Podcasts about gpo

Twenty-five years after co-founding Corporate United, the first indirect GPO in the United States, David McCarty points out an inconvenient truth: the very tools procurement once developed to leverage spend are no longer as effective in today's supplier-dominated landscape. In this episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," David joins co-hosts Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to discuss the evolution of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), from their early promises of dramatic savings (15-30% back in the early 2000s) to their current state, where GPOs are much more limited in their ability to determine and optimize spend.  With refreshing candor and a healthy dose of optimism about today's forward-thinking GPO leaders, David confirms what many procurement leaders have long suspected: most GPOs are less effective today than when they were founded, partly because they've become a kind of checkbox solution that gives procurement a "false sense of security" rather than a true route to optimized expense management.  For procurement leaders who are worried that their suppliers might be gaming the GPO system, David provides realistic guidance on how to select the right GPO partner (from looking at contract age and rebidding frequency to volume transparency and customization options). He also points out the key areas where GPOs can still deliver differentiated value, but only if they are leveraged appropriately and procurement puts the time and effort into measuring the value they expect to receive.  While there are still benefits to using this model, it's clear, says David, that in 2025, strategic procurement through GPOs requires a more discerning, purpose-driven approach than ever before. Links: David McCarty on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

The GPO is one of the country's most significant historical buildings. A charity which helps Irish veterans wants it to be turned into a National Veterans Centre. The government has signalled its intention to reimagine the role for the building, but no decision has yet been taken on its future.

Few agencies have changed as much as what's now called the Government Publishing Office. It still has vestiges of the old Government Printing Office. Yet now its head is called director, and not the public printer, a reflection of just how much communications technology has changed. For an update, that director who's appeared several times here on the Federal Drive over the years joins me for his final appearance in my own tenure. We welcome GPO director Hugh Halpern.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 Kathleen Lynn – a Rebel WomanI hope you all had an enjoyable Easter. Across the island and further afield commemorations were held at countless locations to remember those who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and in all of the generations of the freedom struggle. The Belfast turnout was big and Pearse Doherty, who made an exceptional speech, was given a very warm welcome. I saw no mention of his remarks or those of other republican speakers on RTE, BBC or other broadcasters. So much for public service broadcasting! The story of Easter 1916 reverberates with many remarkable accounts of courage as a small band of Irish Republicans took on the largest Empire ever to have existed in human history. They include many women. Among these are Julia Grenan, Winifred Carney and Elizabeth O'Farrell who were in the GPO and in Moore St. when the decision to surrender was taken. Winifred Carney's statue now stands proudly in front of Belfast City Hall.  Finding their place in a new IrelandIn his Easter remarks at the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery Teachta Pearse Doherty referenced the fact that the “momentum for Irish Unity grows stronger every day…. it is fast becoming the defining political project of our generation.” Pearse also addressed the importance of preparing for unity and in doing so the imperative of engaging with the unionist section of our people. He said: “There are many issues for republicans and unionists to talk about. We need to address the genuine fears and concerns of unionists in a meaningful way.”That means examining what they mean when they say they are British. We must be willing he said; “to explore and be open to new ideas. We need to look at ways in which the unionist people can find their place in a new Ireland.”  A Barren Landscape of DeathThe Gaza Strip is one eighth the size of County Antrim and has a population three times larger. Imagine if Belfast north of the River Lagan and including Mallusk and Newtownabbey were levelled to the ground. No schools, no hospitals, no homes – just tents – no churches, no shops, no transport system, no sewage system. A barren levelled landscape of death. Gaza City has been under strict Israeli siege for seven weeks. No bread, no water, no fuel, no medicines have been allowed to enter the area. The people – the children – are starving.  And all the time the international community with a few honourable exceptions does nothing – is complicit in this genocide.All that FussA friend of mine in County Tyrone was taking her seven year old daughter to her local Gael Scoil when the child drew her attention to the road sign for Londonderry. Someone had drawn a line through the London bit.‘Why is that  like that Mammy?' She asked. So Mammy gave a children's explanation. ‘But they are both wrong' the child replied ‘It's not Londonderry or Derry. Its Doire.'And that dear readers is why there is all that fuss about Irish or bilingual signage. 

Today, Hamilton Morales, Senior ​VP and ​Social ​Security ​Strategist ​at FIG, is taking over as host to walk through some important Social Security changes taking place in 2025. He explains the newly signed Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminates the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). This change restores full Social Security benefits to millions of public sector workers who were previously penalized and even offers retroactive payments dating back to January 2024. He also covers important annual updates, including higher taxable wage bases, earnings limits for early retirees, and the new cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Plus, he previews potential legislation that could eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits altogether, while raising important questions about how to protect Social Security's long-term solvency.   Here's some of what we discuss in this episode:

 Wear an Easter LillyI did not think Easter is almost upon us. It has crept up on me. For Irish republicans Easter holds a special significance. It is synonymous with the 1916 Easter Rising and the heroism over a century ago of those who rose up against the British Empire and declared for a Republic. It is also a time when we remember all of those women and men – over countless generations – who gave their lives in pursuit of Irish sovereignty and independence.In the course of my activism I have travelled widely. I have visited many countries. Time and again I have been struck by the determination of nations to honour the patriots and freedom fighters who gave meaning to their desire for freedom and self-determination.Across the world there are countless memorials to those who fought in wars against colonialism. National ceremonies of remembrance are held. Buildings or lands and even prisons associated with struggles for freedom are protected and used as aids to teach young people the value of citizenship and the importance of freedom and democracy.Across this island and beyond there are many such monuments to Irish patriots. Next Sunday tens of thousands of people in towns, villages and cities, at country crossroads and at lonely hillside graveyards across the country, will gather for commemorations. They will gather also in Britain, Australia, Canada, the USA and many other places.Most will wear an Easter Lily. This is a symbol of our enduring commitment to the ideals of 1916 and of the Proclamation of the Republic and is a mark of respect for all those, from every generation, who paid with their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.  Micheál Martin and Moore St.Micheál Martin visited 14-17 Moore St. last week. Number 16 is where the leaders of the Rising held their last meeting before their execution. Numbers 14-17 are the planned location for a National Monument to those who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and who evacuated to that street as the GPO was in flames. Martin's visit comes 12 years after he called for the "protection and enhancement" of Moore Street. It comes 19 years after the Fianna Fáil government of Bertie Ahern designated 14-17 Moore St. as a National Monument. During that time the buildings lay derelict and have fallen into a dangerous state of disrepairNow almost two decades later Martin takes an interest, on the cusp of Easter, in a site that his government has starved of funding. Moreover, Martin has backed the plan by the London based developer Hammerson to obliterate the Moore St. Battlefield site, including historic buildings that are part of that period.The rumour was that he was to make a public statement about this. Representatives of the Moore Street Preservation Trust were there to respond, including the grandson of James Connolly, James Connolly Heron. James presented An Taoiseach with the Trusts plan for a 1916 historic and Cultural Quarter. This encompasses the preservation, restoration and management of the Moore Street Battlefield Area, as designated by the High Court in 2016 “the lands, buildings, streets and lanes within an area including Moore Street, Henry Place, O'Rahilly Parade and Moore Lane, in which the 1916 Rising Volunteers travelled after evacuating the GPO”.  Two different Voices on UnitySpeaking of Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil leader was interviewed for the Belfast Telegraph last week. I was disappointed but not surprised by his assertion that he wasn't even thinking of a ‘border poll'. When pushed about the constitutional future of Ireland in 50 years-time he couldn't even bring himself to utter the words ‘united Ireland.' In the 15 years he has been leader of Fianna Fáil Martin has engaged in a deliberate strategy of obfuscation when it comes to unity. His current excuse for not pursu

LevelBlue's latest Threat Trends Report pulls no punches: phishing, malware, and ransomware attacks are not just continuing—they're accelerating. In this episode of ITSPmagazine's Brand Story podcast, hosts Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli are joined by Kenneth Ng, a threat hunter and lead incident responder on LevelBlue's Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team, to unpack the findings and recommendations from the report.Phishing as a Service and the Surge in Email CompromisesOne of the most alarming trends highlighted by Kenneth is the widespread availability of Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) kits, including names like RaccoonO365, Mamba 2FA, and Greatness. These kits allow attackers with little to no technical skill to launch sophisticated campaigns that bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) by hijacking session tokens. With phishing attacks now leading to full enterprise compromises, often through seemingly innocuous Microsoft 365 access, the threat is more serious than ever.Malware Is Smarter, Simpler—and It's Spreading FastMalware, particularly fake browser updates and credential stealers like Lumma Stealer, is also seeing a rise in usage. Kenneth points out the troubling trend of malware campaigns that rely on basic user interactions—like copying and pasting text—leading to full compromise through PowerShell or command prompt access. Basic group policy configurations (like blocking script execution for non-admin users) are still underutilized defenses.Ransomware: Faster and More Automated Than EverThe speed of ransomware attacks has increased dramatically. Kenneth shares real-world examples where attackers go from initial access to full domain control in under an hour—sometimes in as little as ten minutes—thanks to automation, remote access tools, and credential harvesting. This rapid escalation leaves defenders with very little room to respond unless robust detection and prevention measures are in place ahead of time.Why This Report MattersRather than presenting raw data, LevelBlue focuses on actionable insights. Each major finding comes with recommendations that can be implemented regardless of company size or maturity level. The report is a resource not just for LevelBlue customers, but for any organization looking to strengthen its defenses.Be sure to check out the full conversation and grab the first edition of the Threat Trends Report ahead of LevelBlue's next release this August—and stay tuned for their updated Futures Report launching at RSA Conference on April 28.Learn more about LevelBlue: https://itspm.ag/levelblue266f6cNote: This story contains promotional content. Learn more.Guest: Kenneth Ng, threat hunter and lead incident responder on LevelBlue's Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngkencyber/ResourcesDownload the LevelBlue Threat Trends Report | Edition One: https://itspm.ag/levelbyqdpLearn more and catch more stories from LevelBlue: https://www.itspmagazine.com/directory/levelblueLearn more about ITSPmagazine Brand Story Podcasts: https://www.itspmagazine.com/purchase-programsNewsletter Archive: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/tune-into-the-latest-podcasts-7109347022809309184/Business Newsletter Signup: https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-business-updates-sign-upAre you interested in telling your story?https://www.itspmagazine.com/telling-your-story

With homeless figures reaching record highs – the latest statistics revealing that 15,286 individuals are homeless, including 4,603 children…Proposals to further regulate street food kitchens including soup runs have been hit with criticism from the charity sector.The Muslim Sisters of Éire do a weekly soup kitchen at the GPO every Friday evening, feeding up to 675 people – three times as many as they did pre-Covid...Lorraine O'Connor from the Muslim Sisters of Éire joins Seán to discuss.

With homeless figures reaching record highs – the latest statistics revealing that 15,286 individuals are homeless, including 4,603 children…Proposals to further regulate street food kitchens including soup runs have been hit with criticism from the charity sector.The Muslim Sisters of Éire do a weekly soup kitchen at the GPO every Friday evening, feeding up to 675 people – three times as many as they did pre-Covid...Lorraine O'Connor from the Muslim Sisters of Éire joins Seán to discuss.

If you're thinking about starting a cash-based, physical medical practice, there's one term you should know: GPO (Group Purchasing Organization). A GPO helps you save money by negotiating bulk discounts on medical supplies, medications, office essentials, waste disposal, and even malpractice insurance. Instead of setting up contracts with multiple vendors yourself, you get instant access to lower prices through these organizations. Pros: Streamlined purchasing Discounted rates on supplies & services Access to vendors that typically work with larger organizations Cons: Some GPOs have membership fees (though most don't) Less flexibility in product selection Popular GPOs to check out: Medline Premier Inc. McKesson Cardinal Health Vizient MPPG (Medical Practice Purchasing Group) Should you use a GPO? It depends! If you're just starting out, you may be fine ordering directly from a major supplier like McKesson. But as your practice grows, a GPO can simplify operations and cut costs. Have you used a GPO before? Let me know your thoughts! Email me at drmo@digitalnomadphysician.com.

Jim and Chris answer listener questions on Social Security records, GPO, QCD timing, annuity costs, and excess IRA contributions. (10:30) Georgette asks about fixing gaps in her Social Security record. (19:30) The guys discuss how a listener's spousal Social Security benefits work after the repeal of GPO. (28:30) George seeks clarification on the timing of […] The post Social Security records, GPO, QCD Timing, Annuity Costs, and Excess IRA Contributions: Q&A #2511 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.

How can small dental practices leverage big-business buying power?In this episode, we chat with Mike McCoy, the visionary behind Dental Collective, who helps independent practices save big on high-end dental products and services. Raised in a family immersed in the dental sales sector, Mike shares his personal journey and expansive experience working with industry giants like Komet USA and Align Technology. These roles unveiled the secrets of sales and pricing, laying the foundation for Dental Collective. The heart of the discussion reveals how McCoy's group purchasing organization (GPO) empowers smaller practices to enjoy the pricing benefits once reserved for larger dental service organizations (DSOs.) Mike demystifies the working process of GPOs and dismantles myths surrounding deal access in the dental market, advocating for a level playing field.The episode takes a deep dive into the economic advantages of joining Dental Collective. Mike explains how engaging with a GPO is not just about saving on supplies but also capitalizing on extensive resources like marketing, IT, and insurance negotiations. He paints a vivid picture of practices pocketing considerable savings on expenses like credit card merchant fees and third-party financing, thanks to skillful negotiation and streamlined processes. As Mike shares compelling case studies, he invites dentists to take a proactive stance in their GPO membership to maximize gains.What You'll Learn in This Episode:How Mike's journey and industry acumen shaped Dental Collective.The role and benefits of a group purchasing organization in modern dentistry.Common misconceptions about dental deal accessibility and pricing structures.The financial impact of GPO memberships on overhead costs.Strategies for leveraging GPO services beyond traditional supply discounts.Real-life examples demonstrating significant cost savings through Dental Collective.The importance of active engagement in maximizing GPO benefits.The broad spectrum of resources available to Dental Collective members.Join us for an enlightening discussion on transforming your dental practice's financial health!‍‍Sponsors:‍CareStack: Modern, Secure, Cloud-Based Dental Software for Growing Your Practice! With state-of-the-art features including Online Appointments, Integrated Payments, Text Reminders and more. Click the link here for a special offer: thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/carestack‍Guest: Mike McCoyBusiness Name: Dental CollectiveCheck out Mike's Media:‍Website: Dental Collective | Your Go To Partner for Savings on Dental Supplies(Use coupon code DCTRIAL1 at checkout for a 1-month trial of Dental Collective. You can cancel at anytime if you don't find it to be a good fit for your practice.)Email: dcsales@dental-collective.comPhone: 781-701-6707Instagram: instagram.com/dentalcollectivedpoLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelrmccoy-100419Book a Consultation: calendly.com/dcsales-2fs/30minVendor Partners: Partner Vendors | Start Saving Money Today with Dental Collective‍Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!‍Other Mentions and Links:‍Terms:GPO - Group Purchasing Organization‍Businesses/Brands:Komet USAAlign TechnologyInvisalignBioclearBrasseler USAPattersonBencoCostcoDental CityApexToothioCherryUltradentKettenbach USAUptime Services‍Sports Teams:New York Yankees‍Products:3M Filtek Composite‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍

