June 2011

Screwing the Self-Employed

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shrinkmanIt's summer, officially the time for health insurance companies to jack up individual health insurance premiums by double digits. Such is the case of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, about to increase their never ending shrinking health care coverage by 22.1% on average:

Concerns about surging health care costs drove more than 150 people Thursday to hear Oregon's largest health insurer defend its request to raise premiums an average 22 percent.

In the Oregon Insurance Division's first public hearing for a rate request in more than 20 years, administrator Teresa Miller grilled the president of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.

Then Laura Etherton, a health policy advocate for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, urged the division to reject the request.

"It is not justified, and it will only make matters worse," she said.

BlueCross sticks it to the self-employed or any other small business buying individual policies every year, with a never ending shrinking pool of customers, now down to 59,447. They used to cover over 100,000 in Oregon but clearly people are dropping out because they cannot afford the premiums. Even with health insurance, these individual policies do not provide enough coverage.

Off Shoring Ruined Incomes and Jobs for Most Americans

By paul craig roberts
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The free trade theory set out by David Ricardo at the beginning of the 19th century is merely a special case, not a general theory.

These are discouraging times, but once in a blue moon a bit of hope appears. I am pleased to report on the bit of hope delivered in March of 2011 by Michael Spence, a Nobel prize-winning economist, assisted by Sandile Hlatshwayo, a researcher at New York University. The two economists have taken a careful empirical look at jobs off-shoring and concluded that it has ruined the income and employment prospects for most Americans. (Image: fisserman)

To add to the amazement, their research report, "The Evolving Structure of the American Economy and the Employment Challenge,"was published by the very establishment Council on Foreign Relations.

For a decade I have warned that US corporations, pressed by Wall Street and large retailers such as Wal-Mart, to move offshore their production for US consumer markets, were simultaneously moving offshore US GDP, US tax base, US consumer income, and irreplaceable career opportunities for American citizens.

Productivity & Costs Q1 2011

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Q1 2011 Productivity & Costs was revised today. Labor productivity increased +1.8%. Output increased +3.2% and hours worked increased 1.4%. From Q1 2010, annual productivity increased +1.3%, output +3.2% and hours +1.9%. Below is business, nonfarm labor productivity per quarter. Workers are still being squeezed, and with such high unemployment, we need productivity to dramatically decline, forcing U.S.

ADP Employment Report Only 38,000 Private Sector Jobs Added in May 2011

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ADP, a private organization, released their private payrolls jobs report. This month ADP is reporting a gain of 38,000 private sector jobs in May 2011. This is a very sharp deceleration of job growth. Below are the reported private sector jobs from ADP. This report does not include government, or public jobs.

 

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