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News and all Articles posted on www.loker.com have been collected in this archive.  Here you can browse the entire collection and find topics that may interest you.  If there is a specific topic you are interested in use the search tool. Areas include News, Healthcare, Politics, the Economy, and more

The People's Republic of China

Is China Infrastructure Spend Really a Threat?

“China is investing three times more in infrastructure than the United States” Press Conference  March 25th, 2021 Press Conference – the full transcript is here

Penthouse Outhouse Image

What Benefits Do I Bring?

IT’S THE STUFF YOU DON’T KNOW THAT HURTS YOU,
MY TEAMS, AND I, CAN GET YOU THOSE ANSWERS.

Are the new democrat party proposals affordable?

There has been little focus on if the current field of democrats plans are affordable. We do some analysis to see if the predictions of cost, affordability and effective tax rates hold water.

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S2E9 Healthcare is Hostile

Hostile Environment 30% of Hospitals have violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act – EMTALA. 4,341 violations have occurred in 1,682 hospitals in the

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S2E10 Medicare an Introduction

Do you know why Medicare came into being?  Do you know that Medicare & Medicaid were extensions to the Social Security Act of 1935?  Do

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S2E8 – Healthcare is Hostile

While roughly 10% of all professions report abusive behavior, the numbers for Healthcare are over 30%.  Healthcare is a hostile environment in more ways than

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Episode 6 Audio Hospitals are Dangerous

One in four U.S. hospital patients suffers at least one healthcare-related injury.  In 1999, 44,000 – 98,000 patients died getting healthcare. By 2013, the number

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Episode 3 Season 2 – Hostile Predatory

Hostile healthcare One of the reasons our healthcare quagmire is so dangerous is the hostile and predatory nature of competition within the industry. In this

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Episode 4 Gag orders make us gag – HB004

Gag Orders are the bain of healthcare Gag orders are killing healthcare and causing prices to skyrocket due to a lack of transparency. We discuss

Dan Brown's Inferno Book

Dan Brown’s Inferno HR-20-004

In this episode, Tom discusses Dan Brown’s Book Inferno and how it may not be as much of a work of fiction as we think! 

Mammography

Episode 1-11: Helplessly Hoping HR-20-1.11

We are helpless in fixing our system and hoping our politicians actually care. We are helplessly hoping that our current healthcare system will improve. All

Questions

Why the Middle Class is Still Getting Crushed: Lets look back!

It is now crystal clear that the middle class are being destroyed. Politician’s explanations are based on pure biased rhetoric. The real reason is much simpler. It is the mechanics of how we are trying to fix the economy.

PY Report Cover

Report Reveals Employed Physicians Losing Money for Employers

organizations that had doctors working as employees had a median loss over $175,000 per physician per year on the services they performed.
If those physicians that have already aggregated and sold out their practices are still losing in excess of $175,000 per year, what does this portend for independent practice physicians today?

Value Based Insurance: it sounds so – "valuable"

Value Base Insurance Coverage, it sounds so — valuable. But is it really valuable? Is Value Based Insurance Coverage (VBIC) what you really want — what you may need?

The ACA Exchange Connundrum

I have a friend, lets say she is in her 50s, a single mom and has been out of work for quite a while. She

Dan Brown’s Inferno: A Coming Global Crisis?

Light summer reading In his latest book, Inferno, author Dan Brown explores a world where past symbols and artifacts from Dante Alighieri’s Italy, and his

Women & Addiction: History replayed!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/02/drug-overdose-deaths-women/2483169/ Ever since Samuel Hopkins Adams first exposed the evils of the patent medicine industry, in 1905 in a series of articles published in Colliers Weekly,

Behold the Arrogance of Man!

Perhaps Mr. Snowden is in the process of learning what both President Obama, and Joe Biden learned as they moved from the position of candidate

Susan Rice: Dupe, fool or Conspirator?

As this story rapidly begins to unwind, I have to wonder about poor Susan Rice. For the first time in her life she gets the

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean?

Introductory Note: First let me apologize for the personal tone of this article. I typically try to focus on issues and solutions and not on

Random Thoughts: More or Less!

A few random, and not so random, thoughts that have been circling in my brain for the past week.  Here are a few issues worth thinking

Vietnam Memorial

It was my privilege to be the first person to publish one of the writings of this remarkable and talented young woman.  I am happy

The President’s Plan and the Story of Sam!

The President’s Plan In the State of the Union speech last evening, the president said many things.  He offered a real plethora, yes a plethora,

The problem with "The Chart"

This morning as I did my news walk, I came across this article talking about the most important chart in American politics.  And as you

Coca Cola Superbowl Ad stirs cries of racism

Having heard of the controversy over the Super Bowl ad by Coca Cola the past few days, this morning I was captured by the above article. 

A Republic: If we can Keep it!