In this episode, James Marriott and I discuss who we think are the best twenty English poets. This is not the best poets who wrote in English, but the best British poets (though James snuck Sylvia Plath onto his list…). We did it like that to make it easier, not least so we could base a lot of our discussion on extracts in The Oxford Book of English Verse (Ricks edition). Most of what we read out is from there. We read Wordsworth, Keats, Hardy, Milton, and Pope. We both love Pope! (He should be regarded as one of the very best English poets, like Milton.) There are also readings of Herrick, Bronte, Cowper, and MacNiece. I plan to record the whole of ‘The Eve of St. Agnes' at some point soon.Here are our lists and below is the transcript (which may have more errors than usual, sorry!)HOGod Tier* Shakespeare“if not first, in the very first line”* Chaucer* Spenser* Milton* Wordsworth* Eliot—argue for Pope here, not usually includedSecond Tier* Donne* Herbert* Keats* Dryden* Gawain poet* Tom O'Bedlam poetThird Tier* Yeats* Tennyson* Hopkins* Coleridge* Auden* Shelley* MarvellJMShakespeareTier* ShakespeareTier 1* Chaucer* Milton* WordsworthTier 2* Donne* Eliot* Keats* Tennyson* Spencer* Marvell* PopeTier 3* Yeats* Hopkins* Blake* Coleridge* Auden* Shelley* Thomas Hardy* Larkin* PlathHenry: Today I'm talking to James Marriott, Times columnist, and more importantly, the writer of the Substack Cultural Capital. And we are going to argue about who are the best poets in the English language. James, welcome.James: Thanks very much for having me. I feel I should preface my appearance so that I don't bring your podcast and disrepute saying that I'm maybe here less as an expert of poetry and more as somebody who's willing to have strong and potentially species opinions. I'm more of a lover of poetry than I would claim to be any kind of academic expert, just in case anybody thinks that I'm trying to produce any definitive answer to the question that we're tackling.Henry: Yeah, no, I mean that's the same for me. We're not professors, we're just very opinionated boys. So we have lists.James: We do.Henry: And we're going to debate our lists, but what we do agree is that if we're having a top 20 English poets, Shakespeare is automatically in the God Tier and there's nothing to discuss.James: Yeah, he's in a category of his own. I think the way of, because I guess the plan we've gone for is to rather than to rank them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 into sort of, what is it, three or four broad categories that we're competing over.Henry: Yes, yes. TiersJames: I think is a more kind of reasonable way to approach it rather than trying to argue exactly why it should be one place above Shelly or I don't know, whatever.Henry: It's also just an excuse to talk about poets.James: Yes.Henry: Good. So then we have a sort of top tier, if not the first, in the very first line as it were, and you've got different people. To me, you've got Chaucer, Milton, and Wordsworth. I would also add Spenser and T.S. Eliot. So what's your problem with Spenser?James: Well, my problem is ignorance in that it's a while since I've read the Fairy Queen, which I did at university. Partly is just that looking back through it now and from what I remember of university, I mean it is not so much that I have anything against Spenser. It's quite how much I have in favour of Milton and Wordsworth and Chaucer, and I'm totally willing to be argued against on this, but I just can't think that Spenser is in quite the same league as lovely as many passages of the Fairy Queen are.Henry: So my case for Spenser is firstly, if you go through something like the Oxford Book of English Verse or some other comparable anthology, he's getting a similar page count to Shakespeare and Milton, he is important in that way. Second, it's not just the fairy queen, there's the Shepherd's Calendar, the sonnets, the wedding poems, and they're all highly accomplished. The Shepherd's Calendar particularly is really, really brilliant work. I think I enjoyed that more as an undergraduate, actually, much as I love the Fairy Queen. And the third thing is that the Fairy Queen is a very, very great epic. I mean, it's a tremendous accomplishment. There were lots of other epics knocking around in the 16th century that nobody wants to read now or I mean, obviously specialists want to read, but if we could persuade a few more people, a few more ordinary readers to pick up the fairy queen, they would love it.James: Yes, and I was rereading before he came on air, the Bower of Bliss episode, which I think is from the second book, which is just a beautifully lush passage, passage of writing. It was really, I mean, you can see why Keats was so much influenced by it. The point about Spenser's breadth is an interesting one because Milton is in my top category below Shakespeare, but I think I'm placing him there pretty much only on the basis of Paradise Lost. I think if we didn't have Paradise Lost, Milton may not even be in this competition at all for me, very little. I know. I don't know if this is a heresy, I've got much less time for Milton's minor works. There's Samuel Johnson pretty much summed up my feelings on Lycidas when he said there was nothing new. Whatever images it can supply are long ago, exhausted, and I do feel there's a certain sort of dryness to Milton's minor stuff. I mean, I can find things like Il Penseroso and L'Allegro pretty enough, but I mean, I think really the central achievement is Paradise Lost, whereas Spenser might be in contention, as you say, from if you didn't have the Fairy Queen, you've got Shepherd's Calendar, and all this other sort of other stuff, but Paradise Lost is just so massive for me.Henry: But if someone just tomorrow came out and said, oh, we found a whole book of minor poetry by Virgil and it's all pretty average, you wouldn't say, oh, well Virgil's less of a great poet.James: No, absolutely, and that's why I've stuck Milton right at the top. It's just sort of interesting how unbelievably good Paradise Lost is and how, in my opinion, how much less inspiring the stuff that comes after it is Samson Agonistes and Paradise Regained I really much pleasure out of at all and how, I mean the early I think slightly dry Milton is unbelievably accomplished, but Samuel Johnson seems to say in that quote is a very accomplished use of ancient slightly worn out tropes, and he's of putting together these old ideas in a brilliant manner and he has this sort of, I mean I guess he's one of your late bloomers. I can't quite remember how old he is when he publishes Paradise Lost.Henry: Oh, he is. Oh, writing it in his fifties. Yeah.James: Yeah, this just extraordinary thing that's totally unlike anything else in English literature and of all the poems that we're going to talk about, I think is the one that has probably given me most pleasure in my life and the one that I probably return to most often if not to read all the way through then to just go over my favourite bits and pieces of it.Henry: A lot of people will think Milton is heavy and full of weird references to the ancient world and learned and biblical and not very readable for want of a better word. Can you talk us out of that? To be one of the great poets, they do have to have some readability, right?James: Yeah, I think so, and it's certainly how I felt. I mean I think it's not a trivial objection to have to Milton. It's certainly how I found him. He was my special author paper at university and I totally didn't get on with him. There was something about his massive brilliance that I felt. I remember feeling like trying to write about Paradise Lost was trying to kind of scratch a huge block of marble with your nails. There's no way to get a handle on it. I just couldn't work out what to get ahold of, and it's only I think later in adulthood maybe reading him under a little less pressure that I've come to really love him. I mean, the thing I would always say to people to look out for in Milton, but it's his most immediate pleasure and the thing that still is what sends shivers done my spine about him is the kind of cosmic scale of Paradise Lost, and it's almost got this sort of sci-fi massiveness to it. One of my very favourite passages, which I may inflict on you, we did agree that we could inflict poetry on one another.Henry: Please, pleaseJames: It's a detail from the first book of Paradise Lost. Milton's talking about Satan's architect in hell Mulciber, and this is a little explanation of who or part of his explanation of who Mulciber is, and he says, Nor was his name unheard or unadoredIn ancient Greece; and in Ausonian landMen called him Mulciber; and how he fellFrom Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry JoveSheer o'er the crystal battlements: from mornTo noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,A summer's day, and with the setting sunDropt from the zenith, like a falling star,On Lemnos, th' Aegaean isle. Thus they relate,ErringI just think it's the sort of total massiveness of that universe that “from the zenith to like a falling star”. I just can't think of any other poet in English or that I've ever read in any language, frankly, even in translation, who has that sort of scale about it, and I think that's what can most give immediate pleasure. The other thing I love about that passage is this is part of the kind of grandeur of Milton is that you get this extraordinary passage about an angel falling from heaven down to th' Aegean Isle who's then going to go to hell and the little parenthetic remark at the end, the perm just rolls on, thus they relate erring and paradise lost is such this massive grand thing that it can contain this enormous cosmic tragedy as a kind of little parenthetical thing. I also think the crystal battlements are lovely, so wonderful kind of sci-fi detail.Henry: Yes, I think that's right, and I think it's under appreciated that Milton was a hugely important influence on Charles Darwin who was a bit like you always rereading it when he was young, especially on the beagle voyage. He took it with him and quotes it in his letters sometimes, and it is not insignificant the way that paradise loss affects him in terms of when he writes his own epic thinking at this level, thinking at this scale, thinking at the level of the whole universe, how does the whole thing fit together? What's the order behind the little movements of everything? So Milton's reach I think is actually quite far into the culture even beyond the poets.James: That's fascinating. Do you have a particular favourite bit of Paradise Lost?Henry: I do, but I don't have it with me because I disorganised and couldn't find my copy.James: That's fair.Henry: What I want to do is to read one of the sonnets because I do think he's a very, very good sonnet writer, even if I'm going to let the Lycidas thing go, because I'm not going to publicly argue against Samuel Johnson.When I consider how my light is spent,Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,And that one Talent which is death to hideLodged with me useless, though my Soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest he returning chide;“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”I fondly ask. But patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, “God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts; who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o'er Land and Ocean without rest:They also serve who only stand and wait.”I think that's great.James: Yeah. Okay. It is good.Henry: Yeah. I think the minor poems are very uneven, but there are lots of gems.James: Yeah, I mean he is a genius. It would be very weird if all the minor poems were s**t, which is not really what I'm trying… I guess I have a sort of slightly austere category too. I just do Chaucer, Milton, Wordsworth, but we are agreed on Wordsworth, aren't we? That he belongs here.Henry: So my feeling is that the story of English poetry is something like Chaucer Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot create a kind of spine. These are the great innovators. They're writing the major works, they're the most influential. All the cliches are true. Chaucer invented iambic pentameter. Shakespeare didn't single handedly invent modern English, but he did more than all the rest of them put together. Milton is the English Homer. Wordsworth is the English Homer, but of the speech of the ordinary man. All these old things, these are all true and these are all colossal achievements and I don't really feel that we should be picking between them. I think Spenser wrote an epic that stands alongside the works of Shakespeare and Milton in words with T.S. Eliot whose poetry, frankly I do not love in the way that I love some of the other great English writers cannot be denied his position as one of the great inventors.James: Yeah, I completely agree. It's funny, I think, I mean I really do love T.S. Eliot. Someone else had spent a lot of time rereading. I'm not quite sure why he hasn't gone into quite my top category, but I think I had this—Henry: Is it because he didn't like Milton and you're not having it?James: Maybe that's part of it. I think my thought something went more along the lines of if I cut, I don't quite feel like I'm going to put John Donne in the same league as Milton, but then it seems weird to put Eliot above Donne and then I don't know that, I mean there's not a very particularly fleshed out thought, but on Wordsworth, why is Wordsworth there for you? What do you think, what do you think are the perms that make the argument for Wordsworth having his place at the very top?Henry: Well, I think the Lyrical Ballads, Poems in Two Volumes and the Prelude are all of it, aren't they? I'm not a lover of the rest, and I think the preface to the Lyrical Ballads is one of the great works of literary criticism, which is another coin in his jar if you like, but in a funny way, he's much more revolutionary than T.S. Eliot. We think of modernism as the great revolution and the great sort of bringing of all the newness, but modernism relies on Wordsworth so much, relies on the idea that tradition can be subsumed into ordinary voice, ordinary speech, the passage in the Wasteland where he has all of them talking in the bar. Closing time please, closing time please. You can't have that without Wordsworth and—James: I think I completely agree with what you're saying.Henry: Yeah, so I think that's for me is the basis of it that he might be the great innovator of English poetry.James: Yeah, I think you're right because I've got, I mean again, waiting someone out of my depth here, but I can't think of anybody else who had sort of specifically and perhaps even ideologically set out to write a kind of high poetry that sounded like ordinary speech, I guess. I mean, Wordsworth again is somebody who I didn't particularly like at university and I think it's precisely about plainness that can make him initially off-putting. There's a Matthew Arnold quote where he says of Wordsworth something like He has no style. Henry: Such a Matthew Arnold thing to say.James: I mean think it's the beginning of an appreciation, but there's a real blankness to words with I think again can almost mislead you into thinking there's nothing there when you first encounter him. But yeah, I think for me, Tintern Abbey is maybe the best poem in the English language.Henry: Tintern Abbey is great. The Intimations of Immortality Ode is superb. Again, I don't have it with me, but the Poems in Two Volumes. There are so many wonderful things in there. I had a real, when I was an undergraduate, I had read some Wordsworth, but I hadn't really read a lot and I thought of I as you do as the daffodils poet, and so I read Lyrical Ballads and Poems in Two Volumes, and I had one of these electrical conversion moments like, oh, the daffodils, that is nothing. The worst possible thing for Wordsworth is that he's remembered as this daffodils poet. When you read the Intimations of Immortality, do you just think of all the things he could have been remembered for? It's diminishing.James: It's so easy to get into him wrong because the other slightly wrong way in is through, I mean maybe this is a prejudice that isn't widely shared, but the stuff that I've never particularly managed to really enjoy is all the slightly worthy stuff about beggars and deformed people and maimed soldiers. Wandering around on roads in the lake district has always been less appealing to me, and that was maybe why I didn't totally get on with 'em at first, and I mean, there's some bad words with poetry. I was looking up the infamous lines from the form that were mocked even at the time where you know the lines that go, You see a little muddy pond Of water never dry. I've measured it from side to side, 'Tis three feet long and two feet wide, and the sort of plainness condescend into banality at Wordsworth's worst moments, which come more frequently later in his career.Henry: Yes, yes. I'm going to read a little bit of the Intimations ode because I want to share some of this so-called plainness at its best. This is the third section. They're all very short Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,And while the young lambs boundAs to the tabor's sound,To me alone there came a thought of grief:A timely utterance gave that thought relief,And I again am strong:The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,And all the earth is gay;Land and seaGive themselves up to jollity,And with the heart of MayDoth every Beast keep holiday;—Thou Child of Joy,Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy.And I think it's unthinkable that someone would write like this today. It would be cringe, but we're going to have a new sincerity. It's coming. It's in some ways it's already here and I think Wordsworth will maybe get a different sort of attention when that happens because that's a really high level of writing to be able to do that without it descending into what you just read. In the late Wordsworth there's a lot of that really bad stuff.James: Yeah, I mean the fact that he wrote some of that bad stuff I guess is a sign of quite how carefully the early stuff is treading that knife edge of tripping into banality. Can I read you my favourite bit of Tintern Abbey?Henry: Oh yes. That is one of the great poems.James: Yeah, I just think one of mean I, the most profound poem ever, probably for me. So this is him looking out over the landscape of Tinton Abbey. I mean these are unbelievably famous lines, so I'm sure everybody listening will know them, but they are so good And I have feltA presence that disturbs me with the joyOf elevated thoughts; a sense sublimeOf something far more deeply interfused,Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,And the round ocean and the living air,And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:A motion and a spirit, that impelsAll thinking things, all objects of all thought,And rolls through all things. Therefore am I stillA lover of the meadows and the woodsAnd mountains; and of all that we beholdFrom this green earth; of all the mighty worldOf eye, and ear,—both what they half create,And what perceive; well pleased to recogniseIn nature and the language of the senseThe anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soulOf all my moral being.I mean in a poem, it's just that is mind blowingly good to me?Henry: Yeah. I'm going to look up another section from the Prelude, which used to be in the Oxford Book, but it isn't in the Ricks edition and I don't really know whyJames: He doesn't have much of the Prelude does he?Henry: I don't think he has any…James: Yeah.Henry: So this is from an early section when the young Wordsworth is a young boy and he's going off, I think he's sneaking out at night to row on the lake as you do when you with Wordsworth, and the initial description is of a mountain. She was an elfin pinnace; lustilyI dipped my oars into the silent lake,And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boatWent heaving through the water like a swan;When, from behind that craggy steep till thenThe horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge,As if with voluntary power instinct,Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,And growing still in stature the grim shapeTowered up between me and the stars, and still,For so it seemed, with purpose of its ownAnd measured motion like a living thing,Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,And through the silent water stole my wayBack to the covert of the willow tree;It's so much like that in Wordsworth. It's just,James: Yeah, I mean, yeah, the Prelude is full of things like that. I think that is probably one of the best moments, possibly the best moments of the prelude. But yeah, I mean it's just total genius isn't it?Henry: I think he's very, very important and yeah, much more important than T.S. Eliot who is, I put him in the same category, but I can see why you didn't.James: You do have a little note saying Pope, question mark or something I think, don't you, in the document.Henry: So the six I gave as the spine of English literature and everything, that's an uncontroversial view. I think Pope should be one of those people. I think we should see Pope as being on a level with Milton and Wordsworth, and I think he's got a very mixed reputation, but I think he was just as inventive, just as important. I think you are a Pope fan, just as clever, just as moving, and it baffles me that he's not more commonly regarded as part of this great spine running through the history of English literature and between Milton and Wordsworth. If you don't have Pope, I think it's a missing link if you like.James: I mean, I wouldn't maybe go as far as you, I love Pope. Pope was really the first perch I ever loved. I remember finding a little volume of Pope in a box of books. My school library was chucking out, and that was the first book of poetry I read and took seriously. I guess he sort of suffers by the fact that we are seeing all of this through the lens of the romantics. All our taste about Shakespeare and Milton and Spenser has been formed by the romantics and hope's way of writing the Satires. This sort of society poetry I think is just totally doesn't conform to our idea of what poetry should be doing or what poetry is. Is there absolutely or virtually nobody reads Dryden nowadays. It's just not what we think poetry is for that whole Augustine 18th century idea that poetry is for writing epistles to people to explain philosophical concepts to them or to diss your enemies and rivals or to write a kind of Duncia explaining why everyone you know is a moron. That's just really, I guess Byron is the last major, is the only of figure who is in that tradition who would be a popular figure nowadays with things like English bards and scotch reviewers. But that whole idea of poetry I think was really alien to us. And I mean I'm probably formed by that prejudice because I really do love Pope, but I don't love him as much as the other people we've discussed.Henry: I think part of his problem is that he's clever and rational and we want our poems always to be about moods, which may be, I think why George Herbert, who we've both got reasonably high is also quite underrated. He's very clever. He's always think George Herbert's always thinking, and when someone like Shakespeare or Milton is thinking, they do it in such a way that you might not notice and that you might just carry on with the story. And if you do see that they're thinking you can enjoy that as well. Whereas Pope is just explicitly always thinking and maybe lecturing, hectoring, being very grand with you and as you say, calling you an idiot. But there are so many excellent bits of Pope and I just think technically he can sustain a thought or an argument over half a dozen or a dozen lines and keep the rhyme scheme moving and it's never forced, and he never has to do that thing where he puts the words in a stupid order just to make the rhyme work. He's got such an elegance and a balance of composition, which again, as you say, we live under romantic ideals, not classical ones. But that doesn't mean we should be blind to the level of his accomplishment, which is really, really very high. I mean, Samuel Johnson basically thought that Alexander Pope had finished English poetry. We have the end of history. He had the end of English poetry. Pope, he's brought us to the mightiest of the heroic couplers and he's done it. It's all over.James: The other thing about Pope that I think makes us underrate him is that he's very charming. And I think charm is a quality we're not big on is that sort of, but I think some of Pope's charm is so moving. One of my favourite poems of his is, do you know the Epistle to Miss Blount on going into the country? The poem to the young girl who's been having a fashionable season in London then is sent to the boring countryside to stay with an aunt. And it's this, it's not like a romantic love poem, it's not distraught or hectic. It's just a sort of wonderful act of sympathy with this potentially slightly airheaded young girl who's been sent to the countryside, which you'd rather go to operas and plays and flirt with people. And there's a real sort of delicate in it that isn't overblown and isn't dramatic, but is extremely charming. And I think that's again, another quality that perhaps we're prone not to totally appreciate in the 21st century. It's almost the kind of highest form of politeness and sympathyHenry: And the prevailing quality in Pope is wit: “True wit is nature to advantage dressed/ What often was thought, but ne'er so well expressed”. And I think wit can be quite alienating for an audience because it is a kind of superior form of literary art. This is why people don't read as much Swift as he deserves because he's so witty and so scornful that a lot of people will read him and think, well, I don't like you.James: And that point about what oft was thought and ne'er so well expressed again, is a very classical idea. The poet who puts not quite conventional wisdom, but something that's been thought before in the best possible words, really suffers with the romantic idea of originality. The poet has to say something utterly new. Whereas for Pope, the sort of ideas that he express, some of the philosophical ideas are not as profound in original perhaps as words with, but he's very elegant proponent of them.Henry: And we love b******g people in our culture, and I feel like the Dunciad should be more popular because it is just, I can't remember who said this, but someone said it's probably the most under appreciated great poem in English, and that's got to be true. It's full of absolute zingers. There's one moment where he's described the whole crowd of them or all these poets who he considers to be deeply inferior, and it turns out he was right because no one reads them anymore. And you need footnotes to know who they are. I mean, no one cares. And he says, “equal your merits, equal is your din”. This kind of abuse is a really high art, and we ought to love that. We love that on Twitter. And I think things like the Rape of the Lock also could be more popular.James: I love the Rape of the Lock . I mean, I think anybody is not reading Pope and is looking for a way in, I think the Rape of the Lock is the way in, isn't it? Because it's just such a charming, lovely, funny poem.Henry: It is. And probably it suffers because the whole idea of mock heroic now is lost to us. But it's a bit like it's the literary equivalent of people writing a sort of mini epic about someone like Elon Musk or some other very prominent figure in the culture and using lots of heroic imagery from the great epics of Homer and Virgil and from the Bible and all these things, but putting them into a very diminished state. So instead of being grand, it becomes comic. It's like turning a God into a cartoon. And Pope is easily the best writer that we have for that kind of thing. Dryden, but he's the genius on it.James: Yeah, no, he totally is. I guess it's another reason he's under appreciated is that our culture is just much less worshipful of epic than the 18th century culture was. The 18th century was obsessed with trying to write epics and trying to imitate epics. I mean, I think to a lot of Pope's contemporaries, the achievement they might've been expecting people to talk about in 300 years time would be his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey and the other stuff might've seen more minor in comparison, whereas it's the mock epic that we're remembering him for, which again is perhaps another symptom of our sort of post romantic perspective.Henry: I think this is why Spenser suffers as well, because everything in Spenser is magical. The knights are fairies, not the little fairies that live in buttercups, but big human sized fairies or even bigger than that. And there are magical women and saucers and the whole thing is a sort of hodgepodge of romance and fairy tale and legend and all this stuff. And it's often said, oh, he was old fashioned in his own time. But those things still had a lot of currency in the 16th century. And a lot of those things are in Shakespeare, for example.But to us, that's like a fantasy novel. Now, I love fantasy and I read fantasy, and I think some of it's a very high accomplishment, but to a lot of people, fantasy just means kind of trash. Why am I going to read something with fairies and a wizard? And I think a lot of people just see Spenser and they're like, what is this? This is so weird. They don't realise how Protestant they're being, but they're like, this is so weird.James: And Pope has a little, I mean, the Rape of the Lock even has a little of the same because the rape of the lock has this attendant army of good spirits called selfs and evil spirits called gnomes. I mean, I find that just totally funny and charming. I really love it.Henry: I'm going to read, there's an extract from the Rape of the Lock in the Oxford Book, and I'm going to read a few lines to give people an idea of how he can be at once mocking something but also quite charming about it. It's quite a difficult line to draw. The Rape of the Lock is all about a scandalous incident where a young man took a lock of a lady's hair. Rape doesn't mean what we think it means. It means an offence. And so because he stole a lock of her hair, it'd become obviously this huge problem and everyone's in a flurry. And to sort of calm everyone down, Pope took it so seriously that he made it into a tremendous joke. So here he is describing the sort of dressing table if you like.And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd,Each silver Vase in mystic order laid.First, rob'd in white, the Nymph intent adores,With head uncover'd, the Cosmetic pow'rs.A heav'nly image in the glass appears,To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;Th' inferior Priestess, at her altar's side,Trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride.What a way to describe someone putting on their makeup. It's fantastic.James: It's funny. I can continue that because the little passage of Pope I picked to read begins exactly where yours ended. It only gets better as it goes on, I think. So after trembling begins the sacred rites of pride, Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and hereThe various off'rings of the world appear;From each she nicely culls with curious toil,And decks the Goddess with the glitt'ring spoil.This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.The Tortoise here and Elephant unite,Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the white.Here files of pins extend their shining rows,Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux.It's just so lovely. I love a thing about the tortoise and the elephant unite because you've got a tortoise shell and an ivory comb. And the stuff about India's glowing gems and Arabia breathing from yonder box, I mean that's a, realistic is not quite the word, but that's a reference to Milton because Milton is continually having all the stones of Arabia and India's pearls and things all screwed through paradise lost. Yeah, it's just so lovely, isn't it?Henry: And for someone who's so classical and composed and elegant, there's something very Dickensian about things like the toilet, the tortoise and the elephant here unite, transform to combs. There's something a little bit surreal and the puffs, powders, patches, bibles, it has that sort of slightly hectic, frantic,James: That's sort of Victorian materialism, wealth of material objects,Henry: But also that famous thing that was said of Dickens, that the people are furniture and the furniture's like people. He can bring to life all the little bits and bobs of the ordinary day and turn it into something not quite ridiculous, not quite charming.James: And there is a kind of charm in the fact that it wasn't the sort of thing that poets would necessarily expect to pay attention to the 18th century. I don't think the sort of powders and ointments on a woman's dressing table. And there's something very sort of charming in his condescension to notice or what might've once seemed his condescension to notice those things, to find a new thing to take seriously, which is what poetry or not quite to take seriously, but to pay attention to, which I guess is one of the things that great perch should always be doing.Henry: When Swift, who was Pope's great friend, wrote about this, he wrote a poem called A Beautiful Young Lady Going to Bed, which is not as good, and I would love to claim Swift on our list, but I really can't.James: It's quite a horrible perm as well, that one, isn't it?Henry: It is. But it shows you how other people would treat the idea of the woman in front of her toilet, her mirror. And Swift uses an opportunity, as he said, to “lash the vice” because he hated all this adornment and what he would think of as the fakery of a woman painting herself. And so he talks about Corina pride of Drury Lane, which is obviously an ironic reference to her being a Lady of the Night, coming back and there's no drunken rake with her. Returning at the midnight hour;Four stories climbing to her bow'r;Then, seated on a three-legged chair,Takes off her artificial hair:Now, picking out a crystal eye,She wipes it clean, and lays it by.Her eye-brows from a mouse's hide,Stuck on with art on either side,Pulls off with care, and first displays 'em,Then in a play-book smoothly lays 'em.Now dexterously her plumpers draws,That serve to fill her hollow jaws.And it goes on like this. I mean, line after this is sort of raw doll quality to it, Pope, I think in contrast, it only illuminates him more to see where others are taking this kind of crude, very, very funny and witty, but very crude approach. He's able to really have the classical art of balance.James: Yes. And it's precisely his charm that he can mock it and sympathise and love it at the same time, which I think is just a more sort of complex suite of poetic emotions to have about that thing.Henry: So we want more people to read Pope and to love Pope.James: Yes. Even if I'm not letting him into my top.Henry: You are locking him out of the garden. Now, for the second tier, I want to argue for two anonymous poets. One of the things we did when we were talking about this was we asked chatGPT to see if it could give us a good answer. And if you use o1 or o1 Pro, it gives you a pretty good answer as to who the best poets in English are. But it has to be told that it's forgotten about the anonymous poets. And then it says, oh, that was stupid. There are quite a lot of good anonymous poets in English, but I suspect a lot of us, a lot of non artificial intelligence when thinking about this question overlook the anonymous poets. But I would think the Gawain poet and the Tom O' Bedlam poet deserve to be in here. I don't know what you think about that.James: I'm not competent to provide an opinion. I'm purely here to be educated on the subject of these anonymous poets. Henry: The Gawain poet, he's a mediaeval, assume it's a he, a mediaeval writer, obviously may well not be a man, a mediaeval writer. And he wrote Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, which is, if you haven't read it, you should really read it in translation first, I think because it's written at the same time as Chaucer. But Chaucer was written in a kind of London dialect, which is what became the English we speak. And so you can read quite a lot of Chaucer and the words look pretty similar and sometimes you need the footnotes, but when you read Gawain and The Green Knight, it's in a Northwestern dialect, which very much did not become modern day English. And so it's a bit more baffling, but it is a poem of tremendous imaginative power and weirdness. It's a very compelling story. We have a children's version here written by Selena Hastings who's a very accomplished biographer. And every now and then my son remembers it and he just reads it again and again and again. It's one of the best tales of King Arthur in his knights. And there's a wonderful book by John Burrow. It's a very short book, but that is such a loving piece of criticism that explicates the way in which that poem promotes virtue and all the nightly goodness that you would expect, but also is a very strange and unreal piece of work. And I think it has all the qualities of great poetry, but because it's written in this weird dialect, I remember as an undergraduate thinking, why is this so bloody difficult to read? But it is just marvellous. And I see people on Twitter, the few people who've read it, they read it again and they just say, God, it's so good. And I think there was a film of it a couple of years ago, but we will gloss lightly over that and not encourage you to do the film instead of the book.James: Yeah, you're now triggering a memory that I was at least set to read and perhaps did at least read part of Gawain and the Green Knight at University, but has not stuck to any brain cells at all.Henry: Well, you must try it again and tell me what you think. I mean, I find it easily to be one of the best poems in English.James: Yeah, no, I should. I had a little Chaucer kick recently actually, so maybe I'm prepared to rediscover mediaeval per after years of neglect since my degree,Henry: And it's quite short, which I always think is worth knowing. And then the Tom Bedlam is an anonymous poem from I think the 17th century, and it's one of the mad songs, so it's a bit like the Fool from King Lear. And again, it is a very mysterious, very strange and weird piece of work. Try and find it in and read the first few lines. And I think because it's anonymous, it's got slightly less of a reputation because it can't get picked up with some big name, but it is full of tremendous power. And again, I think it would be sad if it wasn't more well known.From the hag and hungry goblinThat into rags would rend ye,The spirit that stands by the naked manIn the Book of Moons defend ye,That of your five sound sensesYou never be forsaken,Nor wander from your selves with TomAbroad to beg your bacon,While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,Feeding, drink, or clothing;Come dame or maid, be not afraid,Poor Tom will injure nothing.Anyway, so you get the sense of it and it's got many stanzas and it's full of this kind of energy and it's again, very accomplished. It can carry the thought across these long lines and these long stanzas.James: When was it written? I'm aware of only if there's a name in the back of my mind.Henry: Oh, it's from the 17th century. So it's not from such a different time as King Lear, but it's written in the voice of a madman. And again, you think of that as the sort of thing a romantic poet would do. And it's strange to find it almost strange to find it displaced. There were these other mad songs. But I think because it's anonymous, it gets less well known, it gets less attention. It's not part of a bigger body of work, but it's absolutely, I think it's wonderful.James: I shall read it.Henry: So who have you got? Who else? Who are you putting in instead of these two?James: Hang on. So we're down to tier two now.Henry: Tier two.James: Yeah. So my tier two is: Donne, Elliot, Keats, Tennyson. I've put Spenser in tier two, Marvell and Pope, who we've already discussed. I mean, I think Eliot, we've talked about, I mean Donne just speaks for himself and there's probably a case that some people would make to bump him up a tier. Henry: Anybody can read that case in Katherine Rudell's book. We don't need to…James: Yes, exactly. If anybody's punching perhaps in tier two, it's Tennyson who I wasn't totally sure belonged there. Putting Tenon in the same tier as Donne and Spenser and Keets. I wonder if that's a little ambitious. I think that might raise eyebrows because there is a school of thought, which I'm not totally unsympathetic to this. What's the Auden quote about Tennyson? I really like it. I expressed very harshly, but I sort of get what he means. Auden said that Tennyson “had the finest ear perhaps of any English poet who was also undoubtedly the stupidest. There was little that he didn't know. There was little else that he did.” Which is far too harsh. But I mentioned to you earlier that I think was earlier this year, a friend and I had a project where we were going to memorise a perva week was a plan. We ended up basically getting, I think three quarters of the way through.And if there's a criticism of Tennyson that you could make, it's that the word music and the sheer lushness of phrases sometimes becomes its own momentum. And you can end up with these extremely lovely but sometimes slightly empty beautiful phrases, which is what I ended up feeling about Tithonus. And I sort of slightly felt I was memorising this unbelievably beautiful but ever so slightly hollow thing. And that was slightly why the project fell apart, I should say. Of course, they absolutely love Tennyson. He's one of my all time favourite poets, which is why my personal favouritism has bumped him up into that category. But I can see there's a case, and I think to a lot of people, he's just the kind of Victorian establishment gloom man, which is totally unfair, but there's not no case against Tennyson.Henry: Yeah, the common thing is that he has no ideas. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm also, I'm not sure how desperately important it is. It should be possible to be a great poet without ideas being at the centre of your work. If you accept the idea that the essence of poetry is invention, i.e. to say old things in a fantastically new way, then I think he qualifies very well as a great poet.James: Yes..Henry: Well, very well. I think Auden said what he said because he was anxious that it was true of himself.James: Yeah, I mean there's a strong argument that Auden had far too many ideas and the sorts of mad schemes and fantastical theories about history that Auden spent his spare time chasing after is certainly a kind of argument that poets maybe shouldn't have as many ideas, although it's just reading. Seamus Perry's got a very good little book on Tennyson, and the opening chapter is all about arguments about people who have tended to dislike Tennyson. And there are all kinds of embarrassing anecdotes about the elderly Tennyson trying to sort of go around dinner parties saying profound and sage-like things and totally putting his foot in it and saying things are completely banal. I should have made a note that this was sort of slightly, again, intensifying my alarm about is there occasionally a tinsely hollowness about Tennyson. I'm now being way too harsh about one of my favourite poets—Henry: I think it depends what you mean by ideas. He is more than just a poet of moods. He gives great expression, deep and strongly felt expression to a whole way of being and a whole way of conceiving of things. And it really was a huge part of why people became interested in the middle ages in the 19th century. I think there's Walter Scott and there's Tennyson who are really leading that work, and that became a dominant cultural force and it became something that meant a lot to people. And whether or not, I don't know whether it's the sort of idea that we're talking about, but I think that sort of thing, I think that qualifies as having ideas and think again, I think he's one of the best writers about the Arthurian legend. Now that work doesn't get into the Oxford Book of English Verse, maybe that's fair. But I think it was very important and I love it. I love it. And I find Tennyson easy to memorise, which is another point in his favour.James: Yeah.Henry: I'm going to read a little bit of Ulysses, which everyone knows the last five or six lines of that poem because it gets put into James Bond films and other such things. I'm going to read it from a little bit from earlier on. I am become a name;For always roaming with a hungry heartMuch have I seen and known; cities of menAnd manners, climates, councils, governments,Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;And drunk delight of battle with my peers,Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fadesFor ever and for ever when I move.I think that's amazing. And he can do that. He can do lots and lots and lots of that.James: Yeah, he really can. It's stunning. “Far on the ringing planes of windy Troy” is such an unbelievably evocative phrase.Henry: And that's what I mean. He's got this ability to bring back a sort of a whole mood of history. It's not just personal mood poetry. He can take you into these places and that is in the space of a line. In the space of a line. I think Matthew Arnold said of the last bit of what I just read is that he had this ability in Ulysses to make the lines seem very long and slow and to give them this kind of epic quality that far goes far beyond the actual length of that poem. Ulysses feels like this huge poem that's capturing so much of Homer and it's a few dozen lines.James: Yeah, no, I completely agree. Can I read a little bit of slightly more domestic Tennyson, from In Memoriam, I think his best poem and one of my all time favourite poems and it's got, there are many sort of famous lines on grief and things, but there's little sort of passage of natural description I think quite near the beginning that I've always really loved and I've always just thought was a stunning piece of poetry in terms of its sound and the way that the sound has patented and an unbelievably attentive description natural world, which is kind of the reason that even though I think Keats is a better poet, I do prefer reading Tennyson to Keats, so this is from the beginning of In Memoriam. Calm is the morn without a sound,Calm as to suit a calmer grief,And only thro' the faded leafThe chesnut pattering to the ground:Calm and deep peace on this high wold,And on these dews that drench the furze,And all the silvery gossamersThat twinkle into green and gold:Calm and still light on yon great plainThat sweeps with all its autumn bowers,And crowded farms and lessening towers,To mingle with the bounding main:And I just think that's an amazing piece of writing that takes you from that very close up image that it begins with of the “chestnut patterning to the ground” through the faded leaves of the tree, which is again, a really attentive little bit of natural description. I think anyone can picture the way that a chestnut might fall through the leaves of a chestnut tree, and it's just an amazing thing to notice. And I think the chestnut pattern to the ground does all the kind of wonderful, slightly onomatopoeic, Tennyson stuff so well, but by the end, you're kind of looking out over the English countryside, you've seen dew on the firs, and then you're just looking out across the plane to the sea, and it's this sort of, I just think it's one of those bits of poetry that anybody who stood in a slightly wet and romantic day in the English countryside knows exactly the feeling that he's evoking. And I mean there's no bit of—all of In Memoriam is pretty much that good. That's not a particularly celebrated passage I don't think. It's just wonderful everywhere.Henry: Yes. In Memoriam a bit like the Dunciad—under appreciated relative to its huge merits.James: Yeah, I think it sounds, I mean guess by the end of his life, Tennyson had that reputation as the establishment sage of Victorian England, queen of Victoria's favourite poet, which is a pretty off-putting reputation for to have. And I think In Memoriam is supposed to be this slightly cobwebby, musty masterpiece of Victorian grief. But there was just so much, I mean, gorgeous, beautiful sensuous poetry in it.Henry: Yeah, lots of very intense feelings. No, I agree. I have Tennyson my third tier because I had to have the Gawain poet, but I agree that he's very, very great.James: Yeah, I think the case for third tier is I'm very open to that case for the reasons that I said.Henry: Keats, we both have Keats much higher than Shelly. I think Byron's not on anyone's list because who cares about Byron. Overrated, badly behaved. Terrible jokes. Terrible jokes.James: I think people often think Byron's a better pert without having read an awful lot of the poetry of Byron. But I think anybody who's tried to wade through long swathes of Don Juan or—Henry: My God,James: Childe Harold, has amazing, amazing, beautiful moments. But yeah, there's an awful lot of stuff that you don't enjoy. I think.Henry: So to make the case for Keats, I want to talk about The Eve of St. Agnes, which I don't know about you, but I love The Eve of St. Agnes. I go back to it all the time. I find it absolutely electric.James: I'm going to say that Keats is a poet, which is kind of weird for somebody is sent to us and obviously beautiful as Keats. I sort of feel like I admire more than I love. I get why he's brilliant. It's very hard not to see why he's brilliant, but he's someone I would very rarely sit down and read for fun and somebody got an awful lot of feeling or excitement out of, but that's clearly a me problem, not a Keats problem.Henry: When I was a teenager, I knew so much Keats by heart. I knew the whole of the Ode to a Nightingale. I mean, I was absolutely steeped in it morning, noon and night. I couldn't get over it. And now I don't know if I could get back to that point. He was a very young poet and he writes in a very young way. But I'm going to read—The Eve of St. Agnes is great. It's a narrative poem, which I think is a good way to get into this stuff because the story is fantastic. And he had read Spenser, he was part of this kind of the beginning of this mediaeval revival. And he's very interested in going back to those old images, those old stories. And this is the bit, I think everything we're reading is from the Oxford Book of English Verse, so that if people at home want to read along they can.This is when the heroine of the poem is Madeline is making her escape basically. And I think this is very, very exciting. Her falt'ring hand upon the balustrade,Old Angela was feeling for the stair,When Madeline, St. Agnes' charmed maid,Rose, like a mission'd spirit, unaware:With silver taper's light, and pious care,She turn'd, and down the aged gossip ledTo a safe level matting. Now prepare,Young Porphyro, for gazing on that bed;She comes, she comes again, like ring-dove fray'd and fled.Out went the taper as she hurried in;Its little smoke, in pallid moonshine, died:She clos'd the door, she panted, all akinTo spirits of the air, and visions wide:No uttered syllable, or, woe betide!But to her heart, her heart was voluble,Paining with eloquence her balmy side;As though a tongueless nightingale should swellHer throat in vain, and die, heart-stifled, in her dell.A casement high and triple-arch'd there was,All garlanded with carven imag'riesOf fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass,And diamonded with panes of quaint device,Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes,As are the tiger-moth's deep-damask'd wings;And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries,And twilight saints, and dim emblazonings,A shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings.I mean, so much atmosphere, so much tension, so many wonderful images just coming one after the other. The rapidity of it, the tumbling nature of it. And people often quote the Ode to autumn, which has a lot of that.James: I have to say, I found that totally enchanting. And perhaps my problem is that I need you to read it all to me. You can make an audio book that I can listen to.Henry: I honestly, I actually might read the whole of the E and put it out as audio on Substack becauseJames: I would actually listen to that.Henry: I love it so much. And I feel like it gets, when we talk about Keats, we talk about, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer and Bright Star and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and these are great, great poems and they're poems that we do at school Ode to a Nightingale because I think The Great Gatsby has a big debt to Ode to a Nightingale, doesn't it? And obviously everyone quotes the Ode to Autumn. I mean, as far as I can tell, the 1st of October every year is the whole world sharing the first stands of the Ode to Autumn.James: Yeah. He may be one of the people who suffers from over familiarity perhaps. And I think also because it sounds so much what poetry is supposed to sound like, because so much of our idea of poetry derives from Keats. Maybe that's something I've slightly need to get past a little bit.Henry: But if you can get into the complete works, there are many, the bit I just read is I think quite representative.James: I loved it. I thought it was completely beautiful and I would never have thought to ever, I probably can't have read that poem for years. I wouldn't have thought to read it. Since university, I don't thinkHenry: He's one of those people. All of my copies of him are sort of frayed and the spines are breaking, but the book is wearing out. I should just commit it to memory and be done. But somehow I love going back to it. So Keats is very high in my estimation, and we've both put him higher than Shelly and Coleridge.James: Yeah.Henry: Tell me why. Because those would typically, I think, be considered the superior poets.James: Do you think Shelly? I think Keats would be considered the superior poetHenry: To Shelly?James: Certainly, yes. I think to Shelly and Coleridge, that's where current fashion would place them. I mean, I have to say Coleridge is one of my all time favourite poets. In terms of people who had just every so often think, I'd love to read a poem, I'd love to read Frost at Midnight. I'd love to read the Aeolian Harp. I'd love to read This Lime Tree Bower, My Prison. I'd love to read Kubla Khan. Outside Milton, Coleridge is probably the person that I read most, but I think, I guess there's a case that Coleridge's output is pretty slight. What his reputation rest on is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, the conversation poems, which a lot of people think are kind of plagiarised Wordsworth, at least in their style and tone, and then maybe not much else. Does anybody particularly read Cristabel and get much out of it nowadays? Dejection an Ode people like: it's never done an awful lot for me, so I sort of, in my personal Pantheon Coleridge is at the top and he's such an immensely sympathetic personality as well and such a curious person. But I think he's a little slight, and there's probably nothing in Coleridge that can match that gorgeous passage of Keats that you read. I think.Henry: Yeah, that's probably true. He's got more ideas, I guess. I don't think it matters that he's slight. Robert Frost said something about his ambition had been to lodge five or six poems in the English language, and if he'd done that, he would've achieved greatness. And obviously Frost very much did do that and is probably the most quotable and well-known poet. But I think Coleridge easily meets those criteria with the poems you described. And if all we had was the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I would think it to be like Tom O' Bedlam, like the Elegy in a Country Churchyard, one of those great, great, great poems that on its own terms, deserves to be on this list.James: Yeah, and I guess another point in his favour is a great poet is they're all pretty unalike. I think if given Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a conversation poem and Kubla Khan and said, guess whether these are three separate poets or the same guy, you would say, oh, there's a totally different poems. They're three different people. One's a kind of creepy gothic horror ballad. Another one is a philosophical reflection. Another is the sort of Mad Opium dream. I mean, Kubla Khan is just without a doubt, one of the top handful of purposes in English language, I think.Henry: Oh yeah, yeah. And it has that quality of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard that so many of the lines are so quotable in the sense that they could be, in the case of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard, a lot of novels did get their titles from it. I think it was James Lees Milne. Every volume of his diaries, which there are obviously quite a few, had its title from Kubla Khan. Ancient as the Hills and so on. It's one of those poems. It just provides us with so much wonderful language in the space of what a page.James: Sort of goes all over the place. Romantic chasms, Abyssinian made with dulcimer, icy pleasure dome with caves of ice. It just such a—it's so mysterious. I mean, there's nothing else remotely like it at all in English literature that I can think of, and its kind strangeness and virtuosity. I really love that poem.Henry: Now, should we say a word for Shelly? Because everyone knows Ozymandias, which is one of those internet poems that goes around a lot, but I don't know how well known the rest of his body of work is beyond that. I fell in love with him when I read a very short lyric called “To—” Music, when soft voices die,Vibrates in the memory—Odours, when sweet violets sicken,Live within the sense they quicken.Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,Love itself shall slumber on.I found that to be one of those poems that was once read and immediately memorised. But he has this very, again, broad body of work. He can write about philosophical ideas, he can write about moods, he can write narrative. He wrote Julian and Maddalo, which is a dialogue poem about visiting a madman and taking sympathy with him and asking the question, who's really mad here? Very Swiftian question. He can write about the sublime in Mont Blanc. I mean, he has got huge intellectual power along with the beauty. He's what people want Tennyson to be, I guess.James: Yeah. Or what people think Byron might be. I think Shelly is great. I don't quite get that Byron is so much more famous. Shelly has just a dramatic and, well, maybe not quite just as, but an incredibly dramatic and exciting life to go along with it,Henry: I think some of the short lyrics from Byron have got much more purchase in day-to-day life, like She Walks in Beauty.James: Yeah. I think you have to maybe get Shelly a little more length, don't you? I mean, even there's something like Ode to the West Wind is you have to take the whole thing to love it, perhaps.Henry: Yes. And again, I think he's a bit like George Herbert. He's always thinking you really have to pay attention and think with him. Whereas Byron has got lots of lines you can copy out and give to a girl that you like on the bus or something.James: Yes. No, that's true.Henry: I don't mean that in quite as rude a way as it sounds. I do think that's a good thing. But Shelly's, I think, much more of a thinker, and I agree with you Childe Harold and so forth. It's all crashing bore. I might to try it again, but awful.James: I don't want move past Coledridge without inflicting little Coledridge on you. Can I?Henry: Oh, yes. No, sorry. We didn't read Coledridge, right?James: Are just, I mean, what to read from Coledridge? I mean, I could read the whole of Kubla Khan, but that would be maybe a bit boring. I mean, again, these are pretty famous and obvious lines from Frost at Midnight, which is Coledridge sitting up late at night in his cottage with his baby in its cradle, and he sort of addressing it and thinking about it. And I just think these lines are so, well, everything we've said about Coledridge, philosophical, thoughtful, beautiful, in a sort of totally knockout, undeniable way. So it goes, he's talking to his young son, I think. My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heartWith tender gladness, thus to look at thee,And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,And in far other scenes! For I was rearedIn the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breezeBy lakes and sandy shores, beneath the cragsOf ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,Which image in their bulk both lakes and shoresAnd mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hearThe lovely shapes and sounds intelligibleOf that eternal language, which thy GodUtters, who from eternity doth teachHimself in all, and all things in himself.Which is just—what aren't those lines of poetry doing? And with such kind of confidence, the way you get from talking to your baby and its cradle about what kind of upbringing you hope it will have to those flashes of, I mean quite Wordsworthian beauty, and then the sort of philosophical tone at the end. It's just such a stunning, lovely poem. Yeah, I love it.Henry: Now we both got Yeats and Hopkins. And Hopkins I think is really, really a tremendous poet, but neither of us has put Browning, which a lot of other people maybe would. Can we have a go at Browning for a minute? Can we leave him in shreds? James: Oh God. I mean, you're going to be a better advocate of Browning than I am. I've never—Henry: Don't advocate for him. No, no, no.James: We we're sticking him out.Henry: We're sticking him.James: I wonder if I even feel qualified to do that. I mean, I read quite a bit of Browning at university, found it hard to get on with sometimes. I think I found a little affected and pretentious about him and a little kind of needlessly difficult in a sort of off-puttingly Victorian way. But then I was reading, I reviewed a couple of years ago, John Carey has an excellent introduction to English poetry. I think it's called A Little History of Poetry in which he described Browning's incredibly long poem, The Ring in the Book as one of the all time wonders of verbal art. This thing is, I think it's like 700 or 800 pages long poem in the Penguin edition, which has always given me pause for thought and made me think that I've dismissed Browning out of hand because if John Carey's telling me that, then I must be wrong.But I think I have had very little pleasure out of Browning, and I mean by the end of the 19th century, there was a bit of a sort of Victorian cult of Browning, which I think was influential. And people liked him because he was a living celebrity who'd been anointed as a great poet, and people liked to go and worship at his feet and stuff. I do kind of wonder whether he's lasted, I don't think many people read him for pleasure, and I wonder if that maybe tells its own story. What's your case against Browning?Henry: No, much the same. I think he's very accomplished and very, he probably, he deserves a place on the list, but I can't enjoy him and I don't really know why. But to me, he's very clever and very good, but as you say, a bit dull.James: Yeah, I totally agree. I'm willing. It must be our failing, I'm sure. Yeah, no, I'm sure. I'm willing to believe they're all, if this podcast is listened to by scholars of Victorian poetry, they're cringing and holding their head in their hands at this—Henry: They've turned off already. Well, if you read The Ring and the Book, you can come back on and tell us about it.James: Oh God, yeah. I mean, in about 20 years time.Henry: I think we both have Auden, but you said something you said, “does Auden have an edge of fraudulence?”James: Yeah, I mean, again, I feel like I'm being really rude about a lot of poets that I really love. I don't really know why doesn't think, realising that people consider to be a little bit weak makes you appreciate their best stuff even more I guess. I mean, it's hard to make that argument without reading a bit of Auden. I wonder what bit gets it across. I haven't gotten any ready. What would you say about Auden?Henry: I love Auden. I think he was the best poet of the 20th century maybe. I mean, I have to sort of begrudgingly accept T.S. Eliot beside, I think he can do everything from, he can do songs, light lyrics, comic verse, he can do occasional poetry, obituaries. He was a political poet. He wrote in every form, I think almost literally that might be true. Every type of stanza, different lines. He was just structurally remarkable. I suspect he'll end up a bit like Pope once the culture has tur

