Maria Bartiromo shows us how media has helped sandbag health care reform
Earlier today, MSNBC’s Carlos Watson hosted Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo for a discussion on health care.
At one point, Bartiromo was critical of the government-managed health care system in the United Kingdom. “How do I know the quality [of health care in the United States] is not going to suffer” with a public option? she asked.
Thanks to John Dinsmore for passing on this clip of CNBC lunkhead Maria Bartiromo tangling with New York congressman Anthony Weiner the other day. Yet another rich media creature with excellent insurance campaigning against health insurance reform; Weiner in the debate held up a lot better than I did with her a few weeks back.
I was a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to talk about health care and Bartiromo, who used to work closely with a relative of mine at CNN, was friendly before the segment started. So I was surprised when the show started and Bartiromo went on the attack, asking me how I could say America didn’t have the best health care in the world. Everyone, she said, would choose to be treated in America if they could.
I was staggered for a moment, I admit it, because I thought she was kidding at first. We were probably a full minute into the debate before I realized it wasn’t a joke. And here’s the really funny part: toward the end of my appearance, I said something about how health care in America is great, if you’re an executive at Goldman, Sachs. Then I left the set and… guess who they brought right afterward on to rip me and praise the American health care system? Bartiromo’s colleague at CNBC, Erin Burnett, a former Goldman, Sachs executive.
Bartiromo, both with me and in this spot with Weiner, has been hammering home the same point, that the proof that a public option won’t work can be found in the fact that the public health care system in England will not pay for the colorectal cancer drug Erbitux. I guess she is trying to say that there is rationing of health care in a single-payer system — that the fact that the government will not pay for the most expensive non-generic cancer drug on the market is proof that we shouldn’t have a public option in the U.S.
It drives me crazy when people make this argument. Fuck a fancy boutique drug like Erbitux — I have a very expensive private plan and I can’t even go to a doctor, not even to ask a simple question, unless it’s an emergency. I can’t get a routine checkup, can’t find out what that weird lump in my left foot is, can’t have the pleasure of a routine proctological exam unless I want to pay cash for it, and, well, forget about getting a filling replaced or seeing a therapist to deal with my incipient nervous collapse/burgeoning mid-life crisis. Hell, forget about paying for Erbitux, if I wanted to get a colonoscopy to find out if I needed Erbitux, I wouldn’t be able to — I’d probably have to wait until I was a fully symptomatic cancer patient before I could even have that conversation on my insurer’s dime. And I’m one of the lucky ones, I actually have money to pay for care out of pocket, if I had to. No country in the world rations care more than the U.S. There are whole generations of Americans (20-40 year-olds in particular) who don’t know what it is to be able to go to a doctor for preventive care or routine checkups. Erbitux, for Christ’s sake! Give me a break.
I’ve been getting phone calls from some folks in DC with some ugly stories about how the Democrats have systematically sandbagged the progressive opposition, with the White House pulling strings and levering the funding for various nonprofit groups in order to prevent them from airing ads attacking the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. I suspect in the end this is going to be the main story of the health care reform effort, how the Democrats (and some progressive groups) sold out their constituents in exchange for financial contributions from the relevant industries. But at the same time, you can’t discount the role certain media outlets are playing in all of this. Nobody is ordering Maria Bartiromo to lobby to keep poor people from having access to the kind of excellent health care she is fortunate enough to have been given by CNBC, for being so good at flattering Wall Street pirates on air (and off, according to some folks I know at certain banks). She just does it because that’s who she is naturally. I just don’t know how these people sleep at night — it baffles me.
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Maria “Fartaroma” is just another GOP’er who goes out of her way to kiss ass to the Wall Street crowd and hope they will take her into the inner circle. The GOP is afraid of Obama and will stop at nothing to derail his main agenda item.
Aside from watching this post here (and also that interview with Elizabeth Warren, the only decent appointment in the last few years – and congressional at that), I don’t watch any American TV any more due to such complete moronic types such as that sleazoid Bartiromo.
The level is simply far too stupid. Anyone who still argues against the single-payer issue is too stupid for words — reminds me of that Andrea Mitchell (and we all know who she’s married to!).
What truly saddens me is the defeatist attitude that seems to carry the day when the health care reform debate goes into compare/contrast mode. When we hear of the shortcomings of the English or Canadian systems — I’m sure most of these are exaggerated by opponents of a public option — our response isn’t “Well, we’re the greatest country in the world. If England or Canada can’t get it done, then we can.” No, we go straight to: “There are problems in England and Canada, so we can’t possibly do any better.” Notice that we never take this attitude regarding military matters. If England or Canada were losing an armed struggle our attitude would be, “England? Canada? Of course they can’t win a war. Let us at ‘em. We’ll take care of it in short order.” Why do we only display a can-do attitude when want to invade? Why do we only prove our self-described greatness by killing people?
What Bartiromo is not saying is that Erbitux has been approved for use in every European country other than the UK along with Canada. It is an effective drug with good results.
Of course, the fact that a particular drug has not been approved for use in any country has no bearing whatsoever on the public option in the US. Using this as an argument reveals how Bartiromo, and many other commentators, completely fail to understand how a public insurance option would work just as she fails to understand the right private insurers have in denying expensive drug choices.
Huh. So if it has been approved in every other European country, that means you can get it in Germany, France, Spain, etc.? All countries that have various forms of socialized medicine? Why is England always the whipping boy in these idiotic arguments? (Wait, I know: they speak our language, and – compared to continental Europe – their medical system isn’t as well-funded as it probably should be.)
Where are the adults in this debate?
In response to another comment. See in context »More on Erbitux — and a clue as to why Bartiromo the Money Dummy is preoccupied by it:
(my emphasis added)
Remember:
In response to another comment. See in context »Has anyone checked whether Bartiromo is correct in saying that the UK healthcare system won’t pay for Erbitux? I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t telling the whole truth here.
Plus, what gets left out is the fact that most EU countries try to control the rising prescription medicine prices by compensating citizens according to the generic drug prices. So, if there is an approved, generic alternative to Erbitux, they will pay and compensate their citizens with that amount.
