 | Smalls signs of progress in euro crisis Oct 25th 2012, 23:16 International Monetary Fund analysts reviewing Portugal's bailout this summer had plenty to fret about. The country was going to miss its deficit target for the year, a surge in exports was losing steam and recession was deepening — all in all a recipe for trouble. Read full article >>   | | LivingSocial posts $566 million loss as acquisitions drop in value Oct 25th 2012, 23:01 LivingSocial posted a net loss of $566 million for the third quarter after it wrote down the value of several daily deal firms it acquired last year. The District-based online deal purveyor spent millions of dollars from investors buying like-minded companies in foreign countries last year, and it is unclear whether the acquisitions can regain their value. Read full article >>   | | Study: We overestimate how much medicine can do Oct 25th 2012, 20:04 Between 2003 and 2005, a team of researchers at Harvard asked over 1,000 cancer patients about their expectations for chemotherapy. All patients surveyed had received a diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer or colorectal cancer four months earlier. These are some of the most difficult-to-treat conditions. Medical research says that, in these extremely challenging cases, chemotherapy can extend life by weeks or months but it is very unlikely to provide a cure. Read full article >>   | | CEOs make the case for a grand bargain Oct 25th 2012, 17:44 A group of high-profile business leaders sounded the alarm about the deficit on Thursday morning—this time quite literally. Top executives from Honeywell, JPMorgan and Express Scripts rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange as part of a campaign to enact major deficit reduction through the negotiations over the "fiscal cliff." Read full article >>   | | How insurers could game Medicare vouchers Oct 25th 2012, 17:27 There are two tough questions facing the folks who want to remake Medicare into a premium support (or voucher) program. The first is that, despite decades of attempts, we don't have a single good example of a competitive health insurance market driving down prices in a big way. It hasn't worked in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Programs or CalPERs. It hasn't worked in Medicare Advantage or the Texas state exchange. Now some people think that perhaps it can work, and these efforts just got it wrong, somehow. I actually count myself in that camp, at least somewhat. But so far, the fact is that it just hasn't worked. Read full article >>   | | Microsoft kicks off Windows 8, Surface Oct 25th 2012, 16:27 Microsoft held a big party for itself in New York City on Thursday ahead of the U.S. launch of its Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet. The event, which the company opted to stream over the Web, was meant to give consumers one last look at Microsoft's products — as well as PCs and tablets from partner companies such as Asus and Dell— ahead of their big retail debut Friday. Read full article >> | | When taxes are high, raising them hurts. When they're low, not so much. Oct 25th 2012, 15:12 Do tax cuts help the economy grow? Most economists would say yes. Certainly during a recession, tax cuts — especially those targeting low-income people who are likely to spend the extra money — have a strong stimulative effect. Mark Zandi has argued that payroll tax cuts generate $1.24 of economic activity for every $1 they cost. The effects of cuts to consumption taxes are a bit smaller, and the IMF estimates that you get anywhere from $0.90 to $1.70 in growth per dollar in tax cuts or spending increases. Read full article >>   | | GDP report: What to expect Oct 25th 2012, 14:01 There are two more major points of economic data due out before the presidential election, the final data on how the nation has fared under nearly four years of the Obama administration. The first of the two, the latest reading on gross domestic product, will trundle across financial wires Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. (The other, the October jobs report, is due Nov. 2.) Read full article >> | | Mortgage rates hold steady Oct 25th 2012, 14:00 Mortgage rates crept slightly higher this week, according to the latest data released by Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 3.41 percent, up from 3.37 percent a week ago but down from 4.10 percent a year ago at this time. Read full article >> | |
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