Brian Skrobonja breaks down the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).  He covers how retirees can strategically use their lump sum to create long-term financial stability, the impact of the repeal on spousal and survivor benefits, and the broader financial strain on the Social Security system.  Tune in to hear essential insights into how to adapt your financial strategy and take full advantage of this game-changing reform. Brian starts by explaining why the repeal of the WEP and the GPO is a big deal for retirees. A good example of how this repeal affects retirees is higher Social Security benefits--retirees can now reduce reliance on personal savings and investment withdrawals. Brian talks about the impact on spousal and survivor benefits. The repeal eliminates the harsh reductions that often left surviving spouses with little to no income. Brian explains why retirees need a strategy for their lump sum payments. Instead of spending it impulsively, consider reinvesting in assets that create long-term financial security. How the repeal changes retirement planning for government workers. Formerly penalized for having a pension, they can now receive full Social Security benefits without reductions. Brian highlights why this repeal adds financial strain to the Social Security system. The Congressional Budget Office projects billions in additional costs, worsening the program's long-term stability. Brian reveals the biggest challenge Social Security now faces. Recalculating benefits for millions of retirees while managing retroactive payments creates an administrative nightmare for the Social Security office. Brian highlights the fairness issue with this change. Government employees with brief private-sector work history may now receive benefits exceeding lifelong private-sector workers with similar earnings. How younger workers may bear the financial burden of this repeal. Without a payroll tax increase, the long-term cost shifts onto the next generation of retirees. Understand how to make the most of this new opportunity. With higher benefits, retirees should rethink their tax strategy, pension withdrawals, and investment plans. Brian shares the best way to maximize Social Security benefits. Coordinating Social Security payments with pension income, investment distributions, and annuities can optimize cash flow for you in retirement. Brian explains the tax implications of higher Social Security benefits and how increased payments could push retirees into higher tax brackets. According to Brian, this change creates new financial planning opportunities. Retirees can explore strategies like Roth conversions or delaying withdrawals to reduce tax burdens. Brian explains how ignoring these changes could cost you and potentially derail your retirement. The repeal is a game changer and failing to adapt your financial strategy means missing out on valuable benefits or paying more in taxes.      Mentioned in this episode: BrianSkrobonja.com SkrobonjaFinancial.com SkrobonjaWealth.com BUILDbanking.com Common Sense Financial Podcast on YouTube  Common Sense Financial Podcast on Spotify     References for this episode: https://www.nea.org/resource-library/faq-social-security-fairness-act#:~:text=Impacted%20individuals%20will%20see%20an%20estimated%20average%20increase%20of%20%24360,vary%20based%20on%20employment%20history https://hayes.house.gov/2025/1/social-security-fairness-act-legislation-co-sponsored-by-hayes-signed-into-law-by-president-biden#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20the%20CBO%20estimates%20that,for%20380%2C000%20impacted%20spouses%20and https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/repealing-social-securitys-wep-and-gpo-rules-would-be-misguided https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60392#:~:text=In%20CBO's%20projections%2C%20the%20balance,the%20balance%20of%20the%20Disability     Securities offered only by duly registered individuals through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC. (MAS), Member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services offered only by duly registered individuals through Skrobonja Wealth Management (SWM), a registered investment advisor. Tax services offered only through Skrobonja Tax Consulting. MAS does not offer Build Banking or tax advice. Skrobonja Financial Group, LLC, Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC, Skrobonja Insurance Services, LLC, Skrobonja Tax Consulting, and Build Banking are not affiliated with MAS. Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC is a registered investment adviser. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. The firm is a registered investment adviser with the state of Missouri, and may only transact business with residents of those states, or residents of other states where otherwise legally permitted subject to exemption or exclusion from registration requirements. Registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities authority does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Our firm is not endorsed by or affiliated with any government agency.

