by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Knowns, Unknowns, Unknown Unknowns, Unintended Consequences Tom’s Avalanche Theory– once an avalanche is started there is no controlling it Some of the probable unintended consequences (?) of Obamacare are started to play out. The convergence of 1) a mediocre economy, 2) a weak labor major and the […]
by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: If you like you health care plan…… “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like you health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter […]
Via Alternet: The list of Democrats who are entering these negotiations embracing the GOP’s terms continues. There are at least nine in the Senate. California’s Dianne Feinstein, Montana’s Max Baucus, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Delaware’s Chris Coons and Tom Carper, and Colorado’s Michael Bennett have all said they support cuts to entitlements in letters to […]
Brad DeLong reviews Alan Greenspan’s new book: Alan Greenspan: The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting: The true size of the American subprime problem was hidden for years by the defective bookkeeping of the GSEs…. Not until the summer of 2007 did the full magnitude of the subprime problem […]
by Mike Kimel The Efficient Racing Hypothesis Professor Sporkweather Mo of Fridgewater University has famously postulated that a driver cannot consistently achieve better than average finishes on a recklessness-adjusted basis, provided that all drivers have the same information on track and weather conditions at the start of a race. Using decades of data on drivers […]
Via the Real News is Bill Black on the JP Morgan setttlement: DESVARIEUX: Okay. And because of these massive losses, now JPMorgan has to pay this $13 billion settlement. But it’s really being reported as this big step toward bringing the banks to justice for their role in the financial crisis. Do you actually agree […]
by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Don’t Blame the Techies! The early phases of the exchange sign up have been an unqualified disaster. It must be the techies, right? Not necessarily. The program design is wildly complicated, with the exchange system trying to do a start-to-finish on a very complicated transaction and pinging […]
Yves Smith writes: So bad economic times increase income disparity even among the young, and that will also make it even harder for them to contend with debt. I’ll return to this topic, because I think this recitation isn’t adequate to convey how the pieces are being put in place to put bigger and bigger […]