Americans Want ‘Freedom to Pay Too Much for Inferior Health Care’
US President Barack Obama has lost his messianic status in the row over health care reform, say German media commentators. The debate reveals the downside of America’s ideological aversion towards government: Americans are ready to put up with an inferior health service in the name of freedom, it seems.
State transportation officials say uncertainty about future funding is forcing them to foreswear ambitious new projects in favor of simple maintenance and repairs. [Read More]
“FBI director Robert S. Mueller III announced Monday that the entire manpower of his increasingly disillusioned agency has been diverted into a massive nationwide search for some semblance of genuine, concrete truth,” The Onion reports. “ ‘After years of investigating all the things people do to one another, from murder to mail fraud, every agent at the bureau’s disposal has been reassigned to track down something — anything—that could still be considered pure and true,’ the world-weary Mueller said. ‘If some inkling of truth is out there, the FBI will find it.’ The existential hunt, under way across all 50 states, is the largest initiative launched by the FBI to date. So far, nearly 8,000 federal agents have been mobilized to search for the intangible concept, with several units being deployed to watch the setting sun, walk barefoot through fields of grass, and ‘listen — truly listen’ to the laughter of children in hopes of tracking it down.” See, also, an Onion Interactive Graphic: “How Do Drugs Cross The Border?” Source: CQ Homeland Security
H2 2009 Pick-Up in GDP Growth a Temporary Phenomenon
From RGE Monitor:
In H2 2009, as the economy bottoms out from a record contraction (the worst in the last 60 years), adjustments, such as slower inventory destocking, will occur, while policy measures such as “cash for clunkers” will boost auto production and induce continued spending brought on by the stimulus. According to RGE Monitor, these factors will likely bring U.S. real GDP growth back to positive territory in Q3 2009. However, the NBER is not likely to call the end of the recession until at least late 2009 or early 2010. In addition to GDP growth, the NBER looks at four variables in making recession calls: real personal income less transfer payments, real manufacturing and wholesale-retail trade sales, industrial production and payroll employment. While all of these indicators might perform better in H2 than in H1 2009, they are likely to remain in contraction or register sub-par growth. With the labor market now a leading indicator for the recovery in private consumption and the wider economy, trends in payrolls will definitely influence the NBER’s call.