The complexity of Social Security calculations can cause some confusion around when someone eligible should file and claim their benefit. There are a lot of variables to consider and acronyms to decipher that can make Social Security feel like a confusing hedge maze. Let's cut through some of the noise and clarify some of the most pressing questions around Social Security benefits and what questions you need to consider to determine what's best for you and your family. Social Security has many layers, and the concept of eligibility can be pretty complex. It's not always clear when and how someone should begin taking their benefits because being eligible doesn't necessarily mean you should turn that benefit on. Social Security benefits can be turned on as early as age 62. Each year the benefit is delayed, you receive what is called a delayed retirement credit or DRC. These DRCs guarantee an automatic 8% increase in your Social Security benefit every year you delay up to age 70. There is also your full retirement age. This is the age when you are eligible to receive the full benefit without any offset for having earned income. Earned income being income from employment, which is different from income received from investments, pensions or annuities. For those born in 1960, or later, your FRA is age 67. Benefits are calculated by the Social Security Administration by taking 35 years of earnings that are indexed for inflation. Any years you didn't work are counted as a zero in your average earnings calculation. These annual amounts are then totaled and divided by four and 20 months to arrive at the monthly figure known as your average indexed monthly earning. This number is different from your benefit amount. The SSA then applies a formula to that number which determines your primary insurance amount or PIA and this is your monthly Social Security benefit. If you choose to take your benefit before your FRA while employed, there's an offset that can significantly reduce the benefit if your income exceeds $21,240 in 2023. This reduction is $1 for every $2 of earned income over the limit. In the year you reach your FRA, the limit increases to $56,520 in 2023, with a benefit reduction of $1 for every $3 of earned income over the limit. After you've reached your FRA there's no earning limits and you receive the full benefit with no income offsets. Provisional income comes into play after your benefits are activated. Your provisional income is calculated by taking your adjusted gross income plus half of your Social Security benefit. If that total is less than $25,000, your Social Security benefit is not subject to federal tax. If it is  above 25,000, but below 34,000, 50% of the benefit is taxed, and if it's above 34,000, 85% of the benefit is taxed. If you're a government employee, there's something called a Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP. And there's also a Government Pension Offset, or GPO. There are three common conversations we have with clients when it comes to Social Security. The first thing is determining the breakeven point. One method for deciding when to take Social Security benefits involves calculating the breakeven point, this is the future point in time when the value of one option equals that of another. For example, if your FRA benefit is $2,000 a month, and $1,400 at age 62, there's a $600 a month difference. When compared to waiting the five years and taking the full amount, the breakeven point would be 11.6 years. Something else to keep in mind is that by taking a benefit early, you reduce the amount of spousal benefit made available since the benefit in and of itself has been reduced and this could be an important consideration. The second consideration relates to one's health and longevity. If you don't expect to live past that breakeven point, taking the benefit early might make more sense. From this perspective, it could be a win-win situation if they start receiving benefits early and they live longer than expected because the payments continue. We can't know our lifespan for certain, but if you're in poor health, taking benefits early might be a reasonable option. The third consideration involves a person's retirement income requirement. Many clients we work with see Social Security simply as a piece of the retirement income strategy, and aren't necessarily concerned with breakeven points as much as they are with maximizing their assets and the resources. Many clients opt to turn their Social Security benefits on instead of tapping into their assets in order to maintain growth. Using assets to generate income in retirement also comes with variables that are hard to predict, like the conditions of the stock market and economic policy. Social Security, in comparison, is stable and easy to predict. Figuring out your retirement income requires careful planning, which is why it's crucial to work with a professional that understands Social Security and its role in your retirement plan.     Mentioned in this episode: BrianSkrobonja.com Common Sense Financial Podcast on YouTube  Common Sense Financial Podcast on Spotify BrianSkrobonja.com/Resources - Free Resources To Help You Protect Your Financial Future Common Sense: YOUR Guide to Making Smart Choices with YOUR Money by Brian Skrobonja SSA.gov   References for this episode: SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html   Securities offered only by duly registered individuals through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC. (MAS), Member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services offered only by duly registered  individuals through Skrobonja Wealth Management (SWM), a registered investment advisor. Tax services offered only through Skrobonja Tax Consulting. MAS does not offer Build Banking or tax advice. Skrobonja Financial Group, LLC, Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC, Skrobonja Insurance Services, LLC, Skrobonja Tax Consulting, and Build Banking are not affiliated with MAS. The firm is a registered investment adviser with the state of Missouri, and may only transact business with residents of those states, or residents of other states where otherwise legally permitted subject to exemption or exclusion from registration requirements. Registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities authority does not imply a certain level of skill or training. 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Barbara O'Neill, CFP®, AFC® and Scott Dauenhauer CFP® break down the recently passed Social Security Fairness Act and what it means for some educators. They cover why the WEP and GPO were first put in place and what it's repeal means for: Those currently collecting Social Security benefits Those new eligible to collect Social Security benefits Those lacking enough credits to qualify for Social Security benefits At the conclusion of the recording of this episode Scott got a call from a family member who he had helped apply for this new benefit who shared the good news that she had just received a Social Security check for more than $9,000.  The Social Security Fairness Act: A Holiday Season Miracle Social Security Administration Social Security Fairness Act 403(b) Plans and Social Security  Guardians of SS FBG WEP Chart note: Link mentioned in pod mysteriously stopped working the day after recording. A web search for new link is recommended.  Opinion: Social Security Fairness Act will be tricky to implement Learned by Being Burned - Short pod series about how teachers got burned then got wise to the 403(b) Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org Nothing presented or discussed is to be construed as investment or tax advice. This can be secured from a vetted Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). 

Join special guest Kurt Czarnowski (Czarnowski Consulting) for a deep dive on the impact of the Social Security Fairness Act.  Some 2,000,000 current Social Security recipients are impacted by this legislation, not to mention those who previously thought they were ineligible under Government Pension Offset (GPO).  This legislation does away with GPO and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).  Advisors will want to learn more about these changes and which of their clients may be impacted.  Always entertaining and a wealth of information, join Kurt and host Chris Boyd for timely episode of the Wicked Pissah Podcast.    Kurt.Czarnowski@gmail.com www.czarnowskiconsulting.com Cell: 774-571-3256   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-czarnowski-20598729/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-christopher-boyd-b932169/   https://www.fpanewengland.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/financial-planning-association-of-massachusetts/posts/?feedView=all   https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/  

Show Notes: Jim Ettamarna, a renowned expert in commercial excellence, defines it as incorporating commercial efficacy and efficiency. He believes that there are two key branches to drive down in this area, and it holds tremendous potential for clients and organizations. Jim's framework for commercial excellence is value creation, which involves understanding market demand, go-to- market models, market growth, and demand trends with a focus on each specific industry. A Six Sigma Lean Framework Jim uses a lean framework, starting with Six Sigma, to standardize the right work and ensure associates and employees are conducting the right activities and behaviors. He also emphasizes the importance of systems in psychology in commercial results, as it helps design standardized systems for onboarding talent, enhancing team engagement, and engaging with customers. In sales, motivation is crucial, and the human element of having a team is essential. However, dealing with complex buying processes can be challenging, so it is essential to tune processes and approaches to the specific needs of the customers. A Go-to-market Model The go-to-market model is a linkage between strategy and execution and commercial excellence. It should be tuned for the company's strategy and the strategic context. For example, a $300 million middle market private equity-backed company serving the Durable Medical Equipment market that sold to 5,000 independent organizations and specialty retailers. The company had to strategically think through market growth, accounts to capture, and the buying cycle for customers. To drive efficiency and effectiveness, the company had a set of building blocks, including an online component, independent sales reps, an inside sales team, and specialty sales people. The strategy piece involved determining what would drive value, growth, renewals, base volumes, and pricing. The go-to-market model was designed around these building blocks, and commercial excellence was driven by optimizing these aspects. Components of Commercial Excellence Jim discusses the importance of breaking down commercial excellence into various components, including channels, sales operations, content, and management systems. He emphasizes the need for segmentation at the top level to understand what will drive value and optimize the go-to-market model for the business. Within this model, he suggests ways to optimize each element, such as sales enablement, which includes training, scripts, and engagement strategies. He also emphasizes the importance of benchmarking and understanding the nuances of sales teams. He shares an example of a furniture retailer where he worked with 2500 full-time employees and 1000 part-time employees. The performance of the company was analyzed using Pareto curves, but some outliers were more successful than averages. To replicate these outliers, he spent time in the field with the best sellers and identified their backgrounds and profiles. He also highlights the importance of identifying B+ and A minus players and setting them as standards. The A plus players are often unique individuals that can be difficult to replicate, but they can still learn from them. Segmentation is crucial in understanding customer nuances. Value Mapping and Needs-based Segmentation In the past, value mapping and needs-based segmentation were crucial for designing sales teams and engaging with customers. This was particularly important when selling software into hospital systems, where hospitals may make localized decisions or have a system or GPO that drives these decisions. The CIO or clinical or nursing professional may specify the solution, and the CIO and finance will negotiate it. Jim cites a case where a big client involved segmenting the market and designing selling approaches based on how customers operated and how they bought. This involved investing in customer success research, conducting field interviews, and conducting surveys to understand their usage of the product. The consultant rolled out five archetypes and profiles for four segments, which were then rolled into product development and product teams. Different teams focused on different segments, such as geographic, size, SMB, or enterprise, and focusing on needs-based and purchasing behavior-based segmentation. The go-to-market model was designed around these archetypes, with territory design considering geographic, size, SMB, or enterprise boundaries. There is no right or wrong answer to this, but it is essential to consider these factors when designing the go-to-market model. This approach helps to understand the value in use and what drives value for customers. Diagnostics and Metrics The conversation turns to commercial excellence in organizations, particularly in B2B industrial or SaaS sectors. Jim emphasizes the need for a diagnostic assessment to understand opportunities and challenges. A diagnostic should focus on input and output metrics, such as sales reps' success, territories, and numbers. He suggests that data from sales operations and rev ops can be used to conduct quick diagnostics. Additionally, examining spreads and distributions to identify right spots and dark spots, which are indicators of opportunities and challenges. For example, he could work with a labeling client and identify bright spots where individuals were selling unique markets and promoting innovative products. These best practices could be disseminated among the team. A diagnostic should involve analytics, cost, interviews with sales people, and customer visits to gather customer feedback. The goal is to identify three to five things that can be done to achieve commercial excellence. Jim also offers tips on how to work with the sales department.  The Role of a Sales Playbook in Commercial Excellence Jim talks about the importance of rolling out a sales playbook and its role in commercial excellence. He shares an example of a software company that he helped develop a sales playbook for, which focused on making standard work and minimizing waste. The company had three different sales processes, and they trained employees on territory management, account management, and prospecting. They created a set of 10 difference makers based on actual activities performed by the best people, which were rolled out in a fun, gamified way to encourage adoption and recognition. Some of the key difference markers included prospecting, owning territory, and using Salesforce to drive compliance.  Metrics to Monitor in Sales Jim mentions the importance of having the right input and output metrics, such as the number of meaningful meetings and demonstrations per week, to ensure the right outbound results. By tracking these metrics, the sales team can make necessary adjustments to improve their performance and drive more profitable deals. To drive results in sales, Jim highlights metrics such as deal size, velocity, win rates, attachment, cross, sell, and upsell. He also emphasizes the importance of driving customer success and retention. He mentions that, in one case, key initiatives were displayed at the office, allowing for a competitive dynamic. The metrics were then distilled down to the board, with some metrics for frontline commercial team members and others for the board pack. The goal was to turn the dial on sales enablement, resulting in better win rates and accelerated funnel velocity. Jim also highlights the importance of gamification, making it fun, and rewards to encourage employees to work harder and drive competitive juices.  Timestamps: 01:32: Value Creation Framework  04:18: Go-to-Market Model  07:24: Tangible Elements of Commercial Excellence  11:10: Segmentation and Customer Nuances 14:18: Practical Segmentation Approach  18:18: Diagnostic Approach to Commercial Excellence  24:04: Sales Playbook and Metrics  29:50: Customer Success and Competitive Dynamics Links: Company website: https://www.suttongrowth.com/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jimettamarna   Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.  

Big changes are on the horizon for retirees impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5, 2025, is expected to increase benefits for millions of retirees while introducing new challenges for the Social Security system. In todays podcast, I will break down what this means for you and how to adapt your retirement strategy to these changes. Plus, be sure to listen to the end to learn about our new updates to the Retirement Budget Calculator that help you stress-test your Social Security strategy. To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on episode #443.. The Retirement Budget Calculator is an intuitive tool that promises ease and accuracy. However, like any tool, user error could potentially lead to costly mistakes. To avoid this, let the experienced advisors at Parker Financial LLC guide you. When you hire our team, we offer a comprehensive review of your current investments, taxes, and the data in the Retirement Budget Calculator. We will ensure your plan's completeness and accuracy, helping you create an investment strategy, assist with tax planning, and monitor your plan to maximize your retirement benefits. At Parker Financial we offer a well-crafted retirement investment strategy, deeply rooted in academic data and financial science which can be the key to a prosperous retirement. Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step towards a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session now by visiting Parker-Financial.net let us help you make the most of your retirement years.      

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: What it means between an advisor who calls themself a financial planner vs wealth manager vs any other label they choose to use ( 10:24 )My thoughts on the recently repealed Windfall Elimination Provision ("WEP") and Government Pension Offset ("GPO") parts of Social Security ( 20:35 )A follow up to a previously discussed Q&A topic about how much umbrella insurance to purchase ( 31:18 )How income is taxed to a recently deceased person vs their heirs or their estate ( 37:08 )How best to gift money to grandchildren to get them started with saving and investing ( 42:10 )Understanding a bond or bond fund's "duration" and how to use it measure the bond or bond fund's interest rate price change risk. And what it means to have a recommended "holding period" for a bond fund ( 46:45 )To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comMy company newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5 by former President Joe Biden, repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which previously reduced Social Security benefits for individuals with non-covered pensions, such as teachers, firefighters, and postal workers. This change significantly increases benefits for affected individuals, in some cases by over $1,000 per month, and applies retroactively to the end of 2023.While the law addresses long-standing concerns about fairness, it also accelerates the depletion of Social Security funds, already projected to face insolvency by the 2030s. This $190 billion expense over the next decade may force future changes, such as tax increases, higher retirement ages, or adjustments to the system. For those impacted by WEP or GPO, the law offers immediate financial relief but highlights the need for broader, sustainable reform to preserve Social Security for all beneficiaries.Questions answered:How does the Social Security Fairness Act impact individuals with non-covered pensions like teachers, firefighters, and postal workers?What are the potential long-term consequences of the Social Security Fairness Act on the Social Security fund's sustainability?  Submit your request to join James:On the Ready For Retirement podcast: Apply HereOn a Retirement Makeover episode: Apply HereTimestamps:0:00 - SS Fairness Act -- ex. Maria2:46 - Bend points4:49 - Back to Maria's situation5:54 - Pros and cons7:38 - Bill magnifies SS problemsCreate Your Custom Strategy ⬇️ Get Started Here.

