In order to lower my blood pressure, I stopped thinking about the worst company in the world, paypal, and spent the watching Amadeus on Netflix.
Still one of the best movies ever made. And I wish I could laugh like Tom Hulce, who always reminds me of a better looking Bob Geldof.
BTW- how many of you knew that Mozart was in Animal House?
Geeno
He would have been if he were born in the right era.
ZOMFG – I was First?
I will NOT say “First!”, or “Frist” for that matter. I just find it surprising.
morzer
He played Tunch, didn’t he? I remember the fine white head of hair….
Bobby Thomson
“Wolfie!”
Based on your Paypal post, you should probably stay from After Hours for a few days.
Seebach
Did someone say something about Paypal being the worst company in the world?
jl
Cole seems to be taking the advice that moderate drinking is good for one’s health, but I would remind him that the limit is three 4 ounce drinks of wine a day.
That is all.
Query: Mozart in Animal House? That would be cross between Bluto and Hoover?
Yutsano
@morzer: Powdered wigs as far as the eye can see…of course costuming folks in Hollywood LIVE for period movies like that, especially ones with decent budgets where they can go hog wild.
PaulW
In the play’s touring version, Mozart was played by Mark Hamill. Yes. They could have have Luke Skywalker for the movie version.
MikeJ
It cobblerin’ time!
MattR
Anyone have a suggestion for a good/reputable site to get details about how to remove viruses/malware? I managed to infect a laptop with the “Antimalware Doctor” last night and have had zero luck cleaning it out today.
beltane
“Immortal Beloved”, about Beethoven, was also very good. Not as sparkling as “Amadeus”, but still very moving.
burnspbesq
The Reds are bringing up Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban pitcher who they got in an intense bidding war last year, for the last month of the season. According to espn.com, his fastball has been consistently clocked at 105 during relief outings in Louisville.
Anybody who bet that Atlanta, Cincinnati, and San Diego were going to be the division winners in the NL this year stands to make a bucket of bucks.
Midnight Marauder
Is this where we talk about how much we hate PayPal?
Geeno
BTW – I lurve F. Murray Abraham as Scalieri in that movie. Scalieri was actually one of the very few who actually attended Mozart’s funeral, and he actually revived a lot of Mozart’s work when he appointed Kappelmeister in 1788. The two actually produced joint works, but there are no surviving manuscripts.
— yes, I had to google the 1788 date, but I knew the rest.
morzer
@MattR:
What anti-virus/malware software do you currently have or have you tried?
jewish steel
The phrase, “Too many notes.”
What would I have done without all these years?
Sloegin
@MattR: Malwarebytes anti malware does a decent job of it for some borked systems… for the truly borked however, nuke the thing from orbit.
The Dangerman
@Seebach:
In honor of Mozart, a Song:
Paypal, the worst company in the world, is on fire
Paypal, the worst company in the world, is on fire
Paypal, the worst company in the world, is on fire
We don’t need no limitations,
let the motherfucker burn,
burn motherfucker burn.
Sure, some plagiarism involved, but I’ll claim Fair Use for satire or something….
Geeno
@beltane: Another great composer flick – Gary Oldman is great in that, but then I’ve never seen Gary Oldman suck in anything.
steve
When the film version of Amadeus came out, I remember the first thing I thought was, “Pinto is playing Mozart?”
eemom
that’s funny — I was telling my kids about this movie the other night and planning to watch it with them.
I actually saw the Broadway production, tens of thousands of years ago, but I can’t remember who was in it.
jl
Oops. That is not all. I need to be the nerdo party pooper here.
Amadeus was a fun movie. I enjoyed it.
But the Mozart in Amadeus was more than a tad overdone, compared the real one. And not just in the personality disorder department.
Mozart thought that he worked very hard at learning that music stuff, or at least that is what he said about himself in letters. He claimed that he had a very difficult time learning counterpoint to his satisfaction. So, the Mozart in the movie is a fun cartoon. As is the mortal competition between Salieri and Mozart.
But prolly Cole knows that.
From what I have seen, movies of Peter Shaffer plays are better than the plays.
