impulse

Asians learn to negotiate as soon as they can talk. All we learn is that the price should be clearly marked, and everyone should pay the same clearly marked price. We in the nanny states never learn "The Art of the Deal". Well, most of us don't, myself included. I don't see a need to go adversarial. Just tell them your costs have gone up and you've had to raise your price to cover them. Expect some pushback, sure. But it's just part of the negotiation. In fact, you may want to throw out a much higher price so you have room to move "because they're such a valued customer".

Maybe. Years later, after they already had to sell their homes and lost their marriages. Or even committed suicide. Read the link I posted above to find out how it works. Not specific to that insurance company, but to that market. There's a reason the assassin wrote on his bullets, increasing his odds of being caught.

The Conservative government spent a staggering £50 million on flights intended for deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, despite no flights ever leaving the ground. This expenditure was part of a broader £715 million invested over two years to implement the controversial Rwanda asylum scheme, according to newly released Home Office documents. The scheme was ultimately dismantled by the Labour government following its election victory in July. The £50 million cost encompassed preparations such as securing flights, hiring escorts to transport migrants, and ensuring airfield readiness. Additionally, £290 million was paid directly to Rwanda’s government, £95 million was spent on constructing detention and reception centers, and £280 million covered IT, staffing, and legal fees. Seems like a fortuitous situation... Flights booked , Rwanda's on board and already been paid. Facilities already built... https://aseannow.com/topic/1345247-rwanda-deportation-scheme-£50-million-spent-on-flights-that-never-took-off/#comment-19425660

He may not have to. Google "recess appointments"

The AI could have been programmed to pay out any percentage of claims they decided. Someone decided on 90% rejection. Personally, I have health insurance horror stories going back to the '80s. To the point I was never confident that I wouldn't be bankrupted at the whim of the insurance companies. My claims were always in the "few thousands of dollars" range. But I can see where someone who lost their home, their marriage or, God forbid, a loved one would feel justified in taking it out on the CEO. Boeing's recent cases prove that individuals won't be held responsible for deliberate decisions that killed hundreds. The innocent shareholders took it in the shorts. That's millions of retirees and others, who had nothing to do with the decisions. Along with Betty, who serves coffee and slings hash in the Boeing employee dining hall. And if the law fails like that, what other option do people have?

Beginning in the 1990s, many major insurance companies reconsidered this understanding of the claims process. The insight was simple. An insurance company's greatest expense is what it pays out in claims. If it pays out less in claims, it keeps more in profits. Therefore, the claims department became a profit center rather than the place that kept the company's promise. A major step in this shift occurred when Allstate and other companies hired the megaconsulting firm McKinsey & Company to develop new strategies for handling claims. McKinsey saw claims as a "zero-sum game," with the policyholder and the company competing for the same dollars. No longer would each claim be treated on its merits. Instead, computer systems would be put in place to set the amounts policyholders would be offered, claimants would be deterred from hiring lawyers to help with their claims, and settlements would be offered on a take-it-or- litigate basis. If Allstate moved from "Good Hands" to "Boxing Gloves," as McKinsey described it, policyholders would either take a lowball offer from the good hands people or face the boxing gloves of extended litigation. They took out the wrong guy. McKinsey is also the consultant behind the Boeing tragedies and fiasco. https://delaydenydefend.com/excerpt/

Maybe. But I'm anticipating all kinds of pushback from those who are raking it in and donating part of their haul to both parties.

Developed the core technologies, then sat on their thumbs and got complacent. I can't wait for Musk and DOGE to come in and use AI to divine where they're spending our tax dollars. I'm open to the possibility that they're well oiled, efficient machines. But I doubt it. Maybe one or two of the thousands of gub'ment entities are well run, according to accounting principles, but $trillions are being squandered. The Dem's spending over a $billion on the failed campaign shows the efficiency of that side of the aisle. And I don't think the Repubs are much more responsible with our tax $$$ and our kids' futures.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret that response, whether it's tongue in cheek. If the tuk-tuk and taxi mafias are dictating policy, they shouldn't be. And putting them out of business would probably be a bonanza for tourism and the locals alike. Whether the electric buses are the answer or not, they're worth a try.

I have no doubt that he and Musk are taking in $billions in tax money, doing the jobs better and cheaper than the likes of Boeing, Raytheon, NASA, and the USPS. Who would cost twice as much to attain half the results.

