The next time you visit a hospital, it is your wallet that may end up hurting the most. All over the United States, it has become common practice for hospitals to wildly inflate medical bills. For example, it has been reported that some hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin pill.
Before his three-hour neck surgery for herniated disks in December, Peter Drier, 37, signed a pile of consent forms. A bank technology manager who had researched his insurance coverage, Mr. Drier was prepared when the bills started arriving:
Did you know that the number of gold bars being purchased by ultra-wealthy individuals has increased by 243 percent so far this year? If stocks are just going to keep soaring, why are they doing this? On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 both closed at record highs once again.
The World Bank released a statement Wednesday warning that the economic impact of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was “already serious” and could be “catastrophic” if the international community does not take serious action soon. This Ebola outbreak is unprecendented in scope, and worsening with alarming speed. There have been 2,453 deaths counted so far, and 4,963 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases — almost half of which have been diagnosed in the past 21 days.
Showing up to work high? You’re not alone. A new report has found nearly 1 in 10 Americans are showing up to work high on marijuana.
The super-rich are looking to protect their wealth through buying record numbers of “Italian job” style gold bars, according to bullion experts. The number of 12.5kg gold bars being bought by wealthy customers has increased 243pc so far this year, when compared to the same period last year, said Rob Halliday-Stein founder of BullionByPost.
The Federal Reserve reassured financial markets Wednesday that a key interest rate will stay near zero for “a considerable time” after its bond purchases end next month, deferring for now a clear signal on how it will begin to shift away from low-rate policies it’s had in place since the 2008 financial crisis. In a statement following a two-day meeting, the Fed said it will continue to wind down monthly bond purchases that have held down long-term interest rates and end the program next month, assuming the labor market continues to improve. Fed Chair Janet Yellen will further explain the Fed’s thinking at a press conference scheduled for 2:
Although the overall Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.2 percent in August, the price index for food rose 0.2 percent, with the average price for a pound of ground beef rising to $4.
Ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 Americans have seen the value of their currency dwindle. We know the dollar has lost some 97% of its value since the Fed took over. But it’s hard to actually grasp this destruction of value without some examples.
One out of every nine people in the world does not have enough food to eat. An annual report from the United Nations released Tuesday estimates that 805 million people suffer from “chronic undernourishment.” The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned that “food-insecurity” remains “unacceptably high” in certain developing economies.
Britain’s banks have been quietly moving millions of banknotes north of the border to cope with any surge in demand by Scots to withdraw cash in the event of a Yes vote in Thursday’s independence referendum, it has emerged. Sources told The Independent the moves have been taking place over the past week or so in order to make sure ATMs do not run out on Friday in the event of a panic reaction to a “yes” vote. There have been some suggestions that people will want to move their money to English banks in the event of an independence vote.
“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” – Vladimir Lenin In an interview between Jim Goddard and David Smith, Senior Analyst for the Morgan Report, Jim Goddard asks:JG:
This story was co-published with NPR. Back in 2009, Kevin Evans was one of millions of Americans blindsided by the recession. His 25-year career selling office furniture collapsed.
About 47 percent of stocks in the Nasdaq Composite Index are down at least 20 percent from their peak in the last 12 months while more than 40 percent have fallen that much in the Russell 2000 Index and the Bloomberg IPO Index. That contrasts with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which has closed at new highs 33 times in 2014 and where less than 6 percent of companies are in bear markets, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The divergence shows the appetite for risk is narrowing as the Federal Reserve reins in economic stimulus after a five-year rally that added almost $16 trillion to equity values.
If so, Italy’s public debt will spiral to dangerous levels next year, ever further beyond the point of no return for a country without its own sovereign currency and central bank. “This is catastrophic for the finances of the country. We’re heading for a debt ratio of 145pc next year,” said Antonio Guglielmi, global strategist for Mediobanca.
Just when we thought that the Fed is pulling an Obama and has “no strategy” to deal with what not some fringe blog but Deutsche Bank itself proclaimed was the bubble to end, or rather extend, all bubbles, when it said that “the bubble probably needs to continue in order to sustain the current global financial system” they surprise us once again when they report that, drumroll, the Fed has formed a committee led by the former head of the Bank of Israel – best known for using de novo created fiat money to buy AAPL stock as part of “prudent monetary policy” – Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, to monitor financial stability, which according to Bloomberg is “reinforcing the Fed’s efforts to avoid the emergence of asset-price bubbles.” Because contrary to what even five-year-olds know by now, the Fed is supposedly not promoting the emergence of bubbles but is actually “avoiding” them. No, really.
At first, Hollywood thought the summer’s movies weren’t as good as usual, to explain the 15% drop in sales. Now they are noting that the drop occurred since January as well, and are really worried. They just don’t know what to make of it, because, frankly, the actors and actresses live in a liberal fantasy land in Hollywood.
JANET LEE DUPREE, 72, was surprised when she received her first Social Security benefits seven years ago. About one-fifth of her monthly payment was being withheld and she called the federal government to find out why. The woman, who is from Citra, Fla.
The idea that the Obama administration has the budget deficit under control is a complete and total lie. According to the U.S.
U.S. consumers have made a lot of progress in paring down the extreme debt loads that helped make the 2008 financial crisis such an epochal disaster.