Category: Nebraska

Berkshire Buys Big into DaVita, Firm Accused of Medicare Fraud

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway apparently has a large stake in DaVita Healthcare Partners. An earlier entry on this blog discussed accusations that DaVita Healthcare Partners has committed substantial healthcare fraud by charging the taxpayer millions of dollars for medicine that is needlessly thrown away. Apparently the DaVita investment is due to Ted Weschler, one of two deputies to whom Buffett has delegated the investment of some of Berkshire’s funds.

(p. 3D) Weschler is believed to be behind Berkshire’s aggressive move into DaVita Healthcare Partners — a stock he owned when he ran his own hedge fund. Berkshire bought 10.9 million shares last year, becoming Da-Vita’s largest stakeholder with 15.7 percent of the company. DaVita provides kidney dialy­sis services and is seen as a consistent cash-flow genera­tor. In November, the company closed its $4.7 billion purchase of Healthcare Partners, one of the country’s largest operators of medical groups and physi­cian networks. DaVita shares rose more than 35 percent in the past 12 months.

For the full story, see:

MarketWatch . “Buffett was avid hunter of 6 stocks last year; Wells Fargo, GM and DirecTV top Berkshire’s list.” Omaha World-Herald (Tues., March 12, 2013): 1D & 3D.

Imagining Oscar Wilde’s 1882 Visit to Omaha

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Source of image: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1451617585.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

(p. 10) Hansen’s first collection, “Nebraska,” which appeared in 1989, was a work that in its wrought realism, its ways of culling grim beauty from the often harsh history of his native place, achieved a memorable intensity. “She Loves Me Not” republishes seven of those stories, but to suggest that he’s recycling would miss the larger point. Instead, he has used this early work as the basis for what becomes a very different, exploded, view of a place. In these pages, Nebraska — Omaha in particular — is both rendered and reappropriated, registered and riffed on through a range of tonalities.

The first story, “Wilde in Omaha,” is, as its title suggests, a playful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s actual visit to that city in March of 1882. Recounted by a bumbling, fame-besotted journalist, the British writer’s short stay among the arts-avid, cornfed Nebraska bourgeoisie becomes a delightful anthology of some of this famed raconteur’s best bits. For Wilde will make no conversational response to any question that isn’t an epigram, as often as not a well-known one. Hansen’s setup lines can be almost groaningly obvious. When a Mr. Rosewater of The Daily Bee asks him, apropos of nothing, “Are you a hunter?” Wilde gets to deliver one of his celebrated bons mots: “Are you asking if I gallop after foxes in the shires? Indeed not. I consider that the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.” Didn’t Monty Python run a similar shtick some years before? They did. But Hansen isn’t pretending otherwise.
“Wilde in Omaha” is followed by a string of stories from the “Nebraska” collection, and what a shift it is to go from that highly arch patter to the cruel horror of the blizzard of 1888 — a mere six years, but in terms of the circuit of human experience the very antipodes. “Wickedness” consists of a series of episodic encounters of farm people and townspeople with the completely unexpected — and unprecedented — storm. It’s mainly a catalog of last hours and final moments, but the detailing, the staging, is unsurpassed. Every moment is fully imagined. “A tin water pail rang in a skipping roll to the horse path.” A wife who has gone out to look for her husband is found “standing up in her muskrat coat and black bandanna, her scarf-wrapped hands tightly clenching the top strand of rabbit wire that was keeping her upright, her blue eyes still open but cloudily bottled by a half inch of ice, her jaw unhinged as though she’d died yelling out a name.”

For the full review, see:
SVEN BIRKERTS. “Odes to Omaha.” The New York Times Book Review (Sun., November 11, 2012): 10.
(Note: the online version of the review has the date November 9, 2012.)

“Under a Mountain in Omaha”

(p. 170) lnformatics had been run from the top down. Here’s a story typical of the way the company worked. They had a trainer at headquarters who was told to educate the troops at the Federal Systems Division in northern California, which was run by Geno Tolari, a tough-minded football player from Pittsburgh. When the trainer arrived and announced, “I’m here to train your people,” Geno shot back, “You can’t train my people.”
The trainer got haughty. After all, he was from headquarters. “I’m the education department. I train your people.”
But Geno insisted, “You can’t train my people because you don’t know what they do.”
So now the trainer asked, “Okay, what do they do?”
Geno answered, “I don’t know.”
The trainer thought Geno was joking with him, and insisted, “I’m the trainer; I need to know what they do.”
That’s when Geno confessed, “I can’t tell you because I don’t (p. 171) know. They’re under a mountain in Omaha, and it’s a military secret, and the Air Force won’t tell us what they do.”

