Please pay your bill on receipt

Or if you prefer, you can pay for this column as soon as you read it and receive a five-percent discount.

This little entry was triggered by a wonderful spoof of the health care system by Nicholas Kristof, "I Cost More, but I'm a Specialist", New York Times, 2010-02-20. He writes that "We Americans have the greatest news care system in the world…" His bill for our reading his column is $1,681.63.

He also has a link to another spoof, "If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care", Jonathan Rauch, National Journal, 2009-09-26.

Since I'm only 1/100th as good as Nicholas Kristof, my bill for your reading this column is $16.82. I'm sorry but we do not accept credit cards nor do we bill your news insurance provider.