I could be wrong but the first article I looked up on profits says United Healthcare Group made 22B, in profit in 2023. B, as in billion. Profit, not revenue. I’m not sure if they have any incentives to reduce that even if they could/should.
The number is large because they are a large entity with 350k employees and something like 400B revenue. They're also a public company with all the financial obligations and market expectations that come along with that.
There's another way to look at this. That's 22B removed from the larger economy ostensibly earmarked for healthcare that provided exactly none of that. That they are a public company is not in question. That the health insurance industry should even exist is certainly up for debate.
If we don't do single payer which seems like something that won't happen anytime soon in this country given the political climate, then at the very least we should force health insurance to be either non-profit or public benefit companies. then there won't be this well they have to deliver prophets to shareholder bullshit excuse about why they aren't giving money to the people they are supposed to insure.
They're a component of the S&P 500 / various indexes, so what is weird is that to some extent the drive for returns from people's own 401ks is the source of the oppression. The human centipede of capitalism.
Volunteer work. I volunteer with one group (and have been doing this for almost 8 years now). I can't believe how many friends I have just from this one activity.
Neighbors. Just start talking to them. Have them over. We do this for football (NFL) games or just for dinner.
Surprisingly (or maybe not). Kpop concerts. My wife is very into this music scene. She has definitely made friends she keeps in touch with (friends she met at the concert). I went to one and I couldn't believe how many fans went alone and formed their own groups at the concert to watch/dance. And this is for all ages (I saw 80 year olds down to the teenagers). Edit: I should note that the concerts she has been to did not cost an arm and a leg.
I'm also starring to see Cybertrucks (one or two a day). Lots more Rivians, lots of Tesla Model Xs, electric Hummers now starting to popup now and then. I've seen Lightnings but I probably see Xs and Rivians more. Seems in that price range customers want something else.
I have a Dorco that I've used for years along with a double edge. The Dorco cartridges are pretty cheap and the double edge was used.
Also, yes, you probably do not have to shave everyday these days. I can get by with 2-3 a week if that and still not look messy. Even if I did I feel the Dorco with the double edge is not that expensive.
My favorite part was the video that said Cup Noodles was invented when they tried to bring noodles to the USA and people in the USA didn't know what "cup" was. "丼？なにそれ？" in a super thick USA accent (lol). And thus they added the "cup" and "Cup Noodles was born"
Note: Whether or not it's a true story, it was the movie playing at the cup noodle museum in Yokohama
"What are chopsticks? What are bowls?" was in the subtitles I saw. I'm guessing it was a translation error, but the idea that Momofuku Ando introduced bowls to the US was pretty amusing.
If you’re in Kansai, you can take the Hankyuu Takarazuka line to Ikeda, near Momofuku Andos birthplace, where they have a noodle museum which not only has a noodle factory experience but also a recreation of his childhood home.
Went there & it was really nice. Can also recommend visiting the lookout & shrine above the town, a really nice view of Ikede and the whole Osaka aglomeration from up there. :)
There were a lot of families there, but we did enjoy it as adults. Obviously no need to go a second time.
My favorite part is that near the end, there's an American newspaper article on the wall that says Ando was once imprisoned for tax evasion before inventing instant noodles. This is mentioned exactly nowhere else in the museum.
We had our entire system replaced about two years ago now. Was around 17k with furnace AND heatpump. I had maybe a half dozen quotes and picked the one that was just above middle of the pack (mind you we had to have it replaced as the system was failing).
We still have oil as backup for really cold days.
I was curious if this was all worth it so have been tracking our electricity and oil spend. We'll break even easily within the next few years compared to if we had just replaced everything with the cheaper stuff (non heatpump). Granted we were oil only for heat so that may not be a fair comparison for where you're at but for us its been a no-brainer.
We did have one quote just over 20k for basically the top of the line system which we were told would have given us more savings and a more comfortable home. I do sometimes wish we went with that (payback would have added some years).
I was given quite the delta, with $14k on the low end to replace our ancient gas furnace and AC with a 80 perfect efficiency gas furnace and standard AC unit, $20k for low end heat pump with gas backup, and as high as $34k for the every feature box checked.
I'm still shopping around and not giving up, it's just disheartening to see such a high markup.
How's the heat pump been working out for you? I'm a fan of electrify all the things (within reason) lately and combining a heat pump with a moderately sized solar system seem like a nice combination.
Parent of a 10 year old in public school. I can't think of any race related subjects that they do at school. Sure they may cover a race/culture during a specific month (eg. February they learned about the underground railroad this year, they did a week on the Chinese New Year). He has a number of friends that go to private schools and its not too different amongst that peer group.
Sure there are differences overall. In talking with other parents, for instance, the privates around us have classes on ways to study methods (notetaking, how to approach tests, things like that). Our public school does not do this (nor does any of the public middle schools we looked at). The privates around us also seem to give a lot more homework (even during the summer break).
Our math programs seem average for what they are learning. We have been going to additional math tutoring outside to get our son ahead but it wasn't because of the program at his school (we started in Kindergarten).
There is a also lot of info around bullying and so on. I just figured this was all schools. This one I don't know about at the other schools around us.
This is in MA, there's a significant race related stuff here. He had some class on ballet, the entire thing was about the girl who was the first black ballet dancer accepted into some prestigious academy. There was pretty much nothing about the dance itself at all.
As somebody who doesn't live in the US and only has the (likely very distorted) view of US schools we get from your series/movies, I would say doing things against bullying is a good thing. I always find revolting to watch how "normalized" seems to be the school bully form the football team. But again: this is what Hollywood is projecting... I hope to be very wrong on it.
We live in an area that is kind of rural. Rural in that we have fairly large farms 10-15 minutes from us but we are also fairly close to the city.
4H is around here as well but from random other activities we've taken our son to we found a nature society close to us owns a small farm and allows kids to come in and help with the chickens and couple cows they have (weekend, summer programs). Not exactly the same but maybe works for your family.
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