Funny how people who actually meet Trump and spend some time with him come around. At least those without a snout in the gub'ment trough.

Someone should have asked the same question about where the Palestinians should go, when the Brits sold them out... With the support of the Americans.

That belief is why Israel will still be fighting in 100 years. Unless Iran gets nukes...

I'd agree, if I thought the war started on October 7. The current iteration started over a hundred years ago. The war, perhaps as much as 3,000 years ago.

You mean like the guys who are always asking "what is the age of consent?" in Thailand? As if that should matter to a 60+ geezer...

The problem with science as it is practiced today is the way it's being steered to take money out of a bunch of pockets and put it into a few. Studies that don't accomplish that goal aren't funded, and if a funded study accidentally conflicts, it's squelched. Climate change is real. It's been happening for billions of years. It's unstoppable. (Just like the moving magnetic pole) The way to deal with it is to have economies strong enough to afford to remediate its effects. Otherwise, millions will starve when the next volcano causes a temperature drop and crop failure. As has happened repeatedly during human existence. And long before cars and air conditioning and server farms.

If your Lazada phone number was changed without your consent, I'd suggest your first priority be to close the account. No telling what someone's been buying (and approving by SMS) on your account. Then I'd check your bank account(s) to see if they got more personal information the same time they got your Lazada credentials.

It's even more diabolical than that. They're assuming Blacks are incapable of succeeding on their own merit and by their own effort. How racist is that? Like the Dems who claim that requiring ID is racist because Blacks don't know how to get ID. Anyone truly interested should listen to Thomas Sowell as he rattles off reams of actual statistics that show how much damage has been done to the Black community by treating them as "incompetent" (for lack of a better word). He is long winded and can be repetitive, but fascinating if you actually have an interest.

I think Biden ought to call it a day with Hunter, lest he get embroiled in nasty Supreme Court battles over pardons for crimes that haven't even been revealed, much less adjudicated. Following President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes, members of the liberal media suggested he pardon a wide swath of his political allies, including Liz Cheney and Anthony Fauci. https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/04/liberal-media-biden-pardon-fauci-cheney-schiff-deep-state-minions-obama/ But the more partisan pardons he issues, the more long term damage he'll do to the Dems. Which isn't all bad... Edit: And, using Fauci for an example... Isn't a pre-emptive pardon tantamount to saying a crime has been committed?

They estimate historical temperatures by looking at tree rings, pollen, ice cores and other well accepted methods. So there is an answer. Maybe not one that fits the narrative. But there is an answer.

Adams will always have a warm spot in my heart for revealing the true cost of welcoming NYC's newcomers. It was $12 billion over 3 years, for 110,000 newcomers. That calculates to $36K a head per year. Not just food and shelter. That includes health care and policing and jailing and bilingual education and other services that get hidden when most Dems talk about the cost. And we're already broke- $36 trillion in national debt, plus more $$ trillions in state, local, and personal debt. Guy's got 'nads the size of bowling balls. He's paying a huge political price for that. I hope he gets an assist in his political career.

So it has to be self defense? You're okay if he sits on his thumbs and watches while the bad guy threatens those around him, including women and kids?

Gotta be honest. I don't know what happens when a foreigner becomes both sides of a usufruct agreement. Is it legal to have an agreement with yourself? Or will something hinky happen? My suggestion still stands. Discuss the options and ramifications with an attorney. One that's familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the local land office. Plenty of threads over the years where the local authorities interpreted the law differently. Plus a few where they seemed to just make up their own rules.

I suspect that, between fraud, waste and other corruption, they can afford to keep us old geezers alive, if they weed even some of that out. Personally, I'm looking forward to turning Musk and his AI resources loose to figure out where the money's actually being spent, and on what, and to whom. And not just Medicare, Medicaid and SS. Across, the board, including the military. Up to now, the gub'ment IT guys have been eons behind the state of the art. Probably as a deliberate strategy. I'm hoping that ends with DOGE.

I follow a guy on YouTube who does firearm training and served as an expert witness on dozens (hundreds?) of 2nd Amendment self defense cases. He suggests thinking before going all Rambo with a gun, because defending such a case starts at $100K and can easily run into the $millions. So even if Penny is found not guilty, he's broke. Unless he has deep pockets supporting him. And lawyers are great at writing contracts so that they can't be discharged in a bankruptcy.