I quit reading the one about the Incas and the Conquistadors. It was getting boring, and when Shaffer had a scene with an Inca sitting under a eucalyptus tree, I decided it was a good time to bail (but suppose I am being a mean nitpicker).
morzer
@jl:
I’d agree with you, actually. Amadeus is schlock. Fun, but schlock.
sfinny
@MattR: I just spent several days getting rid of a virus at work that was really annoying. I googled and got help with a root kill program and an anti-virus program but it is at the office, not at home. It took multiple attempts (probably about thirty) to get it done, but we have been virus free for a couple of weeks. The program was an anti-malware one.
freelancer
Yes, Paypal is the worst company ever, and Glenn Beck and his followers have subconsciously aimed at making their movement a zero sum game, total war where the stakes are Human Intellect on one side vs. God and God worship on the other.
Oy.
Geeno
@jl: Mozart was a stickler for perfection. Of course he would see his own efforts as incomplete, no matter how well he did. After all, he thought “Ludwig Van”* had no talent of consequence.
—
*A Clockwork Orange reference. Just to spiral the movie thread further.
freelancer
Also, in honor of this thread and the movie Amadeus, I give you all one of the best Mr Show Skits ever.
MattR
@Sloegin: I will check them out. I am downloading PCTools right now, but I think they offer a free scan but then you have to pay to find out if they can actually fix it.
I have not really done too much with this today since I was doing real work on a different laptop. I am just paranoid about downloading and installing other software to fix this that could turn out to be some other version of malware.
(Rebooting now to see if my manual attempt to kill the program and registry entries did the trick)
@sfinny: This sucker is quite tough. It gets in there real good and prevents you from running the task manager or registry editor. I did manage to open the task manager as it was booting up and then manually killed a bunch of processes until I think all the bad crap stopped running. But it was much more of a pain than anything else I have dealt with. (Right now IE cant connect to the internet but Firefox will – and other programs that try to get updates from the internet seem to be failing)
PanAmerican
@MattR:
Assuming XP:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=344128&hl=Antimalware+Doctor
Geeno
Ya know …. I think next time I WILL say “FIRST!” just to get everyone to troll rate me. Restraint has had no pay-off what-so-ever.
TuiMel
@jl:
Consider yourself saved from party-pooperdum. I HATED Amadeus. Every. Minute. Of. It.
Yutsano
@Geeno: Not to get all Freudian here, but Wolfgang had a very disapproving father who tried living vicariously through his child’s talent then basically discarded him when the novelty wore off and his father couldn’t make money off him anymore. Plus despite the image in the movie, Mozart took a long time to gain acceptance in Vienna. The Emperor much preferred the music of Haydn (and yes Salieri) as compared to the much wilder and out there music Mozart was composing. He died mostly penniless because he had such a hard time getting decent commissions.
jewish steel
I’m with you in nerdom,jl. I was just about to horn in and say that Mozart and Salieri had no such relationship.
Nor was Mozart dumped in a pauper’s grave.
But we don’t go to the movies to have a factual time, do we?
grimc
Realized that Mozart was in ‘Animal House’?
I had trouble getting over the fact that Pinto was Mozart.
The Dangerman
I googled Antimalware Doctor and Bleeping Computer was one of the first hits; that’s a good domain. Major Geeks is another one I look for in the results.
Geeno
@Yutsano: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT! Bless you.
Yes, I remember someone doing a comparison of Mozart’s life to Michael Jackson’s, and the parallels were eerie whatever you think of the relative merits of their work.
roshan
Retard all-white Beckapalooza (video)
jl
@Geeno: True. But Mozart was not quite the arrogant ass that was depicted in the play and the movie. I read an interesting musical biography of Mozart that had a chapter the different contemporary composers he studied. I forget the name of the biography or the composers. Some of them are now very obscure, and considered not first rank at all. But Mozart saw something worth very close study of them, and tried to adapt what he valued in them to his own work.
The movie is from a Peter Shaffer play. Shaffer likes to concoct some big psychological conceit between two main characters as the center piece of the play, surrogate father/son projection, jealousy, something or other. He makes that the center of all the plays of his that I read. I don’t find that aspect of his plays interesting at all. The schlocky theatre schtick he does is fun, when it works.
So, the rude boy Mozart was an invention Shaffer needed to fit things into his theatrical system. Didn’t have much to do with anything real, IMHO.
Edit: this is probably taking the movie too seriously, but was Haydn in the movie? I forget. If he was, how was that relationship handled?
Edit edit: heard on the radio that Jimi Hendrix was a big English Baroque fan, especially Handel. Hoocudanode?
