Economics

CBO: Up to 20 Million Could Be Pushed Off Employer Health Insurance Because of Obamacare

"In February, the Congressional Budget Office said that 7 million will likely lose their employer coverage thanks to ObamaCare — nearly twice its previous estimate. That number could be as high as 20 million, the CBO says. In December, state insurance commissioners warned Obama administration officials that the law's market regulations would likely cause 'rate shocks,' particularly for younger, healthier people forced by ObamaCare to subsidize premiums for those who are older and sicker." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCBO: Up to 20 Million Could Be Pushed Off Employer Health Insurance Because of Obamacare

Obamacare Horror Story #2

"The news has just gotten worse on the Obamacare front. A friend tells me about terrible news his wife received on Friday. She is a college professor on a non-tenure track. The college just notified their non-tenure track teachers that because of Obamacare they will not be able to continue to employ them on a full-time basis. My wife's friend is now teaching 5 courses. Starting in the Fall, she will only be allowed to teach 3 courses and she will not be allowed to teach summer school classes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare Horror Story #2

Companies cut hours of full-time employees to avoid providing health care under new rules

"Three years after the passage of Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, labor advocates are warning that it could have the unforeseen consequence of harming some of the very low-wage employees it seeks to aid. The legislation’s incentive scheme, they say, could cause a shift toward part-time work that extends beyond companies like Papa John’s and Darden Restaurants, which last year publicized their plans to cut employee hours to avoid costs under the new law. Such worries are reflected in California, where the state union federation is exploring legislation to lay over the Affordable Care Act to fix the potential problem." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCompanies cut hours of full-time employees to avoid providing health care under new rules

Alfred Anaya Put Secret Compartments in Cars. So the DEA Put Him in Prison

"The technically savvy are on notice that they must be very careful about whom they deal with, since calculated ignorance of illegal activity is not an acceptable excuse. But at what point does a failure to be nosy edge into criminal conduct? The challenge for anyone who creates technology is to guess when, exactly, they should turn their back on paying customers. Take, for example, a manufacturer of robot kits for hobbyists. If someone uses those robots to patrol a smuggling route or help protect a meth lab so that traffickers can better evade law enforcement, how will prosecutors determine whether the company acted criminally?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAlfred Anaya Put Secret Compartments in Cars. So the DEA Put Him in Prison

French workers hold company heads captive after they’re fired without pay

"Workers at a French greetings card firm on Friday sequestered the head of their company and the chief of the Dutch firm which owns it after sacked employees were told they would not get their dues. The protest at the office of French firm Edit66 and the Dutch owner Mercurius, targeted their two chiefs Paul Denis and Merthus Bezemer. The town’s socialist mayor Jean Vila said he backed the action. France’s economy, the second biggest in the eurozone, has been stagnating in recent months. Unemployment is just shy of the record level of 3.195 million last reached in 1997 and the spending power of French households fell in late 2012 for the first time since 1984." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench workers hold company heads captive after they’re fired without pay

France’s President Hollande finds loophole to impose 75% tax on the rich

"The 75% super-tax on the mega-rich, which was rejected by France's constitutional court might be imposed anyway. French President Francois Hollande suggests laying the burden on businesses rather than on individuals. In the interview with France 2 television President Hollande said he has revised his original plan to lay the massive tax on individuals earning above €1 million, which has been ruled 'unfair' and rejected by the Constitutional Court and later the State Councils, leaving the President embarrassed. Hollande will now propose to tax employers paying their workers more than €1 million. The measure, if approved, will last for two years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance’s President Hollande finds loophole to impose 75% tax on the rich

Ranking the States for Economic and Personal Freedom

"Here are the full rankings from the newly released Freedom in the 50 States from the Mercatus Center, showing North Dakota as the state with the most freedom, with South Dakota (#2), Tennessee (#3), New Hampshire (#4), and Oklahoma (#5) also deserving praise for high scores. What makes Freedom in the 50 States so interesting is that you can mix and match variables based on your own preferences. I checked the 'fiscal' and 'tax burden' categories, and South Dakota (no state income tax!) jumped to #1 for both of those measures. You won’t be surprised to learn that New York is the worst state, not only overall, but also for various fiscal policy measures." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRanking the States for Economic and Personal Freedom

What does crowdfunding replace or displace?

"Look at the sum of these trends. If a startup has a successful crowdfunder, its bargaining power with the VCs increases in two ways. First, it’s going to be less desperate for capital than a company that can’t run out and do another crowdfunder for the next product. Second, the VC’s uncertainty about its ability to build and sell will be reduced. These changes will both increase the startup’s ability to bargain for doing things its way and reduce the VC’s pressure for an early IPO. At the extreme, we might end up with a new normal in which VCs compete with each other to court startups that have done successful crowdfunders, neatly inverting the present situation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat does crowdfunding replace or displace?

Europe’s new financial transaction tax missing projected revenues

"Tough taxes on financial transactions across Europe have devastated market activity and failed to raise as much as politicians hoped, according to new figures out yesterday. Hungary implemented a 0.1 per cent tax at the start of the year. But it raised less than half the revenue the state had hoped for, bringing in 13bn Hungarian Forints (£36m) in January. France forged ahead on its own, introducing a 0.2 per cent tax on sales of shares of major firms. But that only raised €200m (£169.4m) from August to November, well below to €530m expected. And Italy launched its FTT this month. Figures from TMF Group suggest it has cut trading volumes by 38 per cent already." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEurope’s new financial transaction tax missing projected revenues

Study: Economists Willing To Sacrifice Body Parts For Prestigious Journal Publications

"The time tradeoff (TTO) method is popular in medical decision making for valuing health states. We use it to elicit economists’ preferences for publishing in top economic journals and for living without limbs. The economists value journal publications highly and have a clear preference among them, with the American Economic Review (AER) the most preferred. Their responses imply they would sacrifice more than half a thumb for an AER publication. These TTO results are consistent with ranking and willingness to pay results, and indicate that journal preferences are not entirely determined by impact factors or by expectations of a salary increase." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Economists Willing To Sacrifice Body Parts For Prestigious Journal Publications