When She Is On The Pole

 When she is on the pole... 
She is the morning fog that fills the world with surprises. 
She slowly brightens the world like the sun breaking the clouds. 
She moves unhindered like the wind. 
She bursts with the fury of a Strom. 
She paints the world in color. 
With every motion she defines presence...

When she is on the pole... 
she is not bound by laws. 
She is not restricted by any border. 
She doesn't not conform to some social construct. 
There is no limiting her possibilities. 
There is no taming her sprite. 
With every motion she defines freedom... 

When she is on the pole... 
She glides between the fabric of the universe. 
Gravity cannot hold her. 
She cannot be bound to some orbit. 
She becomes the embodiment of the unknown. 
She exists and does not exist all at the same time...

When she is on the pole... 
She commends your attention. 
She makes you believe in something greater than yourself. 
She extrudes divine radiance. Her moves dictate a prophecy, "hate and war to be overcome by love and peace". 
She is your religion. 
She demands your faith... 

When she is on the pole... 
She is one with the pole yet she falls.
She moves effortlessly yet she struggles. 
She is invincible yet she bruises.  
She must have done this a thousand times yet she is learning. 
She is innocence and experience. 
She is existence...

When she is on the pole... 
She bends, she twists, she turns, she flips, she twirls, she hangs, she swings. 
She conveys a rainbow of emotions. 
She is determined. Nothing else exists but her. 
She is alive. 
She is life...

-r.d

To My Friend

Take me to your darkest dark. your lowest low. Your greatest apprehension. 

The feelings that keep you on the precipice, just one push away. The challenges that give you the decision every morning to wake up or sleep for eternity. 

Because that is life. A constant battle to overcome obstacles. If the world is not giving us obstacles we create them for ourselves. We see power in overcoming obstacles. 

Take me to the place of your true power.

-r.d.

Inspired by: The casual sharing on social media taking life out of frame by framing moments. This is for my friends. I welcome your darkness and your light. Let's frame life instead of moments together.

Untitled

a canvas filled. a book completed. a symphony composed. at the precipice. the culmination of all that there was. 

Do not close yourself from to them to chase more current things. For they have more to give than anyone else. They are the greatest master pieces created. All they ask for in return is your time.

Inspired by:

To The Passionate Amateur

 

Writers tell you that you cannot write 

Painters tell you that you cannot paint 

Singers tell you that you cannot sing 

Dancers tell you that you cannot dance 

I am telling you that you that they fear what you will do if you keep writing, keep painting, keeping singing, and keep dancing 

I know this because I feel your emotions in your creation 

I know this because I know you do it from your heart 

I know this because I know you do it all only for yourself 

You truly let beauty be in the eye of the beholder 

You do not try to appease the beholder

And that is something to be feared by people who have labelled themselves.

For Fickle

 

I like the word Fickle...

My fickle heart. My fickle mind. 

You will never accomplish anything as you do not focus. 

You are the dog chasing its tail never to catch it.

You are wild like the stallions of the Alberta plains.

As much as I try you cannot be tamed like the western winds from The Rockies.

You have lead me to many mishaps and many heartbreaks.

You have given me vision and wisdom far beyond my peers.

My fickle heart. My fickle mind. 

You are me as I am.

Fighting After the Moment

I am sorry, 

I am not over you 

And I know you are not over me too

I was ready to go all in

Tell you how much I missed you

Throw it all on the line 

Fight to get you back 

But fear got the best of me 

Now you have yours 

And I have mine.

But this love, isn't right. 

You still have my heart 

And I still feel your soul. 

So please love, 

Don't let us go.

Amazon & Health Care: As at April 2018

“The cost of healthcare is a tapeworm on the American economy” - Warren Buffet

On Tuesday January 30, 2018 Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced a partnership to cut health-care costs and improve service for their employees. Jointly these company employ 1.1 million people (LaVito, 2018). Their access to the frightening amount of capital sent health-care middle man stocks tumbling even though no actions had been announced. This venture is not a new initiative as there have been several ventures seeking to reduce costs. Most notably the Healthcare Transformation Alliance initiative, which is a group of 46 companies that banded together to lower health care costs (Wingfield, 2018). However, Amazon’s blunt pursuance of technological innovation to transform industries could effectively reduce costs for consumers.