So, the government is using its leverage to control drug prices. Supply and demand.
In response to another comment. See in context »Sounds like Maria is at least disingenuous.
“Has anyone checked whether Bartiromo is correct in saying that the UK healthcare system won’t pay for Erbitux?”
She got that part right – it was turned down for use in the UK “on cost-effectiveness grounds.” (The irony here being that Bartiromo would defend the very pricing practices of the for-profit pharmaceutical companies which caused the UK to reach that conclusion.)
But as was reported last week, that’s about to change: “The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued final guidance recommending the use of… Erbitux on the National Health Service for patients with colorectal cancer.”
In response to another comment. See in context »Thanks for checking, jasong.
So, it seems that she either intentionally picked the UK as a bad example, since the rest of the EU countries do reimburse for Erbitux or she didn’t bother to check what the spoonfed talking point actually entails.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] taibbi responds to maria bartiromo, both from his appearance on morning joe and the clip posted earlier: Fuck a fancy boutique drug [...]
[...] Taibblog: I was a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to talk about health care and Bartiromo, who used to [...]
Why is no one talking about the word “OPTION?” Why is no one reading history? The exact same arguments were made against the formation of TVA and we still, some 50 years later, have a robust private energy provider industry. Why does everyone on both sides of this argument assume the most extreme scenerio (?sp), good or bad? The lessons of history tell us that neither extreme is even remotely likely to happen!
“I just don’t know how these people sleep at night.”
She doesn’t. You just said she’s busy “flattering Wall Street pirates on air (and off, according to some folks I know at certain banks).”
Once again, note the lack of DOCTORS in all of these media debates. Actual physicians would tell the public straight up that the U.S. has dismal health care access and worse healthcare outcomes than other industrialized countries. The numbers are there, a simple, sad, non-hysterical story. We have a worse system than Germany, UK, France, Japan and Sweden, based on simple metrics.
Forget Erbitux. Fewer people in the United States are even allowed into clinics, much less qualifying for ultrapricey boutique drugs. They have a lower chance of living well with diabetes, much less receiving and experimental Whole Torso Transplant from some elite teaching hospital.
The US has fantastically trained doctors in a horrible system. Just ask them, and leave the fake Money Honeys off the TeeVee Box.
>”I have a very expensive private plan and I can’t even go to a doctor, not even to ask a simple question, unless it’s an emergency. I can’t get a routine checkup, can’t find out what that weird lump in my left foot is, can’t have the pleasure of a routine proctological exam unless I want to pay cash for it, and, well, forget about getting a filling replaced or seeing a therapist to deal with my incipient nervous collapse/burgeoning mid-life crisis.”
Ah- so when you were sick you probably just stayed home then (nice lil rant there, by the bye). Not necessarily a bad thing; many colds and viruses will just run their courses and you’re immunity system just got a workout. Then again, if you had been seriously ill (and it sounded like you were on the verge) you would have paid anyway.
That’s what Bartiromo and her ilk don’t seem to get. at *all*. Nore do they seem to get, or care to admit – that if our entire populace received basic care, we’d be both healthier and more cost-efficient.
I am grateful to Weiner for being such a strong advocate on this issue as I am to you and Rick Ungar for writing and doing spots on the subject. Indeed, let’s see what the U. S. can do with a single payer plan/option. Let’s learn from the mistakes of other countries and do something well. USA! USA! don’tcha know?
If that is the kind of insurance you have then you got screwed. My insurance is not very expensive and I have a $20 copay and can go to the doctor whenever I want. Apparently its not the health care that needs reform it is the insurance companies. Maybe you should gain some more knowledge about insurance and get a better plan. Also, there is free health care out there for people. There are free clinics and hospitals etc. It just takes a little effort for people to get off their ass and find it. I am so not willing to help people that are not willing to help themselves.
In response to another comment. See in context »So Bartiromo wants no public option because the Brits don’t dispense a pricey cancer drug through the National Health Service. OK, I get it. Poor Americans shouldn’t have access to healthcare because the Brits have a few glitches in their system. Of course, she’s on the same side as the old folks who want to keep the gummint outta Medicare so on that planet those arguments are perfectly logical. I guess.
Hey Bartiromo, your alma mater is line one and they want their diploma back.
Dear America:
Time for a multi-party system, don’t you think? Repub and Dem alike, you’ve all been sold out and neither is interested in making real, substantive change to your democracy. Until that changes, get used to disappointment.
You hit the nail on the head. Progressives keep on smacking our heads thinking “what is WITH these people!”, but we know the answer…the corporate $$ is with them.
Same ol’ story, and it will continue to be until people finally get fed up with the Democratic Party and start a viable liberal option. Maybe this health care debacle will be the last straw?
In response to another comment. See in context »Have any of you seen this excellent Bill Moyers interview of two experts (for once) in the field?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-W035ADw0s
Marcia Angell, the first female editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Trudy Lieberman, directs the health and medicine reporting program at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism. They articulately explain Obama’s failure. Also of interest is Bill Moyers being interviewed himself, on Bill Maher’s last show (the Jay-Z interview is pretty bitchin’ too).
Matt, you did a fine job with MB. It’s easy to be blindsided by such astonishingly dumb hubris.
As Atul Gawande pointed out in his New Yorker piece, Medicare beneficiaries in McAllen, TX don’t get adequate primary and preventative health care. Few Americans do because we have a sick care system geared towards maximizing income and profit for the stakeholders in the delivery system. A system that “single-payer” or a “robust public option” cannot change. Until we begin to address the failure of access and affordability of primary/preventative health care, the problem with US health care will continue to metastasize.
You did a great job with MB on The Morning Joe. Loved your bewildered look when she went 5th grade on you with her “EXCUSE ME…How can you say you dont want to be treated in America…?” You seemed like the more mature and intelligent one by far. I though she was going to strangle you with her funny green flappy sleeves.
I think part of the problem is that we refuse to explore what is going on in other countries– that is, except to bash every system other than our own. Do people really believe that no other advanced country in the world is doing anything right with regard to health care except America?
