Latest news with #Oswald
Auto Car
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
What would happen if we all stopped buying new cars?
Enthusiasts don't buy cars as status symbols, but I don't think it's controversial to accept that people do. I've had friends and acquaintances ask what car they should buy next while in the same breath telling me how much they like the car they own now. So maybe keep that? Still, I think it's curious how often cars are the obvious target when people look at status-driven buying behaviours. I understand that cars are expensive, but we don't have the same discussions about conservatories, cockapoos or chips, and you can't even use those to get to work or visit your gran. What's also striking is that how many cars we buy seems inextricably linked to the country's prosperity. A large new car market is perceived as a marker of a healthy economy, in a way that isn't true of, say, toasters. Those we buy when we need them. Cars, meanwhile, we buy because the finance term is coming to an end and the cambelt will soon need changing, or the company decides it's time you deserved something shinier to keep you working there, so off it goes to be replaced by something a bit better than the neighbours have. But, as Oswald noted, 'modern cars have an enormously long life and are relatively inexpensive to maintain', so even if we paused buying, we would still be able to get places. And his point about longevity is true. At least it is for now. But, I wonder, in times of £1800 headlight clusters, multiple electronic control units to let cars meet emissions and safety rules at a cost of thousands a time and what often just generally feels like an inbuilt obsolescence, for how long cars will remain cheap to maintain into their later life. We buy enough cars when they're affordable to fix; how many will we get through when driving into a pheasant writes off an older one? I don't think the optimum number of cars for us to buy is none, and this is something that will stay only a thought. But if we didn't buy quite so many and more were simpler and designed to stay affordable, I don't think that would be a bad thing.
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Grant for pine tree control
In what seems a never-ending war against spreading pine trees, a battle is going on in the back-blocks of the region to try to stop the trees swamping the Rock and Pillar Range. The Central Otago Wilding Conifer Control Group has been granted $150,000 from the Otago Regional Council's Eco fund to control pine trees. Of the original 69 applicants this year seeking a total $2.87 million, the council shortlisted 28 groups who will receive a total $1,059,178 from the $1,059,500 million available in the fund. The control group is using their money as part of a plan to stop pine trees establishing themselves on the Rock and Piller Range, a programme they have been working on for the past couple of years. Group project manager Pete Oswald said the work was connected to protecting the Upper Taieri scroll plain, a unique eco-system in the Styx Valley. They had been working with the Upper Taieri Wai to restore the scroll plain, which was also granted $149,900 from the Eco fund. "Basically, there's like 50-plus massive Pinus Contorta shelterbelts there and they've been seeding up on to the Rock and Pillar Range and seriously threatening all of the unique ecosystems up there," Mr Oswald said. "So, you've got all the shelterbelts down there, but up on the Rock and Pillars where it is vulnerable, that's where they're seeding. "We did some volunteer days to get some of the landowners on site. We removed two shelterbelts, which was actually at great expense, and that was only made possible if we replaced the shelter amenity with an alternative." The group, landowners and the Tiaki Maniototo group, the new belts are being planted out with native plants. Two landowners took out four shelterbelts or sections of shelterbelts and they were replanted with natives, Mr Oswald said. "What we found was they [landowners] could remove the shelterbelts themselves. We get the same result but better because we get to replace shelterbelts with native species which adds to biodiversity in the area, and it costs us half as much. "Now we have the concept and now there's funding we can use to carry on that same kind of scheme going forward next year. But it's going to take probably like 20 years to do the whole lot." The shelterbelts average about 750m in length, between 30-40 years old and are all in two rows. "We're getting an efficient, really holistic result achieved efficiently working closely with landowners and community groups." He said the emphasis was to stop the seeding of the trees over time and help save the Rock and Pillars. "If we don't, if we let it infest, we'll never get it back and you'll have dense canopy cover over the whole Rock and Pillars and you'll lose every native species up there." "You've got to find a solution that works for the long term right and — within resources available — that's where the challenge is." He said a couple of landowners had planted natives about eight years ago that were successful. "There were some issues, but there was quite a lot of learning and we're really lucky that we have landowners there that share that holistic, long-term view. Overall, in Central Otago there was good news stories around controlling wilding pines — of which this was one, Mr Oswald said. But there was plenty of bad news stories, and they were bad. "So, we've got spread coming from plantations like Douglas Fir. And within the next probably 10 years, you'll have Douglas Fir coming all the way from the Teviot Forest all the way to the Loganburn Rock and Pillar. That's already spreading all the way to Lake Onslow." "And the thing is, once the horse bolts, it won't look that bad for a while. But there'll be not enough resources to do anything about it. "So you have to watch a slow degradation of the landscape. It's hard to convince people to act." "They can seed thousands of trees from one tree. If you miss it, if you miss getting them before they're coning and you get the second generation spread, your cost to get it back under control takes a huge leap. "So, if we were allowed the second-generation spread on to the Rock and Pillars and let that get big enough, that may be the point of no return."
Business Journals
01-05-2025
- Health
- Business Journals
Access to mental health services: Can employers get away with not proving it?
