From Andrew Tisch; The Hill ~ Jun 17, 2018
In April, the Congressional Budget Office reported the U.S. annual budget deficit will reach $1 trillion by 2020. That’s a troubling trajectory, but no one in Washington seems to care enough to stop spending money.
I only see one answer. Washington needs to spend more money. Spending in one area now might actually help avert a fiscal apocalypse later.
By Neil Weinberg; Bloomberg ~ Jun 14, 2018
Deadline passes for administration to defend fiduciary rule
SEC weighing its own approach for putting clients first
The “fiduciary rule” is officially dead.
The Labor Department rule, conceived by the Obama administration, was meant to ensure that advisers put their clients’ financial interests ahead of their own when recommending retirement investments.
From Howard Gold; MarketWatch ~ Jun 14, 2018
Time Warner CEO Bewkes could receive $434 million ’platinum parachute’
One night in early February, workers removed the legendary Time Inc. name from its headquarters building in Manhattan and replaced it with the logo of Meredith Corp., its new owner. It was the end of the storied magazine publishing company founded by Henry Luce and his Yale classmate Briton Hadden in 1923, which lasted 95 years and defined the American Century.
By Emma Court; MarketWatch ~ Jun 13, 2018
High and growing health-care costs are a problem for everyone — but especially so for state and local governments.
And states with lower credit ratings are especially susceptible because they have less financial flexibility, according to a new report from credit ratings and research firm Fitch Ratings.
By David McLaughlin, Andrew Harris, Scott Moritz & Erik Larson; Newsmax ~ Jun 12, 2018
AT&T Inc. was cleared by a judge to take over Time Warner Inc. in an $85 billion deal that the mobile-phone giant says will fuel its evolution into a media powerhouse that can go head-to-head with Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department’s request for an order blocking the Time Warner acquisition, saying the government failed to make its case that the combination would lead to higher prices for pay-TV subscribers.
HealthDay News; United Press International ~ May 30, 2018
WEDNESDAY, May 30, 2018 — Many doctors have internet portals to help patients manage their care. But that doesn’t mean older folks will use them.
A University of Michigan poll found only about half of patients 50 to 80 years old have set up an online account with their healthcare provider.
“The health care system has provided patient portals as an efficient way for patients to communicate with their providers.
From Howard Gleckman; Forbes ~ May 30, 2018
The Trump Administration is heavily promoting what it calls its “Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs.” But will the plan reduce out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries?
The answer is: Not by much, and not soon. And, in some cases, it could even make drugs more costly.
By Jessie Hellmann ; The Hill ~ May 30, 2018
President Trump predicted on Tuesday that drug companies would voluntarily slash prescription prices in the coming weeks.
“You’re going to have some big news,” Trump said at a signing ceremony for a bill intended to help terminally ill people get access to experimental treatments.
“I think we’re going to have some of the big drug companies, in two weeks, they’re going to announce because of what we did, they’re going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices.”
By Dan Jones; Light Reading ~ May 29, 2018
Both AT&T and Verizon are ready to demonstrate, or trial, initial applications of mobile 5G connectivity using 28GHz technology and have applied to the FCC for permission to do so.
AT&T plans to show off “mobile” 5G over 100 meters to compatible user equipment, and then demonstrate feeding the 28GHz signal via WiFi to user devices at a gaming show.
From Alice G. Walton; Forbes ~ May 28, 2018
If you like the idea of warding off disease by taking vitamin supplements, you’ve probably been disheartened by the research in this area over the last few years. A new study won’t help. It finds that the vast majority of the vitamins and minerals analyzed didn’t have any measurable benefit, at least when it came to the outcomes studied here—cardiovascular disease, stroke, and early death.