When Taiwan decided to reform its health care system in 1995 they studied other countries’ systems. They ended up drawing on parts of the Japanese, German, and Canadian systems. They succeeded in decreasing the growth of health care spending. And the Taiwanese can see any doctor without a referral. Guess what ideas they borrowed from US system. (Hint: None.)
- Liz
Here is the CFO of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Bureau: Actually, the program is modeled after Medicare.
In response to another comment. See in context »http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/april/jonathan_cohn_interv.php
I remember watching Maria Bartimoro’s special round table on CNBC a few weeks back about health care reform and thinking “this is a total waste of air time” because i didn’t learn anything of substance. They had 1 guy on there who knew what he was talking about. and when you have 7 idiots and 1 smart guy then the smart guy’s points get lost.
Now, that cancer drug she’s talking about is supposed to be highly effective and she had the CEO of the company that makes it on there and the smart guy asked “do you think it’s right to charge $36,000 for a drug treatment that can save a life?”
which gets to the point….how much cheaper can that drug be where they would make a profit on volume instead? Because right now not a lot of people get that drug here in the states because they can’t afford it or the insurance company may not pay for it, or drop you because you have cancer….this is all a bunch of bullshit.
what angers me the most is the total incompetence in the media’s reporting. i mean they suck balls hard. They can’t even begin to get basic things down and they are informing the general public. health care reform, namely a single payer system, would be a slam dunk if they media kept retarded shit off the hair and stuck to the facts.
i mean why is Betsy McCoigh or whatever her freaking name is still doing interviews after that trashing she got on the Daily Show? that’s what’s wrong with America today….the press is broken…god help us.
ps. i’m not religious.
Matt, I’m curious about the following bit “I have a very expensive private plan and I can’t even go to a doctor, not even to ask a simple question, unless it’s an emergency. I can’t get a routine checkup, can’t find out what that weird lump in my left foot is, can’t have the pleasure of a routine proctological exam unless I want to pay cash for it”
What kind of plan are you on? Is your access issue caused by your plan’s coverage restrictions, by providers that are too booked up to fit you in?
If Maria Bartiromo ever needs Erbitux, and I hope she nor anyone ever does, it will be prescribed to her by a team of doctors working in a private practice, with privileges at a private hospital. Neither will take insurance at all. And Maria will be happy to be allowed to pay cash for the care. Because it will be her own stature, or connections from her bosses or other elites that will get her in to see a doctor at the pinnacle of her field, one that most ordinary people might have to wait months to see, if ever, or simply can’t see, due to the whole boatloads of cash thing.
But Maria will have access to that drug and whatever else she needs, because she has the cash to pay for it. And that won’t change. Many more people, as you point out, can’t even get a free colonoscopy to find out if they are cancerous, until they start showing symptoms that they are.
The way insurance companies treat most Americans, you’d think they’d be happy to let us bend over and take it.
I don’t really have a further point right now, except that it is a continual point of disgust that those who would be least impacted by health care reform due to privilege or wealth have repeatedly been the ones to argue most strenuously against it.
How do they sleep at night? They sleep in state-of-the-art, soundproofed, climate-controlled coffins, mostly in the daytime.
Ms. Bartiromo is emblematic of the problem with modern TV journalism. She comes across like an uber-arch version of a local news talking head, is completely ignorant of even the most basic facts, yet feels qualified to shrilly pimp for the insurance industry. We need more Matt Taibbis and Jeremy Scahills in this country.
Not to sound overly functionalist, but in some ways Bartiromo has to be the person she is to be on CNN. In other words, a corporation like CNN doesn’t want you (or me) to be in charge of feeding the public the news because that would not serve the interests of corporations like CNN. Institutions promote those who best represent their interests. CNN knows what its doing and so does Bartiromo. In other words, the system is completely functional… for the rich.
I think this is a very important point to consider when we’re watching or listening to political commentators. Whether they actually believe what they’re saying isn’t the point. Pushing their corporate master’s agenda is their job. Sort of like high tech shadow puppets.
In response to another comment. See in context »OK, Bartiromo is a shill, on that we agree. But before making your claims, Laurie, please get the facts straight. She’s on CNBC and MSNBC, not CNN. You lose credibility when you can’t get the basics right.
Why does it matter, you ask? Because I have a feeling your politics align much more closely with MSNBC’s than any other cable net. Call it a hunch. (Hey, mine do, too. But it doesn’t mean I don’t like facts.)
In response to another comment. See in context »She actually asked Weiner why he wasn’t on Medicare. I love his response: “Because I’m 45 years old.” It’s hard to have a debate with ignorance.
[...] here), the one informative bit of that entire 10 minute trainwreck, and getting solid treatment in this Matt Taibbi blog posting about the attractively pouty and vapid Maria Bartiromo’s interview with Congressman Anthony [...]
I have to quasi-stand up for Maria here. Just throwing out a random problem in another country’s health system is not an helpful or even an argument, that is for certain. But I have to ask… It seems logical that the creation of a public option and certainly the adoption of a single payer system will create unlimited demand for a scarce product. Won’t that inevitably lead to policies that limit who can get what treatments, similar to what Maria points out NICE does in Britain? And then aren’t we just back in the same boat we are in now denying treatment to those who need it? I’m not saying this is the guaranteed end result of all of this but I think SOME concern and apprehension is justified and certainly should be discussed. Just in a less “numbskullish” manner than Maria B. displayed here.
“It seems logical that the creation of a public option and certainly the adoption of a single payer system will create unlimited demand for a scarce product.”
In response to another comment. See in context »That’s really not relevant given the state of the system now. We spend more on health care than any other country and look at the state of the system. We have a demand for care that cannot be filled ONLY because of insurance company rationing per their bottom line.
Agreed the 46 (or whatever the number is!) million people without insurance implies that there is a demand out there. But to say the insurance companies are keeping them from getting care is missing the bullseye. The reason they can’t get care is because it is so darn expensive. The insurance companies should take some of the blame for this yes. But the goal of anything we do should be to lower costs and not just to eliminate or change how we regulate private health insurance. And as far as the spending to quality issue. If the French started living and eating like we do they would have a similar problem on their hands in no time.
