Danger in the City ... Phoenix Valley Metro

Part I ... Peoria to Gilbert

On Saturday, September 3 ... I had undertaken a journey from Peoria to Mesa-Gilbert via the Phoenix Valley Metro. The first three miles was the bicycle ride to the Arrowhead Town & Country Mall in Glendale.

At the mall staging area, a crazed man was shouting obscenities while the Glendale police were "babysitting" him. The lunatic wildly paced around and argued with the officers. There were roughly four Glendale policemen who oversaw the unruly man.

I was sitting at a bench nearby, whereupon a Glendale officer requested that I move to another spot further away ... for my own safety, since the man was acting rather unpredictable and might be dangerous. Not long later, the bus arrived. But to my shock, the police sent the wild man to the bus -- "dumping" him into the vehicle and "no longer their problem." As soon as the officers walked away, the man mockingly told the bus driver that the policemen needed to come back so that "they can kiss his ass."

I placed my bicycle on the front carrier of the bus. I then sat in the front while the crazy man sat in the back. The bus was filled roughly one-third of capacity. For the next several miles, the crazed man periodically shouted obscenities and let out some high-pitched screams. The other passengers were silent, uncomfortable, and appeared frightened. The bus driver spoke into the intercom, ordering the man to shut up.

Subsequently, the driver radioed for help. At the next stop, the authorities were going to come to arrest that man or take him into custody. But at that next stop, the wild man exited the bus, shouted more obscenities, then walked across a parking lot and toward a convenience store.

With the man gone, the rest of the bus ride was quiet. But it became crowded. Most of the passengers were very poor, wore old clothes, looked dirty, nobody talked, everybody looked sad. Virtually everybody were Latinos, with a few blacks mixed in.

On a positive note, the bus and the bus driver were very wheelchair friendly. A ramp and lift gently transports the handicapped person upward into the bus interrior. The driver then very dutifully assists the wheelchair person and straps him onto the seat belt contraption.

At 19th Avenue and Bell, I transferred busses with my bicycle. It was roughly a 15 or 20 minute wait in the oppressive heat. The temperature was about 110 F.

When the bus arrived, it was a long line to get into the vehicle. We were stuck there in the queue, as the bus driver haggled with boarding passengers over the price of fare and ticket disputes. After about another ten minutes, one young couple (who had already entered the bus) now turned around and came back out of the bus. I asked them why they now refused to board? They replied that they were 75 cents short. I gave them a dollar. (Their destination was to an apartment complex several miles to the south.)

The bus was jam-packed full. Again, everybody looked poor, had sad faces, and were very quiet. Nobody looked at nobody. The silence was surreal, considering how crowded it was in there.

Open containers of soda pop are prohibited in the bus. Yet passengers with open drinks would board, the driver would tell them no, they argue back, the driver caves in. Dogs (except for service animals) are also prohibited. One middle-aged lady disobeyed the bus driver, boarded the bus with her little pet dog. This reminded me of buses in Southeast Asia, where peasants would bring in their little chickens, too.

Again, almost all of the passengers were either Latino or African-American. But there was this one Anglo-white guy that was on board. He was particularly obnoxious. This man started berating the bus driver for his "violation" of Valley Metro rules regarding the driver allegedly doing the beginning portion of the bus route with an "out of service" sign on display. The passenger kept on haranging the driver, telling him that his report to the Phoenix City Transit Authority will result in his termination from employment.

The bus driver ordered the passenger to go sit down and be quiet ... because his tirade is causing a danger and distraction from driving the bus safely. But the man kept on his diatribe. (We passengers were ready to punch that idiot in the face.)

Fortunately, the next bus stop was the transfer to the Phoenix Light Rail. But that was where the obnoxious man also got off. Ironically, he happened to be another fellow biker. We both boarded the train. That man was no longer nasty; he suddenly became nice and polite. He helped me into the train and directed me into the bicycle section. (It's very strange, this Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.)