Geeno
@roshan: I believe the proper term is “Whitestock”
JasonF
Amadeus most certainly is not schlock. Nor is it an accurate portrait of Mozart’s life, but that’s OK — it doesn’t purport to be. It’s a reflection on the relationship between talent and moral worthiness (or, more precisely, the lack of relationship), as well as an examination of the effects of jealousy. It’s a story about two flawed people whose respective flaws feed each other.
Geeno
@jl: Oh no. the real Mozart was a harsh critic even HE couldn’t live up to.
He almost certainly thought much less of his talents than we do.
MattR
@PanAmerican: I will give this a try as well. It does not help that this is an old work laptop that overheats and refuses to reboot until it cools back down.
morzer
@JasonF:
“Oh yes it is!”
(cups hand to ear and listens)
Geeno
@jl: Who can listen to Handel and not feel good. When I first heard “Watermusic”, I said to my self “Wow, this guy really loved water”, and you couldn’t help but follow him there.
Many musical legends from all genres have musical tastes and loves that seem incongruous until you realize that those people love all music, not just the music they themselves participated in.
jewish steel
@jl
Jimi Hendrix lived in Handel’s house in London, I believe.
jl
@Yutsano: I think that is true. I think the most historically accurate bit in the movie was when the king complains that Mozart’s music has ‘too many notes’. A lot of people thought so, as he developed beyond the fashions of the time.
What was the fashion? I forget the name. (short internet break) The popular style was Gallant. Listen to Quantz, he is Joe Gallant.
When Mozart started moving beyond the Gallant, especially introducing counterpoint and chromaticism, he lost the fashionable audience. Some of his pieces are almost musical FUs. One of hit piano concertos starts out very fashionable Gallant, and then basically insults the style with inside musical jokes, then goes full on counterpoint (almost telling his audience to get lost during the final movement).
His operas, popular pieces (serenades), and a lot of the chamber music was popular, but that was middle class and regular people, I think, not the snoots.
jl
@jewish steel: Next time I listen to Hendrix I’ll be listening for the influence of Purcell, Handel and Byrd1 I do not remember anything jumping out at me.
MikeJ
@jl:
That’s just the way chicks are is really good, even today.
Geeno
@jl: Certainly the Chamber Music – any well-to-do merchant could hire a chamber “orchestra” of 25 to 40 musicians, but that would be sheet music purchases – Mozart, himself would not appear at such a gathering. He might have done better in later life if he had.
MattR
For those who are doing fantasy football, here is a good smack talk link
Yutsano
@MikeJ: Heh, I love how the translation for Cosi fan Tutti can be whatever you want it to be if you wanna be nice or, uhh, not.
asiangrrlMN
@MattR: My brother. He got rid of my virus for me. Otherwise, the MalaByte site suggested upthread.
I have not seen Amadeus or Animal House, so, sadly, I cannot contribute to that particular convo. Alas.
@Yutsano: How you be, hon?
@jl: Hi, FH#4. I am really enjoying your commentary in this thread. Carry on.
jl
@Geeno: Yeah, that is what I remember from the biographies I read. At times later on Mozart was barely getting along on the little he got from sheet music sales, trying to survive to the next novelty concerto commission from some rich amateur, which he tossed off as quickly as he could, sometimes adapting something he wrote for a different instrument.
But he was a genius. Even some of the tossed off concertos are wonderful in their own way. One of the bassoon concertos is retread of one for flute, but he disguises it very well, and adds some special rustic and vulgar bassoony fun that makes the piece seem specially written for that instrument.
jl
@asiangrrlMN:
Hey, Hiya doing?
You’ve never heard Jimi Hendrix?
asiangrrlMN
@jl: Well, of course I’ve heard Hendrix, but not much.
I’m grumpy. It got hot again. Harrumph.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
@Yutsano:
The Emperor and I have something in common. Then again, I’m really not a fan of music of that period. As far as I’m concerned, music history skips straight from Baroque to Beethoven.
Geeno
@asiangrrlMN: How about “A Clockwork Orange”?
Ahem
No I’m not trying to bend the conversation any particular direction
MattR
@asiangrrlMN: Unfortunately, I am the one the family comes to as I am a computer programmer by trade.
You’ve seen neither Animal House nor Amadeus and you don’t know much Hendrix? Oy! So much work to be done. Have you seen the original Star Wars? How about Die Hard?