In response to another comment. See in context »There are already numerous people using the system, they just do it in the ER – a MUCH more expensive option than if they had basic care to monitor their health throughout their lives.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] to Matt Taibbi Then Just Bitch About Some Stuff By Hippie Killer Not exactly a secret, but Maria Bartiromo is a goddamn idiot. I’m sorry. But if you have to ask a 44-year-old man why he isn’t on medicare, then [...]
I known Maria Antoinette Bartiromo is a regular corporate shill but does the healthcare shilling have to do with her husband? Her husband’s the CEO of Wisdom Tree Investments which deals with exchange traded funds? I used to watch CNBC a lot in the late 90s/early 2000s and I don’t remember Bartiromo being as a blatant a shill as she is on MSNBC now so I was wondering if it had to do with her husband’s financial position.
That’s astonishing……I was surprised at the interview.
My colleague and I (disclosure we are both physicians) were discussing that the degree of insanity in the way the system is constructed today would truly require starting from scratch. When up to 100 billion alone is wasted on paperwork and the army of personnel to process it, you KNOW something is wrong.
The insane thing is that the complete exemption of truly pursuing preventative medicine and the complete absence of Tort reform boggles the mind.
Just as an aside, ONLY in Western nations are the cheapest foods the most harmful to you. In the remainder of the world, the cheapest food is fresh produce. Here its a bag of chips and soda.
Matt, You are a cocky, wise-assed punk. PLEASE keep it up! Seriously, thanks for having the huevos rancheros to keep calling out these blowhards. I’ve owned a small business (8 emps) for over 20 years and provide health care (medical/dental/vision) for my employees while none of my competition does. It costs some serious scratch (maybe a second home in the desert?), but I couldn’t even begin to sleep at night, let alone look everyone in the eye if I didn’t.
[...] Shared Maria Bartiromo shows us how media has helped sandbag health care reform [...]
~ WHEN THE LAUGH OF $ATAN WA$ HEARD IN THE PEOPLE$ HALLS OF U$ CONGRE$$ ~
THIS OLD WORLD ORDER OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF OUR POORER AMERICANS NEEDS ENLIGHTENED POLITICAL MINDS AND HEARTS TO VIEW GOD DIFFERENTLY THEN $$$…. NO MATTER WHAT THEIR POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION ???
WHEN WILL OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS ABATE THEIR ASSAULT ON POORER AMERICANS WITH THEIR MONETARY CONTROL OF OUR IVORY TOWER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER ???
THERE ARE NOT MANY MORE DISTRACTIONS LEFT WHICH ARE AVAILABLE FOR OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS TO HIDE BEHIND IN NOT TAKING PROPER CARE OF ALL OUR AMERICANS IN A HUMANE FASHION !!!
RALPH NADER ATTEMPTED TO EDUCATE AMERICAN VOTERS ABOUT U.S. CORPORATE POWER IN AMERICA AND HOW THEY CONTROL OUR CONGRESSIONAL PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR POCKET BOOK (POLITICAL DONATIONS). * WITHOUT THE DOUGH $$$ THESE U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD DO NOT GET RE~ELECTED TO CONGRESS.*TO STAY IN POLITICAL OFFICE IN AMERICA,ONE HAS TO BARTER YOUR VOTES IN CONGRESS AND REPRESENT POWER INTERESTS IN RETURN FOR THE BUCK$.
POORER AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HAD THE $$$ LOBBY TO INFLUENCE THIS CORRUPT POLITICAL CONCEPT (of horse trading political votes for political contributions) TO ACHIEVE PROPER HEALTH ~CARE OR LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR ALL OUR MIDDLE ~ CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS.
AMERICAN IVORY TOWER U.S.CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD HAVE PASSED FEDERAL LEGISLATION IN WASHINGTON DC TO SPEND 50 BILLION AMERICAN TAX $$$ ON THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS WHILE THEIR OWN AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING TOLD BY THIS SAME U.S.CONGRESS THAT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE AND PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR CITIZENS IS UNAFFORDABLE.
*** WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS (WHO ARE ONLY 1% OF OUR USA POPULATION) SADLY ALSO CONTROL HOW OUR U.S.CONGRESS SPENDS THEIR BUDGET TRILLION$ AND HAVE OBVIOUSLY FOUND MORE WORTHY INTERNATIONAL CITIZENS THEN OUR OWN DESPERATE AND NEEDY POOR TO ASSIST !!!
~Poorer Americans Nationwide only get 400 million $$$ per year for legal representation allocated them by CONGRESS~
Middle Class and Working Poor Americans are unable to afford proper legal representation in their Civil, Criminal and Family Courts of law all across America causing tremendous hardships nationwide,but these great minds and callous hearts in our American Congress have found others Worldwide more needy then their own citizens who are being falsely incarcerated,wrongfuly executed,losing their homes or apartments,losing child custody or visitation with their children etc�
Not being afforded proper legal representation by our U.S. Congress has created a total breakdown of the American judicial system for our poorer Americans because the our U.S. Courts punish all of us little people if we are not assisted with proprer legal counsel.*It is a known fact that our average Middle Class and Working Poor Americans without proper legal representation in all of our American Courts of law lose their legal cases to the better financed who are able to afford lawyers.
Lawyers For Poor Americans is now actively in the hunt for International Countries and Leaders Worldwide to help raise 5 Billion Dollar$ for our slighted poorer Americans who have had their own American Congress turn their backs on their desperate needs in not affording them proper legal representation.
Troy Davis and Mumia Abu ~ Jamal are 2 perfect examples of American citizens who never had proper legal representation or defense investigations afforded them by our U.S. Congressional Leaders Of The Free World in their initial criminal trials in (Georgia and Pennsylvania) who might very well have to pay the ultimate price of possibly being completely innocent and falsely executed in the near future.
These two poorer Americans are among tens of thousands of legal cases nationwide that never were afforded proper legal representation or proper defense investigations at their initial trials……**We the public really have no idea if these men are innocent or guilty until they both are given fair legal representation at their new future trials.
