Monthly Archives: September 2013

Rite Aid joins promotion effort for Obamacare

"Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement Monday alongside Rite Aid CEO John Standley in New Jersey, where the feds will operate the health insurance exchange after Gov. Chris Christie rejected creating a state-run one. CVS Caremark in July announced plans to inform uninsured customers about the law. CVS pharmacies will host trained 'navigators,' who are funded by the health law to educate people about their coverage options. Walgreens also announced plans over the summer to team up with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to educate customers in its stores." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRite Aid joins promotion effort for Obamacare

Our Huge, Stinking Mountain of Debt: Student Loans

"Notice anything about this chart of student loan debt owed to the Federal government? Direct Federal loans to students have exploded higher, from $93 billion in 2007 to $560 billion in early 2013. This gargantuan sum exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of entire nations—for example, Sweden ($538 billion) and Iran ($521 billion). Non-Federal student loans total another $500 billion, bringing the total to over $1 trillion. Does this look remotely sustainable? Does it look remotely healthy for students, society, taxpayers now on the hook for a half-trillion dollars in potential defaults or the U.S. economy?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOur Huge, Stinking Mountain of Debt: Student Loans

A Measure of Our Impoverishment (Which They Hope You Haven’t Noticed)

"The federal government can fudge – can outright lie – about the various indicators of economic health. Can shift perceptions of reality. But reality can’t be dismissed so easily. If it takes more dollars to purchase cocoa or sugar then the price of a Creme Egg or chocolate bar has to increase commensurately in order to maintain the same equilibrium between the cost to make the item and the profit it earns. When the economy is flooded with funny money, the value of a given thing remains the same but its apparent cost increases. It takes more sheaves of funny money to buy the same item. This is inflation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Measure of Our Impoverishment (Which They Hope You Haven’t Noticed)

Helping the Dow Industrial Average to Climb

"The S&P Dow Jones Indices are dropping Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard, and Bank of America from the Dow Jones industrial average. Visa, Nike, and Goldman Sachs will take their place. The changes 'were prompted by the low stock price of the three companies slated for removal and the Index Committee’s desire to diversify the sector and industry group representation of the index,' according to a statement from S&P." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHelping the Dow Industrial Average to Climb

Hong Kong Wrong [2006]

"Though a colony of socialist Britain, Hong Kong followed a laissez-faire capitalist policy, thanks largely to a British civil servant, John Cowperthwaite. Assigned to handle Hong Kong's financial affairs in 1945, Cowperthwaite was so famously laissez-faire that he refused to collect economic statistics for fear this would only give government officials an excuse for more meddling. The results of his policy were remarkable. At the end of World War II, Hong Kong was a dirt-poor island with a per-capita income about one-quarter that of Britain's. By 1997, when sovereignty was transferred to China, its per-capita income was roughly equal to that of the departing colonial power." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHong Kong Wrong [2006]

Abolish All Government Economic Data Collection

"Government data collection gives an impression that the state is the overseer of the economy, and it provides an opening for central planners to meddle with the marketplace. Opportunities abound for the Paul Krugman's of the world to put together 'models,' and to prescribe 'policies' based on them. The marketplace needs to be freed from these meddlers. If companies or entrepreneurs desire economic data, let them pay for it (with their own money) in the market. Let private companies gather up the data, and have their reputation hang on its accuracy. Government worries not about its reputation. It lies constantly." Continue reading →

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The ‘sharp decline’ in U.S unemployment was actually a glitch

"US jobless claims fell sharply last week mainly due to technical problems that affected some states supplying data, the government said Thursday. Initial claims for unemployment benefits dived by 31,000 to 292,000 in the holiday-shortened week ending September 7, the Labor Department reported. The sharp drop in claims reflected technical problems in some states in collecting claims data, the official said. The drop was due to upgrading of computer systems in two states that resulted in fewer claims being processed, as well as the Labor Day holiday, analysts noted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe ‘sharp decline’ in U.S unemployment was actually a glitch

Employment: Trending Down

"Charts and data provided by longtime correspondent B.C. reflect what many know from first-hand experience: employment is trending down. The growth rate of employment is declining over time, as positive growth weakens and recessionary declines deepen. Though the 3-year average annual change has improved to near-zero, the 5-year (i.e. longer-term trendline) is still solidly negative. There are two other trends in employment: 1. Decline of full-time jobs and the rise of part-time jobs 2. Stagnation of high-wage employment and increases in lower-wage job sectors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEmployment: Trending Down

The future of work: on to a freelance model?

"If work is changing and freelance-like work is on the rise, bringing with it increased freedom, autonomy and diversity but also probably added unpredictability in terms of steady incomes, then we’ll probably also need a societal change and start questioning our need to own things and how we approach borrowing and lending money. For many, facing all this change can seem daunting, which was probably why at some point of our interesting dinner conversation my friend suggested that for a couple maybe one could pursue a project-based/entrepreneurial activity of some sort while the other could guarantee some 'stability' from a 'traditional' job." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe future of work: on to a freelance model?

California Governor Calls for Legislation that will Increase Unemployment

"Gov. Jerry Brown says he supports a bill in the Legislature that would boost the California minimum wage next year and in 2016 by a total of $2 an hour, reports LaTi. The bill would raise the current $8-an-hour minimum wage to $9 on July 1, 2014, and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. The Governor, displaying a total lack of understanding of basic economics, said: 'The minimum wage has not kept pace with rising costs. This legislation is overdue and will help families that are struggling in this harsh economy.' What it will do is cause an increase in unemployment. Prices can't be regulated, wage prices or otherwise. It is basic supply and demand economics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia Governor Calls for Legislation that will Increase Unemployment