First I want to thank Alain for all of his good work around here. The place is coming back together rather nicely.
Secondly, I added the phrase “Hookers and blow” to the Lexicon a few days ago. I don’t like my working definition as it sounds like a grad school definition.
Hookers and Blow – What executives at regulated entities choose to consume in the form of social surplus gained through anti-competitive behaviors.
What should it be?
Third, John convinced Alain to retag all of my “wonkery” posts as “Insurance Below” and then using that tag to create a link in the secondary header. I’ll be using Insurance Below as my healthcare post repository while my soccer and general WTF posts are still in the normal stream.
Is there a better naming convention for the healthcare post tag that makes it immediately obvious what it is?
Open thread
Randy P
That definition almost reads like something out of the Devil’s Dictionary. It just needs to capture Ambrose Bierce’s flavor of snark to be complete.
Something like: “What executives award, to themselves, using shareholder’s money, to reward themselves for mismanagement of said money”. Still kind of lame.
Think maybe I’ll peruse the original a while for inspiration. It’s always worth a read.
Randy P
@Randy P: A couple of relevant definitions from the inimitable Mr. Bierce:
BEAR, n. In the stock market, a broker who, having sold short, uses his customers’ stocks to break the price.
FINANCE, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager. The pronunciation of this word with the i long and the accent on the first syllable is one of America’s most precious discoveries and possessions.
WALL STREET, n. A symbol of sin for every devil to rebuke. That Wall Street is a den of thieves is a belief that serves every unsuccessful thief in place of a hope in Heaven. Even the great and good Andrew Carnegie has made his profession of faith in the matter.
Parrotlover77
Will new Insurance Below posts be included in the main RSS feed after the change? I consume Balloon Juice using a reader and I don’t want to miss out. :-)
p.a.
Hookers and Blow: misappropriation and misuse of corporate funds by kleptocratic elites. sine qua non of American corporate kleptocracy, late 20th-21st century.
gvg
Healthcare Wonkery, Inside Healthcare, Explaining why health Insurance works the way it does…..It needs to tell newbys that if they look there, they will be informed how the system works. Insurance may be too general. It’s health or medical insurance you explain not car or home. I am not the cleverest on names, but I would like it slightly clearer. Of course I have been around long enough to know what you write but everyone was new here once.
Chris T.
@Randy P:
I think that’s pretty good. It just needs a bit of punching-up:
“The executives’ natural reward for making sure the non-executives don’t get any of the money.”
BGinCHI
How about
Hookers and Blow: See, Profits, Privatize the.
Scout211
@gvg:
Yes, Healthcare Wonkery and Inside Healthcare are both very clear. Even Healthcare Posts would make more sense.
The “below” is vague and very unclear. What does lie below . . . ?
Scout211
Oops, typo in my email address so this may duplicate my comment that is currently in moderation.
@gvg:
Healthcare Wonkery and Inside Healthcare are both very clear. Even Healthcare Posts would make more sense.
“Below” is very vague and unclear.
What lies below . . . ?
John PM
Hookers and Blow: Goods and services that “job creators” buy with the tax breaks they receive from Republican politicians instead of using said tax breaks to create jobs. See also “Rentboys”.
Richard Mayhew
@John PM: I am liking this definition
Richard Mayhew
@Parrotlover77: Already included, it is just a different tag and a link so these posts are not carved out of the general stream, just flagged for downstream seperation
Luthe
@Richard Mayhew: Problem is, it’s not broad enough. Let’s try:
Hookers and blow: the ultimate use of any money the executive class was supposed to return to the common people in some way; e.g. lower health-care costs, increased jobs and/or wages, dividends to the average shareholder, corporate taxes, etc. Not to be confused with “Cadillacs and T-bone steaks” which are what those people use tax payer money for.
The Golux
For some reason, “Healthcare Below” makes me think of “Serenity Now!”
misterpuff
Why not the Simple and Elegant “Thanks, Obama” for Healthcare Ins?
tofubo
it is also too, the name of a band at a RNC convention party in 2008
youtube.com/watch?v=nWerT-eO8_I, harpers.org/blog/2008/09/gop-convention-revelers-get-hookers-and-blow/