Improper murder trials take place in Third World Countries all the time. *** Why should average Middle~Class and Working Poor Americans in the Wealthiest Country Of The World be treated as if they are living a Third World Life Style ??
This is the first of many www International pleas by Lawyers For Poor Americans for other leaders and countries to help raise the needed monie$ to correct these blatant injustices that have been inflicted on poorer Americans for the last few decades.
Lawyers For Poor Americans has many other written articles that can be viewed with any www search engine by our name or our telephone number.
Lawyers For Poor Americans is a www lobby group of volunteers that sing out about the decades old neglect,abuse and injustices being inflicted on our poorer Americans that have become Crimes Against Humanity issues for the International World Court to investigate.
lawyersforpooreramericans@yahoo.com
(424-247-2013)
Matt–I saw your appearance that day. I didn’t immediately recognize Ms. CNBC, so I wrote to Morning Joe with the following query:
Dear Morning Joe,
Who was that crazy lady yelling nonsense at Matt Taibi? (No, not Mika, the other crazy lady).
Thank you.
Obama himself is currently selling out Health Care Reform, part of the return on Goldman Sachs’ $981,000 investment in his election I suppose. Remember the memo to Big Pharma?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html
Matt’s got this one absolutely right (and I really liked his coverage of the 2008 Democratic Convention): The Democrats are just as bought and paid for as the Republicans are, and by the same people. Anyone who believes otherwise at this point is just fooling themselves. Health Care Reform with a public option has no chance of passing because it was never meant to. It was all political calculation by their Corporate backers, nothing more.
And as for the Democratic Noise Machine, they’re owned by the same people as well:
http://www.econocataclysm.com/crooks-liars-is-owned-by-goldman-sachs/
Matt, you’re right: We’ll never get any real change in this country short of a total civil uprising.
Yeah, no kidding. I’m in the Atlanta airport watching CNN and it’s been nothing but anti-reform coverage since I sat down. I caught the tail end of a scare piece about Russia’s apparently horrible public system. Hospitals don’t have enough water, officials everywhere want bribes, etc. I don’t doubt that it’s horrible, but if CNN wanted to honestly examine the problems with public health care in other countries, why not look at several–not just the worst? Surely, Costa Rica has some positive lessons. It’s no wonder Americans are terrified about the public option.
Erbitux? JHC. The CEO went to Jail for promoting the stock. Martha Stweart went to jail. It’s for Colon cancer. If you can afford a have a colonoscopy and have it done at the right time, the the $1200 -$2000 preventative treatment is far more effective than $38,000 for 16 weeks of Erbitux if you live that long. Once Colon cancer has progressed to the point where your symptomatic, your chances of survival are right up their with Pancreatic cancer. Despite that it’s preventable, but people don’t have the 2 Grand lying around to take the test, plus the 2-3 doctors vists to order the test, have it done, and have the results Anal-lyzed.
Meaning your getting it up the butt no matter how you go, but I’m far more certain that the rest of us who don’t belong to a huge group plan like GE’s would get a claim for Erbitux denied faster than an a application for Mastercard from someone who just got a foreclosure on their record. That’s why they charge so much. If you want an extra 4-8 weeks to live people will find $38,000. That covers the denials.
You have to wonder why these companies insist on charging mid 5-to low 6 figures for Cancer drugs. They spend far more on advertising and Doctor bribes than they do R & D. Their big R & D budget comes from Hard-on Drugs and a shit load of other expenses they class as R & D to prove how expensive drugs they don’t come up with are to bring to market.
The National Institute of Health, a Taxpayer funded research organization, usually hands them those drugs for free.
The “Money Honey” means big money to GE, so Your statement about Goldman Sachs coverage is not far off. Her benefit package may not carry a option for a sex change operation though , so she may have you on that one.
[...] White noise Daniel Tencer under Antics and Pedantics I’ve read two articles in the past twenty-four hours laying the blame on the (expected) failure of health care reform in the US on the media. First there is Matt Taibbi’s piece at his True/Slant blog singling out CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo as being a particularly conspicuous campaigner against reform: [...]
If you lived in Australia you could have 12 free sessions (per year) with a clinical psychologist to help with that ‘incipient nervous collapse’. Really. All you’d need is a referral from a GP, who (if you shopped around for a ‘bulk biller’) you could also visit for free. Actually ‘free’ is not really accurate as all wage earners pay a medicare levy – 1.5% of annual salary – as part of their taxes, with those that choose to take private cover being eligible for a medicare levy rebate.
Sure there are all-taxation-is-theft wingnuts here who complain about the medicare levy – but most people don’t notice, anymore than they notice what percentage of their taxes go to pay for police, firefighting and other services. As a low user of medical services (I’ve lived and worked here for 16 years and only visited a doctor twice) – I guess I’ve (been lucky enough to have) paid in way more than I’ve used. Then again I get to sleep at night** knowing none of my fellow citizens is being made bankrupt by medical costs, or stuck in a job for the health cover, or completely without access to medical services like millions in the US. [**Actually its 3am and I'm up worried about the US public option issue and what it means for the US if it fails, but at least I don't have to worry about my immediate neighbours]
BTW Matt, you got a mention in one of the major Aussie newspapers yesterday http://business.smh.com.au/business/business-has-made-an-art-form-out-of-feeding-the-chooks-20090904-fbfm.html
What a great system. I’m emmigrating to Australia. Any room for a smart ass?
In response to another comment. See in context »http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/diannaruggles/truthmusketeers.jpg
Matthew,
Maria secured her health insurance like any smart Manhattan social climber.
On her back and by hooking a billionaire financier’s son.
Maria landed Saul Steinberg’s Little Bundle of Hell, Jonathan. Little Saul runs WisdomTree Investments in the Apple. Little Saul’s prep school punk deals in ETFs – exchange-traded funds.
Certainly you saw Brian Baskin of Dow Jones Newswire offer this piece, “Small Investors Face Big Hit in ETF Push.” Word has it, Little Saul is mighty upset and that means Maria’s Pot of Offshore Gold may be in jeopardy.