Unfortunately for all of us, we are now faced with a huge crisis. The crisis is viewed differently on either side. Yet, it is a

More Challenges to the ACA (Obamacare)

From Boston Massachusetts By now, we all know that the Supreme Court upheld the insurance mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as

Opting Out of Natural Selection

A recent article in Discovery News reports that lobsters and crabs feel pain.  While this has been suspected for quite a while, due to the

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for our blog.  Since we would have no readers if it was not for all

Eye of the Beholder: Me and my Arrow!

It was Lew Wallace (1827-1905) who said, “Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.” Since I began getting involved in Washington, DC with

Are we really healthier?

The premise of the above article titled, “Sick at Work,” published in Business News Daily by Ned Smith, is that  workplaces are becoming breeding grounds for bacteria

Let's Remember Our Soft Heroes

Tis the season to be jolly and to take account of our blessings, contemplate our friends and consider the good graces of those who support

Thanksgiving: A reason for thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!  And a big thank you to everyone who is kind enough to read what I write! Today, regardless of our political preferences, we

Press Bias? Some examples seem beyond belief!

Overall, the constant refrain of bias in the “Main Stream Media,” has become time-worn, tiresome, and unfortunately almost universally acknowledged,  when hearing this invective many

Debunking The Clinton Budget Surplus Myth

By now most Americans have heard that our national economy is in deep trouble.  With increasing frequency, articles are appearing discussing the steadily accumulating massive

The battle we can't afford to lose!

We are under attack, and we have been for the entirety of our existence. No, I don’t mean from al-Qaeda, or the red menace, or

Sunset in St. Mary's County, Md

St. Mary’s County: Our Home

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Thomas W. Loker Home: St. Mary’s County August 14, 2011Tom Loker St. Mary’s County, Cicadas buzz, warm summer nights.  Hot and humid

Fried Soft Shell Crab Image

Chesapeake Blues: soft rock

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Thomas W. Loker No nettles seen – that’s good! The nets push flipping tender tasty morsels up and over – the gulls

Medicare-Medicaid: A Chicken in Every Pot

  And Just Like That Medicare and Medicaid Were Born As Congressman Wilbur Mills commented to President Lyndon Johnson, in a taped private conversation in

What is wrong with politics?

People that know me well know that I read.  I read a lot.  I read incessantly, I read everything and anything. I read everywhere, written

Stupidity or Duplicity: WE pay anyway!

Do you think they just don’t get it? In a supposed attempt to find some “middle-ground” in order to make the “middle-men” whole as to

I long for a Citizen Politician

As I watch the current primary political spectacle, and await, with more than a modicum of trepidation, the coming presidential election of 2012, I long

Are the poor lazy, or are the lazy poor?

It seems that I am hearing the invective phrase, that so-and-so republican really said in his speech that, “the poor are lazy”. This phrase is

The State of Whose Union?

I have tried to resist responding to the State of the Union Address last night.  I really have tried!  But, you guessed it, I can’t. 

The Middle Class Myth: Let's try this again

I have written a couple articles trying to explain the problem with the economy for the middle-class in America. If you listen to the current

Ron Paul:The Republican's Pall

Perhaps it is just me, and apologies to those Ron Paul supporters out there, but I do not understand the fascination with him as a

234 Years Ago: Patriotism revisited

Christmas dinner 1777 was a horrible affair for one of our countries greatest patriots. Not because the fare for himself and his military family consisted

Heaven on our Minds: Politics as usual.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R8tRKIiAII&w=640&h=480] The following is written with all respect to Andrew Lloyd Webber…. I would suggest you read as you listen and then perhaps listen

Time for something new: How about WE?

This article could also be titled…. “If the Occupy movement wants an argument that will resonate, and work — this is an idea!” America has

Oyster Image

The First Oyster: Natures New Treat

I have often wondered, who ate the first oyster and the circumstances surrounding this amazing feat. Whoever it was either was exceedingly desperate or exceedingly

President Obama's Critical Question

Tonight president Obama asked a very key question. This is one of those great moments where one question that really is one of the key

On Alternative Medicine: Historical Perspective

The mere affectation “alternative” is a misnomer – a contrivance – purposely designed to marginalize what at one point in our history were welcomed and

ACA, Politics, Mandates and the Commerce Clause

Focusing on the insurance mandate in the Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare) a few months ago I wrote a series of four articles for a publication, reproduced

Be A Mugwump Site is Live

Ever since I read Mark Twain’s Autobiography, I have come to realize that the form of political activism he and others of his time practiced

Yosemite: Just your average government project

Just your average government project. 2800 Solar panels Producing 12% of Yosemite’s electricity Saving $50,000.00 per year Cost $5.8 million in stimulus And you wonder

Joblessness: So which is it?

Perhaps I am old fashioned!  Perhaps I am an anachronism!  Maybe I need to move more rapidly into the modern era!  During my morning routine

Consider a Mugwump

To those that know me, I am clearly a conservative, also seemingly staunchly Republican.  But I harbor an inner secret – a secret that I share

On Tolerance

Tol·er·ance – noun [tol-er-uhns] Common Language A fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own;

Health Care System: Fact or Fiction?

Recently, I have been having a number of discussions with physician reviewers of my upcoming book, “The History and Evolution of Health Care in America.”

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