Shire PLC. is a New Jersey-registered Irish-headquartered global specialty biopharmaceutical company that originated in the United Kingdom with a large operational base in the United States. Recently Shire PLC. announced an agreement to acquire U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company Baxalta Inc. for about $32.0 billion.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, an American multinational biotechnology product development company, recently announced an agreement to acquire cellular and genetic analysis product provider Affymetrix Inc. for about $1.3 billion.
Kind of an amazing error, but I feel few pay attention to these reports in the first place. Most cannot even grasp the basics of statistics no matter how much one pounds into their heads fundamentals.
Something I've thought about, and while I realize it isn't likely to happen I would be interested to hear other views about is this:
What if we treated pharmaceutical companies as public utilities? That means in exchange for allowing them to own the rights to, and sell, medicines to the US population, they would have to accept a specific rate of return on their investment in research, production, etc. This would be a bit tricky to implement, but it would encourage research into new drugs, as the return would be guaranteed. At the same time, prices would be effectively moderated. Obviously there are some logistical issues, and it would require oversight of the research end of the business, but I think it could be made to work. The price for any drug would be the production cost, plus an amount that covers the development costs the company has for their entire portfolio of drugs.
just a random thought. I don't think I understand enough about the pharmaceutical industry to understand the implications.
USA Today: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren appears to be feeling the Bern today, even though she’s not endorsing anyone yet for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Massachusetts Democrat and progressive darling heaped praise on Sen. Bernie Sanders following a fiery speech he gave Tuesday on the need for Wall Street reform." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/01/06/bernie...
It should also be noted that, yes, shadow banking is part of the problem, and Bernie acknowledges this. But Hillary's plan for JUST the shadow banking industry isn't the "end-all" solution. Bernie addresses many different levels, and offers a multiple-faceted approach to financial reform. Dodd-Frank isn't enough. There are already some Democrats who want to repeal portions that deal with derivatives (credit default swaps known as CDS) https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/warren-leads-liberal-dem...
My sloppy chart. Pairs recessions with a graph of the fed funds rate. Americans are just too dumb to realize that when the Fed talks about "inflation", they really mean "wage inflation". They have been deliberately keeping wages down for generations. Add in outsourcing, insourcing, cheap illegal labor. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.
The Boskin Commission removed inflation from the CPI calculations. This was done to cheat working Americans and retired Americans from what was due them by the Government and/or their employers. It's actually quite simple if you work or have worked you lose.
the October indices compare prices of houses sold in August, September and October to those sold in July, August, and September, and hence the change in the month over month indexes are arithmetically equal to 1/3rd the difference between July home prices and October home prices, ie, not really a useful monthly change at all
this is also the case with any three month average, which we can represent by (a + b + c) / 3, with a being the current month, b being last month, and c being the month before that...another way of writing that same expression is "a/3 + b/3 + c/3 " when one compares that to the prior month, represented by (b + c + d) / 3, where d is the month before the month before last, we end up comparing (a/3 + b/3 + c/3) to (b/3 + c/3 + d/3), and since two of our elements in that comparison are identical, the comparison simply becomes a/3 to d/3, or one-third the difference between a and d... the trouble is, 3 month averages are used by economists everywhere as if they're providing some special insight...even the Chicago Fed elevates its three month average of the National Activity Index to the version that should be followed to remove volatility..so in the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for November they end up comparing their August index to November, which is complete nonsense..
rent has been the primary driver of CPI inflation, and why PCE inflation, where housing has a smaller influence, is less than CPI...CPI less shelter is down 0.8% year-over-year...
Inflation metrics have their own controversy. Anyone who runs a household plus knows statistics knows there is no way inflation is just 2% per year in reality. Rents, case in point are very geographically dependent and those on the West coast are getting 50% increases since 2008.
The former chief economist to Vice President Biden at the Washington Post says very low inflation [because of very cheap oil], meant that stagnant nominal wage growth translated into real wage growth ...
If so, then barely. And what if oil had not fallen so much? As always, the cost of housing and food went up.
He also notes: "This year marks the 13th out of 16 years since 2000 that forecasters have been too optimistic re growth expectations. Cumulatively, the downside misses on the level of real GDP sum to almost 15 percent since 2000. That tells you a few things. One, the models are missing something important that’s holding back growth; and two, researchers are insufficiently self-correcting. The economy is Lucy and the forecasters are Charlie Brown, or, more formally, what researchers are considering temporary factors are, in fact, more persistent."
Dean Baker, Center for Economic Research and Policy (December 28, 2015) If Patent Monopolies Bias Cancer Research, Why Not Have Publicly Funded Trials?