And it is damn hot here at the beach too. Dropped down to 70 now but it hit 93 and is supposed to get up there again the next two days. Note to self: Next time, ask about air conditioning before you rent the beach house. (though with the fans generating a breeze it is not terrible) (EDIT: oh and cable too. six channels is killing me. I need ESPN and comedy central)
Geeno
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): No no no no–
Baroque -> MOZART -> Beethoven
with a certain amount of overlap
asiangrrlMN
@Geeno: Nope. Have not seen it, either. Or Casablanca, either.
@MattR: Yes. Hated SW. Didn’t see any of the others. Die Hard–are you kidding me? I own it! Alan Rickman is in it.
P.S. I said to call MY brother.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
@Geeno: I’m not sure what that is that you wrote in all caps, but I don’t recognize it. Some lesser known late baroque composer?
Geeno
@asiangrrlMN: OMG, asiangrrlMN? What are you – five? How could live for any length of time and evade all of these touchstones?
You were dodging them, weren’t you?
Geeno
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): Foul beast, I waste no more words on you.
Well … unless you say something else that irritates me.
So, um, there.
Yeah.
jl
@asiangrrlMN: I hope you’ve read the moderate drinking thread earlier today. You can have a nip or two to relax, and its good for you. Honest.
We have had several days for recognizable summer in the SF Bay over the last week. No one was sure what to make of it. There was this big bright thing in the sky, and there were dark splotches on the ground following people around. If we were not so all gawdang sophisticated around here, there might have been mass panic. A chilly foggy wind blew it all away today and everyone is happily complaining about it.
asiangrrlMN
@Geeno: Well, I’m second generation, first of all, so my parents didn’t have any of the American touchstones in place. I didn’t hear my first pop song (Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant) until I was in the 6th grade. Now that I’m older, my tastes are very eclectic and non-mainstream. Oh, and I don’t like the Stones OR the Beatles, either.
@jl: I saw. My response was to invite all of you to my funeral because I drink, at most, one drink every couple weeks. I’m allergic to alcohol (hard liquor affects me the least), and I don’t really care for the taste.
You had actual sun? Gasp!
jewish steel
@jl
Maybe you know this one already, but for some startling similarities try listening to Pederecki’s Threnody and the Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner.
I have a whole theory of avant-garde classical music and the 60s rock explosion that, admittedly is a little hairball, but entertaining to think on. These two pieces are the lynch pin of my thesis.
jl
@asiangrrlMN:
I also do not like booze that much. It tends to upset my stomach. I hope you can figure out a way to bear the midwest summer heat.
I have to go, but will check back sometime later to see if you get over the grumps and tell us what kind of music you like.
I would venture some guesses, but I am sure I would end up in big big trouble again.
All the comes to mind right now for guesses is Funk and Lawrence Welk (uh, oh, I better get out of here now).
MattR
@asiangrrlMN: I’ve been calling for him but getting no answer.
And I can’t believe I forgot that you would have seen Die Hard. Here is some not your usual FM Jimi for ya
jl – When I was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple years ago they had an exhibit of Jimi Hendrix’s early artwork and poetry. Quite fascinating stuff. You could definitely see the talent.
morzer
@Yutsano:
That’s not quite fair. Mozart actually had quite a comfortable life in Vienna to begin with, and received reasonably generous imperial patronage. Joseph II commissioned Die Entführung aus dem Serail from him, and appointed him to a post as chamber composer which paid modestly well for fairly minimal work. What changed seems to have been a combination of hard times for everyone, with wars and disease reducing the number of patrons during the last 3-4 years of Mozart’s life. There’s also been speculation that Mozart became depressed, and so stopped giving the public concerts which had been another source of revenue.
jl
@jewish steel: Hmmm. Interesting. For some reason, Pederecki’s Threnody and the Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner put together makes me think of Arvo Part’s Canticle in memorium for Benjamin Britten.
That will be an interesting mashup. I’ll give it a shot.
jl
@morzer: I think it was a combination of social and economic stress and Mozart going his own way in terms of his musical development. I definitely remember reading that he did alienate many of his high fashion high wealth fans of his earlier music.
It is hard to believe, when you listen to the music, that at one time some considered ot to have ‘too many notes’ and was too ‘advanced’ to be enjoyable.
asiangrrlMN
@jl: Laurence Welk? Are you insane? I do like some funk. I would be curious as to how you peg me musically.