Source:
Wyly, Sam. 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire. New York: Newmarket Press, 2008.

Entrepreneurs Should Seek Problems, Not Opportunities

McKelveyJimEntrepreneurBig2012-06-02.jpg “Jim McKelvey drew on experiences as a businessman and glassblower in his speech at Big Omaha 2012.” Source of caption and photo: online version of Macy Koch, “Jim McKelvey: “Just go ahead and build it”.” Silicon Prairie News. (Thursday May 10, 2012).

(p. 2D) The dynamics of the glass-blowing industry changed when a new, smaller version of the traditional glass-blowing furnace was developed. The economics of glass-blowing suddenly changed.

But as McKelvey’s glass-blowing skills grew and as he developed more products, including a patented glass water faucet, another barrier emerged: access to the financial system.
At one point, McKelvey was about to sell one of his faucets. The customer wanted to pay with an American Express credit card, but McKelvey couldn’t accept it without the requisite hardware. The sale fell through.
McKelvey then had a problem he needed to solve: Why wasn’t there a way to accept payments on a smartphone?
So he teamed up with Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter who worked with McKelvey at Mira, to start Square, which allows users to accept payments through their phones.
It was an idea that tackled a problem, McKelvey said, suggesting to attendees: “Go out there and seek problems. Don’t look for opportunities.”

For the full story, see:
Ross Boettcher. “Traveling the Road to Innovation; A former ‘Quitter’ and Others Offer tips at the Big Omaha Conference.” Omaha World-Herald (Fri., May 11, 2012): 1D & 2D.
(Note: the online version of the article has the title “Many roads to innovation at Big Omaha.”)

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“”Go out there and seek problems. Don’t look for opportunities.” Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square.” Source of caption and photo: online version of the Omaha World-Herald article quoted and cited above.

In Supporting Bailouts Buffett Was More Bootlegger than Baptist

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Source of book image: online version of the Omaha World-Herald review quoted and cited below.

(p. 9A) Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 211 pages, $26) mostly goes after members of Congress for profiting from inside information and making investments that are legal for them but would be illegal for almost anyone else.

But Chapter 6 is titled, “Warren Buffett: Baptist and Bootlegger.”
Buffett is neither an actual Baptist nor a bootlegger, of course. Schweizer’s reference is to the alliance of churchgoers and illegal marketers of liquor who both favored laws to limit the legal sale of alcohol, although for different reasons.
Schweizer wrote that during the 2008-09 financial crisis, Buffett pushed for government action and called attention to the problems, looking like a noble Baptist, but profited from the bailouts, like a bootlegger, through investments in Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Wells Fargo and other financial companies.
“Buffett needed the bailout,” Schweizer wrote. “He began immediately to campaign for the $700 billion TARP rescue plan that was being hammered together in Washington.” Several senators, including Ben Nelson, D-Neb., are Berkshire shareholders, Schweizer wrote, “and they had to know that passing the bailout bill would bring big returns for their Berkshire stock.”
“There were many legitimate reasons to support the bill, and it can hardly be said that Buffett’s support was the deciding factor,” Schweizer wrote. “But his Baptist-bootlegger position was noteworthy for its strength in both directions: a lot of people followed his advice, and he and they made (p. 10A) a lot of money by pushing for the bailout. . . .
“Warren Buffett is a financial genius. But even more important for his portfolio, he’s a political genius.”

For the full story, see:
Steve Jordon. “Warren Watch: Author Says Buffett Is a ‘Political Genius’.” Omaha World-Herald (Sunday, November 20, 2011): 9A -10A.
(Note: ellipsis in original.)
(Note: the online version of the article has the title “Warren Watch: A ‘Political Genius’.”)

Steve Jordan is discussing the book:
Schweizer, Peter. Throw Them All Out. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade, 2011.

Bruce Yandle is the former President of APEE and the author of the classic article on how bootleggers and Baptists often become allies in calling for government action:
Yandle, Buce. “Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist.” Regulation 7, no. 3 (1983): 12-16.

When Christopher Hitchens Will Visit Nebraska

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“Christopher Hitchens, after being released from the Texas hospital where he was treated for esophageal cancer.” Source of caption and photo: online version of the NYT article quoted and cited below.

