Mr. Peterson has background both in government and private sector: he has been commerce secretary and is co-founder and senior chairman of Blackstone (the private equity group). Very wise guy in my mind.
Charlie Rose interview July 3, 2009 (link)
Continue reading Peter Peterson on Blackstone, China, deficit and healthcare etc.
My wife asked me why there are so many outraged people on those congressmen/senators townhalls (she reads that from WSJ). I used an analogy. Imagine the metro (or buses) during rush hours in Shanghai (I used to take a bus almost every Monday morning in early 1990s, from my brother’s place to my working place, a 1.5-2 hrs journey). Suppose you are the guy (or the lady) already on a bus, the bus is packed and the driver requested everyone move inside “a little bit” so that more people can squeeze in.
In this case, many old people protest against the reform because they are already covered in Medicare and they fear their coverage will be less generous, as you and I know, this country is running out of money. There is few such thing as win-win, or free lunch these days. More people got covered, but coverage will be less generous overall. Doctors will see more patients, possibly with less income (profit). Blah blah blah.
This topic is heating up in recent days. I think there are a lot of mis-understandings and mis-conception on this. One is a lot people think medicare is inefficient, I have not used medicare but it seems quite efficient in reality.
(Source: economist)
The bottom line is healthcare boils down to two issue:
(Update noon Jan 18) Opps, the Bush rally only last couple hours 😦 Seriously, I do welcome this $1,600 per family tax rebate. Maybe a trip to Europe this Spring? Oh well, that won’t help the US economy directly.
(Original) I mean, to the stock market. Yesterday, after Ben spoke in Congress and painted a bleak picture of US economy, and asked for some sorts of stimulus package. The DOW tanked 300 points, S&P and Nasdaq did no better. Today as Bush is unveiling his economy package: good old things like tax rebate for individuals and business, the US market seems took the cue and is up in the morning. Another amazing thing is the Overseas market (Japan, Korea, Hongkong and Shanghai) also reversed course (last night). So when Bush speaks, the world listens 🙂
Just kidding. Seriously speaking, I think US president has little to do with the US economy cycle, nor can a Fed chairman. The US is heading to a recession, period. But see, the problem is people (include myself) don’t want to hear the harsh words, facing the reality. A few days ago in Michigan John McCain did his straight talk “some of the jobs lost (in auto industry) is not coming back, we need to re-train our people for new skills”, while his rival Mitt Ronmey says he will do everything to get back auto jobs. It’s so obvious that US auto industry is losing ground in the US market, but people still elected Mitt: the guy who tells white lies.
Healthcare cost for US companies
Continue reading Bush is more influential than Bernanke?
A thousand words 