HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

#baseball #BaseballSeason #TroublesInBaseball #HopeSpringsEternal
This time of year, hope springs eternal for every baseball fan.
Spring training has started. The first pitch of the regular season is just around the corner.
Yet, as USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale writes, all is not well in the baseball world. His column on the subject also ran Feb. 22, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One star free agent, Manny Machado, just signed the richest contract in Major League Baseball history. He’ll play for the San Diego Padres for $300 million.
Still, other star free agents are still unsigned. Some of them, Nightengale writes, have few teams bidding on their services.
And, there’s talk of s players strike in 2021.
Players, and probably fans, wonder why these stars still linger on the market so close to the beginning of the season.
Aren’t the teams still in competition with one another? Don’t they want to suit up the best team at the start of the season so they have a shot at getting to, or winning, the World Series?
Long-term contracts for stars used to be the norm. But with the prospect of injury, a risk that a “star” will not be a star anymore after getting all that security, are keeping owners, in many cases, from betting big on one or two players. They prefer short-term deals, just in case.
Yes, even highly paid athletes undergo on-the-job issues. They may pale in comparison to the issues in your world, but still …
If you find yourself in a situation in which the good times seemed to have disappeared, the ballplayers are feeling the same thing, perhaps on a different level.
The ballplayers may think that going on strike in a couple of years will solve their problems. You may not have that ability.
But you still have to take matters into your own hands.
If your world is no longer what it was, YOU have to change it.
Are you not making enough money? Is your job to your liking? Is your job, and other life events, eating your time alive? Do you long for a different lifestyle?
If you answered no to the first two, and yes to the second two, know that there are many vehicles out there that can put more money in your pocket, and more time in your life to do what YOU want.
To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Remember, times change and, in this day and age, quite frequently. Gravy trains eventually slow, and even come to a stop.
Promises that you perhaps have relied on through life can be broken. What you were hired to do may change.
People need to be open to things they may not have ever dreamed of doing. If they are not, they may be left behind.
So pencil yourself into the lineup and take your turn at bat. You may never play baseball for a living, but you can still make your life a real hit, or even a home run.
Peter

WAGES RISING, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP UP WITH COSTS

#RisingCosts #WageIncreases #ImprovingEconomy
The economy is improving.
Therefore, interest rates are rising.
Therefore, wages are increasing as unemployment is decreasing.
Therefore, costs of just about everything is rising, which may be canceling out wage increases for many.
In its Weekly Explainer, published Oct. 29, 2018, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took on this subject, largely quoting economist Aaron Sojourner of the University of Minnesota.
Sojourner spent a year as part of the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington.
The unemployment rate is now as low as it has been since the dot-com boom. Yet, it’s really hard for a lot of people to get a meaningful raise, which is defined as exceeding the price increases of necessities, the article says.
Real average hourly earnings, meaning wages adjusted for inflation, in August for all employees are up 0.1 percent, the article quotes the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall prices have increased by the same amount during the same time period, the article says.
“On average, most workers were running in place,” the article reads.
Moreover, for ordinary workers over the last year, real average hourly earnings actually decreased 0.1 percent, the article quotes the BLS.
If you are an average worker, whether or not you have gotten a raise recently, you probably feel that you can’t get ahead.
Sure, employers are fighting over a finite labor pool, poaching even within a restaurant chain, some of which have eased their rules against that.
So one may end up going from one job to another, doing pretty much the same work, and might see $1 an hour more. But if the cost of what you have to buy is increasing by that much, you may think it’s better to keep up than to fall behind – and it is.
So what’s a person who really wants to get ahead to do? That depends on whether that person is willing to look at things that can put extra money in his or her pocket, without interfering with what he or she is doing now.
That doesn’t mean a second, relatively low-paying job. It means looking at something that could dramatically change your life for the better.
There are many such vehicles out there that potentially can do that. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, keep your eyes open for a better-paying job. Look at doing something you may never have thought you would do. Rather than complain about how things are, do something to make your life better.
Though employers may look desperate for help in some areas, there’s only so much they are going to pay for that help. No matter how much your boss may like you, if you threaten to go, there’s only so many inducements he or she will offer to convince you to stay. Try not to make such a decision on emotion. Always have your mind on what would be best for you.
When unemployment is down, wages go up, and prices go up to pay those higher wages. It’s a progression you cannot stop. But you can look at things that, with a little effort outside of your job, and a strong goal for your life, can allow you to reach your dream.
Peter