A few times I have had the pleasure of seeing Christopher Hitchens interviewed. His wit is always wonderful and he skewers much that deserves skewering. I admire his perseverance at being productive, even as he battles a difficult cancer. And I admire him for sticking to his reasoned principles, even when it might be easier to accept Pascal’s Wager.
I have enjoyed the few reviews by Hitchens that I have read. I have purchased, but not yet read, two of his books—when I have read, I will write.
ADDENDUM: I wrote the above words back on November 10th, scheduled to run today. Yesterday I saw in the paper that Hitchens died on Thursday, December 15, 2011.

(p. C1) HOUSTON — Christopher Hitchens, probably the country’s most famous unbeliever, received the Freethinker of the Year Award at the annual convention of the Atheist Alliance of America here on Saturday. Mr. Hitchens was flattered by the honor, he said a few days beforehand, but also a little abashed. “I think being an atheist is something you are, not something you do,” he explained, adding: “I’m not sure we need to be honored. We don’t need positive reinforcement. On the other hand, we do need to stick up for ourselves, especially in a place like Texas, where they have laws, I think, that if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you can’t run for sheriff.”

Mr. Hitchens, a prolific essayist and the author of “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” discovered in June 2010 that he had Stage 4 esophageal cancer.
. . .
(p. C5) On balance, he reflected, the past year has been a pretty good one. He won a National Magazine Award, published “Arguably,” debated Tony Blair in front of a huge audience and added two states to the list of those he has visited. “I lack only the Dakotas and Nebraska,” he said, “though I may not get there unless someone comes up with some ethanol-based cancer treatment in Omaha.”

For the full story, see:
CHARLES McGRATH. “A Voice, Still Vibrant, Reflects on Mortality.” The New York Times (Mon., October 10, 2011): C1 & C5.
(Note: ellipsis added.)

Kiewit Corporation Earned Bonus from Los Angeles for Avoiding “Carmageddon”

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“Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, at left of group, and other officials celebrate the demolition of two lanes of the Mulholland Drive bridge over Interstate 405 ahead of schedule last weekend. The event that many feared would result in epic traffic jams ended early and calmly.” Source of caption and photo: online version of the Omaha World-Herald article quoted and cited below.

(p. 6A) They paid Kiewit to build the Mulholland Bridge.

Now they’re paying Kiewit to tear it down.
And they’ll pay Kiewit to build it again.
It’s all part of the billion-dol­lar Interstate 405 improvement project in Los Angeles, which caught national attention last weekend when the busy freeway shut down for 36 hours so work­ers could remove the first chunk of the bridge that spans the Sepulveda Pass.
Omaha-based Kiewit Corp.’s Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. is the main contractor for the project.
Traffic officials in Southern California, who had predicted “Carmageddon” and warned motorists to stay away, were relieved when the closure of one of the nation’s busiest freeways — the stretch is traveled by an estimated 500,000 vehicles on a typical weekend — ended on 11:30 a.m. Sunday instead of 5 a.m. Monday as originally planned.

Kiewit reportedly got a (p. 7A) $300,000 bonus for beating the deadline.

For the full story, see:
STEVE JORDON. “KIEWIT WORK ON ‘CARMAGEDDON’ BRIDGE; IT’S UP, DOWN AND UP.” Omaha World-Herald (Sat., July 23, 2011): 6A-7A.

Deregulation Revived Railroads

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“ALL ABOARD: The Wasp magazine in 1881 lampooned railroad moguls as having regulators in the palms of their hands.” Source of caricature: online version of the WSJ article quoted and cited below.

(p. C8) Mr. Klein has written thoroughly researched and scrupulously objective biographies of the previously much maligned Jay Gould and E.H. Harriman, remaking their public images by presenting them in full. Now he has published the third and final volume of his magisterial history of the Union Pacific railroad, taking the company from 1969 to the present day.

