Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation’s largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration’s goal of affordability.
New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected “rate shock,” according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the [...]
But health law supporters are pushing back, noting close ties between the actuaries making the forecasts and an insurance industry that has been complaining about taxes.
By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News Staff Writer
THURSDAY, April 18, 2013 (Kaiser Health News) — Few aspects of the Affordable Care Act are more critical to its success than affordability, but in recent weeks experts have predicted costs for some health plans could soar next year.
Now [...]
Looking to buy a new car, truck or crossover? You may find it more difficult to stretch the household budget than you expected, according to a new study that finds median-income families in only one major U.S. city actually can afford the typical new vehicle.
The typical new vehicle is now more expensive than ever, averaging $30,500 in 2012, according to TrueCar.com data, and heading up again as makers curb [...]
 from Russell Napier:
Napier’s presentation, “Deflation in an Age of Fiat Currency,” is thought-provoking, and the precise polar opposite of investing as usual. A wry and picaresque speaker, he starts with some conclusions. Among them:
- To reach record lows [akin to those on offer in 1921, 1932, 1949 and 1982], US equities will have to fall by more than 60%.
- Central banks are straining to produce inflation, and developments in emerging markets [...]
You will notice that most ads to purchase a car or a home always discuss financing with big bold letters but never dive into an adequate income analysis before you should even consider buying a European luxury car or a home in an expensive metro area. Income is the most important feature yet never discussed like a taboo topic. This might reveal a glaring reality about household incomes but also net [...]
If the Euro is to survive, then the Germans must pay to support it. If the Euro fails, then the former Euro countries return to their domestic currencies, which will then revalue to appropriate levels, and thus decimate the current German export market, both from a cost and an affordability perspective. In truth, the only soution is the hard medicine of reality, tempered by temporary (and that means temporary) actions [...]
by Joe
You have to love this: The title of Albert Edwards’ latest note is: The biggest bubble in recent history is heading for the mother of all hard landings.
So what’s that bubble?
Australia!
Edwards’ post is building off the work of his colleague Dylan Grice, who wrote about an Australian bubble built on the back of a China bubble in his recent note.
So what’s Edwards’ big complaint with Australia?
Because Australia has gone so long without [...]
Dear GOP:
So you’re trying to save some money, are you?
Well, why isn’t your party focused on the outrageous fleecing of the American public over the Joint Strike Fighter? It’s easily the largest of many large boondoggles that the military has pursued over the last several decades, and dwarfs the expenditure on those food safety and education programs you want to gut.
Consider:
1) The total, lifetime cost of the JSF program is [...]
From Bloomberg:
Matthew and Carina Hensley offered $10,000 more than the asking price for a three-bedroom house in suburban Seattle, then lost out to one of seven other bidders.
Their $270,000 proposal last month came with a family portrait and a letter introducing the couple, their eight-month-old daughter, Harper, and their desire to build a family in the Renton, Washington, house with a yard backing onto a woody hillside.
Bidding wars, absent from [...]
Back in late 2006 and early 2007 a few (soon to be very rich) people were warning anyone who cared to listen, about what cracks in the subprime facade meant for the housing sector and the credit bubble in general. They were largely ignored as none other than the Fed chairman promised that all is fine (see here). A few months later New Century collapsed and the rest is history: tens [...]
By Farid A. Khavari
Bankers are notoriously known to wreak havoc on the economy, as we have seen with recent events on Wall Street; if they had not been bailed out, most of them would have gone bankrupt. Are they any better at fixing business problems, especially when it comes to pulling a hospital out of the red into the black? That’s the question we’ll be exploring here.
CARLOS MIGOYA – A [...]
By Peter Whoriskey, Published: March 8
The U.S. government last year announced a $10 million award, dubbed the “L Prize,” for any manufacturer that could create a “green” but affordable light bulb.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the prize would spur industry to offer the costly bulbs, known as LEDs, at prices “affordable for American families.” There was also a “Buy America” component. Portions of the bulb would have to be made in the United [...]
By JACK HOUGH
Federal aid for students has increased 164% over the past decade, adjusted for inflation, according to the College Board. Yet three-quarters of Americans and even a majority of college presidents see college as unaffordable for most, and that sentiment has been steadily spreading, the Pew Research Center reports.
Two new studies offer clues on why. One measures the degree to which some colleges reduce their own aid in response to [...]
First Lady Michelle Obama visiting the Ma’o Organic Farms in Waianae, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
(CNSNews.com) – Visiting an organic farm in Hawaii on Saturday, First Lady Michelle Obama said that “arugula and steak” was her “favorite” meal and expressed her view that American children need to “get their palates adjusted” so they will begin eating properly.
Mrs. Obama also said that children in “underserved communities” become obese because they “aren’t growing up with [...]
I enjoy using the iPod and the only thing stopping me using the iPhone, iMac and iPad are the affordability, especially on being made redundant and having to spend on doing further study and I needed to upgrade my laptop and software to do this, but couldn’t afford the cost of the MacBook. I’m sure that’s how it is for many, but they are good [...]
by ZH
Confirming that when it comes to providing credible, timely information, the NAR is second to none with its release that while the market was tumbling, the economy was collapsing (recall that abysmal August Philly Fed number), the US was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Europe was getting deliquified… existing home sales soared by 7.7% from 4.57 million to 5.03 million, on expectations of a [...]
“Looking up Market St. from near Ferry.” Another look at San Francisco in the aftermath of the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906.
Image: www.shorpy.com
Stoneleigh: Our most consistent theme here at The Automatic Earth has been the developing deflationary environment and the knock-on effects that will follow as a result. Now that the rally from March 2009 appears to be well and truly over, it is [...]
Joel Cairo for News
They may have come to the city to get a law degree, but a hefty percentage of young New Yorkers plans to flee the city in the next five years.
ALBANY – Escape from New York is not just a movie – it’s also a state of mind.
A new Marist College poll shows that 36% of New Yorkers under the age of 30 are planning to [...]
China’s economic success has seen a huge spike in demand for property pushing up prices.
From BBC:
China will build 10 million low-cost homes this year at a cost of $200bn (£124bn), a government minister has said.
The move comes as soaring home prices spur complaints about affordability.
In January, prices of new homes rose in 68 of the 70 cities monitored by the government compared to a year earlier.
The spending is a [...]
by CNBC
I usually find the quarterly homeowner vacancy and homeownership report from Census pretty lackluster, but the latest one released this morning was anything but.
America’s home ownership rate, after holding steady for a while, took a pretty big plunge in Q4, from 66.9 percent to 66.5 percent. That’s down from the 2004 peak of 69.2 percent and the lowest level since 1998.
Homeownership is falling [...]
by anonymous from Australia
The fly in the ointment of that “happy misunderstanding” of the ‘real’ problem Steve is there are people all over the developed world now spending 60% to 70% of incomes, on a place to live, every pay packet, before they spend the remainder on anything else.
Pretending increases in food and fuel and electricity do not matter (much) is not convincing my wallet.
I wish it [...]
by cmartenson
Note that over the past year stocks, bonds, and commodities are all up, and quite powerfully.
One way to make sense of this behavior is to note that inflation is not a purely monetary phenomenon, although that is one of the more important variables. Â To be complete, we should list out all the variables:
Amount of base money
Net credit creation/(destruction)
Demand for money
Demand for goods & services
It is that [...]
|
It only takes a few moments to share an article, but the person on the other end that reads it might have their life changed forever
Contact Information:
Submit: articles [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
Advertising: ads [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
General: admin [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
|