Baskin wrote: “Exchange-traded funds, which have become popular as one of the few avenues for small investors to gain direct exposure to commodity futures, are a top target in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s drive to rein in speculation in oil markets. The CFTC’s moves reverse a trend in market innovation that allowed almost anyone to bet on the direction of energy prices along with the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
“And bet they did. Commodity ETFs came into existence in 2003 just as the boom in commodities prices was getting under way. They have ballooned to hold $59.3 billion in assets as of July, according to the National Stock Exchange.
“Since the beginning of the year, $22.1 billion has flowed into these funds compared with inflows of $7.3 billion during the same period in 2008. Almost half of the new money that has come in this year has been directed at the largest commodity ETF, which buys gold, amid worries about inflation. …
“Limiting the size of ETFs will result in higher costs for investors, ranging from individuals to banks and hedge funds with multimillion-dollar positions, because legal and operational costs have to be spread out over a fewer number of shares. It also would render the instruments less desirable, because prices of the shares of closed funds tend to deviate from price moves in the underlying commodity.”
MATT, In the future, when Maria goes off on you like that, just ask her how much of her banking she does offshore and whether she’d be open to allowing the IRS to auditing her financial and tax records.
You’ll hear crickets chirping in response.
Considering CNBC is little more than a Wall Street “glory hole”, I guess we got what we could reasonably expect from Bartiromo.
As a TV “media creature” wouldn’t she be a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Union with a platinum plated benefits package, presumably including the best health care insurance plan money can buy?
Pay no attention to that loud rumbling you’re feeling and hearing, it’s just Dante digging Hell a little deeper to accomodate the thieves, shills, liars and hypocrites in the MSM media, Congress and on Wall Street.
Maria sleeps excellently in her $1500 Frette sheets.
~ WHEN SATAN WAS LET INTO THE PEOPLES HALLS OF U.S. CONGRESS ~
~HOW MANY SINCERE RELIGIOUS AMERICANS WHO CURRENTLY HAVE HEALTHCARE COVERAGE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE THIS SATANIC MENTALITY TO DENY OTHER LESS FORTUNATE POORER AMERICANS AND THEIR FAMILIES PROPER HEALTHCARE ???
THIS OLD WORLD ORDER OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF OUR POORER AMERICANS NEEDS ENLIGHTENED POLITICAL MINDS AND HEARTS TO VIEW GOD DIFFERENTLY THEN $$$… NO MATTER WHAT THEIR POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION ???
WHEN WILL OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS ABATE THEIR ASSAULT ON POORER AMERICANS WITH THEIR MONETARY CONTROL OF OUR IVORY TOWER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER ???
THERE ARE NOT MANY MORE DISTRACTIONS LEFT WHICH ARE AVAILABLE FOR OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS TO HIDE BEHIND IN NOT TAKING PROPER CARE OF ALL OUR AMERICANS IN A HUMANE FASHION !!!
RALPH NADER ATTEMPTED TO EDUCATE AMERICAN VOTERS ABOUT U.S. CORPORATE POWER IN AMERICA AND HOW THEY CONTROL OUR CONGRESSIONAL PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR POCKET BOOK (POLITICAL DONATIONS). WITHOUT THE DOUGH $$$ THESE U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD DO NOT GET RE~ELECTED TO CONGRESS. TO STAY IN POLITICAL OFFICE IN AMERICA,ONE HAS TO BARTER YOUR VOTES IN CONGRESS AND REPRESENT POWER INTERESTS IN RETURN FOR THE BUCK$.
POORER AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HAD THE $$$ LOBBY TO INFLUENCE THIS CORRUPT POLITICAL CONCEPT (of horse trading political votes for political contributions) TO ACHIEVE PROPER HEALTH ~CARE OR LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR ALL OUR MIDDLE ~ CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS.
AMERICAN IVORY TOWER U.S.CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD HAVE PASSED FEDERAL LEGISLATION IN WASHINGTON DC TO SPEND 50 BILLION AMERICAN TAX $$$ ON THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS WHILE THEIR OWN AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING TOLD BY THIS SAME U.S.CONGRESS THAT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE AND PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR CITIZENS IS UNAFFORDABLE.
*** WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS (WHO ARE ONLY 1% OF OUR USA POPULATION) SADLY ALSO CONTROL HOW OUR U.S.CONGRESS SPENDS THEIR BUDGET TRILLION$ AND HAVE OBVIOUSLY FOUND MORE WORTHY INTERNATIONAL CITIZENS THEN OUR OWN DESPERATE AND NEEDY POOR TO ASSIST !!!
~Poorer Americans Nationwide only get 400 million $$$ per year for legal representation allocated them by CONGRESS~
Middle Class and Working Poor Americans are unable to afford proper legal representation in their Civil, Criminal and Family Courts of law all across America causing tremendous hardships nationwide,but these great minds and callous hearts in our American Congress have found others Worldwide more needy then their own citizens who are being falsely incarcerated,wrongfuly executed,losing their homes or apartments,losing child custody or visitation with their children etc…
Not being afforded proper legal representation by our U.S. Congress has created a total breakdown of the American judicial system for our poorer Americans because the our U.S. Courts punish all of us little people if we are not assisted with proprer legal counsel. It is a known fact that our average Middle Class and Working Poor Americans without proper legal representation in all of our American Courts of law lose their legal cases to the better financed who are able to afford lawyers.
Lawyers For Poor Americans is now actively in the hunt for International Countries and Leaders Worldwide to help raise 5 Billion Dollar$ for our slighted poorer Americans who have had their own American Congress turn their backs on their desperate needs in not affording them proper legal representation.
Troy Davis and Mumia Abu – Jamal are 2 perfect examples of American citizens who never had proper legal representation or investigations afforded them by our U.S. Congressional Leaders Of The Free World in their initial criminal trials in (Georgia and Pennsylvania) who might very well have to pay the ultimate price of possibly being completely innocent and falsely executed in the near future.
These two poor Americans are among tens of thousands of legal cases nationwide that never were afforded proper legal representation or proper defense investigation at their initial trials. **We the public really have no idea if these men are innocent or guilty until they both are given fair legal representation at their new future trials.