Most employers understand the importance of good mental health and they offer a comprehensive benefits package to help employees get the services they need. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the Tri-Agencies (the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and the U.S. Treasury) have taken it one step further by mandating a formal analysis to prove employers are in compliance with the rules of the act, called the Non-Qualitative Treatment Limitations (NQTL). This is a tough one, but it impacts nearly every employer, so bear with me. However, providing a formal analysis is not as easy as it sounds. On top of that, employers are randomly chosen to produce this report to the Tri-Agencies — if requested. Those last two words — if requested — are causing a lot of angst. They're also leading employers to wonder if they should even bother with the reporting. After all, not complying could save them thousands of dollars and many hours working on the report. That sentiment is even more relevant today with a new president in the Oval Office. Many clients are asking: Is this act and its reporting a focus of President Trump? The president is laying off government workers, so will there be anybody there to ask for this proof or follow up? The prevailing thought is: 'maybe I'll get away with it.' The answers are unclear, but the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently released a report on enforcement of the act in 2023. Many believe this is a sign that the federal government is still paying attention and is demanding accountability. The administration investigated 102 health plans in fiscal year 2023, and it cited 31 violations in both fully insured and self-insured plans for limiting coverage. What that means for you Some businesses are hiring a third party to create this report if they're asked to provide it to the Tri-Agencies. Employers with fully funded health plans can ask carriers for those reports. Carriers have all the data needed to respond to the federal government. Self-funded plans are trickier. Data can be provided but the analysis cannot be created without a third party's help. Employers must decide if they want to take a chance that they will not be asked to produce this report. If asked, all employers have 10 days to produce the report or face hefty fines. In general, it takes a third-party administrator six to eight months to complete the analysis report. The reporting itself isn't easy. Employers must prove three things — annual lifetime limits, financial requirements and quantitative treatment limitations, and non-quantitative treatment limitations — in six different classifications. If they leave just one piece of required information out of the report, their reporting will be insufficient. In addition, many of the requirements are subjective. It would be hard for any employer to decipher what the government is looking for without professional help. The Oswald team can help you find the right solution to create your analysis report. None of this is easy, so there is no need to tackle it alone. Contact me at jsadlier@ or 614-696-5615. Founded in 1893, Cleveland-based and employee-owned, Oswald is among the nation's largest independent insurance brokerages. Oswald is a founding partner of Unison Risk Advisors Inc., whose mission is to secure a thriving future for independent insurance and risk management firms; their owners, employees and clients; and their communities. Jonathan Sadlier is the Central Ohio market president for Oswald Companies. He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. He specializes in the financial and technical aspects of plan strategy and the implementation of innovative, client-specific solutions.
Business Journals
01-05-2025
- Health
- Business Journals
5 federal budget moves that could impact your employee benefits renewal
The federal government is exploring a slew of changes that could impact employer-sponsored health benefits. Updates to the Affordable Care Act, potential cuts to Medicaid and a new approach to vaccines and preventive care are just a few of the possibilities on the horizon. Here's are five items to watch for and how they could impact your benefit renewal. 1. International Rx sourcing: For years, pharmaceuticals have been exempt from tariffs, but the Trump administration is now considering including them as taxable imports. Though the president has pivoted on this issue several times, recent announcements say that tariffs for pharmaceuticals are likely coming, which would make imported prescription drugs more expensive. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the goal is to push more companies to manufacture drugs in the U.S. India now supplies 45% of generic drugs in the U.S. Work with your broker to closely monitor prescription drug tourism, as well as look for rebates and coupons on a monthly basis to help offset rising costs. 2. Medicaid cuts: A recent budget resolution in the House of Representatives called for a $2 trillion reduction in spending over 10 years. The bulk of those cuts would come from the section of the budget that funds Medicaid. Employees could turn to their employer-sponsored plans to provide care for those family members no longer on Medicaid, thereby increasing the employer's costs. Oswald provides to its clients a robust employee communications plan that includes Medicare and Medicaid alternatives. 3. The Affordable Care Act created the health insurance exchange to help people without coverage find affordable options. As subsidies for this plan expire this year, the Urban Institute estimates that 7.2 million people could choose not to maintain their coverage through the exchange. A smaller pool of members in the federal exchange could lead to higher premiums, so those impacted could seek more affordable coverage through their employer. The employer's costs could rise due to having to cover more people. 4. Vaccinations could lose support for continued coverage without a deductible. That could raise the cost of care in the long run as people choose not to get vaccinated to avoid the associated out-of-pocket costs. 