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 'bankruptcy'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:11:28 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028158&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1bQcSKcql2Y%2F By Walter OlsonThe New York Times has an article today on the plight of Central Falls, Rhode Island, a 19,000-population industrial city that may declare bankruptcy under the fiscal weight of $80 million in pension obligations for police and fire officers. Unlike some coverage of municipal fiscal woes, this one does not dance around the way some of the problem originates in misguided labor policy: The city, just north of Providence, is small and poor, but over the years it has promised police officers and firefighters retirement benefits like those offered in big, rich states like California and New York. These uniformed workers can retire after just 20 years of service, receive free health care in retirement, and qualify for full disability pensions when only partly disabled. “Promi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028158 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:27:20 +0100 5028158 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4175678&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYan9fJhdM_8%2F By Daniel IkensonGM’s long-rumored initial public stock offering will take place Thursday and self-anointed savior of the U.S. auto industry, Steven Rattner, is pretty bullish about the prospect of investors turning out in droves.  I’ve been saying for a while that I thought the government’s exposure [euphemism for taxpayer losses] in the auto bailout was in the $10-billion to $20-billion range. But since investor interest has pushed the initial price up from the $26-to-$29 per share range to the $32-$33 range, Rattner now believes: [T]his exposure is in the single-digit billion range, and arguably potentially better. I won’t argue with Rattner’s numbers.  After all, they affirm one of my many criticisms of the bailout: that taxpayers would never recoup the value of their “i... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4175678 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:48:59 +0100 4175678 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4163060&cid=t_139179_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Femotional-bankruptcy-or-alexthymia%2F Emotional bankruptcy refers to the emotional condition experienced by most early recovering people. Emotional bankruptcy usually means that a person has used up every emotion in attempts to support their alcoholism / addiction and has no emotion left to manipulate themselves or others. Alexithymia refers to a condition that is characterised by; a difficulty in identifying and communicating feelings, a difficulty in distinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations impaired symbolization, as evidenced by paucity of fantasies and other imaginative activity, and a preference for focusing on external events rather than inner experiences. The term was coined from the Greek a- (prefix meaning "lack"), lexis ("word") and thymos ("feelings"), and hence can... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4163060 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:24:00 +0100 4163060 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3772346&cid=t_139179_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FVwcrrV9DMMU%2F We mentioned in our recent market report that NovaVision had declared bankrupcy. The company tried to transform its business model in the last couple of years — obviously it didn’t work. Now the trustee is sharing a few more details and looking for ways to dispose of its assets: NovaVision’s FDA-Cleared Visual Restoration Therapy (VRT) System and Company Assets Now Available (press release) The bankruptcy trustee has engaged The Magnum Group, Inc., to solicit offers for NovaVision’s assets which include the NovaVision Visual Restoration Therapy (VRT) system, a neuroplacticity (sic) platform that has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of stroke, traumatic brain injury, amblyopia (“lazy eye”) and optic nerve damage. NovaVision has recei... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3772346 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:28:08 +0100 3772346 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3714164&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8zpVAgMLikA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThat’s the name of the website of Jack Dean, who is interviewed in this new Reason.tv video about how excessive pension promises to bureaucrats are creating a fiscal nightmare for state and local governments. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3714164 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:45:15 +0100 3714164 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3683618&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Ffor-medicare-patients-the-doctor-is-out%2F2010.06.21 In a last-minute shocker, the Senate voted Thursday against postponing a scheduled 21-percent cut in Medicare reimbursement to physicians and other healthcare providers. Sixty senators were needed to end filibuster debate and stop the cuts under Senate rules. Fifty six voted in favor, while 40 opposed. There was no Republican support. (And, of course, no support from Senator Lieberman, who is a Republican in disguise.) Another consequence of the vote is that tens of thousands of Americans who have exhausted their jobless benefits would not be eligible for more. In addition, new taxes on wealthy investment managers would not be imposed, along with an increase in liability taxes on oil companies, leading Democrats to contend that Republicans were protecting Wall Street and the oil industr... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3683618 Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:00:00 +0100 3683618 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3542584&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6tx3IV4Fd9c%2F By David BoazThe economist Herb Stein famously said, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” That’s a good riposte when people wring their hands over something unsustainable. Of course, that fact doesn’t tell you how unsustainable situations will stop, and some ways are less pleasant than others. I thought of “Stein’s Law” when I read former California Assembly speaker Willie Brown’s response to a question about whether California’s lavish public-employee pensions would bankrupt the state: No, it’s not going to bankrupt the state. My guess is that the State of California, like most places involved with pensions, is going to cease to pay them. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3542584 Thu, 06 May 2010 18:06:24 +0100 3542584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3538078&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBab5R3VnWa4%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanBusinessweek has a story quoting a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, Michael Wildes, speculating that Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber, made so many mistakes (leaving his house keys in the car, not knowing about the vehicle identification number, making calls from his cellphone, getting filmed, buying the car himself) that he may be the “dumbest terrorist in the world.” But Wildes can’t accept the idea that an al Qaeda type terrorist would be so incompetent and suggests that Shahzad was “purposefully hapless” to generate intelligence about the police reaction for the edification of his buddies back in Pakistan. Give me a break. This incompetence is hardly unprecedented. Three years ago Bruce Schneier wrote an art... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3538078 Wed, 05 May 2010 18:14:44 +0100 3538078 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3482883&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyAt8AlivMAo%2F By Mark A. CalabriaSeveral commentators have reacted to Senator McConnell’s floor statement regarding the Dodd bill as a defense of “doing nothing”.  And accordingly argue that such a position would be, in the words of Simon Johnson, both dangerous and irresponsible.  This familiar canard is based upon the oft repeated assertion that the failure of Lehman proved that we cannot simply let large financial companies enter bankruptcy. The simple, but important, fact is that we have no idea what would have happened had we let AIG and Bear go into bankruptcy proceedings.  Nor do we know what would have happened if Lehman had been saved.  Macroeconomics does not have the luxury of running natural experiments to determine the impact of a corporate failure.   Scholars have a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3482883 Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:33:03 +0100 3482883 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3331275&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fu3lFBBg7i2M%2F By Chris Edwards1. Additional federal spending transfers resources from the more productive private sector to the less productive public sector of the economy. The bulk of federal spending goes toward subsidies and benefit payments, which generally do not enhance economic productivity. With lower productivity, average American incomes will fall. 2. As federal spending rises, it creates pressure to raise taxes now and in the future. Higher taxes reduce incentives for productive activities such as working, saving, investing, and starting businesses. Higher taxes also increase incentives to engage in unproductive activities such as tax avoidance. 3. Much federal spending is wasteful and many federal programs are mismanaged. Cost overruns, fraud and abuse, and other bureaucratic failures are e... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3331275 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:34:12 +0100 3331275 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3331276&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FPF4QysQiVgg%2F By Daniel J. MitchellFiscal crises have a predictable pattern. Step 1 occurs when the economy is prospering and tax revenues are growing faster than forecast. Step 2 is when politicians use the additional money to increase government spending. Step 3 is that politicians do not treat the extra tax revenue like a temporary windfall and budget accordingly.Instead, they adopt policies – more entitlements, more bureaucrats – that permanently expand the burden of the public sector. Step 4 occurs when the economy stumbles (in part because more resources are being diverted from the productive sector to the government) and tax revenues stagnate. If the resulting fiscal gap is large enough, as it is in places such as Greece and California, a crisis atmosphere is created. Step 5 takes pla... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3331276 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:53:29 +0100 3331276 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3092675&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FG9-tscKfsQM%2F By Ilya ShapiroOn Monday the Supreme Court released its last orders for the calendar year. Of particular note — apart from the non-release of the long-awaited decision in the Citizens United campaign finance case — the Court dismissed the cert petition in Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler LLC as moot and vacated the underlying Second Circuit opinion. While this is not the ideal outcome – particularly for the Indiana creditors — it is in its own way an important decision preserving the integrity of bankruptcy law. To recap: In January, Chrysler stood on the brink of insolvency. Purporting to act under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the Treasury Department extended the car company a $4 billion loan using funds from the Troubled Asset Rel... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3092675 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:42:30 +0100 3092675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3079322&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTGslb_rm3AA%2F By Daniel IkensonAs described in the current Cato Policy Report, one of the “Hard Lessons from the Auto Bailout” is that management at GM is likely to be “highly erratic, as the president and Congress wrestle for decisionmaking primacy at this majority taxpayer-owned entity.”  The “dealerships” issue is Exhibit A. One of GM’s first decisions upon emerging from bankruptcy was to announce closures of a number of dealerships to help reduce costs. Then-nominal-CEO Fritz Henderson explained that the planned closings would save GM about $100 in distribution costs per vehicle–a few hundred million dollars per year when factoring in the millions of units GM expects to produce. But many of GM’s congressional CEOs cried foul, demanding reco... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3079322 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:39:39 +0100 3079322 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3015274&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLqjgGYeZLeo%2F Just in time for Thanksgiving, the turkey has arrived: How Harry Reid’s health care “reform” bill is stuffed with extra costs. A few things you might not know about the Chrysler bankruptcy. Why you should not blame Obama for Bush’s 2009 deficit. Standing against the storm: Nien Chang, 1915-2009. Podcast: Think the Federal Reserve is independent? Think again. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3015274 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:04:29 +0100 3015274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2871569&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FKDHROFXSlhw%2F Further to Ilya Shapiro’s post this morning, let me also point you to a concise chronology of events culminating in the government’s robbery of Chrysler creditors. The story is that of Richard Mourdock, Treasurer of the State of Indiana and the man responsible for stewardship of the state’s pension funds, some of which were victimized by the Obama administration’s pre-packaged and then forced-fed bankruptcy deal for Chrysler. I strongly urge you to read Mr. Mourdock’s testimony, which is at once revealing, sobering, compelling and, regrettably, a frightening sign of the times. Mourdock will be speaking on this very topic at Cato, along with bankruptcy law expert David Skeel, on Thursday, October 15 at noon. Reserve your seat now. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2871569 Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:08:38 +0100 2871569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2715917&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2q181XaxYk4%2F I was never a fan of Dick Cheney’s one percent doctrine. According to Ron Suskind, after 9/11 Cheney explained to law enforcement and intelligence officials that they should treat even the one percent chance of a terrorist attack as a mathematical certainty. The particular case was of a Pakistani nuclear scientist helping al-Qaeda to acquire a nuclear bomb, but the standard became a shorthand for U.S. counterterror efforts generally. No scale of effort would be too great. Better to chase down 100 leads, 99 of which turn out to be bogus, because finding just that one nugget would have been worth the level of effort. Now we have evidence that the federal government is chasing down far more than 99 blind alleys for just one lead. From today’s front-page story in the New York... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2715917 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:03:09 +0100 2715917 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2653666&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fv4MERyzbrMU%2F The recent focus in Washington on mortgage modifications once again illustrates one of the most fundamental flaws in current political debate:  the notion of using government to threaten or force the “voluntary” transfer of wealth from one group of citizens to another. Just this week Rep. Barney Frank warned the banking industry if they don’t “voluntarily” do more to reduce foreclosures, Congress will step in and make them do so, by allowing bankruptcy judges to re-write mortgage contracts.  This proposal is really nothing more an ex poste transfer of wealth from investors in mortgage backed assets to borrowers. Of course, Rep. Frank and others respond that they are only trying to “bring lenders to the table” in order to keep negotiations going... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2653666 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:42:48 +0100 2653666 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2598196&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FmU7eq3nB1Us%2F Jeffrey A. Miron explains in Reason why a government bail-out of most everyone was neither the only option nor the best option: When people try to pin the blame for the financial crisis on the introduction of derivatives, or the increase in securitization, or the failure of ratings agencies, it’s important to remember that the magnitude of both boom and bust was increased exponentially because of the notion in the back of everyone’s mind that if things went badly, the government would bail us out. And in fact, that is what the federal government has done. But before critiquing this series of interventions, perhaps we should ask what the alternative was. Lots of people talk as if there was no option other than bailing out financial institutions. But you always have a choice. You may not... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2598196 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:42:45 +0100 2598196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2556080&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_CfMW0ZjU_I%2F The president and his appointees have expressed their hope that Government Motors will eventually pay back taxpayers for their “forced investment” in the company.  But there aren’t many cases of this sort of lemon socialism actually paying off. Now most everyone connected with GM is admitting the same thing.  Reports the Washington Post: If a new General Motors emerges from bankruptcy as planned, U.S. financial aid for the company will expand to nearly $50 billion, but neither the government nor the company is forecasting how much of the public money will be repaid. It’s sure to be a stretch. For the United States to fully recover its investment, the value of General Motors stock will have to reach levels it has never before attained. “I’m not going... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2556080 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:56:41 +0100 2556080 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2473204&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fj28OcieqtwE%2F Today Congressman Spencer Bachus, along with several of the Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee, offered a plan for reforming our financial system and ending future government bailouts of the financial sector At the heart of the financial crisis has been the Federal Reserve’s willingness to invoke its powers under Paragraph 13-3 of the Federal Reserve Act to bail out firms like Bear Stearns and AIG — all without a single vote from Congress or any form of public debate. Almost 10 months after the initial AIG bailout by the Fed, there is still no plan for resolving that firm, and no strategy for recovering the taxpayers investment. While some might pretend that the Fed puts no taxpayer funds at risk under the use its 13-3 powers, it is the American taxpayer who u... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2473204 Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:41:03 +0100 2473204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2464092&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCVvwJhEwa5c%2F While the majority of Chrysler’s senior creditors sacrificed their fiduciary duties and caved into political pressure in accepting the Obama Administration’s pre-packaged bankruptcy of Chrysler, a small group of state pension funds in Indiana has challenged the Obama plan and is asking the Supreme Court to review said plan. As in the 1930s, the protection of contractual rights, one of the most basic pillars of a free society, along with the rule of law, is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. As discussed in today’s Washington Post, these pension funds believe their rights were infringed by the Administration’s placing of junior creditors in a preferred situation to senior creditors. It doesn’t take Ms. Manners to remind us that cutting in line, whether in traffic, at the g... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2464092 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:22:23 +0100 2464092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2458040&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUEOvs9puy04%2F Obama Speaks to the Muslim World In Cairo on Thursday, President Obama asked for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” and spoke at some length on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Cato scholar Christopher Preble comments, “At times, it sounded like a state of the union address, with a litany of promises intended to appeal to particular interest groups. …That said, I thought the president hit the essential points without overpromising.” Preble goes on to say: He did not ignore that which divides the United States from the world at large, and many Muslims in particular, nor was he afraid to address squarely the lies and distortions — including the implication that 9/11 never happened, or was not... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2458040 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:44:16 +0100 2458040 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2458415&cid=t_139179_134_f&fid=35152&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsstrumello.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fdiabetes-bankruptcy-average-diabetes.html My career in involves a lot of time doing research online looking for statistics, etc., so I spend a lot of time on the Internet. My own day-to-day diabetes care is a factor more often than I would like it to be, but that's just the way things are. But beyond my own daily care, it is not all the time that my research for work overlaps directly with diabetes. This is one such time. As someone who works as a consultant for the consumer finance industry (primarily banks, but I've done work for a range of other companies such as Sony, Disney, etc.) and it's long been a been common knowledge that medical bills have long been a major factor behind consumer bankruptcies. That part is not really news, even if it doesn't get mentioned nearly as often as it needs to in the debate over healthcare ref... Scott's Web Log blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2458415 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:50:00 +0100 2458415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452748&cid=t_139179_111_f&fid=36048&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAHeartyLife%2F%7E3%2F7_WwNKsS9CU%2F Almost 2/3 of personal bankruptcies in the United States are the result of illness and overwhelming medical bills, despite having health insurance, say researchers. This is a 50% increase from 2001, just 8 years ago. And, it’s important to note 2 things. One is that bankruptcy is harder to declare now than it was before 2001 and that this research was done before the current economic situation, so the situation could, in fact, be worse. Researchers from Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University worked together to produce the first known study of this type to cover the entire country. They found that the vast majority (over 77%) of the people who went bankrupt were among those who did have health insurance when they first became ill. According to a press release d... A Hearty Life blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452748 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:30:21 +0100 2452748 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452389&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFJQ8Fkf3NDQ%2F GM’s restructuring under Chapter 11 includes plans to sell off the Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands. Well, just one day after GM’s bankruptcy filing, a Chinese firm has come forward with a $500 million offer to purchase Hummer. The prospective buyer is Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co Ltd, a manufacturing company in western China, which hopes to become an automaker. Not only is the Hummer offer the first bid for a GM asset in bankruptcy, but the bidder is foreign. Not only is the bidder foreign, but Chinese. And not only is the bidder Chinese, but the Hummer was first developed by the U.S. military. Thus, this is certain to be characterized as a national security matter, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) will have to review the proposal.... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452389 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:23:14 +0100 2452389 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2447456&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjWdgEibyRF8%2F It’s not as if we didn’t know this was going to happen to GM for a long time now. GM’s bankruptcy announcement today is perhaps the least shocking news we’ve heard about the company in more than seven months. It might well be remembered as the company’s last act of capitalism. If GM emerges from bankruptcy organized and governed by the plan created by the Obama administration, it is impossible to see how free markets will have anything to do with the U.S. auto industry. With taxpayers on the hook for $50 billion (at a minimum), the administration will do whatever it has to — including tilting the playing field with policies that induce consumers to buy GM or hamstring GM’s competition or subsidize its costs — in order for GM to succeed. Thus, what’s going to happe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2447456 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:24:19 +0100 2447456 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2442305&cid=t_139179_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2FzPvv_PX3AKM%2F Supporters and opponents of GMO have been clamoring from a support from the Vatican, for the obvious reasons of elevating GMO into a moral issue. Well, a study from the Vatican strongly endorses genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as providing “better food security” and safe and healthy foods, reports the National Catholic Reporter this week. Although the Vatican itself has not issued an official statement, the Pontifical Academy for Science met this week to discuss the merits of GMO and participants unanimously agreed to endorse GMOs. Unfortunately, no Catholic critic of GMOs was invited to the conference so the endorsement has been viewed as totally biased. In a related news, Boulder County Colorado farmers may now plant genetically modified sugar beets on government land, acco... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2442305 Fri, 29 May 2009 11:48:00 +0100 2442305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2414744&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOLJvSspHGGA%2F Bloomberg reports: General Motors Corp., facing a probable bankruptcy filing by June 1, is telling 1,100 “underperforming” U.S. dealers they will be terminated as the automaker starts shrinking its retail network. Most of the closings will occur by October 2010, and none are happening now, Detroit-based GM said today. The targeted outlets will have until the end of the month to appeal the decisions, GM said, without specifying the stores on the list. The shutdowns are the biggest U.S. automaker’s first step toward paring domestic dealers to a range of 3,600 to 4,000 from 5,969 by the end of 2010. To be sure, it is a very sad day for thousands of workers and businesses around the country.  But we’re in the midst of a deep recession, which may be nowhere deeper than in the auto ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2414744 Fri, 15 May 2009 21:08:20 +0100 2414744 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405031&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fb_V7olWczVQ%2F With the Obama administration preferring to rely on politics rather than the law to “fix” the auto industry, bondholders have discovered that the new politics of this administration is quite a bit more brutal than the old politics practiced by the Bush administration. Henry Payne and Richard Burr write of “gangster government” using not just demagogic public attacks on greedy bondholders but apparent threats of regulatory sanction to get its way in bankruptcy court.  They explain: The holdout debtholders sought the refuge of the courts, where decades of bankruptcy law promised that secured lenders would receive just compensation for their investment. But then Obama called in his fixers. In his April 30 news conference, Obama singled out Chrysler’s self-desc... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405031 Thu, 14 May 2009 13:00:19 +0100 2405031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405038&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FN_eTKAOix2M%2F Recently on Leno, President Obama compared some financial products to an exploding toaster. His words: When you buy a toaster, if it explodes in your face there’s a law that says your toasters need to be safe. But when you get a credit card, or you get a mortgage, there’s no law on the books that says if that explodes in your face financially, somehow you’re going to be protected. So this is — the need for getting back to some common sense regulations — there’s nothing wrong with innovation in the financial markets. We want people to be successful; we want people to be able to make a profit. Banks are critical to our economy and we want credit to flow again. But we just want to make sure that there’s enough regulatory common sense in place that ord... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405038 Wed, 13 May 2009 15:23:22 +0100 2405038 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2389654&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FcRLV8Ocl2WM%2F After the Senate’s rejection last week of allowing bankruptcy judges to re-write mortgage contracts, the so called “cramdown” provisions, it was starting to look as if the Senate cared about respecting private contracts. Sadly, such concern has been short-lived. Tucked away in the mortgage bill is a provision that gives servicers of mortgages, that is, the entities that collect payments and perform modifications on behalf of the actual investors in mortgages, a “safe harbor” from any litigation by investors if the servicer chooses to follow the interests of the borrower or the government, rather than fulfilling their fiduciary duty to the investors. Supporters of the safe harbor claim that too many foreclosures have taken place due to contractual restrictions ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2389654 Wed, 06 May 2009 17:07:55 +0100 2389654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2386826&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FB4i2VaAqgbQ%2F After rejecting the proposed ‘cramdown’ changes to the bankruptcy code, the Senate may be slowly waking up to the need to respect contracts.  One cannot rebuild trust and confidence in our markets, while at the same type trying to destroy the trust that underlies contractual relations.  Were the cramdown legislation approved, the message to investors, or any market participants, would be that the enforceability and terms of your private agreements will be subject to the direction of the political winds. Proponents of cramdown claimed that the bankruptcy code favored one’s vacation home or yacht over one’s primary residence, as the mortgages on these assets could be reduced to reflect their current value.  Such a claim is at best misleading, if not outright false.  