The train journey was comfortable, not crowded, and had more middle-to-upper income folk as passengers. Most of them were now white Anglos. The end of the train ride was just west of Downtown Mesa. I transferred onto another bus for the ride toward Gilbert. Once in the bus, there was a small sprinkling of passengers.


Part II ... Mesa to Peoria

Boarding the Phoenix Light Rail at the Mesa Station was at around 10:00 PM. A few of us cyclists boarded into the center part of the train. It wasn't crowded at all.

As the train arrived into Tempe, throngs of college students boarded. Most of them got into the back compartment. They were loud and boisterous. Many of them were also drunk. During the journey, it felt like a party.

At the next stop, young Blacks and Latinos boarded. They entered into the front compartment. As we progressed onward to Central Phoenix, one middle-aged Hispanic woman started cursing at this one ornery hombre. She accused him of making some kind of sexually explicit remarks. She was lunging at him, in the process of punching him in the face. The other Latino women in her vicinity held her back and tried to calm her down. The Mexican man was smirking back.

At the next stop, more Blacks boarded, wearing clothes that suggest gang attire. They sat in the front compartment with the Hispanics. As the train then proceeded, the Blacks and the Mexicans got into a brawl. I pressed the red emergency button, delaring to the train engineer of "a fight that is now occurring in the train." Then immediately, the engineer spoke in the intercom, "Stop fighting." Fortunately, at the next stop, the fighters all disembarked.

Once I got off the train at Montebello and 19th Ave ... I finally felt safe. Bicycling across North Phoenix into Central Glendale at Midnight was peaceful solitude. Whereas inside the train, I felt like a caged animal.

About the only incident I encountered on my bicycle that involved danger was these young teenagers who were drunk. They were driving wildly on Olive Ave. near Glendale Community College. As some kind of crazy stunt, they dumped off one of their buddies into the middle of the highway, who was then staggering on foot. The stench of alcohol was very strong. Then they double backed, skidding their vehicle while doing a u-turn. Whereupon I had to bicycle away from the scene, lest I become victimized by their antics.

At 67th & Thunderbird, I hung out at the Quiktrip (QT) from around 12:30 till 1:15 AM. I joined a small group of 20-somethings AND an off-duty policeman (from Tolleson) ... who was contracted for night security at that QT on the weekends. We were all loitering -- in front of the "no loitering" sign. So we were all breaking the law. The policeman was friendly. (Yet I was tempted to ask him why he wasn't arresting us for "loitering.")

The last leg of the bicycle ride was uneventful. Though it was the wee hours of the morning, the summer heat was still radiating from the concrete below. Once home, I was glad the day was over.


Phoenix Valley Metro (Wikipedia Link)

ObamaCare Mandates Fealty to Rent-Seeking Classes

The individual mandate of ObamaCare will force us citizens to use insurance as the conduit of payment for routine health-care. It will further erode the doctor-patient relationship. The third party stands in the way between doctor and patient.

The Byzantine nature of ObamaCare is to benefit the rent-seeking classes, not the consumer. Lobbyists and consultants of the health-care industry wrote the bill. In contrast, regarding the lawmakers who voted on the bill, most of them never read it! While the bill itself was over 2000 pages long, the regulations currently being written up by Kathleen Sebelius are even longer! (This means plenty of money for attorneys' fees in business law.)

ObamaCare takes power away from the consumer, who is coerced to make the insurance company his landlord over his own health-care. This will hurt the middle-class the most. The rent paid to the insurance company is a most regressive type of "tax." While the poor and the illegal immigrants (who are exempt from the mandate) will receive government subsidized health-care, the middle-class will bear the brunt of the burden. The premiums will be a huge percent of income for a typical John Henry; whereas for a wealthy person, it is only a miniscule percent of income.

ObamaCare also discriminates against people in their 50's, who will be forced to purchase policies three times more expensive than peope in their 20's. Yet (with the exception of smoking), it will prohibit insurance companies from rewarding people with lower premiums for living a healthy lifestyle (i.e. keeping their weight down, exercising, eating right, avoiding drugs and alcohol, not engaging in promiscuous sex, etc.)

