One last fling at the end of a busy week: I want to draw your attention to an excellent op-ed in today’s Financial Times arguing against the way in which most American consumers get their health care insurance.
In brief, here’s the argument:
The provision of health care by an employer puts a financial strain on business… »
The chaotic nature of our legislative process demands that we all ignore the day-to-day political infighting and wait to see what emerges as the various sides take turns in slamming each other.
But among the side issues is the ongoing emergence of the depth to which some people have no clue about the economy or health… »
Everyone – well almost everyone – predicted that the second quarter GDP figures would show an improvement over the miserable performance of the last six months. That much was not hard to do, after all businesses will eventually run out of stuff to cut, slash, burn or otherwise eliminate. Once we reach that point even… »
Do not think that this story will go away. Andrew Cuomo has just submitted another fascinating report of Wall Street bonuses and the manner in which they no longer reflect anything remotely connected to reality. Here’s a quote:
“Thus, when the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees… »
The last couple of days I have tried to focus on aspects of the debate over heath care reform that make no sense or, at least, muddy the waters. In particular I have been trying to defend the case that there can be no pure market solution since such a solution implies unacceptable social ramifications…. »
For those of you looking for green shoots this is not good news. After two months of improvement new orders for durable goods slid back by 2.5% in June to a total of $158.6 billion.
The slippage returns durable goods orders to a year long downward trend: they are off 26.7% year-on-year. Shipments of durable… »
Two pieces of news were released today: the Case Schiller Index of home prices, and the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey. The message: very mixed.
The good news is that for the first time since 2006 there was a slight increase in home prices across the country. Prices in the twenty city index rose 0.5% in… »