Improper murder trials and needless deaths due to a lack of proper healthcare take place in Third World Countries all the time ! *** Why should average Middle~Class and Working Poor Americans in the Wealthiest Country Of The World be treated as if they are living a Third World Life Style ??
This is the first of many www International pleas by Lawyers For Poor Americans for other leaders and countries to help raise the needed monie$ to correct these blatant injustices that have been inflicted on poorer Americans for the last few decades.
Lawyers For Poor Americans has many other written articles that can be viewed with any www search engine by our name or our telephone number.
Lawyers For Poor Americans is a www lobby group of volunteers that sing out about the decades old neglect,abuse and injustices being inflicted on our poorer Americans that have become Crimes Against Humanity issues for the International World Court to investigate.
lawyersforpooreramericans@yahoo.com
(424-247-2013)
I finally watched the Morning Joe clip from this post, and I think people have been responding to Bartiromo’s argument the wrong way. The retort shouldn’t be to point out that America’s health care system is ranked below the rest of the advanced world. The answer to the claim made by Bartiromo (and many others in the anti-reform camp) can be found in football. Yes, football.
I think we’re all of the belief that, on the whole, America has the best doctors, medical researchers, etc. But the personnel and the system are two different entities. If you apply Bartiromo’s logic to sports, then the best football team must automatically have the best stadium and front office. While possible, it’s absurd to claim that those two things necessarily go hand-in-hand.
Just because Tom Brady is a great quarterback doesn’t automatically lead to the conclusion that Gillette Stadium is the best sporting facility in the history of the world.
Hey Matt, What do you expect from that b@!ch who spends all day peddling stocks so that her corporate boyfriend/live in can sponsor another show for her or buy her jewels with grandma and grandpa from Kansas’ life savings their “investment advisor” duped them into investing so that he meets his quota.
Face it, CNBC is Fox Light. She, for all intents and purposes, can be thought of as Bill O’Reilly in drag.
[...] me. Matt Taibbi, some follow-up please: It drives me crazy when people make this argument. Fuck a fancy boutique [...]
As a Canadian, I’ve had to tune out American media when it comes to the health care debate. The media is just doing an ABYSMAL job of covering it, allowing misinformation (or no information) to flourish.
Incidentally, my mother is being treated for colon cancer right now.
She has seen her family doctor, a gynecologist, and a gastroenterologist. Cost: $0. She had surgery – performed by a gynecologist, gastroenterolost, and an oncologist, in a formerly decommissioned hospital room that was re-opened and prepared specifically so she could have surgery in a timely fashion. Cost: $0. Home visits by a nurse: $0. Six months of chemotherapy: $0.
The only thing we had to pay for was parking.
You can imagine that the relief of knowing a major illness was not going to cause her to lose her house, go bankrupt, or place an undue burden on her children has allowed her to focus on getting well.
And no, my mother will not be taking Erbitux, because it has yet been approved for use in this country. When the US starts approving drugs based on Canadian studies, maybe we will do the same. Until then, we’ll perform our own studies, thank you very much. We seem to be doing pretty well on our own.
The Congress is back in session and doing the dirty work for the Medical Industrial Complex.mcconnell $3.3M, hatch $2.9M, baucus $2.8M, grassley $2.7M,lieberman $2.6M, burr $2.4M, ensign $2.4M, cornyn $2.2M, kyl $2.1M,conrad $2.1M, cantor $1.8M boehner $1.7M, coburn $1.2M werepaid by the Medical Industrial Complex to kill Health Care Reform.Follow the Money: LinkCall Congress and demand, Single-Payer Health Care for All!Sign Single-Payer Petition: LinkDon’t let the Medical Industrial Complex steal your Health Care from you and your family by donating huge sums of money to Crooked Politicians in order to maintain the Status Quo. Keep up the good fight.SEMPER FI!
Congress is like Octomom.
What has become the healthcare debacle can be attributed to one thing: Congress is acting like Octomom. I’ll tell you why in a minute. If I’m going to take the time to write this thing, you have to read all the way to the end, and no fair peeking.
So what President Obama asked Congress to do was really pretty simple. Fix healthcare. It’s too expensive, too complicated and everybody’s pissed off about it, including me, although you can’t tell it by the way I talk about it in speeches and stuff.
So instead of writing a one-pager that any summer intern could have done on his latte break, Congress acted just like Octomom. (I’ll tell you what the one pager is in a minute. Be patient).
For example, she could have had one child, which would have been affordable, easily understood and ultimately self-correcting. Instead, she had eight children in addition to the five or six (I forget how many) she already had at a hideous expense to the California taxpayer in a complicated procedure that no one had ever done before, nearly killing the poor babies.
Remember that picture of Octomom just prior to giving birth that we saw broadcast throughout the solar system, burning itself in every living being’s brain forever?
Well Congress is just like that picture. (mental eeyyeewww here)
They took the intern’s one pager and turned it in to what the detractors on both sides are saying is the crime of the century.
If Congress had done what was asked of them, this could have been settled in a week. Instead, people are getting their thumbs bitten off in town hall meetings, old people are standing in lines for their last rites to get the early bird discount, and we could all go on vacation on what the lobbyists are spending.
So what would the intern write? It would go something like this: Anyone who wants to can buy in to the Medicare system. Premiums for basic plans would be based on age and income.
Before you freak out, let me explain using some examples.
First off, everybody pays something. If you’re working, you pay. (see sliding scale on the one pager).
A big objection to this option, which has some validity, is that only the old and sick people would go in to the program and the insurance companies would cherry pick the healthy and besides, private enterprise can’t compete with government, especially with Congress writing a thousand pages of new rules that will take decades for the rest of us to read and understand, if ever.
That can be overcome.
Let’s look at the 25 year-old couple. I’ll use my cousin and his significant other. He is a bright, hardworking guy in a blue-collar job. He’s physically active, takes good care of himself, but his job could entail a serious injury if he’s not careful, but that would be covered by the state’s Workman’s Compensation program. He gets insurance through his employer, but it costs him and his employer more and more for less and less.