One&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2386826 Mon, 04 May 2009 14:13:29 +0100 2386826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2380721&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXnGJVy-Jw4s%2F A small group of Chrysler debt holders rejected the Obama administration’s restructuring plan last night, leaving Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the most salient option for the company. The Obama administration accused the investors who walked away of “failure to act…in the national interest.” But it’s not difficult to understand why these secured creditors rejected the government’s offer of essentially 29 cents on their investment dollar. If that is how the Obama administration treats capital markets, how exactly do they expect to spur private investment in American companies, as the White House claims it wants to do? Bankruptcy reorganization will probably yield a better deal for investors than the government’s plan. It also will imbue the process with more financial sanity than ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2380721 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:45:15 +0100 2380721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2347774&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F3QRyYqc9nh4%2F At the New York Times Economix blog, economist Nancy Folbre of the University of Massachusetts writes: The libertarian Cato Institute often emphasizes the issue of corporate welfare, but it’s remained remarkably quiet so far on the topic of bailouts. Excuse me? Since she linked to one of our papers on corporate welfare, we assume she’s visited our site. How, then, could she get such an impression? Cato scholars have been deploring bailouts since last September. (Actually, since the Chrysler bailout of 1979, but we’ll skip forward to the recent avalanche of Bush-Obama bailouts.) Just recently, for instance, in — ahem — the New York Times, senior fellow William Poole implored, “Stop the Bailouts.” I wonder if our commentaries started with my blog post &#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2347774 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:53:14 +0100 2347774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2306729&cid=t_139179_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F24LVmhFGt18%2F G-20 Summit Agrees to International Spending Plan The Washington Post reports, “Leaders from more than 20 major nations including the United States decided Thursday to make available an additional $1 trillion for the world economy through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions as part of a broad package of measures to overcome the global financial crisis.” Cato scholars Richard W. Rahn, Daniel J. Ikenson and Ian Vásquez commented on the London-based meeting: Rahn: “President Obama of the U.S. and Prime Minister Brown of the U.K. will be pressing for more so-called stimulus spending by other nations, despite the fact that the historical evidence shows that big increases in government spending are more likely to be damaging and slow down recovery than they ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2306729 Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:32:27 +0100 2306729 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1981288&cid=t_139179_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F460722285%2F The global economic crisis has cut funding for biotechs to the lowest level in a decade, triggering bankruptcies and threatening development of drugs based on biomedical breakthroughs, Bloomberg News writes. In the past month, at least five biotechs filed for bankruptcy. Those at highest risk have experimental compounds moving into costly human research. The amount raised this year by biotechs fell by $9.7 billion through September, or 54 percent, compared with the same period in 2007, according to Burrill & Company, a life sciences investment bank. That may mean work on dozens of potential treatments will stall or die as workers are fired and early research projects are shelves, Bloomberg writes. “I’m looking down the barrel of a gun,” says Tom Mathers, ceo at Peptimmune, a p... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1981288 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:47:36 +0100 1981288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1825584&cid=t_139179_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F09%2F23%2Fdealing-with-uncertain-economic-times%2F I find a strange melancholic amusement to learn that many of these investment banks’ CEOs and boards of directors — people being paid millions of dollars every year to purportedly know what their own companies are doing and how they make money — didn’t have a clue as to how deep their companies were into questionable financial practices. It’s like Enron all over again, except this time on a much more disastrously large scale. Now they turn to the U.S. government — the taxpayers such as you and I — to “rescue” their firms, all the while receiving large payouts (severance packages) and continued bonuses. And will any of this affect their ability to score a new position in a year’s time? Not one bit. These things will simply be chal... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1825584 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0100 1825584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=794293&cid=t_139179_109_f&fid=35677&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainBasedBusiness%2F%7E3%2F143375260%2Fuse_your_brain_to_land_a_mortg.html According to a report at CNNMoney today … the stock market is going crazy. It’s really a brain thing  that’s happening though… and you needn’t follow the same spiral down. It seems that the current crisis in subprime mortgage markets could be better news for the average American than first thought. How so? For one thing … Rates on 30-year fixed loans dipped last week, to 6.41 percent, according to the Mortgage Banker's Association.Another feature on your side is the fact that home prices dropped … with fewer buyers currently in the mortgage market. Who gets a loan and who gets turned away then? It's actually far more than a numbers mix. No question - there’s always some level of risk when you sit down with any lende... BrainBasedBusiness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=794293 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:20:08 +0100 794293