Healthcare Spending and Relative Performance Ranking by Country (Graph)

I am wondering if many people understand that we spend twice as much on healthcare as most industrialized countries. At the same time, our world ranking in healthcare delivery is poor.

It might be interesting to note that the profits of healthcare insurance companies rose by more than 400 percent in the period 2000-2007.

During the same period, the number of people without healthcare insurance, and the cost of healthcare insurance was rising fast.

It also surprises me when I see people arguing on television that they prefer the status quo.



All information is taking from 2005 OECD data unless otherwise noted.
*2000, 2003-2005 World Health Organization Data. **2004 OECD data.
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Health Organization
Analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Heath Research Institute

Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and twenty year Wall Street veteran. Bob has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. Content from All American Investor has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments.

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6,816,000 Americans on the Dole

Sometime you have to look beyond the obvious. Continuing claims for unemployment set a record for the 19th consecudtive week. Nearly 6.82 million American are now receiving unemployment checks weekly. What happens when the benefits run out?

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

In the week ending June 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 601,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 625,000. The 4-week moving average was 621,750, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week's revised average of 632,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.1 percent for the week ending May 30, unchanged from the prior week's revised rate of 5.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 30 was 6,816,000, an increase of 59,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6,757,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,750,500, an increase of 57,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 6,693,250.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.238 million.

Source Department of Labor

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Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and twenty year Wall Street veteran. Bob has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. Content from All American Investor has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments.

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Get Your TARP Before it is Too Late

Last one in is a rotten egg.

I moved to Florida just before the run of monster hurricanes. I had to look on as shortage of tarps caused additional hardship. People with leaking roofs couldn't get tarps, so when it rained the water just poured through the roof causing additional damage.

Now I find myself wondering if there are enough TARPs (Troubled Asset Relief Program) to go around.

The Treasury Department has decided to extend bailout funds to a number of struggling life-insurance companies.

It appears that if you own a bank holding company or a savings and loan, you are qualified for a TARP.

A number of life insurers, including Hartford Financial Services Group, Genworth Financial, and Lincoln National bought savings and loans last fall so they could call themselves banks and qualify for government funds. Some existing insurance companies like Prudential Financial and MetLife already qualify.

Soon these insurance companies will be crying "pour mouth" because they aggressively sold variable rate annuities tied to the performance of the stock market.

It won't be much longer before the supposedly good part of the business at AIG--insurance--starts to turn south and puts them in even more jeopardy.

Sooner or later, the Treasury is going to run out of TARP. Reminds me of the saying--"last one in is a rotten egg".

If the stock market returns to the lows it is going to be ugly. The big question right now is, will inflation click in soon enough to save the day?

Stay tuned.

There is a good article in the Wall Street Journal where you can read more about this topic --

U.S. to Offer Aid to Life Insurers.

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Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and twenty year Wall Street veteran. Bob has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. Content from All American Investor has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments.

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Bold Endeavors: How Our Government Built America, and Why It Must Rebuild Now

FDIC and Congress a case of Dumb and Dumber

If you are concerned about the way Congress is spending our taxpayer money this won't boost your confidence.

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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is facing a potential major shortfall in funding because it collected no insurance premiums from most banks from 1996 to 2006.

If you are not familiar with the FDIC, this is the federal agency which insures deposits in banks up to $250,000.The agency stopped collecting insurance premiums from banks because,

Congress believed that the fund was so well-capitalized - and that bank failures were so infrequent - that there was no need to collect the premiums.

So now,

the FDIC is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks.

To put this in perspective, the current borrowing limit is $30 billion. When the FDIC borrows money it borrows it from the United States Treasury. In other words, you and me.

At the end of December, the FDIC had $18.9 billion in its insurance fund. It is going to need a lot more if a bank nationalization program comes into effect.

It should now be obvious why their is a reluctance to nationalize banks. When, and if this occurs, it will become public that Congress was asleep at the wheel on this one. Or is the real answer lobbying? Did Congressmen receive money to pass the law that forced the FDIC to stop collecting premiums? Was that the real motivation?

Once again good sense is trumped by greed. Making the Congress dumb and the taxpayer dumber.

I'll leave you with this,

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank said that officials believed at the time that the good times would last and that bank failures would not be a problem.

"We had this period where we had no failures," the Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview yesterday. "The banks were saying, 'Don't charge us anything.' "

On yeah before I forget, Congress also decided to raise the amount insured in banks from $100,000 to $250,000. This was to increase confidence in the banking system. Never mind the insurance premium issue.

Are you feeling confident?

Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and twenty year Wall Street veteran. Bob has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. Content from All American Investor has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments.

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Bold Endeavors: How Our Government Built America, and Why It Must Rebuild Now