@MattR: Well, he’s sleeping, so that’s probably why he’s not taking your call. And that Hendrix song is tasty, indeed.
ruemara
I knew, because I totally crushed on Hulce, back in the day.
Yutsano
@morzer: This of course is psychological analysis way after their deaths so the accuracy is dependent on that fact. But Mozart was definitely not afraid of getting very creative. I forget the name of the piece but he wrote one based upon the singings of his pet bird (a starling IIRC). It is like someone took a Schoenberg score and stuck it in a time machine.
@ruemara: Is it wrong I secretly hoped he was gay and was very disappointed when I found out he wasn’t?
morzer
@jl:
Well, the too many notes quote is attributed to Joseph II on one occasion, not as a general view of Mozart, and not everyone believes that he said it. I am not sure people saw Mozart as too advanced for enjoyment. His operas were immediate successes, and the concerts he gave were pretty well attended. He certainly got on well with Haydn, and Joseph II made him chamber composer to stop him leaving Vienna – after the occasion when he supposedly made the “too many notes” remark. We do know that in the last year of his life Mozart’s finances began to look up and he started repaying his debts. His burial and funeral service also weren’t unusual, but fully in accord with the customs of the day, rather than the later stories of a pauper’s grave.
Yutsano
@morzer: The real tell that he was out of favor with the court (which there have been rampant speculations about the exact reasoning) was the fact that Emperor Joseph did not pay for his funeral. That suggests that Mozart wasn’t a pensioner and was living off his popular musical income. I suggest a BJ road trip to Vienna to do some further exploration of these important musicological matters.
ronin122
Can someone tell me when the hell CrooksandLiars became PUMA-lite? I used to like their site back before the 2008 primaries but fuck… as predictable they have huge fights in the comment sections between people who bash the Prez for everything and those who “say” he can’t do any wrong, but it doesn’t help when the authors interject stupid shit bringing up Hillary. It’s over two years ago, isn’t it oh-I-don’t-know time to give it up already?
Evidence: here
ronin122
Also, too: Mozart was definitely interesting, making this piece of art.
Platonicspoof
__
@MattR:
Might be some leads here, info 3 to 47 weeks old:
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/security-tool-malware
MattR
@ronin122: I never really pinned it as PUMA, but I gradually stopped going there quite a while ago. I just found more and more that their logic was just off, even when criticizing the right.
Computer still scanning for spyware. Found quite a bit so far. Nice job by my company of giving us good anti virus software. (EDIT: But really my own damn fault. I never surf on the work laptop except I am not home so I had no choice. And I did not make sure Firefox had flashblock and noscript installed)
freelancer
@ronin122:
Two words: Suzie Madrack, she is insein.
Zuzu's Petals
@PaulW:
I saw that too! He was a pretty energetic Mozart as I recall.
jon
Someone mentioned this earlier, but it’s worth repeating: geese provided a Miracle unto the Disciple Glenn on Saturday.
It rivaled all the great Biblical Miracles: Moses stubbing his toe on Mt. Sinai, Abraham getting a bug in his eye while speaking to some guy about the weather, and that time Jesus saw a double rainbow.
To make it even more Miraculous, Beck tried for an entire year (huh? well he says so in the Miracle link) to get someone in uniform to present the flag. I don’t see how this is possible, though it may be that all the costume shops were empty after all the Tea Partiers had more foresight to get uniforms than did the guy actually planning the whole thing, and the VFW might have had its regular Bingo Afternoon on Saturdays from 2-5pm. Beck did find a bullet-proof vest so he could have done it himself as a Blackwater brigadeer. Maybe he couldn’t find the cool wraparound sunglasses that make that uniform complete. Poor Glenn Beck.
As Oath Effin Smellers said on that facebook thingy the kids use, “Fabio had a ‘God’s flyover’ once.”
jon
“We couldn’t even get anybody dressed in a military uniform to present the flag. We tried for almost a year. We couldn’t get it done. Thank God, we had our flyover.”–Glenn Beck
What a lasagna dish of burning buttmud is he.
wilfred
I’m sure Beck would approve:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/16/israel2?CMP=twt_gu
This case was being observed very closely, not in the American press, of course.
Alwhite
@steve:
Me too – the only worse movie moment like that was when I realized the Klingon commander was Reverend Jim Ignatowski.