Many of us see the process as corrupt and no longer trust it. Trump is "the gloves are off" kind of guy. While a lot of feel this way, and don't trust the establishment, we have to be careful of our gut reactions. This isn't over by a long shot. There's a lot to cover before people will make a judgement before the primaries. This is going to get interesting (like it hasn't already?). By the way, I am in the "we have to get this right or we're doomed" camp. I'm sick of the mealy mouthed politician who simply will not stand up and say: "enough, let's talk frankly".
Love these organizations who simply wipe out all competition in providing health care services in an area. Then, they play God and try to link credit/billing to obtaining health care. Haven't even gotten to insurance yet.
Those drug prices are outrageous and the day they ban big pharma ads on TV is the day American society 100% improves immediately.
a corporatist neoliberal Republican, along the order of our current Democratic Party Administration.
;-)
With Majority Leader Ryan at the helm, I expect the next Congress to succeed at passing most--if not all--of the cuts to Social Security, which were recommended in the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission's proposal--"The Moment Of Truth."
The left-leaning Social Security Works organization published a table several years ago claiming that if all the recommended cuts were passed, the cuts to the top earners--not to be confused with the One Percent--would be approximately 42%.
The cuts would be across-the-board (at lower percentages), possibly only bypassing those who make approximately $9,000 or less annually, IIRC.
Probably the worst "revisions" was when they claimed IP is actually economic growth and changed the way NIPA are tabulated. But in terms of generic revisions, it's always this way. Very difficult to be precise with so many inputs, such a large and diverse economy.
real consumption of goods rose 1.0% in November as real durables consumption rose 1.1% and real non-durables consumption rose 0.9%...a negative 0.4% deflator was applied to November goods
To me, Trump is very good at playing the PR/Media machine game and also knows his audience. The press are doing their best to get rid of him but conservatives just seem to eat him up.
Shire PLC. is a New Jersey-registered Irish-headquartered global specialty biopharmaceutical company that originated in the United Kingdom with a large operational base in the United States. Recently Shire PLC. announced an agreement to acquire U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company Baxalta Inc. for about $32.0 billion.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, an American multinational biotechnology product development company, recently announced an agreement to acquire cellular and genetic analysis product provider Affymetrix Inc. for about $1.3 billion.
Kind of an amazing error, but I feel few pay attention to these reports in the first place. Most cannot even grasp the basics of statistics no matter how much one pounds into their heads fundamentals.
Something I've thought about, and while I realize it isn't likely to happen I would be interested to hear other views about is this:
What if we treated pharmaceutical companies as public utilities? That means in exchange for allowing them to own the rights to, and sell, medicines to the US population, they would have to accept a specific rate of return on their investment in research, production, etc. This would be a bit tricky to implement, but it would encourage research into new drugs, as the return would be guaranteed. At the same time, prices would be effectively moderated. Obviously there are some logistical issues, and it would require oversight of the research end of the business, but I think it could be made to work. The price for any drug would be the production cost, plus an amount that covers the development costs the company has for their entire portfolio of drugs.
just a random thought. I don't think I understand enough about the pharmaceutical industry to understand the implications.
for the middle class, working America and economic reform, let's hope he pulls out Iowa and New Hampshire.
USA Today: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren appears to be feeling the Bern today, even though she’s not endorsing anyone yet for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Massachusetts Democrat and progressive darling heaped praise on Sen. Bernie Sanders following a fiery speech he gave Tuesday on the need for Wall Street reform."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/01/06/bernie...
It should also be noted that, yes, shadow banking is part of the problem, and Bernie acknowledges this. But Hillary's plan for JUST the shadow banking industry isn't the "end-all" solution. Bernie addresses many different levels, and offers a multiple-faceted approach to financial reform. Dodd-Frank isn't enough. There are already some Democrats who want to repeal portions that deal with derivatives (credit default swaps known as CDS)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/warren-leads-liberal-dem...
My sloppy chart. Pairs recessions with a graph of the fed funds rate. Americans are just too dumb to realize that when the Fed talks about "inflation", they really mean "wage inflation". They have been deliberately keeping wages down for generations. Add in outsourcing, insourcing, cheap illegal labor. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.
http://www.charthub.com/charts/2016/01/01/fed_rates_vs_recessions
The Boskin Commission removed inflation from the CPI calculations. This was done to cheat working Americans and retired Americans from what was due them by the Government and/or their employers. It's actually quite simple if you work or have worked you lose.
the October indices compare prices of houses sold in August, September and October to those sold in July, August, and September, and hence the change in the month over month indexes are arithmetically equal to 1/3rd the difference between July home prices and October home prices, ie, not really a useful monthly change at all
this is also the case with any three month average, which we can represent by (a + b + c) / 3, with a being the current month, b being last month, and c being the month before that...another way of writing that same expression is "a/3 + b/3 + c/3 " when one compares that to the prior month, represented by (b + c + d) / 3, where d is the month before the month before last, we end up comparing (a/3 + b/3 + c/3) to (b/3 + c/3 + d/3), and since two of our elements in that comparison are identical, the comparison simply becomes a/3 to d/3, or one-third the difference between a and d... the trouble is, 3 month averages are used by economists everywhere as if they're providing some special insight...even the Chicago Fed elevates its three month average of the National Activity Index to the version that should be followed to remove volatility..so in the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for November they end up comparing their August index to November, which is complete nonsense..
rent has been the primary driver of CPI inflation, and why PCE inflation, where housing has a smaller influence, is less than CPI...CPI less shelter is down 0.8% year-over-year...
