Bloomberg View’s Barry Ritholtz and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Richard Yamarone discuss retailing and the state of the U.S. economy.
Why It’s Going to Be a ‘MEH-rry’ Holiday Retail Season
Source: Bloomberg, November 25 2015
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Gracious Home CEO Dottie Mattison and Bloomberg View’s Barry Ritholtz discusses the U.S. economy, and consumer spending and confidence (Our NRF Grinch discussion is the last 5 minutes of them segment) .
U.S. Personal Spending Worse Than Expected
Source: Bloomberg, November 25 2015
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Making “The Big Short,” about investors who foresaw the collapse of the housing market and made money short-selling it, left Brad Pitt with little faith in financial reform. Gracious Home CEO Dottie Mattison and Bloomberg View’s Barry Ritholtz weigh in on “Bloomberg ‹GO›.”
Is Brad Pitt Right About U.S. Housing Collapse?
Source: Bloomberg, November 25 2015
maybe just maybe the xmas wont be so good because of a certain parties insistence on the economy being horrendous? and that will impact a lot of businesses who need sales? wonder if this is a ‘normal’ thing in that every 4 years we end up with this effect? or is this a recent change?
changing health insurance system?
http://khn.org/news/as-hmos-dominate-alternatives-become-more-expensive/
oddly enough HMO’s seem to be taking over. big surprise that is, its about cost containment. even though my employer doesnt offer any. we have 2 PPOs and an EPO (sort of like an HMO).
and since every one was so fixated on cost containment why should we be surprised when thats the result we get? and considering that most of cant afford to go to the doctor without insurance, the cost containment will continue and get stronger. course a lot of the containment feature, is just no going at all, unless you have too
HMOs are actually the closest thing the US has to the Canadian health care system. Effectively each province in Canada is one big HMO with virtually all health care providers within the province “in-network”. Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA would all be rolled into that province-wide HMO as well, so very few people are left uncovered by the provincial “HMO” health care system. This organizational structure is a key reason why nearly universal coverage is possible at 2/3 of the US total health care expense as a percentage of GDP. It also means that health care coverage is a virtual non-issue when people are deciding whether or not to change jobs or go out on their own as a sole proprietor or small business.
Most health care provided by employers is to cover the extra costs (e.g. private hospital rooms and pharmaceuticals) above the minimum level of service provided by the provincial system. The provincial health care system will often cover patient costs for travel etc. from remote locations to major health care centers so they don’t have to duplicate expensive services in remote locations in order to reduce overall system costs.
How minimum is that minimum level? Is like HMO’s here with gatekeepers, capitation, gag rules, and the like? Do they omit the “unnecessary tests” like mammograms, annual lab tests, and MRI’s?
I never understood why it would be better medicine for a doctor to guess instead of ordering a test to make sure. Better finance, yes. Better medicine, no.
I will never willingly submit to a system that rewards a doctor for NOT treating me.
they were pretty good when they first showed., but today;s version seems to be shrinking the network to cut costs, and some times they leave out providers like hospitals.
RE: car sales
We bought two new cars this year. They replaced 10-yr and 12-yr old vehicles (pretty old for Upstate NY with lots of snow and salt). Both would have needed several car payments worth of work to be properly drivable over the next year (one catalytic converter gone and the other needed a complete replacement of the AC system, as well as some electrical system issues). So the car purchase is a shot in the arm for the economy but other than a handful of oil changes and purchase of winter tires, I don’t expect to see our friendly mechanic for 2-3 yrs when some brake work might be needed, so his and the parts manufacturers’ incomes will get hit.
Cars used to be largely rotted out by 7-8 yrs, but galvanizing and plastic means that 12+ yrs is generally quite feasible for car bodies in our climate despite the heavy salt usage. The electrical/mechanical/drivetrain systems are now giving out before the car bodies which was definitely not the case in the 80s and 90s. The potholes etc. are starting to take a pretty good toll on suspension systems etc. though. We have had to frequently replace several front struts and stabilizer bars over the past decade as well as the other suspension system components.
How could you stand to sit in a discussion with a bubble-headed blonde who equates a movie star’s shortcomings with systemic corruption and fraud on Wall Street? Pitt has a right to express the outrage everyone but the .0001% feels. Her flippant retort demeans the frustration of everyone but her paymasters.
Wow! Accused of buying a tie at K-Mart???!!! What originality!!! Did he just see “Rain Man” yesterday?!?
Nice acceleration in personal spending in November though.
WRT the last clip we humans do tend to eventually forget bad experiences after some time passes (recency effect) but I strongly doubt that is the case for those growing up in the midst of catastrophic familial experiences such as the Great Depression.