By Arizona Slim
Summertime in Tucson means one thing: Heat. And lots of it.
Last Friday’s high was 101 degrees, but that didn’t stop nine intrepid souls from finding their way to the second Naked Capitalism meetup.
Although most were from Tucson, we had visitors from Phoenix and Tubac, which is just 22 miles away from the international border.
Among the topics discussed:
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The lousy Obamacare insurance options for Arizonans. Here in Pima County, we have one, ironically named Ambetter. Same situation up in Maricopa County, according to our visitor from Phoenix.
This company is so bad, its parent company is being sued for perpetrating a massive healthcare fraud, selling junk plans on state exchanges, and misleading enrollees about the plan benefits. Details here: http://klafterolsen.com/news/kol-sues-largest-health-insurer-for-massive-healthcare-fraud/
I’ve had my own issues with Ambetter, and I shared my story with the Klafter Olsen law firm. They never responded. However, I’ve found Congressman Raúl Grijalva’s office to be quite helpful. Link: https://grijalva.house.gov/
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Our lack of excitement over the current slate of candidates for statewide and federal offices. May have something to do with the fact that Arizona is a majority independent state. In second place behind the indies are the Republicans, with the Democrats in third. With so many indies, it’s hard to get Arizonans motivated to support the duopoly parties.
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A BBC documentary called “The Trap.” Details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(TV_series)
The Tucson meetup is going on summer hiatus, and we’ll be back in the fall.
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I’ll have to add “The Trap” to my watch list. “The Power of Nightmares,” by the same director I believe, was quite well-done and thought provoking as well.
Will do the same. From the wikipedia page on the series:
Wow. Spot on.
Kudos to Arizona Slim for organizing these meetups given what sound like exhausting personal and professional obligations; and for graciously handling a troublesome participant (who promised not to return). His complaint – an interesting one at first glance – was the rest of us were only talking about problems. He wanted to talk about solutions – of which he apparently had one he wanted the rest of us to endorse; and which if adopted would solve most of the world’s problems.
One of the really nice things about Meetups is the opportunity to connect with people who at least have some idea of what is happening in the world as a result of their exposure to Naked Capitalism. In this age of thoroughly corrupted political psyches just the opportunity to confirm you are not alone – that there are choices other than the lesser of two evils – is immensely personally rewarding.
Solutions WOULD be nice. But the starting point has to be some conception of the problems. For day to day updates, you can’t IMHO beat Naked Capitalism. For book-length treatments, check out Noam Chomsky’s (a Tucson resident) Hegemony or Survival.
Greetings Arizona Slim, and all local readers of naked cap,
Ambetter ain’t no better than the last Obamacare “choice”. Fortunately, it’s Medicare for Us next year.
I hope they haven’t crapified it too badly by then.
Raul Grijalva is one of the good ones, be sure and give him your vote if you’re in CD-3.
The USBA National Championship in 3-cushion billiards was won by Miguel Torres of Charlotte, N.C. in a mild upset over presumptive favorite Pedro Piedrabuena from San Diego. The slot machine players at Casino del Sol are a depressing sight.
I’ll try to make the next meet-up,
Happy Trails
Slim- I’m 0 for 2 on these Old Pueblo meet-ups. When work gets crazy my NC reading flags a bit and I didn’t see this last notice. I wouldn’t want to impose on your organizing efforts but it would sure be useful to have a little more predictability or notification. Was there, by chance, a sign-up list circulated at the meeting?
There was a sign-up list circulated at the first meeting. This past Friday, no list 2.0.
How do I get on that list?
Send a message to Yves or Lambert via this page:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/contact
I’d like to thank Arizona Slim too, for arranging the meetups! And I agree with steven above, that it’s good to know there are others out there, also watching the global shenanigans & exchanging tips on the local echoes of those doings.
Looking forward to another meet-up in the Fall!
Regarding “The Trap”, which sounds fascinating (I enjoyed “Century of the self”), I am curious about the representation of Laing. According to the Wikipedia summary, the documentary represents Laing as believing “humans are inherently selfish and shrewd and spontaneously generate stratagems during everyday interactions”. I have by no means read Laing comprehensively but what I have read rather places a strong emphasis on empathy (” love”) in human interactions and especially in therapy, and the need to understand people as part of complex systems of relations, not just individual actors (e.g. you must treat the family, not the patient). Can anyone comment on The Trap’s representation of Laing?