Thus, the typical 55 year old is obese, has type-II diabetes, doesn't exercise, drinks heavily, smokes cigarettes, consumes super-sized soft drinks, eats greasy french-fries, etc. Therefore, his health-care costs will be quite high. But another 55 year old may be exercising regularly, avoids fast-food restaurants, doesn't smoke or drink, lives a chaste lifestyle, etc. But because he's in his 50's, he is forced to pay super high premiums to subsidize the couch potatoes of his age group. This isn't right. *See note below.

With auto insurance, you get rewarded for your lifestyle choices (i.e. no speeding tickets, no DUI's, no reckless driving citations, etc.) If ObamaCare were to be applied here ... those driving habits would be declared as "preexisting" conditions. (Good drivers would then be forced to pay the same high rates as the reckless drunks.) Likewise, ObamaCare for Autocare would mandate that insurance underwrite for our auto repairs and gasoline, too! People would purchase gas guzzlers and go on long joy rides. Whoopee! ... the gasoline is "free." With "no skin" in the game, costs will go up for the insurance companies. Then the premium rates will skyrocket. Eventually, there'd be rationing -- especially when the government imposes price controls upon the industry.

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*Note ... ObamaCare does have a wellness program (via "The Safeway Amendment"), but it is only available to corporations that are self-insured and willing to implement it. The rules governing this program are quite complex, requiring the expertise of an attorney in business law. For those employees who participate in such programs ... they will have their premiums cut in half if they succeed in losing weight, get their blood pressure & cholesterol levels under control, and if they exercise regularly. (Under ObamaCare, the opportunity to join such wellness programs will be quite limited. Independent contractors are thus ineligible. The majority of Americans will have no such access, either.)

Good Conservative Websites

1) Pat Dollard =============> http://patdollard.com/

2) America's Watchtower =====> http://americaswatchtower.com/

3) American Thinker ========> http://www.americanthinker.com/

4) The American Conservative => http://www.amconmag.com/

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Pandering to the Older Boomers' Appetite for Medicare

Why do you suppose the Ryan Plan calls for the FULL funding of Medicare for those born before 1957? Why are these older boomers to get FULL Medicare for perpetuity? Why does the Ryan Plan promote the continuation of the Ponzi scheme for them, only?

It is because these Tea Party oldsters are not true conservatives. They are of the mentality, "End socialism, but do not touch my Medicare!"

Therefore, the likes of Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann carry the Tea Party banner, yet pander to these seniors' appetite for status quo socialism ... i.e. Medicare. (This Ponzi setup favors the older boomers; it discriminates against the younger boomers & Generation X.)

@LibertyLynx on Right vs. Left

1)  An intense hatred of the Right (some of it warranted) has allowed Democrats to fool their idiot followers into believing they're in it for the people.

2)  AND an intense hatred of progressives (most of it warranted) has allowed many in the GOP to pretend they actually care about the Constitution, debt, etc... HA.

3)  Both sides use the other to deflect responsibility and perpetuate their own lies. We are just so screwed.

[Edited for clarity.]

References ...

1) http://bit.ly/nLoDoT
2) http://bit.ly/o4v4DG
3) http://bit.ly/o35eyS

Permission from @LibertyLynx => http://bit.ly/pBpzzd

Paul Ryan and Healthcare Monopoly

His Medicare reform plan is NOT based on free market principles. It calls for the use of taxpayers' money to subsidize "government-approved" insurance companies. (Therefore, the lobbyists will influence the lawmakers which insurance companies will win and which will lose.)

Whereas the health-care oligopolies (such as the hospital & drug companies) benefit from limited competition. The overly stringent licensing laws, together with corporate friendly regulations and patent protections ... have the effect to thwart competition and maximize profits.

Paul Ryan is not a trust buster like Teddy Roosevelt. He, (like Obama and Romney) advocate government subsidized insurance to feed the appetite of the "too big to fail" hospital industry.