I actually read a lot of stuff about Scalieri after seeing the movie though. I really liked his condemnation of God for giving him the ability to understand greatness without the gift of being able to produce greatness. It spoke to me at a very deep level. I learned that the real guy actually was nothing like the movie version (WHAT!? the movies taking liberties with reality!?!). As noted above, he was very successful in his lifetime & actually collaborated with Wolfie on pieces. He only became “small” in retrospect.
Ravi Joshi
Change your name to Juan Cole or Huckleberry Finn or something like that. Why is it that complicated?
debbie
There isn’t one measure of Mozart that isn’t perfect.
I don’t think Amadeus was as far off as some here are suggesting. If you’re that interested, you might want to read Marcia Davenport’s biography.
jaxtra
just watched it again myself, fantastic movie with a great cast. f.murray was outstanding. not to mention hulce and of course jeffrey jones.
toujoursdan
I always found the “too many notes” comment a bit dodgy. The classical period, which Mozart was part of, was a reaction to the ever-increasing complexity and polyphony of the baroque period, with simpler melodies and homophony (melody supported by chords).
Mozart was a big fan of Bach and spent quite a bit of time studying the “Well Tempered Clavier” which influenced his work.
Remember November
I met Tom somewhere around ’93. I was working on an indie film at Ross Gafney studios ( where they cut original Friday the 13th ) and he was doing a project with some NYU students. We exchanged quizzical looks over the coffee area pastries. Later on in the day I walked past him on the street and we gave each other a head nod. Very nice guy, and really short. Have not seen him around lately. He was also in “Murder in Mississipi” – another re-telling of the 60’s civil rights murders.
Flugelhorn
I would just like to send out a hearty “FUCK YOU VERY MUCH” for my company’s 33% Healthcare rate hike. We made next to zero claims last year. I would also like to extend this skull fucking in hearty handshake for the fact I will now have the cost of my INFLATED healthcare added to my gross income for income tax purposes.
Go Obamacare, GO! I certainly hope you folks are stocking up on beads, crystals, and tofu for the pending progressive apocalypse this November.
Oh yeah. Go fuck yourselves.
jon
I am expecting as much as a 38% increase in healthcare costs this year, but the good people at the State of Arizona Department of Administration kindly pointed out to me in a lovely letter that this year’s increase is entirely the result of Obama’s “sweeping legislation”. That makes all the increases in past years the result of fairies not creating enough rainbows and trolls not eating enough goats. A few years ago, it was that the hems were too low. In another year, it will be because the dogs are barking too loudly. Although I think that was the cause of the premium increases in 2004 as well, so they might have to come up with another explanation.
YellowJournalism
@jon: A lot of companies are claiming that it’s all Obamacare’s fault. My dad went off of a small business health care plan when things were bad for the company, and when he tried to get back on, they said that the new legislation requires the company to have no less than five people on the insurance plan for a small business. (Anyone have an info on that?) Of course, the guy who didn’t give up his care at the time has been grandfathered in. Now my dad has to go searching for his own health insurance with a pay raise to cover it that will put him into another tax bracket.
Mnemosyne
Two words about the Salieri in Amadeus: unreliable narrator. But unfortunately it’s almost impossible to get an unreliable narrator across in a film because the medium is such that you automatically assume everything you see is “true.”
Mnemosyne
@Flugelhorn:
You must have had the nicest insurance company in the world if they never once raised your premiums until Obama forced them to.
debbie
@ Flugelhorn:
I’m going to assume you’re still grounded in reality and so weren’t expecting that there wouldn’t be any increase at all.
This link demonstrates that it isn’t Obamacare that’s responsible for blatant greed; it’s the insurance companies:
http://cbs13.com/local/anthem.health.insurance.2.1879360.html
Imagine! All these highly paid employees and no one can even be bothered to check for accounting accuracy! Just like NJ’s screwed up education proposal. Conservatives and fiscal excellence = oil and water.
Obamacare actually cut the rate increase in half.
pepito
I haven’t seen Animal House, but Homer Simpson told me that Mozart was in it on a Simpsons episode where they parodied Amadeus, featuring Bart as Mozart and Lisa as Salieri.
Kerry Reid
I just saw “Animal House” again the other night — and that was the first time I realized Tom Hulce was in it! My mom took me to see it when I was 14. My mom was cool.
Flugelhorn
@Mnemosyne:
Honestly. Wake up, will you?
