Global Economy Bursting?

[Randolph Kinney]

The Essence of Obamacare: U.S. Supreme Court hears Medi-Cal fee-cut case

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/04/BAAU1LCULG.DTL

With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, California and the Obama administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to let the state cut fees to Medi-Cal health care providers without being subject to lawsuits by doctors, hospitals or any of the 7.6 million poor people served by the program.

Federal courts have prevented reductions of up to 10 percent in Medi-Cal reimbursements since 2008, saying the state had failed to show that further cuts in the fees would allow equal access for health care to the poor, as federal law requires. California's reimbursement fees are already among the nation's lowest.

A lawyer for doctors and patients told the court the reductions would be both illegal and cruel.

Lawyers for the state and federal governments argued that the law governing the Medicaid program for the poor, called Medi-Cal in California, can be enforced only by federal health officials and not by private lawsuits. The federal officials review each state's proposed rates and negotiate changes, and ultimately have the power to withhold funding if states don't cooperate.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Many banks to follow BofA's lead on debit card fee

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BUIP1LCPNG.DTL


Banking rules make free checking accounts elusive

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BUNH1LCUTJ.DTL

Oh the unintended consequences of politicians protecting the consumer from those evil banks.

 

[coolhandluke]

"Remember when Public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR & PBS crashed the Stock market, wiped out half of our 401ks, took trillion$ in tax payer funded bailouts, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billion$ in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither..."
blogosphere

"May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not. "
Millard Fillmore

 

[Randolph Kinney]

In Europe, Signs of 2nd Recession With Wide Reach

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/b...steeper.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are already in downturns or fighting to avoid them, as high unemployment and austerity belt-tightening take their toll. But in the last few weeks, even prosperous Germany and France, the Continent’s powerhouses, have started to be dragged down, hurt by the ebbing of business orders from indebted countries in the rest of Europe.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Banks in Europe Face Huge Losses From Greece

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10...ses-from-greece/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

Europe’s biggest banks may finally be forced to own up to their losses.

 

[Riick]

Greedy Bankers get paid for doing virtually Zilch

Many banks to follow BofA's lead on debit card fee
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BUIP1LCPNG.DTL
......Oh the unintended consequences of politicians protecting the consumer from those evil banks.

Oh, I don't know, for one thing, WHY use a debit card?
It doesn't offer any of the advantages that credit cards do -
Such as delayed payment,
1-2% cash back,
And recourse against a merchant who dealt in bad faith.

Cash is just as good as a debit card and costs ZERO.
Of course using that green stuff is a novel concept nowadays; so heavy,
and there's no momma/poppa looking over your shoulder on what you
spent, or where or when. Surely that's bad public policy.

But a better question is what was BofA doing to EARN $250 million
per quarter -$1 BILLION a year- from Cash Cards??
Well let’s see, you went to retailer, paid with cash card and retailer
was charged upwards of 45 cents per transaction.
For those 45 cents the Bank paid the retailer funds from the buyers account.

(1) So they mailed retailer a check -
Oh Wait, electronic accounts, no paper, no postage, 2/10 millionths of a watt in electricity,
and some memory storage.
Cost - 2 cents? || 5 cents? || 7 cents a transaction?
My bet is well under 1 cent.

(2) Yes but they took a credit risk, what if the customer didn't pay the bill?
Oh Wait, no bill, money already on deposit in the Bank or no transaction.
SO.... No credit risk.

Humm... then aside from advertising, administering the account
(by computer) and sending out the cards themselves, their cost per
transaction was shall we say minimal, and their risk somewhere between Zero and None.
So again I ask, what did they do to EARN that B I L L I O N dollars ???

No, in my mind, they were clearly ripping and running off with the money,
they earned virtually none of it, and the $5 or $3 fee per month, as a convenience
fee is stupid on the part of the people who pay it, but if they can't be "bothered"
with cash, let them eat cake, and finance the bankers 1/2 portion of caviar;
Previously, the bankers were getting triple orders of Caviar laid 3" thick over Sturgeon.

.

 

[Restrain]

A summary of what took place in the last 30 minutes of Tuesday's stock trading...and why it has everyone scared who is in the market.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-stocks-massive-melt-fans-investor-fears-201253607.html

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Tuesday's move was the latest example of an erratic, high-octane stock market increasingly driven by levered exchange traded funds and complicated hedging and options strategies that unwind with dizzying speed.

It is pure market manipulation. It reminds me of what led up to the 1929 market crash. It will take a long time to rebuild confidence that the market is an honest game.

 

[Riick]

Tuesday's move was the latest example of an erratic, high-octane stock market increasingly driven by levered exchange traded funds and complicated hedging and options strategies that unwind with dizzying speed.

It is pure market manipulation. It reminds me of what led up to the 1929 market crash. It will take a long time to rebuild confidence that the market is an honest game.

Exactly when was it an honest game?
The market is no more honest than a casino.
In both places, the odds are always in favor of the house.

Perfect example is the punchline of a stockbroker's joke, said to go back to the early 1920's

Why was there dead silence when the newbie stockbroker, being shown the partners yachts asked:
"...and where are the customer's yachts?"

.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Basic cost of living soars in Bay Area

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/05/MNB11LD969.DTL

According to a formula called the Self-Sufficiency Standard, a family of four (with two adults, one preschooler and one school-age child) in the nine-county Bay Area now needs $74,341 a year to get by, compared with $62,517 three years ago.

At the state level, the cost of basic needs for a family of four rose 15.9 percent, to $63,579 from $54,853, between 2008 and 2011.

The report analyzed the cost of basic needs in the Bay Area - rent, food, health care, child care, transportation and taxes, which soared 18.9 percent in three years.

Wait until the Obama tax the rich becomes law.