5. On a more positive note, employers could benefit from reforming how pharmacy benefit managers operate, a focus of both the Biden and Trump administrations. Some mandates for reform, such as prohibiting PBMs from charging more than a drug's cost (also known as spread pricing), and greater transparency in pricing could be good for employer-sponsored plans. Planning ahead There is still so much unknown and many expect a continued bumpy ride on the federal level. In addition, the changes are expected to have different impacts in each state and they will have varied effects on people based on race, income and age, the Urban Institute warns. Keeping all this in mind, it could be difficult for employers to plan for renewals of their benefit plans. Play it smart by paying close attention to regulatory matters and use your utilization data to your advantage. As your broker, Oswald can help you mine your data for usage trends and look for ways to control your costs while also taking care of your employees. Contact me at jsadlier@ or 614-696-5615. Founded in 1893, Cleveland-based and employee-owned, Oswald is among the nation's largest independent insurance brokerages. Oswald is a founding partner of Unison Risk Advisors Inc., whose mission is to secure a thriving future for independent insurance and risk management firms; their owners, employees and clients; and their communities. Jonathan Sadlier is the Central Ohio market president for Oswald Companies. He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. He specializes in the financial and technical aspects of plan strategy and the implementation of innovative, client-specific solutions.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Reps. Luna and Garcia should make their next JFK hearing a fair fight
Recently the House Oversight and Government Reform committee's task force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets held a hearing on the JFK files. It included the deeply weird claim by one member of the panel, testifying that the man arrested for the murder of President John F. Kennedy 'might have fired a gun' that day in Dallas, but was absolutely 'not the intellectual author' of the murder. After plenty of thinking, I must admit: I have no idea what that means either. I am not alone. JFK anti-conspiracy nation was appalled. 'My expectations were low going in and it was still worse than I expected,' said Gerald Posner in an interview. Posner is the author of 'Case Closed,' the bestselling book on the assassination. The one that lays out the-beyond-convincing case that Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested 80 minutes after the assassination — after murdering a Dallas police officer — is irrefutably much more than just 'the intellectual author' of the assassination. He is the lone shooter of the president, proven by the evidence, melded with a solid understanding of his biography, confirmed by multiple investigations as well as by decades of hard work by individual researchers unimpressed by tales of invisible additional shooters; or of somehow popular explanations such as that either of two Secret Service agents in the motorcade shot JFK. (Really. This scenario is huge on social media.) The reason the Oswald-is-guilty case was not made at the hearing is because no one present was interested in making it. Nobody at the witness table and nobody among their questioners, members of the subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who announced before the hearing that she had decided that multiple shooters were involved, and that a news film taken moments after the shooting had been hidden from the country by NBC. It had not, and was barely referenced in the hearing. Several leading anti-conspiracy critics said they approached the subcommittee in advance of the hearing seeking a seat at that table of testifiers, but were ignored. 'We are not angry, but we are disappointed,' said Fred Litwin, author, podcaster and constant updater of his essential website, which debunks claim after ridiculous claim from JFK conspiracists. 'Congresswoman Luna does not seem to have a firm grasp of the case, and I worry that she could end up being fooled by theories which are ridiculous.' One solution: Invite to testify next time experts with a broader range of views. And not just on who the killer is, but on what arcane documents mean and do not mean. Luna announced late last week she would in fact host another hearing on JFK issues. Posner, Litwin, W. Tracey Parnell and other leading anti-JFK-conspiracy critics were left to provide fast and informative reactions after the made-for-TV event. The non-revelations piled up: The CIA reading Oswald's mail — actually only one letter, from Oswald's mother, asking him to write to her more — was likely because Oswald lived in the Soviet Union. The covert mail surveillance program itself has long been public, revealed in the 1970s. Oliver Stone said 'more than 40 witnesses' have claimed they saw a large hole in the back of JFK's head, potentially indicating a shot from the front. Litwin and other researchers patiently point out that in fact such a claim is assembled from recollections that are nowhere near consistent — or from witnesses who would not have had an extended view of Kennedy's wounds. Conspiracy dissenters also note the vast evidence-faking operation necessary to sustain such a scenario, involving, to begin with, the entire autopsy team — doctors, photographers, x-ray technicians, medical staff, military brass — as well as many others operating within an enormous criminal conspiracy that has somehow sustained for 62 years. (The most prominent film of the assassination would have had to be somehow secretly altered, as well, since it shows the back of the president's head intact.) The JFK files release in the days preceding the hearing was also a dud, say the conspiracy dissenters, as nearly all of these documents were previously released and whatever redactions were uncovered addressed zilch about who shot the president. But additional truth may in fact be out there: JFK assassination-related files Litwin says he wants to read may be found in Cuba, Mexico City, Russia and in the city of Minsk in Belarus, the Soviet city where Oswald lived as a defector. Litwin wants to know: Were further KGB operations in place to influence American public opinion — aimed at selling the narrative that the CIA was behind the assassination — than those already known? One useful voice for future hearings is the king of the skeptics. 'Will the final release of all the JFK files at long last put an end to conspiracism surrounding the murder of the 35th president?' asked Michael Shermer, author, publisher, podcaster and executive director of the Skeptic Society. 'Of course not! 'If it were the assassination of Texas Gov. [John] Connally instead of JFK, or the mayor of Dallas, or anyone besides JFK, would we still be talking about it? No. Oswald would have been charged, tried and convicted in a short trial, and that would have been case closed. But because it was the POTUS, the proportionality bias dictates that large effects must have large causes.' And if Luna keeps to her word to look into the murder of Robert Kennedy as well, she or ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) could invite RFK case authority and author Mel Ayton or bulldog author-reporter Dan Moldea to that hearing. Both are respected anti-conspiracy authorities in the RFK case. Let's at least make it a fair fight. Craig Colgan is a Washington, D.C.-based writer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