Given Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan specializes in capital acquisition and investment, it is my assumption Amazon is the initiator of this venture. As effectively a logistics firm, Amazon would not see much growth without additional ventures. As shown in Chart 1, Amazon’s profits were relatively low until the introduction of it’s web-computing service. The Amazon Web Service (AWS) is used by companies such as Netflix and Spotify. Since the lunch of AWS, Amazon has enjoyed significant rise in corporate profits. However, with growing competition from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and IBM the space is becoming saturated. To continue growth, Amazon has been diversifying into additional industries such produces and now health-care. Thus, the market rightfully fears that the initiative will seek to disrupt the current healthcare market, even though the announcement was for 1.1 million people out of the 160 million that currently have employer-based care (Humer, 2018).

Chart 1: Amazon’s profit/loss graph from q1 2013 to q1 2017. Amazon, once a big spender, is now a profit machine.  Graph from https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/28/12313526/amazon-q2-2016-earnings-report-aws-cloud-profit

Amazon has already sold over-the-counter medicines on its website and unknown to most Amazon has partners with Dublin-based medicine manufacturer Perrigo (Luhby, 2018). Amazon has priced these medicines cheaper than its brick and mortar competitors. Thus, Amazon has positioned to build on it’s core competencies as the middle man, using savings from brick and mortar saving to attract clients. As part of this venture, Amazon is gaining access to employee data from its venture partners allowing it to study the money spent on waste, administration, fraud and misuse of specialty medicines/pharmaceuticals (Humer, 2018). With the data, the venture hopes to use better technology, customer engagement and consumer choice to address the current healthcare issues. One technological solution proposed is a telemedicine kiosk like the one in west palm beach which allows for an offsite doctor to see and treat patients (Bomey, 2018). Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, also sees automation of health care tests, lab work and food preparations as possible outcome of this venture. Amazon by itself would take years to accomplish such initiative, however, with Berkshire Hathaway’s track record as an multinational conglomerate, meaningful accusations are highly likely.

The sheer amount of capital gives this venture market power. However, success of the venture and consequently the success of Amazon’s diversification attempt is still uncertain at best. A venture in pharmaceutical is capital intensive because of the scientific method involved in development. Any innovation in pharmaceutical is subject to years of rigorous testing; thus, Amazon cannot obtain a high level of leverage with pharmaceutical producers who need to recover years of expenses. Supplier loyalty should be an area of significant concern as doctors and hospitals build relationship with suppliers and don’t change suppliers frequently if the service has been well (Luhby, 2018). Prescription medication selling is subject to bureaucracy as the selling of prescription medication require licencing and control. Amazon has not suggested any method of insuring control and have clarified the current applications at state level are not more prescription drugs. So far, the announcement has resulted in Amazon as an alternative for over-the-counter drugs at a cost of additional attention from policy makers. Pharmaceutical companies are known to have seasoned lobbyists and lawyers who undoubtedly have influenced the president’s recent obsession over Amazon. This attention can decrease profit and potentially threaten the venture partnership. All considered, cost to reward suggests a failed diversification to this point, though it is possible the result of employee finding can lead to significant gains. This means the true outcome of this venture is several years out at best.

Bomey, N. (2018, Feb 25). How Amazon, JPMorgan, Berkshire could transform American health care. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/02/25/amazon-jpmorgan-berkshire-health-care/350625002/

Humer, C., & Henry, D., (2018, April 5). JPM, Amazon, Berkshire will use data to improve healthcare. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jpmorgan-dimon-letter-healthcare/jpm-amazon-berkshire-will-use-data-to-improve-healthcare-idUSKCN1HC2C7

LaVito, A., & Cox, J. (2018, January 30). Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase to team in landmark new health care company. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/amazon-berkshire-hathaway-and-jpmorgan-chase-to-partner-on-us-employee-health-care.html

Luhby, T. (2018, March 2). Amazon is already trying to disrupt health care. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/27/news/companies/amazon-health-care/index.html

Statt, N. (2016, Jul 28). Amazon, once a big spender, is now a profit machine. Retrieved July 28, 2016 from https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/28/12313526/amazon-q2-2016-earnings-report-aws-cloud-profit

Wingfield, N., Thomas, K., & Abelson, R. (2018, January 30). Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Try to Disrupt Health Care. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/technology/amazon-berkshire-hathaway-jpmorgan-health-care.html