Mike provides insight into Foodbuy's $32 billion in purchasing power and its mission to level the playing field for independent and multi-unit operators alike. He highlights how Foodbuy's technology-driven approach helps operators unlock cost savings, streamline purchasing, and improve their bottom line.Key Takeaways:• Customized Solutions: Foodbuy's programs are opt-in, allowing businesses to tailor solutions to their unique needs.• Tech-Driven Savings: From auditing line items to catching price discrepancies, Foodbuy's platform ensures operators get the best deals while maintaining transparency.• Supporting Independents: Mike emphasizes Foodbuy's commitment to helping small operators achieve big buying power, likening it to a GPO that acts as a PEO for purchasing.• Rebates Made Simple: Foodbuy ensures rebates are earned and applied seamlessly, eliminating the frustration of chasing payments.Hot Takes: From the value of a free membership to the scalability of Foodbuy's solutions, Mike showcases how the organization empowers operators to thrive in a margin-tight industry.

The Healthcare Revolution: Challenges and Innovations with Dutch RojasIn this episode, George hosts Dutch Rojas, a Senior Vice President of Direct Healthcare at Naomi Health, to discuss the transformative landscape of healthcare. Dutch shares his journey from an accounting student to a healthcare innovator advocating for private physicians and transparency. They delve into healthcare issues, such as market concentration, regulatory challenges, and unfair pricing structures. Dutch emphasizes the importance of competition and the role of physicians in improving the healthcare system. They also explore innovative models like physician-led practices and Direct Primary Care (DPC) to enhance care and reduce costs. The conversation touches on policy implications, the influence of large health systems, and potential solutions through collaboration and market-led changes. Dutch suggests building coalitions of independent physicians to negotiate better contracts and reduce expenses, ultimately aiming for a fairer and more efficient healthcare system.00:00 Introduction and Setting the Scene00:10 Introducing Dutch Rojas01:07 Dutch Rojas' Journey into Healthcare03:44 Challenges in the Healthcare System05:33 Market Concentration and Regulation Issues17:53 The Role of PBMs and Insurance Companies27:54 Forming Coalitions for Independent Physicians31:30 Unite the Physicians: Overcoming Legal Barriers32:06 Innovative Organizational Structures in Healthcare32:53 Ownership and Revenue Generation for Doctors33:30 Understanding Payroll and Insurance Integration33:57 Explaining Key Acronyms: PEO, GPO, and MSO35:06 Legal Challenges and Costs in Healthcare36:01 Introducing Physicians Capital36:07 Negotiation Strategies with Healthcare Providers36:36 Flexibility in Healthcare Contracts38:01 Addressing Healthcare System Problems38:58 Competing Against Academic Health Systems39:52 Challenges in Primary Care and Solutions41:27 The Role of Innovation in Healthcare42:47 The Importance of Relationships in Medicine56:41 Direct Primary Care (DPC) and Its Impact01:00:49 The Need for Price Transparency in Healthcare01:02:58 Concluding Thoughts and Future DiscussionsSupport the show

This episode looks at whether you qualify or not for the $200 billion Social Security benefits approved by the U.S. Congress. Host David McKnight shares that, with the current status quo, the Social Security Trust Fund is on pace to go bust by 2033. If that were to happen, only about 83% of benefits would be paid out…  If signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Social Security Fairness Act would provide an additional $200 billion in Social Security benefits to nearly 2.8 million Americans over the next 10 years. The Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate two policies that have reduced benefits for public service employees: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The people most likely to be affected by the elimination of these two provisions are about 28% of state and local government employees who are covered by alternative retirement systems and permanent civilian federal employees hired prior to January 1, 1984. U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine), co-sponsors of the Social Security Fairness Act, believe that the WEP and GPO have historically penalized people for choosing to serve their communities by dramatically reducing Social Security benefits.  While David believes that Americans should get their due when it comes to their Social Security benefits, he wonders whether this is something that America can really afford… According to the Nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the passage of the bill in question will accelerate the insolvency of the Social Security Trust Fund by six months. David sees the Social Security Fairness Act and its repercussions on Americans as “yet another unfunded obligation on the balance sheet of the Federal Government.”     Mentioned in this episode: David's national bestselling book: The Guru Gap: How America's Financial Gurus Are Leading You Astray, and How to Get Back on Track DavidMcKnight.com DavidMcKnightBooks.com PowerOfZero.com (free video series) @mcknightandco on Twitter  @davidcmcknight on Instagram David McKnight on YouTube Get David's Tax-free Tool Kit at taxfreetoolkit.com Congressional Budget Office President Joe Biden U.S. Congress U.S. Senate Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio) Senator Susan Collins (Maine) CBS News Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

The Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Jan. 6 thanks to strong bipartisan support. The intent was to provide greater retirement security and “fairness” to people who have dedicated their careers to public service, with bill supporters saying the old law unfairly stripped many low-income government and public workers of the benefits they deserve.But did they get it wrong? Andrew G. Biggs, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a nationally recognized expert on retirement issues and Social Security policy, makes a compelling argument for why the Social Security Fairness Act essentially amounts to a $200 billion giveaway to people who neither need the benefits nor paid into the system to receive them.Key InsightsImpact of Social Security Fairness Act: The repeal of WEP and GPO provisions increases Social Security benefits for public sector employees but raises concerns about fairness and financial sustainability​.Public Sector Pension Dynamics: Many public employees benefit from generous pensions and may now receive additional Social Security benefits, leading to "double-dipping" concerns​.Fiscal Consequences: The $200 billion cost of the legislation accelerates the depletion of Social Security trust funds, threatening long-term sustainability​.

FUN HALF LINK HERE: https://youtube.com/live/qzCOCJJt2o4 It's News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma speak with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, to discuss President Biden signing the Social Security Fairness Act into law. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the GOP's reconciliation fight, Trump's second certified election W, Merrick Garland's Jan 6th report, Fetterman's support for more right-wing legislation, Senate GOPers push for ICC sanctions, Virginia's special elections, CIA's surveillance of Latino activists, Rudy Giuliani's contempt of court, Guantanamo's prisoners, Zuckerberg's re-welcoming of misinformation back to Meta, and gender-affirming care data, before diving a little deeper into Big Tech's overwhelming capitulation to Donald Trump's regime, from Zuckerberg's Meta misinformation to Bezos' Washington Post censorship. Alex Lawson then joins, quickly running through the recent debates over social security – from the Trump-Musk push to cut it via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to Biden's recent passage of the Social Security Fairness Act – before taking a major step back to the Reagan Administration as he walks through Reagan's sweeping WEP and GPO kneecaps to Social Security, serving to cut all benefits by 14% and completely carving teachers, police officers, and firefighters out of the system, respectively, and serving to bolster the rapid development of wealth inequality over the four decades since, helped all the while by the shift from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution 401ks. Jumping back to the modern day, Alex, Sam, and Emma unpack the attacks to be expected as Trump's DOGE takes over, from addressing supposed concerns about growing life expectancy – a development only affecting the wealthy – to attempts to make it more “profitable” by undercutting benefits rather than raising revenue, and tackling the unsurprising solution of simply lifting (or even eliminating) the income cap that prevents wealthy people from paying their fair share into the system. Wrapping up, they assess the overwhelming popularity of Social Security (outside of DC, of course), and what it will take to protect it. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma parse through Trump's outlandish territory claims – from the Gulf of Mexico to Greenland – and the concerning motives that could be behind them, before diving deep into the GOP's ongoing reconciliation infighting, as Larry Kudlow presses Ted Cruz over the decision to keep it as one massive bill. They also unpack Hannity's malaise over recent attacks on the wealthy, Musk's relationship with Argentina's poverty-pusher Javier Milei, and Tim Pool's recent freakout over jailed January 6th defendants, plus, your calls and IMs! Follow Alex and SSW on Twitter here: https://x.com/ssworks Find out more about Social Security Works here: https://socialsecurityworks.org/ See if your money is being used to fund climate chaos here!: https://bank.green/ Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! 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The General Post Office on O'Connell Street is undoubtedly one of Ireland's most significant buildings; as the headquarters of the 1916 rising, the bustling epicenter of 20th century communication and even the point by which the distance to towns and cities across the country were measured. This year, the Dublin landmark faces a milestone of its own - with a new purpose for the building set to be revealed. So could a reimagined GPO help breathe life into the city centre and how do we preserve our history while developing a living, breathing city? Host: Dave Hanratty | Guest: Donal Fallon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch out for record fraud when shopping. With technology, shopping has become so easy and set records in 2024 of around $5.3 trillion. While this by itself is a problem as some people are over shopping, it has also invited more fraud than ever before and for the first three quarters of 2024 there was an increase of 14.5% to $8.7 billion of shoppers who lost money to fraud. Two things are happening here. First, consumers may be too emotionally excited about the purchase and they forget to look for scams that could be happening to them. The second item is the scammers are becoming smarter about how to scam people and they are making it more difficult to detect. To avoid being scammed, it is always wise to deal with a company that you know. However, even that may not guarantee your safety. Scammers can now use names that look very similar to the names you know. They can do this by simply adding or deleting a period or a letter somewhere in the title. So before you make that purchase, be sure it is the correct site that you want to be at and you're not sending your money to some scammer from across the world!   Should you be investing in airline stocks with the record year they've had? It has been quite the year for airline stocks and there have been huge one-year gains for United Airlines at 138% and Delta Airlines at 49%. While it was a laggard compared with its peers, American Airlines still posted a strong return of 29%. It is forecasted for holiday travel between December 19th and January 6th, there will be a record number of travelers at 54 million. Since our economy was reopened after Covid, consumers continue to enjoy traveling, which has benefited the airlines. Even with the record number of travelers and the large gains for the airline stocks, they still trade at reasonable price to earnings ratios of 9.7 for United Airlines, 10.1 for Delta and 10.5 for American Airlines. My concern is could this be a value trap going forward? The low price to earnings ratio might suck you in only to see a slowdown in travelers in 2025. We could also see a little bit higher oil prices based on production not coming online quick enough to keep up with demand, which would hurt the profit margins for these companies. While they might look enticing, I wouldn't be interested in adding these positions to my portfolio at this time.   Could you benefit from the private prison boom that may happen in 2025? In 2025 there could be a huge demand for detention centers and investors may benefit from investing in the private detention center called CoreCivic Inc, trading under the symbol CXW. CoreCivic has a market cap of about $2.4 billion and a FFO on a forward basis of $1.79. The company could benefit from recent statements from ICE saying it will need enough beds to detain a minimum of 100,000 migrants. The agency already has funding for 41,500 beds. Their competitor GEO has a head start already housing about 40% of ICE detainees. It should be noted that CoreCivic was at $14 the day before the election and it climbed to $22 the day after. There was concern that some banks would withdraw funding from companies who participated in the immigrant detentions, however it appears that CoreCivic does not need any new capital to bring on new facilities or bring back idle facilities. The high estimate for deportation would be 1 million people in one year at a cost of $88 billion. It is estimated that there were 11 million undocumented migrants in the US as of 2022. These higher dollars could benefit the private prisons as a quick alternative if there is no room in the county jails. I was disappointed that the company does not pay a dividend, but it has pulled back from a recent high of $24.99 a share to under $22 a share. At the price the stock would trade at a reasonable 12.29x the estimated FFO for 2025. An executive from the private company GEO group spoke about an unprecedented opportunity for their company, it could be a good investment opportunity for the small investor as well.   “Big Social Security Changes Coming” The Social Security Fairness Act is set to be signed into law next week and will impact Social Security benefits for millions of Americans.  This bipartisan bill will eliminate the “Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)” and the “Government Pension Offset (GPO)” which currently reduce social security benefits for workers and spouses who have public pensions.  The Windfall Elimination Provision applies when someone has worked a job where they paid into Social Security and also a job where they did not pay into Social Security and receive a pension instead.  In this case, the Social Security benefits are reduced based on how many years they paid into Social Security.  The Government Pension Offset applies when a spouse is entitled to a Social Security spousal or widow benefit but they also worked a job where they did not pay into Social Security themselves.  In this case, the amount of their pension reduces the Social Security benefits they are entitled to receive.  With the passing of this new Social Security act and the elimination of the WEP and GPO, Americans who were having Social Security benefits reduced will no longer see a reduction.  This is one of the largest changes to Social Security in the last several years.  The downside is, the increased benefits will cause the Social Security trust fund to run out sooner, even if the elimination results in a fairer benefit system.    Companies Discussed: Tidewater Inc (TDW), Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ), Carvana Co. (CVNA) & VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN)