I have had this business for 9 years now. Of course there is an increase each year. For the previous 8 years, the increase was 5-10% annually. This year it is actually closer to 38%. On top of that, in previous years, my employees did not have to pay taxes on the company contribution. I paid 100% for the first 4 years and since that time have had to drop that to 50% due to the costs and the economy.
Now this year, I get a 38% increase. Again, almost no claims last year, and not a single claim of any significance.
Now, not only do I and my employees have to pay more in premiums, but we have the bonus of being taxed on company contributions. Considering the state of the economy over the past few years, no one has gotten a raise and I have taken a 25% pay cut to shore up the finances. Now the government takes a bigger piece AND it is in their best interest for premiums to rise so that they realize more revenue from gross income due to the tax on company contributions.
Obama and co REALLY know what they are doing don’t they? Oh yeah! We don’t even get a ‘benefit’ from Obamacare until 2014. How about that? Wow. This should really help small business and, you know, those people with jobs who make a meaningful contribution to our government and have been paying into the system for years so that Dems can support their base, which many have NEVER paid into the system, financially.
Wake up! This is a DIRECT result of ObamaCare.
Flugelhorn
@debbie:
How in the world does this article exonerate ObamaCare? The rate hikes are a DIRECT RESULT of insurance companies squirrelling away cash to cover their losses for when 2014 gets here and they have to cover everything in that 2000+ page roll of toilet paper?
STOP DRINKING THE FRIGGIN’ KOOL-AID!
Any ass with two bits to rub together could have told you this would happen and Obama made no provisions for it at all. In fact, he probably counted on it. If he was not counting on it, then he was a short sighted idiot. Pick your poison. It is one or the other.
Flugelhorn
Double post. Text deleted. Nice friggin’ software.
Mnemosyne
@Flugelhorn:
So the fact that the greedy, rapacious insurance companies are trying to get in their last licks is Obama’s fault?
I’m guessing that if you ever get mugged, you’re going to blame the police department for not personally escorting you everywhere you go and not, you know, the actual criminal.
I would mention that you can probably file a complaint against the insurance company with your state Department of Insurance, but I know you’ll never do it because then you would actually have to get off your ass and do something rather than lay around whining about how evil Obama is and if he’d just let the insurance companies continue cutting off patients’ chemotherapy because they have acne, none of this would have happened.
debbie
@ Flugelhorn:
And any person old enough will for sure tell you that this kind of crap has been going on for decades (and not just with insurance companies either). Why weren’t you bitching about this before January 20, 2008?
Batocchio
Great play, and great film. I saw Tom Hulce play Hamlet, actually, several years back. He was excellent.
Flugelhorn
@Mnemosyne:
This is his fault because this is not the healthcare that MOST AMERICANS WANTED! He should have known this would happen and should have wrriten safeguards into the bill to prevent it. Kinda like what is happening with the Credit Card companies because of the Credit Card legislation.
Are you actually implying that I am lazy? You ought to use that snark on some of your fellow dems. They can learn to make their own fucking way in life and stop being so dependent on the public dole, but we know that is how you like them. I have run a business for 9 years and employed 8 people, trying the best I can to pay a SALARIED wage well above the industry standard, and your fuck-stick, Obama, is doing the best he can to tear me down and make it so that I cannot succeed. What have you done? Go fuck yourself.
Mnemosyne
@Flugelhorn:
I’m implying that you’re much more interesting in whining and complaining about what a victim you are than you are in actually taking steps to solve the problem you’re complaining about. I’m not sure if it’s laziness, but it sure as hell isn’t giving you any credence as an active business owner who gets things done if you’re refusing to help yourself.
Yawn. Oh, look, it’s the “hippies don’t work!” meme again. You’d think you guys would have gotten tired of that one by now, but I guess an oldie is a goodie.
I’ve been paying income tax since the age of 10, when I used to do a few hours of summer work in my dad’s office, and I have the Social Security records to prove it. The only year I didn’t was when one year when I didn’t have a job in college and didn’t have any income. How about you?
If you have fewer than 25 employees, then you qualify to get a tax credit for your health insurance outlays until 2014, along with other provisions in the law. But if you actually took advantage of the programs that have specifically been set up to help small business owners, you wouldn’t be able to whine about how mean Obama is to you, would you?
I realize that you won’t be happy until the president comes to your door and personally pays your entire healthcare bill out of his own pocket, but I thought I would include the actual facts for other people who are more interested in having a successful business than they are in whining about how they could totally succeed if it weren’t for all of the meanie Democrats holding them back.