If Ryan were truly for free markets, he would deregulate health-care. (This would increase competition and break up the monopolies.) Patent laws would be loosened. Importation of drugs from Canada would be allowed. Insurance would be optional -- and not subsidized.

Let charitable foundations, religious groups, wealthy donors, etc. -- be the ones who play a bigger role in our local communities. This is far better than the corporatist models espoused by Ryan, Romney and Obama.

Ponzi Schemes Galore

The huge baby boom generation (those born between 1946-1964) fueled the Ponzi schemes of the late 20th Century within the private and public sectors. Around the globe, we are now witnessing the great unraveling. (Though people think of the boomers only with respect to the United States, the baby boom phenomenon had taken place in all the Western nations, ranging from Japan to Germany.)

The first major Ponzi scheme was the enactment of Social Security. Though its birth was during the 1930's, the Ponzi character of it became obvious when the first wave of boomers entered as taxpayers during the 1960's. This increased the coffers of the so-called Social Security Trust Fund.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law Medicare. Because the boomers were already entering as taxpayers, Medicare was unquestionably Ponzi in character at the starting gate.

Beginning in 1977 and continuing into the 1980's, as the rest of the boomers entered their taxpaying years, the FICA taxes were increased to higher rates. This brought more money into the federal coffers (for Social Security). The boomers were being forced to pay these high FICA taxes allegedly for their own retirement. But this wasn't true. Those taxes were being used to finance the current retirees of that time period. (Surplus money accumulated into the Trust Fund which then helped to finance the debt.)

Within the private sector (and also for government workers) was another Ponzi scheme. Throughout the 20th Century, defined benefit pension plans were popular. This worked well, while the baby boomers were young. There was this surplus of young workers paying into the plans, whereas a deficit of old people drawing benefits out of the plans. But this was unsustainable.

Enter the 401(k)'s and the IRA's -- the defined contribution plans. This was a new type of Ponzi scheme. More of the risk was now tied to the account holders, themselves. The corporations wanted to dump their workers into these defined contribution plans, so that the corporation will be off the hook when the Ponzi bubbles burst.

The vagaries of the U.S. Stock Exchange, the insurance cartels, the housing market, the banks, and the pension funds are all tied together. For example, when the real estate market was booming, that too was a Ponzi scheme. Baby boomers were entering into the housing market during their prime years. But what followed them was Generation X and Generation Y. Thus, entering into the housing arena were declining numbers of younger replacements. Pop, the bubble burst. So with the pension plans tied to the stock market; the banks having engaged in credit default swaps; AIG having insured the toxic assets ... we have the great unraveling.

So we now have the Ryan Plan. The GOP wants to dump those toxic assets, the baby boomers, who will be going on Medicare. Otherwise, the United States may face bankruptcy. (Despite the rhetoric, I don't believe most Democrats want bankruptcy, either.)

The problem with the Ryan Plan is that Medicare would remain fully funded for the next ten years, thus prolonging the Ponzi scheme. This would continue the inflationary bubble for health-care. (I doubt that private insurance could last that long.) Then the well will be dry for the younger boomers, born 1957 and later. Theoretically, they will go on government-subsidized private insurance (via premium support payments).

It's not going to work. This will be another Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco. The insurance industry, expected to pay for the very expensive health-care of the aging boomers will suffer financially. The individual mandate of ObamaCare and the subsidies for insurance via RyanCare are only gimmicks.

The way to bring health-care costs under control:

1) Promote more competition amongst the providers via deregulation (like had been done with the airlines).

2) Promote more "skin in the game" for the health-care consumers by making them less dependent on comprehensive insurance and less dependent on government handouts.

3) Promote more emphasis on private charities and religious organizations to play a bigger role. (For example, the Mormon Church is extremely wealthy. If they engage in charity care for its members, they'd also attract newcomers to join their faith. And then there's Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Other foundations are sure to help, too.)

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America has a choice. We can remain blind to the Ponzi schemes, or we can return to grassroots capitalism.