American healthcare is well known for its extreme cost and worst outcomes among industrialized (such as the 38 OECD member) countries, and beyond that to be remarkably opaque. The high cost of prescription drugs contributes, and little has been done to change that except for the government passing the Affordable Insulin Now Act at the end of 2022, enacted in 2023. But in January 2022 Mark Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs that has transformed how many Americans can get their prescriptions filled at a fraction of the prevailing prices, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that control 80% of US prescriptions. That was just the beginning of a path of creative destruction (disruptive innovation, after Schumpeter) of many key components American healthcare that Cuban is leading, with Cost Plus Marketplace, Cost Plus Wellness and much more to come. He certainly qualifies as a master disrupter: “someone who is a leader in innovation and is not afraid to challenge the status quo.” Below is a video clip from our conversation dealing with insurance companies. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The current one is here. If you like the YouTube format, please subscribe! The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.Transcript with External links to Audio (00:07):Hello, it's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I have our special phenomenal guest today, Mark Cuban, who I think you know him from his tech world contributions and Dallas Mavericks, and the last few years he's been shaking up healthcare with Cost Plus Drugs. So Mark, welcome.Mark Cuban (00:25):Thanks for having me, Eric.Eric Topol (00:27):Yeah, I mean, what you're doing, you've become a hero to millions of Americans getting them their medications at a fraction of the cost they're used to. And you are really challenging the PBM industry, which I've delved into more than ever, just in prep for our conversation. It's just amazing what this group of companies, namely the three big three CVS Caremark, Optum of UnitedHealth and Express Scripts of Cigna with a market of almost $600 billion this year, what they're doing, how can they get away with all this stuff?Inner Workings of Pharmacy Benefit ManagersMark Cuban (01:03):I mean, they're just doing business. I really don't blame them. I blame the people who contract with them. All the companies, particularly the bigger companies, the self-insured companies, where the CEO really doesn't have an understanding of their healthcare or pharmacy benefits. And so, the big PBMs paid them rebates, which they think is great if you're a CEO, when in reality it's really just a loan against the money spent by your sickest employees, and they just don't understand that. So a big part of my time these days is going to CEOs and sitting with them and explaining to them that you're getting ripped off on both your pharmacy and your healthcare side.Eric Topol (01:47):Yeah, it's amazing to me the many ways that they get away with this. I mean, they make companies sign NDAs. They're addicted to rebates. They have all sorts of ways a channel of funds to themselves. I mean, all the things you could think of whereby they even have these GPOs. Each of these companies has a group purchasing organization (I summarized in the Table below).Mark Cuban (02:12):Yeah, which gives them, it's crazy because with those GPOs. The GPO does the deal with the pharmacy manufacturer. Then the GPO also does the deal with the PBM, and then the PBM goes to the self-insured employer in particular and says, hey, we're going to pass through all the rebates. But what they don't say is they've already skimmed off 5%, 10%, 20% or more off the top through their GPO. But that's not even the worst of it. That's just money, right? I mean, that's important, but I mean, even the biggest companies rarely own their own claims data.Mark Cuban (02:45):Now think about what that means. It means you can't get smarter about the wellness of your employees and their families. You want to figure out the best way to do GLP-1s and figure out how to reduce diabetes, whatever it may be. You don't have that claims data. And then they don't allow the companies to control their own formularies. So we've seen Humira biosimilars come out and the big PBMs have done their own version of the biosimilar where we have a product called Yusimry, which is only $594 a month, which is cheaper than the cheapest biosimilar that the big three are selling. And so, you would think in a normal relationship, they would want to bring on this new product to help the employer. No, they won't do it. If the employer asks, can I just add Cost Plus Drugs to my network? They'll say no, every single time.Mark Cuban (03:45):Their job is not to save the employer money, particularly after they've given a rebate. Because once they give that loan, that rebate to the employer, they need to get that money back. It's not a gift. It's a loan and they need to have the rebates, and we don't do rebates with them at all. And I can go down the list. They don't control the formula. They don't control, you mentioned the NDAs. They can't talk to manufacturers, so they can't go to Novo or to Lilly and say, let's put together a GLP-1 wellness program. All these different things that just are common sense. It's not happening. And so, the good news is when I walk into these companies that self-insured and talk to the CEO or CFO, I'm not asking them to do something that's not in their best interest or not in the best interest of the lives they cover. I'm saying, we can save you money and you can improve the wellness of your employees and their families. Where's the downside?Eric Topol (04:40):Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the reason they can't see the claims is because of the privacy issues?Mark Cuban (04:46):No, no. That's just a business decision in the contract that the PBMs have made. You can go and ask. I mean, you have every right to your own claims. You don't need to have it personally identified. You want to find out how many people have GLP-1s or what are the trends, or God forbid there's another Purdue Pharma thing going on, and someone prescribing lots of opioids. You want to be able to see those things, but they won't do it. And that's only on the sponsor side. It's almost as bad if not worse on the manufacturer side.Eric Topol (05:20):Oh, yeah. Well, some of the work of PBMs that you've been talking about were well chronicled in the New York Times, a couple of major articles by Reed Abelson and Rebecca Robbins: The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs and The Powerful Companies Driving Local Drugstores Out of Business. We'll link those because I think some people are not aware of all the things that are going on in the background.Mark Cuban (05:39):You see in their study and what they reported on the big PBMs, it's crazy the way it works. And literally if there was transparency, like Cost Plus offers, the cost of medications across the country could come down 20%, 30% or more.Cost Plus DrugsEric Topol (05:55):Oh, I mean, it is amazing, really. And now let's get into Cost Plus. I know that a radiologist, Alex Oshmyansky contacted you with a cold email a little over three years ago, and you formed Cost Plus Drugs on the basis of that, right?Mark Cuban (06:12):Yep, that's exactly what happened.Eric Topol (06:15):I give you credit for responding to cold emails and coming up with a brilliant idea with this and getting behind it and putting your name behind it. And what you've done, so you started out with something like 110 generics and now you're up well over 1,200 or 2,500 or something like that?Mark Cuban (06:30):And adding brands. And so, started with 111. Now we're around 2,500 and trying to grow it every single day. And not only that, just to give people an overview. When you go to www.costplusdrugs.com and you put in the name of your medication, let's just say it's tadalafil, and if it comes up. In this case, it will. It'll show you our actual cost, and then we just mark it up 15%. It's the same markup for everybody, and if you want it, we'll have a pharmacist check it. And so, that's a $5 fee. And then if you want ship to mail order, it's $5 for shipping. And if you want to use our pharmacy network, then we can connect you there and you can just pick it up at a local pharmacy.Eric Topol (07:10):Yeah, no, it's transparency. We don't have a lot of that in healthcare in America, right?Mark Cuban (07:15):No. And literally, Eric, the smartest thing that we did, and we didn't expect this, it's always the law of unintended consequences. The smartest thing we did was publish our entire price list because that allowed any company, any sponsor, CMS, researchers to compare our prices to what others were already paying. And we've seen studies come out saying, for this X number of urology drugs, CMS would save $3.6 billion a year. For this number of heart drugs at this amount per year, for chemotherapy drugs or MS drugs this amount. And so, it's really brought attention to the fact that for what PBMs call specialty drugs, whether there's nothing special about them, we can save people a lot of money.Eric Topol (08:01):It's phenomenal. As a cardiologist, I looked up a couple of the drugs that I'm most frequently prescribed, just like Rosuvastatin what went down from $134 to $5.67 cents or Valsartan it went down from $69 to $7.40 cents. But of course, there's some that are much more dramatic, like as you mentioned, whether it's drugs for multiple sclerosis, the prostate cancer. I mean, some of these are just thousands and thousands of dollars per month that are saved, brought down to levels that you wouldn't think would even be conceivable. And this has been zero marketing, right?Mark Cuban (08:42):Yeah, none. It's all been word of mouth and my big mouth, of course. Going out there and doing interviews like this and going to major media, but it's amazing. We get emails and letters and people coming up to us almost single day saying, you saved my grandma's life. You saved my life. We weren't going to be able to afford our imatinib or our MS medication. And it went from being quoted $2,000 a month to $33 a month. It's just insane things like that that are still happening.Eric Topol (09:11):Well, this is certainly one of the biggest shakeups to occur in US healthcare in years. And what you've done in three years is just extraordinary. This healthcare in this country is with its over 4 trillion, pushing $5 trillion a year of expenditure.[New CMS report this week pegs the number at $4.867 trillion for 2023]Mark Cuban (09:30):It's interesting. I think it's really fixable. This has been the easiest industry to the disrupt I've ever been involved in. And it's not even close because all it took was transparency and not jacking up margins to market. We choose to use a fixed margin markup. Some choose to price to market, the Martin Shkreli approach, if you will. And just by being transparent, we've had an impact. And the other side of it is, it's the same concept on the healthcare side. Transparency helps, but to go a little field of pharmacy if you want. The insane part, and this applies to care and pharmacy, whatever plan we have, whether it's for health or whether it's for pharmaceuticals, there's typically a deductible, typically a copay, and typically a co-insurance.Insurance CompaniesMark Cuban (10:20):The crazy part of all that is that people taking the default risk, the credit risk are the providers. It's you, it's the hospital, it's the clinics that you work for. Which makes no sense whatsoever that the decisions that you or I make for our personal insurance or for the companies we run, or if we work for the government, what we do with Medicare or Medicare Advantage, the decisions we all make impacts the viability of providers starting with the biggest hospital systems. And so, as a result, they become subprime lenders without a car or a house to go after if they can't collect. And so, now you see a bunch of people, particularly those under the ACA with the $9,000, the bronze plans or $18,000 out-of-pocket limits go into debt, significant medical debt. And it's unfortunate. We look at the people who are facing these problems and think, well, it must be the insurance companies.Mark Cuban (11:23):It's actually not even the insurance companies. It's the overall design of the system. But underneath that, it's still whoever picks the insurance companies and sets plans that allow those deductibles, that's the core of the problem. And until we get to a system where the providers aren't responsible for the credit for defaults and dealing with all that credit risk, it's almost going to be impossible to change. Because when you see stories like we've all seen in news of a big healthcare, a BUCA healthcare (Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), UnitedHealth, Cigna, and Aetna/CVS) plan with all the pre-authorizations and denials, typically they're not even taking the insurance risk. They're acting as the TPA (third party administrator) as the claims processor effectively for whoever hired them. And it goes back again, just like I talked about before. And as long as CMS hires or allows or accepts these BUCAs with these plans for Medicare for the ACA (Affordable care Act), whatever it may be, it's not going to work. As long as self-insured employers and the 50 million lives they cover hire these BUCAs to act as the TPAs, not as insurance companies and give them leeway on what to approve and what to authorize and what not to authorize. The system's going to be a mess, and that's where we are today.Academic Health System PartnershipsEric Topol (12:41):Yeah. Well, you've been talking of course to employers and enlightening them, and you're also enlightening the public, of course. That's why you have millions of people that are saving their cost of medications, but recently you struck a partnership with Penn Medicine. That's amazing. So is that your first academic health system that you approached?Cost Plus MarketplaceMark Cuban (13:00):I don't know if it was the first we approached, but it was certainly one of the biggest that we signed. We've got Cost Plus Marketplace (CPM) where we make everything from injectables to you name it, anything a hospital might buy. But again, at a finite markup, we make eight and a half percent I think when it's all said and done. And that saves hospital systems millions of dollars a year.Eric Topol (13:24):Yeah. So that's a big change in the way you're proceeding because what it was just pills that you were buying from the pharma companies, now you're actually going to make injectables and you're going to have a manufacturing capability. Is that already up and going?Mark Cuban (13:39):That's all up and going as of March. We're taking sterile injectables that are on the shortage list, generic and manufacturing them in Dallas using a whole robotics manufacturing plant that really Alex created. He's the rocket scientist behind it. And we're limited in capacity now, we're limited about 2 million vials, but we'll sell those to Cost Plus Marketplace, and we'll also sell those direct. So Cost Plus Marketplace isn't just the things we manufacture. It's a wide variety of products that hospitals buy that we then have a minimal markup, and then for the stuff we manufacture, we'll sell those to direct to like CHS was our first customer.Eric Topol (14:20):Yeah, that's a big expansion from going from the pills to this. Wow.Mark Cuban (14:24):It's a big, big expansion, but it goes to the heart of being transparent and not being greedy, selling on a markup. And ourselves as a company, being able to remain lean and mean. The only way we can sell at such a low markup. We have 20 employees on the Cost Plus side and 40 employees involved with the factories, and that's it.Eric Topol (14:46):Wow. So with respect to, you had this phenomenal article and interview with WIRED Magazine just this past week. I know Lauren Goode interviewed you, and she said, Mark, is this really altruistic and I love your response. You said, “how much f*****g money do I need? I'm not trying to land on Mars.” And then you said, “at this point in my life, it's just like more money, or f**k up the healthcare industry.” This was the greatest, Mark. I mean, I got to tell you, it was really something.Mark Cuban (15:18):Yeah.Eric Topol (15:19):Well, in speaking of that, of course, the allusion to a person we know well, Elon. He posted on X/Twitter in recent days , I think just three or four days ago, shouldn't the American people be getting their money's worth? About this high healthcare administration costs where the US is completely away from any other OECD country. And as you and I know, we have the worst outcomes and the most costs of all the rich countries in the world. There's just nothing new here. Maybe it's new to him, but you had a fabulous response on both X and Bluesky where you went over all these things point by point. And of course, the whole efforts that you've been working on now for three years. You also mentioned something that was really interesting that I didn't know about were these ERISA lawsuits[Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974.] Can you tell us about that?ERISA LawsuitsMark Cuban (16:13):Yeah, that's a great question, Eric. So for self-insured companies in particular, we have a fiduciary responsibility on a wellness and on a financial basis to offer the members, your employees and their families the best outcomes at the best price. Now, you can't guarantee best outcomes, but you have to be able to explain the choices you made. You don't have to pick the cheapest, but again, you have to be able to explain why you made the choices that you did. And because a lot of companies have been doing, just like we discussed earlier, doing deals on the pharmacy side with just these big PBMs, without accounting for best practices, best price, best outcomes, a couple companies got sued. Johnson and Johnson and Wells Fargo were the first to get sued. And I think that's just the beginning. That's just the writing on the wall. I think they'll lose because they just dealt with the big pharmacy PBMs. And I think that's one of the reasons why we're so busy at Cost Plus and why I'm so busy because we're having conversation after conversation with companies and plenty of enough lawyers for that matter who want to see a price list and be able to compare what they're paying to what we sell for to see if they're truly living up to that responsibility.Eric Topol (17:28):Yeah, no, that's a really important thing that's going on right now that I think a lot of people don't know about. Now, the government of the US think because it's the only government of any rich country in the world, if not any country that doesn't negotiate prices, i.e., CMS or whatever. And only with the recent work of insulin, which is a single one drug, was there reduction of price. And of course, it's years before we'll see other drugs. How could this country not negotiate drugs all these years where every other place in the world they do negotiate with pharma?Mark Cuban (18:05):Because as we alluded to earlier, the first line in every single pharmaceutical and healthcare contract says, you can't talk about this contract. It's like fight club. The number one rule of fight club is you can't talk about fight club, and it's really difficult to negotiate prices when it's opaque and everything's obfuscated where you can't really get into the details. So it's not that we're not capable of it, but it's just when there's no data there, it's really difficult because look, up until we started publishing our prices, how would anybody know?Mark Cuban (18:39):I mean, how was anybody going to compare numbers? And so, when the government or whoever started to negotiate, they tried to protect themselves and they tried to get data, but those big PBMs certainly have not been forthcoming. We've come along and publish our price list and all that starts to change. Now in terms of the bigger picture, there is a solution there, as I said earlier, but it really comes down to talking to the people who make the decisions to hire the big insurance companies and the big PBMs and telling them, no, you're not acting in your own best interest. Here's anybody watching out there. Ask your PBM if they can audit. If you can audit rather your PBM contract. What they'll tell you is, yeah, you can, but you have to use our people. It's insane. And that's from top to bottom. And so, I'm a big believer that if we can get starting with self-insured employers to act in their own best interest, and instead of working with a big PBM work with a pass-through PBM. A pass-through PBM will allow you to keep your own claims, own all your own data, allow you to control your own formulary.Mark Cuban (19:54):You make changes where necessary, no NDA, so you can't talk to manufacturers. All these different abilities that just seem to make perfect sense are available to all self-insured employers. And if the government, same thing. If the government requires pass-through PBMs, the price of medications will drop like a rock.Eric Topol (20:16):Is that possible? You think that could happen?Mark Cuban (20:19):Yes. Somebody's got to understand it and do it. I'm out there screaming, but we will see what happens with the new administration. There's nothing hard about it. And it's the same thing with Medicare and Medicare Advantage healthcare plans. There's nothing that says you have to use the biggest companies. Now, the insurance companies have to apply and get approved, but again, there's a path there to work with companies that can reduce costs and improve outcomes. The biggest challenge in my mind, and I'm still trying to work through this to fully understand it. I think where we really get turned upside down as a country is we try to avoid fraud from the provider perspective and the patient perspective. We're terrified that patients are going to use too much healthcare, and like everybody's got Munchausen disease.Mark Cuban (21:11):And we're terrified that the providers are going to charge too much or turn into Purdue Pharma and over-prescribe or one of these surgery mills that just is having somebody get surgery just so they can make money. So in an effort to avoid those things, we ask the insurance companies and the PBMs to do pre-authorizations, and that's the catch 22. How do we find a better way to deal with fraud at the patient and provider level? Because once we can do that, and maybe it's AI, maybe it's accepting fraud, maybe it's imposing criminal penalties if somebody does those things. But once we can overcome that, then it becomes very transactional. Because the reality is most insurance companies aren't insurance companies. 50 million lives are covered by self-insured employers that use the BUCAs, the big insurance companies, but not as insurance companies.Eric Topol (22:07):Yeah, I was going to ask you about that because if you look at these three big PBMs that control about 80% of the market, not the pass-throughs that you just mentioned, but the big ones, they each are owned by an insurance company. And so, when the employer says, okay, we're going to cover your healthcare stuff here, we're going to cover your prescriptions there.Mark Cuban (22:28):Yeah, it's all vertically integrated.Mark Cuban (22:36):And it gets even worse than that, Eric. So they also own specialty pharmacies, “specialty pharmacies” that will require you to buy from. And as I alluded to earlier, a lot of these medications like Imatinib, they'll list as being a specialty medication, but it's a pill. There's nothing special about it, but it allows them to charge a premium. And that's a big part of how the PBMs make a lot of their money, the GPO stuff we talked about, but also forcing an employer to go through the specialty mail order company that charges an arm and the leg.Impact on Hospitals and ProceduresEric Topol (23:09):Yeah. Well, and the point you made about transparency, we've seen this of course across US healthcare. So for example, as you know, if you were to look at what does it cost to have an operation like let's say a knee replacement at various hospitals, you can find that it could range fivefold. Of course, you actually get the cost, and it could be the hospital cost, and then there's the professional cost. And the same thing occurs for if you're having a scan, if you're having an MRI here or there. So these are also this lack of transparency and it's hard to get to the numbers, of course. There seems to be so many other parallels to the PBM story. Would you go to these other areas you think in the future?Mark Cuban (23:53):Yeah, we're doing it now. I'm doing it. So we have this thing called project dog food, and what it is, it's for my companies and what we've done is say, look, let's understand how the money works in healthcare.Mark Cuban (24:05):And when you think about it, when you go to get that knee done, what happens? Well, they go to your insurance company to get a pre-authorization. Your doctor says you need a knee replacement. I got both my hips replaced. Let's use that. Doctor says, Mark, you need your hips replaced. Great, right? Let's set up an appointment. Well, first the insurance company has to authorize it, okay, they do or they don't, but the doctor eats their time up trying to deal with the pre-authorization. And if it's denied, the doctor's time is eaten up and an assistance's time is eaten up. Some other administrator's time is eaten up, the employer's time is eaten up. So that's one significant cost. And then from there, there's a deductible. Now I can afford my deductible, but if there is an individual getting that hip replacement who can't afford the deductible, now all of a sudden you're still going to be required to do that hip replacement, most likely.Mark Cuban (25:00):Because in most of these contracts that self-insured employers sign, Medicare Advantage has, Medicare has, it says that between the insurance company and the provider, in this case, the hospital, you have to do the operation even if the deductibles not paid. So now the point of all this is you have the hospital in this case potentially accumulating who knows how much bad debt. And it's not just the lost amount of millions and millions and billions across the entire healthcare spectrum that's there. It's all the incremental administrative costs. The lawyers, the benefits for those people, the real estate, the desk, the office space, all that stuff adds up to $10 billion plus just because the hospitals take on that credit default risk. But wait, there's more. So now the surgery happens, you send the bill to the insurance company. The insurance company says, well, we're not going to pay you. Well, we have a contract. This is what it says, hip replacement's $34,000. Well, we don't care first, we're going to wait. So we get the time value of money, and then we're going to short pay you.Mark Cuban (26:11):So the hospital gets short paid. So what do they have to do? They have to sue them or send letters or whatever it is to try to get their money. When we talk to the big hospital systems, they say that's 2%. That's 2% of their revenue. So you have all these associated credit loss dollars, you've got the 2% of, in a lot of cases, billions and billions of dollars. And so, when you add all those things up, what happens? Well, what happens is because the providers are losing all that money and having to spend all those incremental dollars for the administration of all that, they have to jack up prices.Eric Topol (26:51):Yeah. Right.Mark Cuban (26:53):So what we have done, we've said, look for my companies, we're going to pay you cash. We're going to pay you cash day one. When Mark gets that hip replacement, that checks in the bank before the operation starts, if that's the way you want it. Great, they're not going to have pre-authorizations. We're going to trust you until you give us a reason not to trust you. We're not short paying, obviously, because we're paying cash right there then.Mark Cuban (27:19):But in a response for all that, because we're cutting out all those ancillary costs and credit risk, I want Medicare pricing. Now the initial response is, well, Medicare prices, that's awful. We can't do it. Well, when you really think about the cost and operating costs of a hospital, it's not the doctors, it's not the facilities, it's all the administration that cost all the money. It's all the credit risks that cost all the money. And so, if you remove that credit risk and all the administration, all those people, all that real estate, all those benefits and overhead associated with them, now all of a sudden selling at a Medicare price for that hip replacement is really profitable.Eric Topol (28:03):Now, is that a new entity Cost Plus healthcare?Mark Cuban (28:07):Well, it's called Cost Plus Wellness. It's not an entity. What we're going to do, so the part I didn't mention is all the direct contracts that we do that have all these pieces, as part of them that I just mentioned, we're going to publish them.Eric Topol (28:22):Ah, okay.Mark Cuban (28:23):And you can see exactly what we've done. And if you think about the real role of the big insurances companies for hospitals, it's a sales funnel.Getting Rid of Insurance CompaniesEric Topol (28:33):Yeah, yeah. Well, in fact, I really was intrigued because you did a podcast interview with Andrew Beam and the New England Journal of Medicine AI, and in that they talked about getting rid of the insurers, the insurance industry, just getting rid of it and just make it a means test for people. So it's not universal healthcare, it's a different model that you described. Can you go over that? I thought it was fantastic.Mark Cuban (29:00):Two pieces there. Let's talk about universal healthcare first. So for my companies, for our project dog food for the Mark Cuban companies, if for any employee or any of the lives we cover, if they work within network, anybody we have the direct contract with its single-payer. They pay their premiums, but they pay nothing else out of pocket. That's the definition of single-payer.Eric Topol (29:24):Yeah.Mark Cuban (29:25):So if we can get all this done, then the initial single-payers will be self-insured employers because it'll be more cost effective to them to do this approach. We hope, we still have to play it all through. So that's part one. In terms of everybody else, then you can say, why do we need insurance companies if they're not even truly acting as insurance companies? You're not taking full risk because even if it's Medicare Advantage, they're getting a capitated amount per month. And then that's getting risk adjusted because of the population you have, and then there's also an index depending on the location, so there's more or less money that occurs then. So let's just do what we need to do in this particular case, because the government is effectively eliminating the risk for the insurance company for the most part. And if you look at the margins for Medicare Advantage, I was just reading yesterday, it's like $1,700 a year for the average Medicare Advantage plan. So it's not like they're taking a lot of risk. All they're doing is trying to deny as many claims as they can.Eric Topol (30:35):Deny, Deny. Yeah.Mark Cuban (30:37):So instead, let's just get somebody who's a TPA, somebody who does the transaction, the claims processing, and whoever's in charge. It could be CMS, can set the terms for what's accepted and what's denied, and you can have a procedure for people that get denied that want to challenge it. And that's great, there's one in place now, but you make it a little simpler. But you take out the economics for the insurance company to just deny, deny, deny. There's no capitation. There's no nothing.Mark Cuban (31:10):The government just says, okay, we're hiring this TPA to handle the claims processing. It is your job. We're paying you per transaction.Mark Cuban (31:18):You don't get paid more if you deny. You don't get paid less if you deny. There's no bonuses if you keep it under a certain amount, there's no penalties If you go above a certain amount. We want you just to make sure that the patient involved is getting the best care, end of story. And if there's fraud involved as the government, because we have access to all that claims data, we're going to introduce AI that reviews that continuously.Mark Cuban (31:44):So that we can see things that are outliers or things that we question, and there's going to mean mistakes, but the bet was, if you will, where we save more and get better outcomes that way versus the current system and I think we will. Now, what ends up happening on top of that, once you have all that claims data and all that information and everybody's interest is aligned, best care at the best price, no denials unless it's necessary, reduce and eliminate fraud. Once everybody's in alignment, then as long as that's transparent. If the city of Dallas decides for all the lives they cover the 300,000 lives they cover between pharmacy and healthcare, we can usually in actuarial tables and some statistical analysis, we can say, you know what, even with a 15% tolerance, it's cheaper for us just to pay upfront and do this single-pay program, all our employees in the lives we cover, because we know what it's going to take.Mark Cuban (32:45):If the government decides, well, instead of Medicare Advantage the way it was, we know all the costs. Now we can say for all Medicare patients, we'll do Medicare for all, simply because we have definitive and deterministic pricing. Great. Now, there's still going to be outlier issues like all the therapies that cost a million dollars or whatever. But my attitude there is if CMS goes to Lilly, Novo, whoever for their cure for blindness that's $3.4 million. Well, that's great, but what we'll say is, okay, give us access to your books. We want to know what your breakeven point is. What is that breakeven point annually? We'll write you a check for that.Eric Topol (33:26):Yeah.Mark Cuban (33:27):If we have fewer patients than need that, okay, you win. If we have more patients than need that, it's like a Netflix subscription with unlimited subscribers, then we will have whatever it is, because then the manufacturer doesn't lose money, so they can't complain about R&D and not being able to make money. And that's for the CMS covered population. You can do a Netflix type subscription for self-insured employers. Hey, it's 25 cents per month per employee or per life covered for the life of the patent, and we'll commit to that. And so, now all of a sudden you get to a point where healthcare starts becoming not only transparent but deterministic.Eric Topol (34:08):Yeah. What you outline here in these themes are extraordinary. And one of the other issues that you are really advocating is patient empowerment, but one of the problems we have in the US is that people don't own their data. They don't even have all their data. I expect you'd be a champion of that as well.Mark Cuban (34:27):Well, of course. Yeah. I mean, look, I've got into arguments with doctors and public health officials about things like getting your own blood tested. I've been an advocate of getting my own blood tested for 15 years, and it helped me find out that I needed thyroid medication and all of these things. So I'm a big advocate. There's some people that think that too much data gives you a lot of false positives, and people get excited in this day and age to get more care when it should only be done if there are symptoms. I'm not a believer in that at all. I think now, particularly as AI becomes more applicable and available, you'll be able to be smarter about the data you capture. And that was always my final argument. Either you trust doctors, or you don't. Because even if there's an aberrational TSH reading and minus 4.4 and it's a little bit high, well the doctor's going to say, well, let's do another blood test in a month or two. The doctor is still the one that has to write the prescription. There's no downside to trusting your doctor in my mind.Eric Topol (35:32):And what you're bringing up is that we're already seeing how AI can pick up things even in the normal range, the trends long before a clinician physician would pick it up. Now, last thing I want to say is you are re-imagining healthcare like no one. I mean, there's what you're doing here. It started with some pills and it's going in a lot of different directions. You are rocking it here. I didn't even know some of the latest things that you're up to. This seems to be the biggest thing you've ever done.Mark Cuban (36:00):I hope so.Mark Cuban (36:01):I mean, like we said earlier, what could be better than people saying our healthcare system is good. What changed? That Cuban guy.Eric Topol (36:10):Well, did you give up Shark Tank so you could put more energy into this?Mark Cuban (36:16):Not really. It was more for my kids.Eric Topol (36:19):Okay, okay.Mark Cuban (36:20):They go hand in hand, obviously. I can do this stuff at home as opposed to sitting on a set wondering if I should invest in Dude Wipes again.Eric Topol (36:28):Well, look, we're cheering for you. This is, I've not seen a shakeup in my life in American healthcare like this. You are just rocking. It's fantastic.Mark Cuban (36:37):Everybody out there that's watching, check out www.costplusdrugs.com, check out Cost Plus Marketplace, which is business.costplusdrugs.com and just audit everything. What I'm trying to do is say, okay, if it's 1955 and we're starting healthcare all over again, how would we do it? And really just keep it simple. Look to where the risk is and remove the risk where possible. And then it comes down to who do you trust and make sure you trust but verify. Making sure there aren't doctors or systems that are outliers and making sure that there aren't companies that are outliers or patients rather that are outliers. And so, I think there's a path there. It's not nearly as difficult, it's just starting them with corporations, getting those CEOs to get educated and act in their own best interest.Eric Topol (37:32):Well, you're showing us the way. No question. So thanks so much for joining, and we'll be following this with really deep interest because you're moving at high velocity, and thank you.**************************************************Thank you for reading, listening and subscribing to Ground Truths.If you found this fun and informative please share it!All content on Ground Truths—its newsletters, analyses, and podcasts, are free, open-access.Paid subscriptions are voluntary. All proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. I welcome all comments from paid subscribers and will do my best to respond to each of them and any questions.Thanks to my producer Jessica Nguyen and to Sinjun Balabanoff for audio and video support at Scripps Research.FootnoteThe PBMS (finally) are under fire—2 articles from the past week Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

It's so close, those in favor can practically taste it. The statutory ending of the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset. WEP and GPO have reduced Social Security benefits for thousands of state and local government employees and certain federal ones. An update on this and other matters from the National Active and Retired Federal Employee Association's John Hatton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's so close, those in favor can practically taste it. The statutory ending of the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset. WEP and GPO have reduced Social Security benefits for thousands of state and local government employees and certain federal ones. An update on this and other matters from the National Active and Retired Federal Employee Association's John Hatton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Social Security Fairness Act is inching even closer to passage. At a rally in front of the Capitol building this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer committed to bringing the bill to a floor vote, and that's after the legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, WEP and GPO cleared the House last month. Federal News Network's Drew Friedman was at this week's rally. She joins me now with the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Social Security Fairness Act is inching even closer to passage. At a rally in front of the Capitol building this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer committed to bringing the bill to a floor vote, and that's after the legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, WEP and GPO cleared the House last month. Federal News Network's Drew Friedman was at this week's rally. She joins me now with the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Thriving Dentist Show, Gary Takacs interviews Dr. Lou Graham to explore how Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) can help dental practices save money, reduce overhead, and improve efficiency. Dr. Graham shares how GPOs offer collective buying power to solo and group practices, providing significant cost savings on supplies, credit card processing, and benefits. Learn about the benefits of joining a GPO like Catapult Grow, and how technology and strategic partnerships can transform your practice. Tune in for expert insights that can elevate your practice's profitability and success! Listen now to discover how GPOs can take your practice to the next level!

