wife and i went for colonoscopy, which our insurere chirped in e-mails was recommended and would be free. gastroenterologist asked about our health. we candidly talked about our old body digestive issues. colonoscopy is now $2500 per person, because it's no longer "screening" but "diagnostic". 1/

of course we just skipped it. we're not paying $5K for a fishing expedition when nothing is particular wrong other than old bodies with rough digestion. 2/

paying $6K more next year for "gold" insurance so it's not absurd to get the colonoscopies. (we'll have deductibles of 1K rather than I think $9K this year.) /fin

buying stock on the secondary market is investment in an accounting sense, it's not investment in the sense people like to imagine of performing information work and endowing particular economic activity that otherwise would not occur by virtue of the finance provided. 1/

in the latter sense, no, mostly buying stock is not investment. people like to confuse the S=I accounting sense with the courageous entrepreneur information-work and useful real-economic risk sense, because it makes them feel better. but they are not the same. /fin

why would a wealth tax (at levels much higher than PMS levels of wealth) raise aggregate demand? in a broken (relative to unaffordable recent norms) stock market environment, PMCs shift to where they mostly ought always have been, Treasuries, CDs, other low-information, low risk instruments.

* gack. PMC.

yeah, this whole line of reasoning is wrong. investment in the sense of deferred consumption is far from the binding constraint on economic growth and development. 1/

stock market investment largely represents consumption people do not need to be bribed to defer, a residual as income exceeds consumption at a given amenity level, where people decide insuring their future is more valuable than jumping to a more difficult amenity level. 2/

PMC equity investors like to imagine they are being paid reasonably for a useful and constructive role their investments play in the economy. it’s a nice story. it’s entirely mistaken in my view. /fin

wealth in stocks is deferred consumption sure. investment in an accounting sense, not investment in a meaningful sense. 1/

preventing price growth from already extraordinary levels relative to GDP or GVA would be a start, and I’m all for finding practical paths through this. 2/

But it’s a rock, a weight, we would be collectively choosing to bear on a road to a saner wealth distribution, which ultimately means lower private wealth relative to GDP. /fin

tonight Apple Pay asked me to authorize a payment, then billed me more than that. initially it was WTF? but eventually a receipt came through itemizing local + state sales tax beyond the authorized amount. is this new? i think Apple Pay should solicit authorization of the full amount it will bill.

(also they charged rates much higher than the actual sales tax rate where i live.)

one reason the US is so mad at insurance companies is not because rationing exists, but because care is often rationed the same way firms ration customer service, by byzantine discouragements that only the most dedicated persist through. even the most dedicated can and often do die from delay.

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