Union Pacific–the only one of the transcontinentals to remain in business under its original name–is now a flourishing business. Thanks to a series of mergers, it is one of the largest railroads in the world, with more than 37,000 miles of track across most of the American West. Thanks to its investment in new technology, it is also among the most efficient.
In 1969, though, the future of American railroading was in doubt as the industry struggled against competition from airplanes, automobiles and trucks–all of which were in effect heavily subsidized through the government’s support for airports and the Interstate Highway System.
Another major factor in the decline of the railroads had been the stultifying hand of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The ICC had come into existence in the late 19th century to limit the often high-handed ways of the railroads as they wrestled with the difficult economics of an industry that has very high fixed costs. ( . . . .) But the ICC soon evolved into a cartel mechanism that discouraged innovation and wrapped the railroad industry in a cocoon of stultifying rules.
Mr. Klein notes that in 1975 he wrote a gloomy article about the sad state of an industry with a colorful past: “Unlike many other historical romances,” he wrote back then, “the ending did not promise to be a happy one.”
Fortunately, a deregulation movement that began under the Carter administration–yes, the Carter administration–limited the power of the ICC and then abolished it altogether. As Mr. Klein shows in the well-written “Union Pacific,” the reduction of government interference left capitalism to work its magic and produce–with the help of dedicated and skillful management–the modern, efficient and profitable railroad that is the Union Pacific.

For the full review, see:
JOHN STEELE GORDON. “Tracks Across America.” The Wall Street Journal (Sat., JUNE 11, 2011): C8.
(Note: ellipsis added.)

Book reviewed in the part of the review quoted above:
Klein, Maury. Union Pacific: The Reconfiguration: America’s Greatest Railroad from 1969 to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2011.

Coralville Police Close 4-Year-Old Abigail’s Lemonade Stand

(p. 2B) CORALVILLE — Police closed down a lemonade stand in Coralville, telling its 4-year-old operator and her dad that she didn’t have a permit.
. . .
Abigail’s dad, Dustin Krutsinger, said the ordinance and its enforcers are going too far if they force a 4-year-old to abandon her lemonade stand.

For the full story, see:
AP. “Coralville shuts down girl’s lemonade stand.” Omaha World-Herald [Iowa Edition] (Weds., August 3, 2011): 2B.
(Note: ellipsis added.)
(Note: the online version of the article is dated August 2, 2011 and has the title “Girl’s lemonade stand shut down.”)

The next day, the Iowa Edition of the Omaha World-Herald ran an update:

(p. 2B) CORALVILLE — Four-year-old Abigail Krutsinger wasn’t the only lemonade stand operator who was closed down when RAGBRAI bicyclists poured into Coralville last week.

At least three stands run by children were closed down because they hadn’t obtained permits and health inspections.

For the full story, see:
AP. “Coralville defends closing kids’ stands.” Omaha World-Herald [Iowa Edition] (Thurs., August 4, 2011): 2B.
(Note: the online version of the article is dated August 3, 2011, and has the title “More lemonade stands shuttered.”)

$130,000 Federal Stimulus Used by Omaha Public Schools for Manual Attacking American Institutions

(p. 1A) The Omaha Public Schools used more than $130,000 in federal stimulus dollars to buy each teacher, administrator and staff member a manual on how to become more culturally sensitive.
The book by Virginia education consultants could raise some eyebrows with its viewpoints.
The authors assert that American government and institutions create advantages that “channel wealth and power to white people,” that color-blindness will not end racism and that educators should “take action for social justice.”
The book says that teachers should acknowledge historical systemic oppression in schools, including racism, sexism, homophobia and “ableism,” defined by the authors as discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities.
The authors argue that public school teachers must raise their cultural awareness to better serve minority students and improve academic achievement.

For the full story, see:
Joe Dejka. “OPS Says It Won’t Go totally by the Book.” Omaha World-Herald (Sunday, July 10, 2011): 1A & 2A.
(Note: the online version of the article has the title “OPS buys 8,000 diversity manuals.”)

Omaha’s Mayor Suttle Proposes Toilet Paper Tax

(p. 1A) Mayor Jim Suttle went to Washington Tuesday flush with ideas for how federal officials could help cities like Omaha pay for multibillion-dollar sewer projects.

Among the items on his brainstorming list: a proposal for a 10-cent federal tax on every roll of toilet paper you buy.
Based on the four-pack price for Charmin double rolls Tuesday at a midtown Hy-Vee, such a tax would add more than 10 percent to the per-roll price, pushing it over a buck.

For the full story, see:
MAGGIE O’BRIEN. “Mayor unrolls a novel way to wipe out sewer costs ■ His suggestion– a toilet paper tax — strikes some city industries as a gentler approach.” Omaha World-Herald (Weds., March 23, 2011): 1A.
(Note: the online version has the slightly different title “Mayor unrolls a novel way to wipe out sewer costs ■ His idea– a toilet paper tax — strikes some city industries as a gentler approach.”)