Vic Socotra

15 May 2008

Tremors

I took a break from the proposal and ducked over to Ted’s to meet with some associates from the Health Care Industry. It was a chance to do some networking in a line of work I enjoyed, and one that is totally divorced from the stuff I have to do to keep the wolf from the door.

I was not able to drink effectively, since I had to go back to work again, and Derek the bartender was clearly disappointed. Our last big moment had been when Ted Turner, the multi-millionaire visionary owner of the restaurant franchise had been expected to make an appearance at the bar.

Ted is drinking again, they say, and he seems to be enjoying life after Ms Fonda just fine. I don’t know if he has the tremors or not, which is why I was interested in seeing him. Maybe that is why he failed to show up.

I don’t know what the change of lifestyle bodes for his future. I am not drinking out much these days, since we are working pretty hard at chasing the dollars that flow out of National Security. The Administration is going to change, and the current wars will be resolved, one way or another.

One has to take a pragmatic view of these things, and the business of death, whether kinetically-induced or natural, is where the money always is. It is a cyclical process, as I understand it.

We are in that part of the changing cycle right now. Unlike National Defense, the health sector of the economy is doing just fine. The Boomers are popping into the time of life when they need medication.

Let me rephrase that. The Boomers are getting to that phase of life when medication is not recreation.

One of the major consulting firms here in town is doing so well that the health care sector is considering spinning off the national security business as a loss-leader, which should tell you something about where the smart money is going. The aging boomers are going to need care, and the best that money can buy, if their track record is any indicator.

I personally think you need both, but you have to go with the market. One of my pals at the bar is a Political. He is not in government at the moment, though he wanted to link me up with an associate who vends health-coaching services.

My pal and I chatted for a while about stress, and what jerks live in this town. When his associate turned up, Derek gave him the once over and decided he was OK, even if he is a Harvard man.

Rick is a real one, not a fake one like the legions of us who have bogus paper from the great institution. He was wearing a polo shirt and slacks, business casual, with salt-and-pepper hair and a dry wit.

His coaching service sounded suspiciously like a personal trainer, which is another brilliant concept of the moment, perfectly tailored to the clientele of this self-centered time.

His service is acts like a sort of like a pre-emptive HMO. Instead of managing your care, the service acts like a personal coach, available on the phone to talk about diet, stress, smoking cessation, alcohol use and mental issues, all perfectly confidential over the phone.

The theory is that help with behavior modification before any problem gets severe enough to present at the HMO will save the employers money.

It is a great idea, and I offered to be an amiable idiot for him if it didn’t cost me any money, or cause me to actually alter my behavior.

I have always my pal, and enjoy meeting the people he collects. I have followed his career with curiosity and wonder, since it is based on elections and distributed power. Having been relentlessly non-partisan for so long, it is a bracing tonic to hear how things are really going.

The special Congressional contest in Mississippi was bothering him. He had been on the Blackberry with a friend from the National Party, who was writing checks right up to the moment the election was called late Tuesday night. The nine million from the national party didn’t make a damn bit of difference. Travis Childers, a conservative Democrat, kicked some butt in the formerly rock-solid Republican district, 54% to 46%.

“No matter who the Democrats nominate for President, and regardless of who despises whom, it looks like it is the Congress that has the long coat-tails this time,” I said.

My pal had a long face. This is the third Republican defeat in a special Congressional race this year. He is no fool, and he feels the tremors that are coming in November.

I think the GOP ought to be looking for some health coaching, though it is apparently already too late.

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