Income bracket adjustments, increases to gifting amount and end of year tax moves. Plus a college guru who claims he will get your kid into Harvard and some acronyms that could impact your social security payments.

With Jim attending an Ed Slott conference, Chris takes some time to answer a WEP and GPO question before offering listeners general information on Social Security changes for 2025 and a detailed walkthrough of the WEP and GPO provisions of Social Security. (6:30) George asks for more information on whether Social Security offsets are adjusted […] The post Social Security WEP and GPO Special: Q&A #2443 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.

These are excerpts from two fun episodes of my other podcast Chew on This. Have you ever wondered how treatment in space would happen? Of course you have! My co-host Kevin Henry and I explore the challenges of space dentistry, including how microgravity affects oral care and the innovations being developed for astronauts. We also discuss Minnesota's recent legislation allowing dental assistants to administer certain injections, highlighting the implications for dental practices and patient care. Be sure to listen for more insights!  Chew on This! A Dental Podcast Chew on This #70 Space Dentistry, Turkey Teeth and Frisky Koalas Chew On This! #66 Mystery Edition! Scottish Dentist Goes Rogue Link to the articles: Smile Beyond the Stars: A Narrative Review Exploring the Challenges for Dentistry in Space Official Rulemaking Record Minnesota Board of Dentistry (Starts on page 269):  ------------- Synergy Dental Partners believes in the podcast! They are offering to double their free trial offer for NTMT listeners. Synergy is a group purchasing organization (GPO) that lowers your expenses by leveraging their purchasing power.  https://www.odysseymgmt.com/synergy NTMT listeners receive a 2 Month Free Trial + a 3rd Month if you buy anything from any vendor during the trial period. Also, new Darby customers receive a $200 Darby statement credit with a purchase.  ------------- My insurance course is here to help! Dental Insurance Design and Management is geared toward those who want to understand the how and why of insurance. As a loyal podcast listener, please use "NTMT" for a $75 courtesy toward your investment.  https://www.odysseymgmt.com/dental-insurance ------------- Visit odysseymgmt.com to check out my book, webinars and courses. ------------- Don't forget to check out my other podcast Chew on This - A Dental Podcast!  **If you like the show then I'd appreciate a good rating. Tell your friends. Even podcasters ask for referrals!**  

Hey friends, today I'm putting my blue hat on and dipping my toes in incident response by way of playing with Velociraptor, a very cool (and free!) tool to find evil in your environment.  Perhaps even better than the price tag, Velociraptor runs as a single binary you can deploy to spin up a server and then request endpoints to “phone home” to you by way of GPO scheduled task.  The things I talk about in this episode and show in the YouTube stream are all based off of this awesome presentation from Eric Capuano, who also was kind enough to publish a handout to accompany the presentation.  And on a personal note, I wanted to share that Velociraptor has got me interested in jumping face first into some tough APT labs provided by XINTRA.  More to come on XINTRA's offering, but so far I'm very impressed!

After One Year – The Iron Swords War, or the October 7th war, turns out to be the most covered event in the history of the State. The Israel Government Press Office (the GPO) has issued over 5,500 press credentials to correspondents, photographers and media personnel from around the world who came to Israel to cover the war, which has turned it into the most unprecedented event since the state was founded, other wars and peace processes notwithstanding. The vast majority come from North America and Europe. Reporter Arieh O'Sullivan spoke with GPO Director Nitzan Chen about the challenges of catering of and messaging to the foreign media. (photo: Nati Shohat/flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So much of practice profitability comes from tracking supplies and overhead. Kiera pulls back the curtain on how practices can keep track of supplies, avoid shortages, and stay within budget. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.59) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome to the podcast. I hope you guys, it's crazy to think I've been doing this podcast for so long and I still get new ideas and that's thanks to you guys. So just so you know, the podcast is built for team members and teams, doctors and owners by team members and practice owners to give you guys the best tips and tricks to be able to share from hundreds of practices across the nation and across the globe to give you the shortcuts to success and to give you a community so you don't feel like you have to do this alone.   I was at my, my gosh, I'm going to say the words on the podcast. You guys, you're going to find out how old I am. I went to my 20 year high school reunion. I kid you not. And I was terrified to go. none of my friends from high school that I hung out with in high school were going. So I was going kind of solo and, and by like none of my friends, did know people, but they weren't like the close friends that I'd hung out with all the time. None of them were going. And I was super stressed and I didn't know if I wanted to go. And I almost bailed   about 20 times. And then I decided, you can always just leave. Just go say hello. You've already paid. It's right by my parents' house. It's not far away. And it was interesting because there was a girl that we weren't necessarily close in high school. I knew of her. She knew of me. But it was fun because she built a business. I built a business. And we were talking because when you're business owners, know there's not a lot of people you can actually geek out with all the time and talk to them about business strengths and weaknesses   She said to me, said, know, Kiera I'd really love to get with you more often because I feel like as business owners, we need that community and we need people that are like us to help us know that we're going through it. And I just thought, I am so lucky because my dentists do have a community and the dentist I consult have a community and they don't have to do this alone. And they're like, I've literally been there, done that and done it successfully. And our team has been there, done that and done it successfully. And we're able to share with you all the tips and all the tricks and all the things.   So that way you don't have to go through the hard things. If I could find somebody who has grown a consulting company, which I did, that's who I hired as my coach. but really just like leaning in. And then what I decided to do is our dentists, we actually meet the first Tuesday of every month. call that think tank Tuesday for our one -on -one clients. And then our group mastermind, which is so freaking fun. It's a really, really, really, really awesome community that I'm loving. And they get.   Kiera Dent (02:21.448) way more access than they even do on one -on -one. But every single week they come together for Ask Consultants Everything. And then we also have a mastermind where they get to come together as well. And my biggest piece was I was thinking back to why did I join Tony Robbins? And I thought I joined it for Tony Robbins, but I realized I joined it for a community of people that push me, that I'm not the smartest one in the room, that people can help me run my business in ways that I don't even know because community is what we're all here for. And so for you guys,   to just think like how blessed are we to have this podcast community to be able to come and share from hundreds of practices and get best ideas and to really get out there. Because what I found is in today's world, we don't have to be alone unless we want to. We don't have to do this on our own unless we want to. And I will literally give you every single piece of knowledge that I have anywhere and everywhere to make sure that you succeed and that you've lived the life you want. My goal is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible.   Dentistry is my platform and life is my passion to give you guys the life that you deserve, to give you the team and the skills for doctors and teams to flourish. So today I really wanted to just go through a quick tactical for you about inventory management, which is not my typical podcast style. Normally I'm more about life, but today I thought, let me give you guys some quick tips on how to do supplies and to keep track of your supplies and make sure that we don't have shortages, make sure that we're within budget.   And kind of just helping you and your team get on that because what I found is so much of profitability comes from tracking our supplies, tracking our overhead. And if we can get that dialed in, that's one less thing that we have to worry about. So, Hey, who's for ease. I'm here for ease because at the end of the day, we can do it the hard way or we can do it the easy way. And I would love to share with you the fastest, easiest tips I've learned. And then also what I expect from you as the community is if you have ways that I'm not talking about on the podcast, please email me. Hello @ TheDentalATeam.com   I'll either bring you on as a guest or we can take some of your ideas if you don't want to be a guest and share it because I believe that yes, while you're consuming and receiving, it's also important for you to give back. And I believe that the secret to living a fulfilled life is giving back and serving as well. There's so much fulfillment in my life to serve you and to give you these tips and to give you resources from other practices, but I wouldn't be able to give it to you without their experiences as well.   Kiera Dent (04:36.354) Whether that's you join us and become one of our ambassadors who actually get to help coach some of our doctors. Whether it's you become a client, we're able to help with that. Or you just email me in and share some of your greatest ideas. I would love that. I would love it so much and it will make you feel good because then you were able to share an idea. And everyone thinks their ideas are dumb and guess what? Going from hundreds of practices, most practices are actually not doing it. And some of my best ideas are the simplest things like an office had standup desk for their front office and I thought, gosh.   I wish so many other offices knew that. So no idea is dumb. And I just want you to not feel scared to share. And don't worry, I will always polish it up and make you sound like a million bucks. So you never, ever, ever, ever have to worry. Just email me Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com and be sure to give back. Cause I think that that's a great way for you to also feel fulfilled. So with supplies, number one, I like supplies to be at a four or a 5 % of total collections. So a great thing, there's a supply spreadsheet that I've given to a lot of our offices that we consult.   where it literally is just what are they doing for their ordering and then what is the budget? Because so often, like I was a dental assistant, I would just order what we had always ordered in the past. And that's actually not the best way to do inventory management and that we don't need to. So if we give them a 4%, so let's just make our math super simple. If we're collecting 100 ,000, 4 % is four grand, 5 % would be 5 ,000. And then what they do is, whoever's ordering, they just put it on a spreadsheet, they just deduct it down, and that's our budget for the month.   Now, something else that I love are clear tip out bins. I'm obsessed with going into offices and finding this beautiful blank wall and I found it in every practice. So don't think that your practice can't do it. Sometimes you have to get a little creative, but there's always space for it. But the clear bins, when I worked at Midwestern University's dental college in Arizona, we bought so much extra inventory because we couldn't see things. And think about our houses. Like, yes, we can tuck it in drawers, but we can't see things. And for inventory, we want to be able to see things.   to know how much do we actually have of things. And so even at the dental college, students would stock their drawers and we would go through so much composite because people would be hoarding composite. And so I'm also not obsessed with stocking rooms a ton, especially if you wanna get your inventory down and get your supplies lower, which you can absolutely do. And so what I love to do is have one, the spreadsheet and the budget. So whomever's ordering knows exactly how much they can spend.   Kiera Dent (06:54.83) Let's not have it be free reign. You can also do it for the front office. I know Amazon can really run quickly on us, but make them just track it on a quick, simple spreadsheet. That way we can always watch that and get that in control. I understand that if you order implants, you might need to go higher. If an office is doing implants, usually add together the supplies and the labs. I do about between 12 and 14%, again, depending upon the rest of your practice. I'm aiming for a 50 % overhead, excluding Dr. Pay. So you can kind of play with the numbers and figure   but a good like overall supply budget is like four to 5%. That does include hygiene supplies as well. And front office, I usually give them a half a percentage to 1 % for front office supplies. Again, look at your overhead, look at the percentages. We have an incredible overhead calculator that has it all broken down into the percentages of what we recommend for each category. And then you can use your P &L and plug it in and it's really awesome. So with that said, I love to get that budget set up. And then if we can, let's get those clear,   Clear bins set up so that way we can see. Some offices will draw a line on the bin of like when it gets down to here, this is when we order. So we can visually see and it becomes so fast. You can put tags, there's some inventory management where some people will tag it and then just scan it. Other people have the tags on the bin so it's very quick when we need to reorder, cuts down the time for us. I do really love some buying GPOs. Synergy is one, so be sure to let them know Dental A Team sent you.   I think they're great because they have a whole buying group. It's kind of like Costco where we get cheaper items because we're with the group of multiples. And I think Synergy is one of the best that allows you to still work with your preferred vendors. They do work primarily with Darby. However, with that said, you can still work with most of them and still get discounts. So yes, it might take a little bit of time to get up to date, but hey, if we can buy the same stuff and actually just save ourselves a couple hundred bucks a month or a couple thousand, isn't that worth it? I always say yes.   So that's another thing is to look into that synergy or a buying group such as that. If you have a buying group you love, please be sure to reach out, let me know. Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com. will happily vet them, find out about them and see if it's someone I would recommend to our community. But with that, then what we wanna do is we also wanna make sure that our team knows what our supplies need to be. And then everybody, I really am not obsessed with having things in operatories because if I have to stock.   Kiera Dent (09:11.724) six operatories with composite that can get very costly. And so also having tubs or those carts, if you don't know what I'm talking about, be sure to reach out. I'm happy to share pictures with you. But cart parking, and so we have like two carts for implants. We've got a cart for endo. We've got our composite, and you can have little tubs or bins. It just has everything in it. And think about how many doctors we have, how many providers. But then we just basically take it from sterile on our tray setup, take it to the room, we clean it all   put it away and off it goes. And then all I have to do is just stock the carts or the bins rather than stocking all the rooms. And I had a practice that we were actually able to cut down their supply costs exponentially due to the fact that we, all we had to do was literally just take it out of the operatories. And we were able to save so much because stocking each room was so costly and I'm having to stock basically six offices versus just having to stock those bins. The bins are also faster because I can look for it. We can fill it. And then it's all in sterile. Everything's there.   You can have drop downs. saw an office that actually had drop down bins. It's like a, I guess a clothing pull down, you know, like in closets where they're really tall. They did that for their sterile and it was amazing because they were able to have all their supplies right there. People were able to then just like restock the bins. And I did this at Midwestern when I was at the college. And what I found was I didn't have to have as many supplies because I was able to see everything. And also we had the tubs and the bins, so not as many things had to go.   And I think that's just a good way for you guys to get the supplies down to keep track the supplies to not have the supply shortages But again visually getting everything out. So if you were starting this sometimes even just in the operatories I do keep my disposables like cotton gauze floss things that we're using all the time that are very minimal cost Those stick in the operatories. You can also get the clear bins and stick them right behind your 12 o 'clock cabinet That way all those things are very easy. You can see them They're not very minimal things that we've got a stock, but really the bins are so easy   Offices love them. It might seem like a little bit change, but it makes it very, very, very simple for it. So a lot of those things, yes, I keep my disposables, my sections in the room. So those things are very simple. We use them all the time. Keep those there and they're not very costly, but the composite, the matrices bands, the impression material, all those things do become a little more costly. And so being able to cut those down really can save and then empower someone, empower them to be your supply champion, empower them   Kiera Dent (11:37.538) really be able to grow this and to, and get the person who's obsessed with like winning and figuring out how they can make ends meet. They're usually the person who really loves to be over supplies. And then they know their budget, they save the money and they're able to get it. Oftentimes buying deals when like a company has like buy two, get one free, run the numbers and make sure it's actually a good deal. Cause sometimes they're not that good of a deal. So there's my quick tactical practical for you of inventory management. Like I said,   Set up the spreadsheet with the budget, make sure we're tracking it, give the budgets to them, look at your overhead. Then the clear bins are a great thing. You can just Google them. There's a lot of them, like Z -Line, I think, is a company that has them. But just Google clear tip -out bins. They come in multiple sizes. You'll want a nice big wall. You can also put them in the operatories. Take things out of the operatory so it's all in one place. It's easier for people to track and manage. And then give someone the empowerment to just rock it and to make sure that we're never out of things.   I usually used to check my supplies like every week. My supply person usually gets one hour. It can be per week or every other week, depending upon how much you guys need to order. And that usually can keep the order going consistently. Yes, when we run this lien, we do have to order more often. But it's a great way to keep it to where we're not over bulking, over stocking, because we don't want to order as much. And then get into that GPO group buying. like Synergy, like I mentioned, can actually save you a lot of money.   for buying the exact same things you're already doing and you don't have to change. So check them out. Be sure to tell them, Dental A Team sent to you, if we can help you guys with this, get it set up, talk to your clinical team, get them excited and on board. That's what we're here for. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

One major thing that makes K&B different from other GPO is that the people who run it are also pharmacy owners.  They created the group to help them get better prices and once they did others wanted to join.  Ken Thai, former president of the California Pharmacist Association and owner of dozens of pharmacies and Robert Ojeda, owner of several pharmacies run the group and emphsis two principle goals; bring the best possible by plan to their own stores; and build a network of pharmacy owners who want to benefit from that buy plan and are willing to share and collaborate with others on management, marketing and clinical service programs that have been proven to work.  More info can be obtained at: www.kb-rx.com and or robert.o@kb-rx.com 

ชมวิดีโอ EP นี้ใน YouTube เพื่อประสบการณ์การรับชมที่ดีที่สุด ‘อุตสาหกรรมยาไทยกำลังเจอปัญหาสองทางในเวลาเดียวกัน' ในทางหนึ่งประเทศไทยต้องเจอกับปัญหา ‘ความมั่นคงทางยา' ที่ยังคงต้องนำเข้าวัตถุดิบ ซึ่งส่งผลต่อประสิทธิภาพในการผลิต และอีกทางหนึ่ง ประเทศไทยกำลังขาดองค์ความรู้ทางยาที่เป็นเทรนด์หลักของโลกอย่าง ‘ยาชีววัตถุ' หรือแม้แต่การปรับแต่งยีน และนี่คือโจทย์ใหญ่ของหน่วยงานที่ชื่อว่า ‘องค์การเภสัชกรรม หรือ GPO' ซึ่งคำตอบของประเทศไทยในการแก้ไขทั้ง 2 ปัญหานี้คือ ‘ยา Plant-based' The Secret Sauce อีพีนี้จะพูดคุยกับ พญ.มิ่งขวัญ สุพรรณพงศ์ ผู้อำนวยการองค์การเภสัชกรรม ถึงวิสัยทัศน์ เป้าหมาย และความท้าทายของโจทย์ทางด้านยาของประเทศไทย พร้อมทั้งการตั้งเป้าในการเป็นผู้นำทางด้านยา Plant-based ของโลก?

‘อุตสาหกรรมยาไทยกำลังเจอปัญหาสองทางในเวลาเดียวกัน' ในทางหนึ่งประเทศไทยต้องเจอกับปัญหา ‘ความมั่นคงทางยา' ที่ยังคงต้องนำเข้าวัตถุดิบ ซึ่งส่งผลต่อประสิทธิภาพในการผลิต และอีกทางหนึ่ง ประเทศไทยกำลังขาดองค์ความรู้ทางยาที่เป็นเทรนด์หลักของโลกอย่าง ‘ยาชีววัตถุ' หรือแม้แต่การปรับแต่งยีน และนี่คือโจทย์ใหญ่ของหน่วยงานที่ชื่อว่า ‘องค์การเภสัชกรรม หรือ GPO' ซึ่งคำตอบของประเทศไทยในการแก้ไขทั้ง 2 ปัญหานี้คือ ‘ยา Plant-based' The Secret Sauce อีพีนี้จะพูดคุยกับ พญ.มิ่งขวัญ สุพรรณพงศ์ ผู้อำนวยการองค์การเภสัชกรรม ถึงวิสัยทัศน์ เป้าหมาย และความท้าทายของโจทย์ทางด้านยาของประเทศไทย พร้อมทั้งการตั้งเป้าในการเป็นผู้นำทางด้านยา Plant-based ของโลก?

