MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'backed'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:53:48 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265694&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOzuq8ClLYe4%2F By Mark A. CalabriaA recent statement from the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, points out that both rounds of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve have dramatically altered the maturity structure of the Fed’s balance sheet.  Normally the Fed conducts monetary policy using short-term Treasury bills, which allows the Fed to avoid most interest rate risk.  In loading up its balance sheet with long-dated Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, the Fed has exposed itself to significant interest rate risk. Recall that the yield, or interest rate, on a long term asset is inversely related to its price.  So if you’re holding a mortgage that yields 5% and rates go up to 6%, then the value of that mortgage falls below par.  The same holds for Treasury securities.  I ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265694 Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:56:50 +0100 4265694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4162927&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdoctors-voicing-concerns-and-fear-of-retaliation%2F2010.11.12 Shouldn’t it be possible to voice a concern about a medical treatment, procedure, or claim without the fear of retaliation? If the claims are backed by science, then simply addressing my concerns would be enough. Fear of retaliation silences discussion. Fear of retaliation makes it difficult to do the “right thing” when the public or an individual patient is at risk. This incidence involves a British plastic surgeon threatened with libel action by the ‘Boob Job’ cream’s manufacturer after she voiced concerns/doubts of its effectiveness. Sense About Science has a great summary of the entire affair: ”Plastic surgeon threatened for comment on ‘Boob Job’ cream.” (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living* (Source: Better... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4162927 Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:00:00 +0100 4162927 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013146&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FH6U5zwCeVMo%2F By Mark A. CalabriaA common defense offered for keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or something like them, is that the market simply cannot absorb the same level of mortgage lending without them.  The central flaw in this argument is that Fannie and Freddie themselves must be funded by the market.  So if the financial markets can absorb X in GSE debt, then the financial markets can absorb X in mortgages. Different market participants currently face different capital requirements for the same assets.  To some extent, Fannie and Freddie were a vehicle for shifting mortgage risk from higher capitalized institutions to less capitalized.  If the Obama administration and bank regulators are serious about closing “regulatory gaps” then all entities backed by the govt, implicit o... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013146 Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:21:31 +0100 4013146 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3440776&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FChEMsILdlbw%2F By Mark A. CalabriaWhile considerable attention has rightly focused on the failure of President Obama’s various mortgage foreclosure plans to actually lower the rate of foreclosures, few have bothered to even ask whether the plan is allowable under the TARP statute. Alex Pollock at AEI first raised this issue during testimony before the Congressional Oversight Panel.  Alex’s point is that TARP only allows the modification of mortgages that are actually acquired by the government.  Recall the original purpose of the TARP was to buy “troubled assets.”  In managing those assets, Congress required the executive branch to come up with a plan to assist the borrowers behind those troubled assets. Apparently unlike the Treasury department, I believe we should go back to ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3440776 Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:59:19 +0100 3440776 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3350256&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4X94fxr3RvI%2F By Tad DeHavenLast week, after Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said that holders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s debt shouldn’t be expected to be treated the same as holders of U.S. government debt, the U.S. Treasury took the “unusual” step of reiterating its commitment to back Fannie and Freddie’s debt. If ever there was case against allowing a few hundred men and women to micromanage the economy, this is it. Fannie and Freddie, which are under government control, are being used to help prop up the ailing housing market. If investors think there’s a chance Uncle Sam won’t back the mortgage giants’ debt, mortgage interest rates could rise and demand for housing dampen. Therefore, Frank’s comments caused a bit of a stir. However, with the government bailing out anything that walk... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3350256 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:28:59 +0100 3350256 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2473189&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOVHZMzbFKSM%2F Will Obama Raise Middle-Class Taxes to Fund Health Care? President Obama is promoting an expansion in federal health care spending, and Democratic leaders are scrambling to find ways to pay for it. The plan is expected to cost about $1.5 trillion over the next decade, but the administration has promised that health care legislation won’t add to already huge federal budget deficits. In a new paper, Cato scholars Michael D. Tanner and Chris Edwards argue that expanding government health care will likely involve huge tax increases on the middle class. Tanner warns of “Obamacare” to come, saying that Obama’s new health care plan will give “government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and over some of the most important, personal, and private decisions in Americans&#8217... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2473189 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:17:08 +0100 2473189 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284356&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fa_4xgLzvmWA%2F The Federal Reserve announced that it would create $1.2 trillion out of thin air and use it to buy mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds, even though Some Fed leaders have resisted buying Treasurys in the past because they were unsure whether it would help reduce borrowing costs and because they feared that it would appear that the central bank was simply printing money to finance the government’s deficit, a hallmark of countries with poorly managed economies. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284356 Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:56:26 +0100 2284356 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2255981&cid=t_188597_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtviCb3eW8cA%2F In a CNBC spot with Steve Liesman & Erin Burnett, I tried to explain why investors in bank stocks had good reason to be pleased with part of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech.  Judging by the response of Steve and Erin, and others on CNBC over the following day,  I must not have been persuasive. For clarification, I am quoting the exact language from Bernanke’s talk, with my emphasis added. My main point is that Bernanke admitted that when it comes to the “financial crisis” of some big banks, this is largely an artifact of unduly harsh regulation being applied at the worst possible time: There is some evidence that capital standards, accounting rules, and other regulations have made the financial sector excessively procyclical–that is, they lead financial insti... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2255981 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:27:45 +0100 2255981 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1537899&cid=t_188597_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F06%2F23%2Fthe-politics-of-mental-illness-in-america%2F The liberal-leaning The American Prospect has an in-depth look at the politics of mental illness in a stand-alone supplement in the summer double issue of the magazine. And it’s a doozy. “When you go to the hospital with a physical illness, people send flowers,” writes Elyn Saks. “When you go to a mental hospital with a mental illness, they don’t.” Saks, a legal scholar and professor at the University of Southern California, documented her own lifelong struggle with mental illness in a powerful memoir, The Center Cannot Hold (2007). She is one of eleven authors from a range of academic, journalistic, medical, and advocacy backgrounds who tackle issues extending from the bioethical questions raised by cutting-edge technologies that can ‘read’ abnormalities in our br... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1537899 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:40:19 +0100 1537899