, Hamels and Lee all have higher salaries than LeBron James.

 

Phillies Players Among Best Paid (In World)

Phillies Players Among Best Paid (In World)

Adopt Swiss System

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stuck down a significant part of Obamacare yesterday, July 22, in their ruling on Halbig v. Burwell ending federal subsidies to those who purchased insurance on the federal exchange.

Why?

Because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as written only allows subsidies for insurance bought on state-exchanges. This stipulation was an important reason why the law got passed as Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska insisted on it for his necessary vote.

What the D.C. court did was declare that the IRS had no power in passing an edict overturning these words written in law.

Since 34 states — including Pennsylvania — have refused to create health exchanges the cost for many who have bought Obamacare insurance will rise dramatically because of this quite right decision.

It should be noted that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled on Halbig v. Burwell deciding in favor of the government and the case is bound for the Supreme Court.

Obamacare was poorly conceived and written with mind-boggling hubris. However, as the lollipop may be snatched away with Halbig resulting in crying until it is returned, it is imperative for the adults in Washington — namely the Tea Party Republicans — to act prophylactically  and not merely repeal the pollution but replace it.

A good model is the Swiss health care law.

It mandates the purchase by all of basic insurance to be used in the case of illness or accident or pregnancy and prohibits insurance companies from making a profit on this insurance.

The insured pays a premium of up to 8 percent of his income for this plan, and if the premium exceeds this the government gives him a cash subsidy to cover it.

Insurance companies can make a profit on supplemental policies covering things like birth control, private hospital rooms and routine dental care.

Notably businesses are not involved.  Switzerland has the highest life expectancy in the world. Healthcare costs there are 11.4 percent of GDP compared with 17.6 percent in the U.S.

Adopt Swiss System

Adopt Swiss System

 

 

Recidivism Reduced By Act 122

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has received recognition from the United States Department of Justice’s National Reentry Resource Center for programs aimed at reducing new crimes by those released from the prison system, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

The programs were spawned by Act 122 of 2012.

The legislation requires the Department of Corrections to  assess each offender’s needs for successful reintegration, including developing a plan and implementing that plan, and providing the offender with access to community organizations which are available to provide assistance, specifically for finding housing and employment, Cox said..

The Justice Department had specific praise for the the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive (RRRI) program which offers eligible, non-violent offenders the chance to reduce their minimum sentences if they complete recommended programs and practice good conduct and remain misconduct free during their incarceration. The reduction provided is a percentage off their minimum sentence that is based upon the sentence length.

The Justice Department also credited the reduction in recidivism to performance incentives that reward private operators of halfway houses who hold down recidivism, specifically by revoking contracts for those that fail to accomplish this. Those measures alone are credited with reducing recidivism by 16 percent among residents of the halfway houses.

A fully report can be found here as a pdf file.
Recidivism Reduced By Act 122

Recidivism Reduced By Act 122