By a retired physician who worked several years in the medical communications and pharmaceutical industry who writes as Francois T Is the federal government really ready to punish those responsible of corporate malfeasance in the pharmaceutical industry? Push hard enough and you are bound to get a push back, even from a slow, at times […]
Read more...Reader Francois T sent this by e-mail: It is a well known (self-serving) assumption among business leaders that management is a “special skill” that can be applied to pretty much any field. Alas, this, ahem, skills set seems to bring the bad attitudes also. Problem is, this can become deadly for their costumers when those […]
Read more...A pair of articles, one at the Washington Post, the other at Politico, look at the significance of continuing slide in Obama’s poll ratings. At the WaPo, pollsters Douglas Schoen and Pat Caddell are firmly of the view that Obama is out of touch with the mood in the heartland, and needs a sharp course […]
Read more...Two reasons that many people went along with the Obama administration’s health care reform proposal was that it was purported to extend coverage to the uninsured and would eliminate the ability of insurers to deny coverage (including rescind existing policies) for pre-existing conditions. The latter claim was false (more on that shortly) and some gaps […]
Read more...An interesting right/left conversation. It’s refreshing to see reasoned discussion across ideological lines.
Read more...It turns out some businesses are thriving in the downturn, with lobbyists a prime example. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, lobbyist revenues increased 5% in 2009 versus 2008. As The Hill noted (hat tip DoctoRx): Lobbyists have said business for them managed to remain upbeat throughout 2009 despite the poor economy because of […]
Read more...Paul Volcker has an op-ed in the New York Times that made my stomach sink. I had considerable hopes for Volcker’s involvement in financial reform; he’s one of the few regulators with the stature (literally and figuratively) who can say things to bankers, the media, and government officials that are unpalatable yet need to be […]
Read more...By Marshall Auerback, a fund manager and investment strategist who writes for New Deal 2.0. Many people are lamenting the apparent death of the health care bill in the aftermath of Scott Brown’s unexpected election to the Senate last week. They shouldn’t be. Congress and the President should use the opportunity afforded by the loss […]
Read more...This in tonight’s Wall Street Journal, “Narrower Targets Set for Health Overhaul“: As Democrats regroup on plans to overhaul the health-care system after a Republican win in last week’s Massachusetts Senate election, comments Sunday indicated that any revamped legislation would likely focus on the least-controversial elements of earlier proposals. White House officials notably didn’t emphasize […]
Read more...By Marshall Auerback, a fund manager and investment strategist who writes for New Deal 2.0. The post-mortems following the Massachusetts Senate by-election are coming in fast and furiously, but by far the most instructive remarks come from the President himself. He clearly doesn’t get it. A majority of Obama voters who switched to Brown said […]
Read more...The seemingly-certain loss of a Democratic Senate in Massachusetts today, that formerly held by Ted Kennedy, and with it, a filibuster-proof majority, is purported by Politico to be rousing Obama to a new “combative” stance. But combative is so far from what helped Obama get where he is that his reflexes will be, as they […]
Read more...The headline above would normally be seen as “dog bites man” save for the fact that during the health reform debate, the insurers went to considerable lengths to profess they really, really had changed their ways and were now going to be good corporate citizens. But it was pretty clear that this change of heart […]
Read more...In what is becoming a typical pattern for the Obama administration, right wing opponents of some of his initiatives (like reappointing Bernanke) are finding common cause with progressives, an alliance that seemed unthinkable a mere year ago. While the left is generally behind the health care reform bill, support is far from universal. And a […]
Read more...Reader Crocodile Chuck pointed out a set of articles at the New York Times that illustrates how skewed priorities in America have become. They also reveal how little public ire there is in the face of large-scale abuses that affect the average Joe. If corporate prerogatives cannot be reined in when personal safety is at […]
Read more...DoctoRx was puzzled by a report in Bloomberg that the Mayo Clinic in Glendale, Arizona will “stop treating” certain Medicare patients. Many readers no doubt know that Mayo is touted not just as a model for high quality of delivery of health care services, but also affordability. Here is the gist of the story: More […]
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