Obamacare 2015 Rate Hikes May Soon Come Into View

         This week health insurance companies will begin reporting their first quarter earnings. This information will be used to forecast for the the potential rise in premiums for the 2015 year under the Affordable Care Act. Although not all of the numbers are in yet alot of people are already wanting to know rates for next year. Consumers will begin to sign up for plans in the next open enrollment period that begins in November. Health Plans are sadly in a bit of a bind. Insurance companies are asking for rate hikes they won't yet disclose because they don't yet know the mix of patients they are signing up for this year, complicating the rate picture for 2015. For rates to not rise at an alarming rate there needs to be a substantial amount of young healy patients buying into the program. However the make up is still unclear. Over 400,000 people were allowed to sign up after the March 31st sign up deadline. This pushed the total number of people under the program to around 7.5 million.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2014/04/13/obamacare-2015-rate-hikes-may-soon-come-into-view/

Jobs recovery killing entrepreneurial spirit

http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/09/smallbusiness/jobs-entrepreneur-kauffman/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

 476,000 new businesses were created each month  last year, mostly in the construction and services industries.That's down 7% from 2012, when 514,000 new businesses were being created monthly.
And,  Men, who are substantially more likely to start a new business than women, led last year's entrepreneurial decline.Older adults, aged 45 to 54, opened more new businesses last year. And, immigrants tend to start up business more than before.  So, people who wants to start up business are changed. I think that American men  lose their entrepreneurial spirit.

  The author is concerned it could lead to fewer high-growth startups, which typically generate revenue and jobs at a more robust rate than other small businesses.

 before reading this article, I thought that the good job market stimulates the an entrepreneur. However the relationship is the opposite from what I thought. Perhapas, people who are satisfid with the salary and the job does not want to start up a business ,because they don't have to take a risk.

Many Added Jobs in March, But the Unemployment Rate Remained Unchanged

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/economy-adds-192000-jobs-in-march-unemployment-rate-unchanged-at-67-percent/2014/04/04/467a8114-bc12-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html

                Recent data released by the government revealed that about a half-million people, most of them without a college degree joined the labor force in March. This was the 3^rd consecutive month that the workforce has increased and the largest expansion since 2010. This growth represents some hope for less-educated workers, who were the ones to take the hardest hit during the recession.

                The economy added 192,000 jobs in March after hiring slumped during winter’s harsh conditions. Although more people found work, the ballooning labor force meant that the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 percent. The labor force participation rate, the percentage of the population that either has a job or is looking for one dropped to the lowest level in 35 years. As a result, the unemployment rate fell more quickly than expected. No one is sure what was driving the decline. Some believe the answer is demographics: Baby boomers are retiring, and fewer people are immigrating to the United States. But others have a different explanation. They argue that many potential workers became so discouraged that they gave up the job search and were no longer counted as part of the labor force. That means that a stronger economy could entice them back into the mix.

                The Obama administration used the jobs report to highlight the plight of the long-term unemployed, who account for more than one-third of people out of work. The Senate is expected to vote on a measure that would restore unemployment benefits to those workers. Federal payments to those who have been unemployed six months or more expired in December, and Democrats have been seeking a way to reinstate them. Perhaps even more heartening, the nation’s workforce grew by half a million people in March. The expansion in the labor force meant that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 percent in March, even though more people found jobs.

China's Economy Loosing Steam

http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/08/news/economy/china-economy-survey/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

China's economy lost momentum in the first quarter and growth in 2014 could fall short of the government's official target, according to a CNNMoney survey of economists. China's current projected GDP is around 7.3%, lower than the targeted 7.5%. China's GDP growth is being closely watched as the government works to reform the world's second largest economy after years of runaway expansion. The article outlines the steps the Chinese government have taken to help the economy grow, and also talks about what more the government should be doing. 

Lessons Learned from the Recession

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/money/2014/04/13/column-recession-lessons-learned/7545227/


After the Great Recession the United States has reanalyzed how it handles its finances. This occured on a national level, but also on and individual level. This article describes the great advances that United States citizens have made in making more responsible investments. One of the more impressive statistics is that bankruptcy filings have decreased by sixteen percent in the past month. These trends are very similar to those that occurred after the Great Depression and hopefully point towards a more fiscally responsible United States..