HIGH STRESS ABOUT FUTURE

#FutureOfAmerica #FutureOfUS #MyPersonalFuture #StressAboutFuture
More than two-thirds of Americans are stressed about the future of the country.
So says the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey.
Isaac Stanley-Becker discussed the survey in a Washington Post article, also published Oct. 31, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Though the article focuses on politics, let’s step back and discuss stress in one’s own life, and how to combat it.
First, we have to know what makes us stressful. Certainly, it can be the political environment, but the country has survived – and thrived – despite any politician.
More likely, though, we have things in our own lives stressing us, and we use politics as a blame outlet.
One stressor could be a job. Some people are overworked, underpaid and have no time to enjoy what really matters to them.
Others worry that a good situation that they have at work – no matter how much they might complain about it – could disappear tomorrow.
Still others are stressed by family or other personal circumstances.
Generally, stress doesn’t get rid of itself. Either the stressor goes away, and is replaced by something better or more pleasant, or the person finds a way to relieve the stress.
For many, when one stressor goes, another steps in. That’s why people can’t depend on good fortune to strip them from stressors, although, if it comes, good fortune is usually appreciated.
Usually, some type of action is required to remove stress, or at least minimize it.
What kind of action? It might be to look for a better situation. Good fortune comes to those who prepare for it, so by looking for a better situation, you are preparing to find it.
Family or personal situations are a bit more delicate. You can’t erase your family. But there may be situations that you can remove yourself from. Then, you have to keep from being sucked back into such vortexes.
If you believe your job is threatened, or if you have a job that is eating you alive, there could be a simpler way of removing that stress.
Look at how you spend your non-work time. Family and recreation can be important stress relievers, but you might consider spending a few, part-time hours a week pursuing a completely different goal.
There are many vehicles out there that can enable a person to supplement, even replace, an income by spending a few part-time hours a week. Though they don’t involve a “second job,” there is work involved. But the rewards can be life-changing for the person who really needs to remove stress from his or her life.
To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
As for the future of America, there is a lot more good out there than bad. Though the bad stuff gets more publicity, and rightfully so, the good things often go unnoticed, at least by a wide audience.
One way to ease any stress about America’s future may be to go look for those good things. Take a walk in the woods, observe the beauty, and see what destination finds you. You may find that walking back to your originating point is completely unappealing.
As you make your journey, take care not to overlook what could be good for your life.
Peter

DRUG PRICES ALL OVER THE MAP

#PrescriptionDrugPrices #DrugPrices #PrescriptionPrices
Stephanie Garman picked up her prescription at CVS one day.
This time, she took a look at the receipt.
Retail price: $355.99
Her amount due: $3.47
In other words, she paid a1 percent co-pay for her relatively expensive drug.
David Lazarus took on this subject in an article for the Los Angeles Times. It was also published Oct. 8, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Someone is obviously benefiting from this, but I don’t know who,” Lazarus quotes Garman.
Garman obviously had good insurance. “The purpose of insurance is to protect patients from the full cost of medical care at the point they need it,” Lazarus quotes Patricia M. Danzon, a professor of health care management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “An insured patient never faces full price,” Danzon is quoted as saying.
Lazarus also quotes Amy Davidoff, a senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health, calling drug pricing “a black-box negotiation process” between drug makers, insurers, and middlemen – called pharmacy benefit managers – who haggle behind closed doors over how money changes hands.
Patients who have good insurance can purchase drugs blissfully ignorant of how much drugs cost. Patients without insurance get billed the full rate. If they can’t afford the medication, drug makers often have programs for such people to get their medications at costs they can afford.
We won’t get into the complications of pricing drugs, other than to say that drug makers want to get back the cost of developing the drug, which can take years or even decades, and the cost of getting the necessary regulatory approval, marketing the drug to prescribers etc. – as well as make a profit.
They will hire the benefit managers to negotiate the prices with various prescriber networks, and to supply those networks.
Not everyone is charged the same price. It can depend on volume, which network you are in etc.
Bear in mind, too, that largely happens only in the United States. Other countries with single-payer health systems tell the drug makers what THEY will pay for medications.
Since drug makers make their largest profit in the U.S., they don’t want this system to go away. They know that those who really need their drugs will do whatever they must to get them, even if it means going broke.
This is a tough problem to solve. We want to keep the drug makers actively doing research to find new therapies for various diseases. We want to make drugs as affordable as possible. At the same time, we want to make health insurance as affordable as possible.
One thing the average person can do: look for different ways to make money so that if a big illness requiring expensive treatment hits you or your family, the cost will be less painful. There are several vehicles out there for putting a good bit of extra money in the pockets of those willing to explore them. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, we need to continue to look for ways for people to get well without having to liquidate their retirement savings, sell their homes or sell valuable family heirlooms at pennies on the dollar, just to pay medical bills.
With all the ingenuity we have in the U.S., someone certainly can find a way to do that, whi8le satisfying all concerned.
Peter