Submitted by CARPE DIEM
BALTIMORE–MedStar Health is tapping into the retail health care trend. The Columbia health care company said Tuesday it is partnering with Rite Aid and a health clinic management firm to open four walk-in clinics providing treatment for flu, strep throat, injuries and other common ailments. The clinics — two in Greater Baltimore […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Buying Mr. Market in all his various asset class flavors is easy these days, thanks to the proliferation of ETFs and mutual funds that mine all the major (and increasingly minor) niches in the capital and commodity markets. But what is Mr. Market offering exactly? And what does his track record […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Here’s the basis for the $945 billion estimate of losses to the financial sector. From the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report:

Table 1.1 from IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report.Here’s the text:
Broader credit deterioration, a weakening economy, and falling credit prices combine into a substantial hit to the capital of systemically important financial institutions.
We estimate […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
LA TIMES–Palacios, Venezuela’s largest public maternity hospital and once the nation’s beacon of neonatal care, has fallen on hard times. Half of the anesthesiologists and pediatricians on staff two years ago have quit. Basic equipment such as respirators, ultrasound monitors and incubators are either broken or scarce. Six of 12 birth rooms […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

The Monster Index Europe rose 5 points in March, leaving online job availability 31% higher than a year ago, indicating continued robust employer demand for labor across the European Union

“EU online recruitment activity picked up further pace in March, driven primarily by strong demand for technically skilled workers in areas such as […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
The decoupling thesis seems to be ever more out of fashion. From the FT today:

Mr Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, rubbished the notion that the credit crisis was largely a US problem. “The crisis is global,” he said. “The so-called decoupling theory is totally misleading.” Developing countries such as China and India […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Amazing championship game for the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.

With few “Cinderellas” this year, the Team Rankings benchmark predictions did better than 99.7% of the 3.2 million entries in the ESPN Tournament Challenge. I managed to outperform Team Rankings slightly with my odd prediction that Villanova could make the Sweet Sixteen.
But I didn’t […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From a comment by Publius on this CD post: “At a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Friday, Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggested that median unemployment duration has declined simply because more people have lost their jobs recently, and therefore a large number have only been receiving unemployment […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From the World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers study “Paying Taxes 2008: The Global Picture:”
The Paying Taxes Study involves gathering information on the tax affairs of a standard case study company in 178 countries, by reviewing the financial statements and a list of transactions of a standard modest-sized firm. This information is used to […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Based on actual futures trading on Intrade.com.
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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
At “A Dash” we realize how difficult it can be to understand investment principles.  It is important to have good examples.  It is even more powerful to step outside the normal investment world, where the reader already has a strong opinion.
In our classroom days we would frequently set up a […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Each year millions of sports fans enter bracket pools for March Madness, the NCAA basketball championship.  Participants buy an entry or two for modest amounts like ten or twenty dollars.  Most who join in rarely, if ever, make even small wagers on specific sporting events.  March Madness  and the Super […]

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