Medicare doctors: Who gets the big bucks & for what http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/11/news/economy/medicare-doctors/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead

This article argues at who truly gets the real money in Medicare. It's is said in the article that billions of dollars which came from the tax payers pockets went to doctors and government programs. There are so called Medicare millionaires where the top 2% claim Medicare when in all reality they have the money to provide themselves with the care they need. The money in Medicare needs to be given in a way to kind of even out who gets more or less help.

Where Did the Good Jobs Go?

This article by Sid Mohn of the Huffington Post raises an interesting issue about the job market at the moment. According to the statistics by the Labor Department, the job market experienced a 192,000 job growth in March, which is good news. However, most of these jobs are coming from low-wages industries. As observed, more and more people are employed into fast food service, office administration, retail and other customer service - occupations that do not provide sufficient income for individuals and families to get by.
The author places the blame on short term/discretionary policies from the government  (the issue we discussed in class on Friday).
What are your thoughts on this article?
Comments are appreciated.

Source:  Where did the good jobs go?

IMF April 2014 Communique

http://www.lse.co.uk/macroeconomicNews.asp?code=9iq8zu7c&headline=TEXTIMF_steering_committee_April_2014_communique

Goal: To create a balances, stable and dynamic economy.

• There's growth in the Euro, but it's still fragile.
• Many advanced economies: inflation is below the target and will likely remain so.
• Emerging markets: Growth has moderated but will strengthen gradually.
• Low income economies: Growth has remained resilient.
• Unemployment: High in many countries.
• Monetary policy in advanced economies should provide necessary accommodation.
• Continued tapering of asset purchases by the Fed remains appropriate.
• The ECB should continue with its policies but should act if the inflation keeps declining.
• Emerging economies with no inflationary pressures should use accomodative monetary policies in response to growth slowdown.

Mergers Are Back in Fashion—for Now

After years of holding back as Europe lurched from crisis to crisis, the region’s companies are leading a global dealmaking comeback. Western European buyers announced $149 billion of acquisitions in the first three months of the year, a gain of almost 60 percent over the same period in 2013 and the biggest jump worldwide, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.  Interest rate cuts and central bank pledges to buy the bonds of crisis-hit countries have boosted business confidence in Europe, and the euro area economy grew more than economists expected in the fourth quarter of 2013. Worldwide, the value of announced acquisitions rose about 26 percent, to $637 billion in the first quarter, the best start to a year since 2007. Technology and communications companies announced $174 billion of takeovers globally, the data show. Chief executive officers are “more optimistic that they can operate within the context of an improving economy,” says Hernan Cristerna, global co-head of mergers and acquisitions at JPMorgan Chase in London. But, as last year showed, a strong start in M&A can fizzle. After takeovers of Dell and H.J. Heinz in the first two months of 2013, activity during the rest of the year was lackluster. “Conditions for dealmaking have been quite good for the last couple of years, but the mindset has been cautious because of whatever the looming crisis of the day was,” says Gregg Lemkau, global co-head of M&A at Goldman Sachs.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-03/merger-mania-is-back-europe-leads-global-revival

Chances of getting audited by IRS lowest in years

Because of budget cuts, the IRS now has fewer employees than it has in the past. This decline in labor force further reduces their already declining ability to police businesses on the accuracy of their financial statements. To respond to this unfortunate circumstance for the IRS, President Obama has proposed a 10 percent increase in their budget for next year, which is something that the IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, disagrees with "because it exceeds spending caps already set by Congress." This increase in government spending to fund the IRS would increase output and consumer income. If the government continues to spend more, not just on the IRS budget but spend more in general, in the long run this will lead to a rightward shift in the IS curve on the IS-LM model. To respond, the government may hold M constant, r constant, or Y constant which would all have different effects on the economy.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/chances-audited-irs-lowest-years-23307720