Inflation metrics have their own controversy. Anyone who runs a household plus knows statistics knows there is no way inflation is just 2% per year in reality. Rents, case in point are very geographically dependent and those on the West coast are getting 50% increases since 2008.
The former chief economist to Vice President Biden at the Washington Post says very low inflation [because of very cheap oil], meant that stagnant nominal wage growth translated into real wage growth ...
If so, then barely. And what if oil had not fallen so much? As always, the cost of housing and food went up.
He also notes: "This year marks the 13th out of 16 years since 2000 that forecasters have been too optimistic re growth expectations. Cumulatively, the downside misses on the level of real GDP sum to almost 15 percent since 2000. That tells you a few things. One, the models are missing something important that’s holding back growth; and two, researchers are insufficiently self-correcting. The economy is Lucy and the forecasters are Charlie Brown, or, more formally, what researchers are considering temporary factors are, in fact, more persistent."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/28/unfinished-e...
Over the past 8 years, the median annual household rose $32 a year.
The median annual household income in November 2015 was $56,746 -- which is 1.1 percent lower than January 2000.
The median annual household income in December 2007 was $56,714 -- when the Great Recession began.
http://www.sentierresearch.com/reports/Sentier_Household_Income_Trends_R...
Dean Baker, Center for Economic Research and Policy (December 28, 2015) If Patent Monopolies Bias Cancer Research, Why Not Have Publicly Funded Trials?
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/if-patent-monopolies-bias-cancer-re...
Many of us see the process as corrupt and no longer trust it. Trump is "the gloves are off" kind of guy. While a lot of feel this way, and don't trust the establishment, we have to be careful of our gut reactions. This isn't over by a long shot. There's a lot to cover before people will make a judgement before the primaries. This is going to get interesting (like it hasn't already?). By the way, I am in the "we have to get this right or we're doomed" camp. I'm sick of the mealy mouthed politician who simply will not stand up and say: "enough, let's talk frankly".
Love these organizations who simply wipe out all competition in providing health care services in an area. Then, they play God and try to link credit/billing to obtaining health care. Haven't even gotten to insurance yet.
Those drug prices are outrageous and the day they ban big pharma ads on TV is the day American society 100% improves immediately.
a corporatist neoliberal Republican, along the order of our current Democratic Party Administration.
;-)
With Majority Leader Ryan at the helm, I expect the next Congress to succeed at passing most--if not all--of the cuts to Social Security, which were recommended in the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission's proposal--"The Moment Of Truth."
The left-leaning Social Security Works organization published a table several years ago claiming that if all the recommended cuts were passed, the cuts to the top earners--not to be confused with the One Percent--would be approximately 42%.
The cuts would be across-the-board (at lower percentages), possibly only bypassing those who make approximately $9,000 or less annually, IIRC.
Where is the outrage?
Elin
Probably the worst "revisions" was when they claimed IP is actually economic growth and changed the way NIPA are tabulated. But in terms of generic revisions, it's always this way. Very difficult to be precise with so many inputs, such a large and diverse economy.
After all the revisions, what do you guess GDP will be for FY2015?
THE GUARDIAN: "US third-quarter GDP revised down to 2%, down from previous estimate and a marked slowdown from previous quarter’s 3.9%"
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/22/us-economy-third-quarter...
December 23, 2015
Q3 GDP 2.0% as Investment in Inventories Declined
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/q3-gdp-20-investment-inventories...
November 29, 2015
On the Revision of 3rd Quarter GDP from a 1.5% Growth Rate to a 2.1% Rate
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/revision-3rd-quarter-gdp-15-grow...
October 30, 2015
Q3 GDP A Not So Hot 1.5%
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/q3-gdp-not-so-hot-15-5863
September 26, 2015
Q2 GDP Revised Even Higher to 3.9%
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/q2-gdp-revised-even-higher-39-5847
August 27, 2015
Q2 GDP Soars With 3.7% Growth
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/q2-gdp-soars-37-growth-5831
real consumption of goods rose 1.0% in November as real durables consumption rose 1.1% and real non-durables consumption rose 0.9%...a negative 0.4% deflator was applied to November goods
To me, Trump is very good at playing the PR/Media machine game and also knows his audience. The press are doing their best to get rid of him but conservatives just seem to eat him up.
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