She’s bright, hardworking, has an entry-level job in the school system while she’s working her way through college to get a better job in the school system. She does not have health insurance because it would cost half her monthly salary to go in to the state employee’s self funded pool and that means she couldn’t pay for college.
Instead, they could both buy in to the program for say, $150 per person per month, thereby having basic coverage should the unusual for their age group occur. He would save about $200 per month, which is a concert ticket. His employer would save a bunch of money, maybe even creating another job, and she could afford both school and health insurance and her mother could sleep at night.
The program would have the needed young, healthy people to satisfy the geeks who track this kind of stuff, and they would pay for it throughout their working life in (rational and fair) increasing amounts as their income goes up, thereby balancing the old sick people who the death panels would kill off early anyway. (kidding)
The insurance companies would have to behave themselves and offer competitive rates on basic plans, charging more for the extravagant plans, without Congress breathing down their necks. Makes everybody happy; except maybe the lobbyists.
Let’s take me. Fifty-four, self-employed, healthy and forced to buy an expensive, crappy policy that goes up every six months no matter whether I have claims or not. I don’t know how good or bad the policy is because I’m too scared to file a claim.
I carry this policy because my generation has been taught to live in terror of the big C or a heart attack and subsequent bankruptcy. I would pay, say, $350 per month for a little better plan. It would cover things like simple preventive tests I should be getting, but don’t because of the cost, and treatment, should my worst fears come to pass. I would pay that $350 or so (with rational, fair increases) until age 65, or when I retire, which at the rate my insurance is going up, will be never.
If I want and can afford it, I’ll go with the private, boutique plan.
The objections here are that hospitals and doctors don’t get enough reimbursements for Medicare as it is, especially for expensive illnesses, which again, has some validity. So here’s the caveat. I get the preventive care I need to hopefully head off serious illness. According to the plan, I must shop around for the best deal at the best price because doctors and hospitals now have to tell us what stuff costs. If I want a more lavish approach, I pay the difference myself.
Because I am an informed consumer, I am unlikely to sue anyone for malpractice, and am precluded from doing so if I choose the doctors and treatment from the Medicare plan.
Also, because I am an informed and motivated consumer, I don’t demand the very latest technology available only on the Mars Rover at the fanciest hospital on the other side of the world unless I am willing to make up the difference.
That leaves the 75-plus Warren Buffets of the world. They pay a lot more on the Medicare plan than me because they are a) old and b) rich. They don’t get the free ride of Medicare as it exists today that does not draw distinctions in rates between rich and poor people. If he doesn’t like it, he can go to the private market. I’ll even give him my insurance agent’s contact information.
Here is the caveat for Warren. He still gets Medicare deducted from his retirement check on a proportional basis. He’s going to be paying a lot, or he’ll be building a lot of medical wings with his name on them. Either way, we win.
Let’s cover some of the other objections to such a program. For instance, those complicated medical coding forms that Medicare uses that cost providers so much money.
Again, one pager. Four categories. Not so Sick, Sick, Really Sick and Call the Undertaker. The program would pay 80%, 90%, 100% and 100% plus Final Arrangements respectively. See, we can even make the funeral homes happy. The private insurance companies have to take care of their own billing forms. I can’t solve everybody’s problems.
How about the illegal immigration question? I think it’s already been answered in Medicare, but how about this? “What’s the name and address of your employer so we can send them the bill for your care.”
Abortion? Seriously, how many people do you know on Medicare get abortions? But if it comes up, see above. “What’s the name and address of the daddy so we can send him the bill.”
Now for the payoff. So why is Congress acting like Octomom, the woman who misled her doctors and sperm donor(s) and soaked the medical community, the taxpayers and the media?
Three reasons, depending on whether you watched Dr. Phil or Oprah during that time.
1. Octomom did it because she wanted the attention. This reason applies to members of Congress who have appeared on Fox News more than once, blog regularly for the Huffington Post, have a YouTube video or a Twitter account. You know who you are and so do we.
2. Octomom did it because she wanted the freebies like houses and diapers and money from the tabloids. Applies to all members of Congress (and that’s everyone) who are on the receiving end of the $1.5 million the insurance and pharma oligarchy are spending each and every day to ensure nothing passes that is counter to their interests.
3. Octomom did it because she could. Applies to the Gang of Six and Nancy Pelosi. Does not apply to Harry Reid because he is invisible at present.
There you have it. One pager or Octomom. Which do we want?
Thanks for the link, Matt. I heard about this on Bill Maher and wanted to see it.
What I didn’t get from Maher’s show were the responses from Bartiromo and Watson. When Weinar says he’s not on Medicare because he is not 65, Bartiromo says, “Come on.” showing the world that with regards to the health care debate she is a completely ignorant slut on the take. And Watson is not much better as he starts laughing as if Weiner was caught with his pants down. Where do they find these idiots?
That Medicare is so much better than private insurance is known to everyone who has had to deal with both. The term “public option” is what scares the shit out of insurers. They cannot win a debate comparing themselves to Medicare, so they take out the option part and parlay themselves as freedom fighters against government expansion. The reality is the insurance companies are greedy fuck middle men who provide no care at all and are afraid of government competition.
That the Republican Party has become the party of whores to corporate America is why they no longer represent me. A real Republican would say, “If you can’t compete with government, then you shouldn’t exist in the fist place.”
The Republican alternative should be that people pay for their routine care out of pocket and carry insurance for unexpectedly high costs. The model should be like auto insurance.
The ultimate irony is that not only do a majority of Americans favor the public option but a majority of Republicans do as well. If the public option is not going to be a reality it will show how badly both parties are on the take.
I think Obama has badly miscalculated why his approval ratings have been down. It is because he has not fought harder in getting the public option.
I personally hope that Obama is pulling a rope-a-dope here. The only people fighting for the status quo in this debate are either corrupt, idiots, or in Bartiromo’s case, both.
Relative to Maria Bartiromo being a “lunkhead”, yesterday on Morning Joe, during a discussion of Jimmy Carter’s remarks on racism within the right, she continually insisted that Carter was engaging ‘class warfare’. Huh? Though I hate to try to put myself in her head, I can only assuming she’s putting whites in one class and blacks in another.