How much should you save in pre-tax accounts vs. post-tax accounts? Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA spitball on the "age plus 20" rule for retirement savings, Roth 401(k) contributions and distributions, and a Social Security claiming strategy for Ralph and Marie in Wilmington, Delaware. Shawn wonders if YMYW listeners are ignoring the WEP and GPO when it comes to Social Security, that is, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. Plus, can Jake and Amy in Iowa retire in 5 years, or do they need to work beyond age 60? Should Edwin stop making Roth contributions and start doing Roth conversions instead? And finally, how can Jeff in North Dakota's son qualify for the American Opportunity Tax Credit? Access all the following free financial resources and the episode transcript: https://bit.ly/ymyw-496 REGISTER NOW: Medicare Basics webinar - TOMORROW, Wednesday Sept. 25, 2024, 12pm Pacific, 3pm Eastern, with Robert Dow and Lisa Velasco, Medicare specialists from the Dow Agency CALCULATE: A Financial Blueprint of your retirement readiness for free! DOWNLOAD: Social Security Handbook DOWNLOAD: Medicare Check-Up Guide WATCH YMYW TV: Medicare Check-Up: How to Keep Your Retirement Plan Off Life Support REQUEST: Retirement Spitball Analysis SCHEDULE: free financial assessment SUBSCRIBE: YMYW on YouTube DOWNLOAD: more free guides READ: financial blogs WATCH: educational videos SUBSCRIBE: YMYW Newsletter   Timestamps:  00:00 - Intro 01:09 - Roth 401(k) Contributions and Distributions, Age Plus 20 Rule, and Social Security Claiming Strategy (Ralph and Marie, Wilmington, DE) 12:35 - Download the Social Security Handbook, Download the Medicare Check-Up Guide, Watch Medicare Check-Up: How to Keep Your Retirement Plan Off Life Support on YMYW TV, Register for the Medicare Basics webinar Wed. Sept 25, 12P/3E 13:37 - Are Listeners Ignoring Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision for Social Security? (Shawn) 17:30 - Can We Retire in 5 Years Or Do We Need to Work After Age 60? (Jake & Amy, Iowa) 26.36 - Financial Blueprint - get your complementary retirement analysis 27:45 - Should I Stop Roth Contributions and Do Roth Conversions instead? (Edwin) 31:24 - American Opportunity Tax Credit for College Age Son (Jeff, ND) 35:58 - Outro

On this episode of The Transfix Take On, host Jenni Ruiz sits down with Nathan Brandon, VP of Sales and Operations at GSO Healthcare, to explore the urgent need for transparency in the healthcare supply chain. Nathan shares how his journey into the industry began during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time that exposed significant inefficiencies and a 'black box' system where product sourcing and costs were often hidden from stakeholders. They discuss how AI and technology can revolutionize supply chain management, leading to improved efficiency and cost savings. Nathan also addresses the financial pressures faced by rural hospitals, the shift away from traditional GPO models to direct sourcing, and the potential of nearshoring to ensure product availability. Tune in for a deep dive into the future of healthcare supply chains and actionable steps for driving transparency and efficiency. -- Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Transfix, Inc. or any parent companies or affiliates or the companies with which the participants are affiliated, and may have been previously disseminated by them. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are based upon information considered reliable, but neither Transfix, Inc. nor its affiliates, nor the companies with which such participants are affiliated, warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. All such views and opinions are subject to change.

I spoke last night with our frequent guest, former IDF spokesperson, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, to focus on what many outside Israel find to be a very confusing state of chaos. There is a government that has made clear that a red line – an inviolable boundary in its negotiations for a hostage deal with Hamas – is that it will not abandon the Philadelphi Corridor. Shortly after this position was made public in a leaked recording from an Israeli security cabinet meeting, the bodies of six hostages were found in the Gaza tunnels. They had been murdered by Hamas a short time before. And their deaths enraged the nation. Were their murders avoidable? Was PM Benjamin Netanyahu being callous to their plight in sticking to this position? Or was he steeling and doing what is necessary for the future of Israel? Listen to our discussion in which we explore this horrible dilemma.Below, just received before publishing this podcast episode, is the transcript of PM Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks to the international press at 8pm (Israel time) today, Wednesday, Sept. 4. His very full statement stands as a robust response to many parts of our podcast. I suggest reading the statement in full.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Remarks at his Press Conference for the Foreign MediaFollowing are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, this evening (Wednesday, 4 September 2024), at the GPO in Jerusalem:"Israel is experiencing days of horror, sorrow and rage. A week ago, we experienced such horror.Yesterday, I visited in Ashkelon the family of one of the hostages murdered in cold blood. A day earlier, I spoke to several of the families of these murdered hostages. It tears your heart out. I said to them that I'm sorry. I apologized that we, we didn't get them out. We worked so hard to get them. We were close. But we didn't. And they changed the torment of families worried about their loved ones to families grieving for their fallen beloved. That sentiment I know because I belong to that family. But it's a horror.We also lost brave policemen and brave soldiers who were fighting in the Gaza front and I embraced their families as well. All our people do.On October 7th, we experienced the worst savagery in this century. On October 7th, we experienced the worst savagery meted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. These savages massacred our people. 1,200 civilians. They beheaded our men. They raped our women and then murdered them. They burnt babies alive. They took 255 of our people hostages to their underground dungeons. That's a horror that the world saw and responded to initially.It's important that we remember it. But we were given a reminder. A terrible reminder. Last week, when these savages murdered six of our hostages in cold blood. They riddled them with bullets. Then they shot each of them in the head. Some of them several times.And these are the savages, these are the terrorists that Iran implanted next to our border as elsewhere. And we're committed to defeating them, to extirpating this evil from our midst. I want to talk to you today about some of the things that we must do to achieve that goal, including the questions of the Philadelphi Corridor.But before I do that, I want to give your readers and viewers some context because often you see maps of Israel. You think it's a Goliath.Well, I'd like to give you first an overview of where Israel is. (Click here for a PDF file.)This is the Middle East, and this is the entire Arab world, and this is Israel. It's one of the world's tiniest countries. I give it the, you know, the thumb test. This is a big one, so you need a bigger thumb. But it's a tiny country. It's one of the tiniest countries on the planet. It's, I think one tenth of one percent of the territory of the Arab world, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's two tenths of one percent.It goes from the river. The river is right here. That's the Jordan River. To the sea, the Mediterranean Sea. So, when Hamas is talking about liberating Palestine from the river to the sea, basically, what they're saying is destroying Israel.And the entire width of this, it's probably around the width of the Washington Beltway, it's all together in its widest point is about 50 miles. Right here. Tiny.And here's Gaza there. This is the red thing that you see here. That's Gaza. Now I want to zoom in. When I zoom in, remember how tiny this is. Remember the distances here.Now, take a look. Here it is enlarged. This is Israel. This is the Mediterranean Sea. The Jordan River is right here.This is Egypt and the Sinai desert. Now, look at Gaza. Where is Gaza? Gaza is implanted in this tiny country 30 miles from Tel Aviv, 40 miles from our capital Jerusalem, 30 miles from Beer-Sheva. These are three of Israel's largest cities. Gaza is within spitting distance to them.Israel, up to the disengagement agreement of 2005, Israel controlled this border under an agreement with Egypt after the Camp David Peace Accords. We controlled this part, which is called the Philadelphi Corridor, I'll talk about that in a minute, right down to Eilat in the Red Sea. This was our border. And while there was, I would say a minimal amount of terrorism, that wasn't, we didn't really face a big problem.Let's zoom in on that a bit more. Here's Gaza Strip enlarged. Again, this is the situation in Gaza before the disengagement of 2005. And the Gaza Strip is firmly under Israeli control. We control the maritime border. You can't smuggle in weapons. They tried but we stopped it. You control the land border. And you control this border between the Sinai desert, Egypt and Gaza. The Gaza Strip, it's controlled. This is the Philadelphi Corridor. This is the Rafah Crossing. Controlled by the IDF.Now look at the distances from Gaza. It's four miles to another city in Israel called Ashkelon, where I visited that bereaved family yesterday. It's a population of 170,000 people. They are four miles away. But some of our communities like kibbutz Be'eri, which was one of the hardest hit, is one mile away from Gaza. Kfar Aza is less than one mile away. It's literally walking distance. Okay.And so, as long as we controlled this, these communities, sometimes they were harassed by this rocket or that rocket but it was marginal. We controlled the security situation. But something happened in 2005. Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza. It just went out. It took out everything. It took out the army. It stripped, uprooted communities, took out 10,000 people.The army left the Philadelphi Corridor. Here's what happened.This is Gaza after the disengagement. And Hamas now has a weapon smuggling operation nurtured by Iran, financed by Iran, supplied by Iran, delivered by Iran.And here's what happened. That Philadelphi Corridor became completely porous. The other borders controlled by us. But once this was perforated, even though the policy of Egypt was to prevent it, you know, it didn't necessarily work, it didn't, it didn't succeed. And this border once we left our side of the Philadelphi Corridor, rockets went in, missiles went in, drones went in, ammo went in, weapons manufacturing equipment came in, tunnel drilling equipment came in.Once we got out, once we left the Philadelphi Corridor, Iran could carry out its plan to turn Gaza into a base, a terrorist enclave that would endanger not only the communities around it but would endanger Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beer-Sheva, the entire country of Israel. It became a huge terrorist base because we left that Corridor.So, we vowed, or I would say, all this, you have to understand that the centrality, the centrality of the Philadelphi Corridor to the arming of Gaza, to the arming of Hamas and this all led to the October 7th massacre, which Hamas has vowed, proudly vowed to do again and again and again.We vowed that they won't be able to do it. So we said, as far as Gaza is concerned, three war goals: The first war goal was to destroy Hamas's military and governing capabilities. The second was to free our hostages. And the third was to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.And all three of those goals, all three of them go through Israel's control of the Philadelphi Corridor. And it's obvious why. You want to destroy Hamas's military and governing capabilities – You can't let Hamas rearm. It's obvious. So you have to control the corridor. You can't let them have…by the way, it's not only to prevent them from terrorizing us, attacking us, it's also to prevent Hamas or any other terrorist organization from terrorizing the people of Gaza.Gaza cannot have a future if Gaza remains porous and you can enable rearmament of terrorists through the Philadelphi Corridor.The second thing is to release the hostages. First of all, you can't prevent, if you leave this Corridor, you can't prevent Hamas from, not only, not smuggling weapons in, you can't prevent them from not smuggling terrorists, hostages out. It's walking distance, nothing. They can easily smuggle hostages out here to the Sinai desert in Egypt, they disappear. It's crossing distance. The distance is nothing, it's meters, meters away.They cross the, the barrier above ground. They don't even have to go underground. They disappear in the Sinai and then they end up in Iran or in Yemen. They're gone forever.And you need something to squeeze them, to prevent them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you've got to control the Philadelphi Corridor. And the third reason, the third goal of ensuring that we prevent Gaza from being again a threat to Israel. It's clear. Gaza must be demilitarized. And it can only be demilitarized if the Philadelphi Corridor remains under firm control and is not a supply line for armaments and for terror equipment.I think that's clear to most Israelis, to all Israelis. But a question has arisen: that may be the case, but why don't you leave Gaza for 42 days, you could come back. Well, aside from what I said that they could smuggle the terrorists out. I want to show you what they've got under Gaza. I didn't show you that. So I want to show you that.This is what they have under the Philadelphi Corridor. Just so you understand the supply lines we're talking about. This is one of the tunnels there. Look at the engineering, look at the investment here, look at what they've got. We've got dozens of such tunnels, dozens of such tunnels, underneath the Philadelphi Corridor. To give you an impression of the size of these things: This is a soldier. This is a tunnel. You could drive a truck through this. Indeed, you could. Here's a truck, or it's a Humvee. This is a huge, huge problem.Now, you're just going to walk away? It's obvious we have to control it, right? I think, once you see this, you understand that? But then the next question is, okay, you leave and you come back. That's what they tell us. Okay. We'll have complete international legitimacy to come back. Sorry, we've gone down that route. We were down that route when we left Lebanon, and people said you can leave Lebanon and you can come back. The first time they fire a rocket you can come back, the world will support you. It didn't. And we've been out of Lebanon for 24 years.They said the same thing when we left Gaza in the disengagement. They said, you can leave, and the first rocket. I remember, Prime Minister Sharon said this to me. The first rocket above ground or below ground, we'll be able to go back in. It's been 20 years and we haven't gone back in. Because you all know and understand that the international community, including friendly countries, under enormous domestic pressure because of the propaganda that's leveled against Israel and against them, there'll be enormous, international pressure not to come back. What is their message? End the war. End the war. And so, when we want to come back and resume, we'll pay an exorbitant price in many fields, including in the lives of our men.To come back? It's not a just a military question. It's a military, political, strategic question. And we make that decision. We're not going to leave. 42 days? We're there. I don't want to leave in order to come back in, when I know that we didn't come back in. And it's not going to take another 24 years to come back in. And God knows what price we'll have? How many more massacres? How many more kidnappings? How many more hostages? How many more rapes? It's not going to happen.So, people said, yeah, but if you stay, this will kill the deal. And I say, such a deal will kill us. And there won't be a deal that way. This is a false narrative. I'm willing to make a deal. I made one already, one that brought back 150 hostages, 117 alive. And I'm committed to return the remaining 101. I'll do everything I can to get them in.But leaving Philadelphi does not advance the release of the hostages, because the deal cannot be advanced. They'll give you a minor part if they give anything, and keep the rest. Go and argue. You know when they started giving us hostages? When we went into Philadelphi. When we went into Rafah. When we controlled the Rafah Crossing. That's when they felt the pressure. As long as they didn't feel the pressure, they wouldn't do it. The first batch, the first deal that we got, was a result of our invasion, the military pressure we put in. They gave us the hostages. After that, they thought, well, you know, we'll have the international pressure turn on Israel so we won't have to do, we won't have to make any concessions. But after Rafah, their tune changed, and they began to change. If we leave Rafah, if we leave the Philadelphi Corridor, there won't be any pressure. We won't get the hostages.I said I'm willing to make a deal. The real obstacle to making a deal is not Israel and it's not me. It Hamas. It's Sinwar. On April 27th, I put forward a proposal by Israel, which Secretary Blinken called extremely generous. On May 31st, having met Blinken again, I said, we agreed to the US-backed proposal, and Hamas refused. On August 16th, the US brought forth what they called the final bridging proposal. Again, we accepted, Hamas refused. On August 19th, Secretary Blinken said, Israel accepted the US proposal, now Hamas has to do the same. On August 28th—that's a week ago—the deputy CIA director said Israel showed seriousness in the negotiations, now Hamas must make the deal. This was last week. So, I ask you, what has changed. What has changed in this week? What's changed is that they murdered six of our hostages in cold blood.Now, the world will seriously demand that Israel make concessions after this massacre? What message does this send to Hamas? I'll tell you what the message is. Murder more hostages, you'll get more concessions. That's not only illogical, it's not only immoral, it's downright insane. So, it's not going to happen. We have red lines before the murder. They haven't changed. We'll hold to them. But we also had flexibility. And I'll tell you one thing, Hamas will pay for this. That you can be assured. We'll make sure that we extract that price from them. But we are firm on our red lines, including the Philadelphi Corridor, for the reasons I described here. I'm flexible where I can be. I'm firm when I have to be.I think there is a possibility of getting this deal if we stick to this strategy. I said before, we got 150 hostages out because we combined a firm stance with military pressure. And I said that Hamas after that relied on international pressure, but it had weakened. And then we went into Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor, so it got strengthened, and they were beginning to balk. A condition that they said they'd never accept, a red line, is that we must commit to getting out of Gaza and enabling Hamas basically to take over Gaza again. End the war, get out, let them retake Gaza. That's obviously something we couldn't do.They said there'll never be a deal. Well, they started caving in there after we took the Philadelphi Corridor. And then they started backing off. You know why they waited? Why they started backing off? Because they waited for Iran to start a general war with Israel. That didn't happen. So then they waited for Hezbollah to start a general war with Israel. That didn't happen either. So now they resort to the final tactic. They're going to sow discord and create international pressure, again using the hostages, even after the murder. And this is something that's not new because they started this a year ago.You should see this. I mean, this is their tactic. This is Hamas orders for psychological warfare, found in Hamas underground command post on January 29th, that's right after the beginning of the war, 2024. And this is the original document in Arabic. Our soldiers found it.And here's what it says: Push photos and videos of hostages. Put it out in the media, because that creates enormous psychological pressure. Who's not affected by it? Any human being seeing these souls, these girls, these people, young people from those dungeons, you're affected by. Second: Increase psychological pressure on defense minister. Third: Continue blaming Netanyahu. And fourth: Claim ground operation will not release hostages.That's Hamas', it's not only their talking points, it's their strategy. And their idea is this will sow internal discord and increase international pressure on Israel. That's what they hope to achieve. And they hope, they think this will happen. Well, it won't happen. I can tell you why it won't happen. I'll tell you why they'll fail. Because overwhelmingly the people of Israel are united. They understand everything that I said here. Overwhelmingly. You should know that. It's important. And the second thing is, we're committed to achieving our goals—all three goals: Destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities, releasing all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza does not become a threat to Israel anymore. And all these require standing firm on the things that will ensure the achievement of these goals. And with G-d's help, and with our people's will, and with the courage of our soldiers, we will achieve all goals."State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

When should you claim your Social Security benefits? What do benefits look like for teachers who contribute to Teacher Retirement Systems? What is the survivor step-up strategy? In this episode of Retirement Made Easy, we'll dive into some of the more complex areas of Social Security that people need to know about but are rarely told.  You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... [1:48] Check out our website for some FREE resources [2:27] Should you claim sooner or later? [6:19] The way Social Security is taxed [8:51] The GPO or WEP rules for survivor benefits [12:17] The survivor step-up strategy [19:34] Cost-of-living adjustments [24:03] How the spousal benefit works Resources & People Mentioned 3 Steps to Retirement Planning Widows Move Forward on Their Own – But Not Alone Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment Connect With Gregg Gonzalez Email at: Gregg.gonzalez@lpl.com Podcast: https://RetirementMadeEasyPodcast.com Website: https://StLouisFinancialAdvisor.com Follow Gregg on LinkedIn Follow Gregg on Facebook Follow Gregg on YouTube Subscribe to Retirement Made EasyOn Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@odysseymgmt You should know a few facts about leaving a network before you make any big decisions. In this solo episode, I share tidbits from my hundreds of strategy calls with dentists and managers on this topic. Typically the call starts out with a focus on how much revenue can be generated and patient reactions. I'm more concerned with level-setting your expectations and taking care of your team members. Touchpoints:  Losing patients will suck Why staying in touch with your patients is a requirement Plan to begin a year ahead of termination Are you ready to not just market but become a marketing machine? Your team can torpedo your out of network dreams Going out of network may not be the answer for you right now. Or this could persuade you to take the leap. I have no skin in the game. I just want you to be successful in your chosen business model. Hope this helps! Links:  Schedule a strategy session with me Mastering Dental Marketing with Sean Hamel Bite-Sized Social Media Strategies for Dental Teams with Rita Zamora Shake Up Your Marketing with Gary Bird of SMC National My events page ------------- Synergy Dental Partners believes in the podcast! They are offering to double their free trial offer for NTMT listeners. Synergy is a group purchasing organization (GPO) that lowers your expenses by leveraging their purchasing power. https://www.odysseymgmt.com/synergy NTMT listeners receive a 2 Month Free Trial + a 3rd Month if you buy anything from any vendor during the trial period. Also, new Darby customers receive a $200 Darby statement credit with a purchase.  ------------- My new insurance course is out! Dental Insurance Design and Management is geared toward those who want to understand the how and why of insurance. As a loyal podcast listener, please use "NTMT" for a $75 courtesy toward your investment.  ------------- Visit odysseymgmt.com to check out my book, webinars and courses. ------------- Don't forget to check out my other podcast Chew on This - A Dental Podcast!  **If you like the show then I'd appreciate a good rating. Tell your friends. Even podcasters ask for referrals!** YouTube: https://youtube.com/@odysseymgmt  

“You always really need to look at people, process, and technology. If you don't look at all three and understand where you are and where you need to be in those areas, you are just going to be chasing.” - Sherry Ulsh, Director, Indirect Procurement, The Hershey Company At the CoreTrust Conference in April 2024, Philip Ideson had the opportunity to sit down with Sherry Ulsh, Director of Indirect Procurement at The Hershey Company, about a wide range of topics, including her own journey from finance to procurement, the evolving role of GPOs, and the changing skill sets required in modern procurement roles.  Sherry shared her views on the importance of supplier relationship management and stakeholder management, both of which are reflected in her belief that procurement's value and influence in the business are best realized when they achieve a balance of people, process, and technology. In this episode, Sherry also shares her views on:  How to define procurement's value proposition across different industries and organizational models The evolving role of GPOs, and how utilization of the GPO model today differs from in the past Shaping internal and external perceptions of procurement's value, and how, for example, CFOs and other C-suite leaders can influence procurement's perceived value beyond cost savings Links: Sherry Ulsh on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement