Joyful Alternative

Business Trends: Banks, Cars, Healthcare and Safe Vermont Mortgages

I wonder who Mr. Collier would like to fall through the cracks. I pay $350 a month for individual health insurance, my knee replacement cost me $9,000 out of pocket, and friends tell me I'm lucky that the insurer didn't drop me for costing them money. Friends in other states tell me I'm lucky to be able to buy health insurance at all. Am I supposed to fall through the cracks?

Mr. Collier obviously doesn't want his wife to fall through the cracks, and how nice for him that they received charity rather than a bill he'd be paying off for the rest of his working life. Should I fall through the cracks if my osteoarthritis makes another joint replacement necessary and I can't come up with the out-of-pocket expense (plus self-employed people don't get sick leave or sick pay!)? Keep in mind that the surgeon wants cash up front; he's had too many patients unable to pay him after he's done his part. Should somebody who makes $15,000/year and can't possibly pay insurance premiums of $350/month, not to mention all those out-of-pocket amounts, fall through the cracks? Is this guy a freeloader if he gets charity, too, when he gets cancer? And keep in mind that his and Mrs. Collier's charity are paid for by higher bills for you and me.

As a long-time self-employed person (and health insurance buyer), I wish I had access to "Medicare for All." I suspect never before in history have so many people looked forward to their 65th birthdays.

Conflict of Interest?

C-SPAN doesn't get its funding from the federal government. Its funding comes from the cable companies.

Moral Hazard? That Assumes Morals Still Exist

I just got a note from my credit union. It hasn't made option ARMS, subprimes, etc., loans, but it's being assessed a pile to bulk up the insurance for the CUs that did. Which I guess is why my money market account is now paying 1.7%.

Will the Geithner Plan Work? Let's Hope Not!

I though Econ 101 was going to tell the story of Governor Mark Sanford's address to the South Carolina State Legislature on waste, fraud, and abuse and cutting the state budget. He walked into the chamber with a piglet under either arm to represent, of course, pork barrel spending. Barnyard animals did as barnyard animals do, the address did not ensue, and state carpet cleaning staff were paid overtime.

Mine has the virtue of being a true story.

Nationalize U.S. Banks

I favor the Swedish solution, as outlined in the article, but Appro has some great ideas, too. The government could do both, if it has the guts. Our finance system is broken, and borrowing money from abroad to fund investment bankers' bonuses for their incompetent work ranks somewhere between dumb and immoral.

'The Change We Need' Is in Economic Direction

Roubini hasn't won a Nobel. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve one; he's certainly been prescient. But maybe you were thinking of Steiglitz or Krugman.