Economic and Investment News Bits
- Medicare is scheduled to link physician payments to the quality of service provided, beginning in 2019. Before 2019, Washington must decide which measurements will be used to determine superior inferior physician service. There are 2,167 metrics to be evaluated on the initial measurement list, and this is one of hundreds of provisions in the Affordable Health Care Act now surfacing. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality)
- About 2,000 college football players were drafted during the years 1996-2003 and went on to play in the NFL. One out of six (almost 16%) filed for personal bankruptcy within 12 years of retiring from the league. (Source: National Bureau of Economic Research)
- NetDragon Websoft, the Chinese online game developer, has built its headquarters in the shape of the legendary starship USS Enterprise. The company was founded by Liu Dejian, one of the world’s wealthiest men and a self-described Trekkie. The building cost nearly $100 million to build. See pictures of this amazing building at the following link:
http://www.businessinsider.com/office-that-looks-like-star-trek-enterprise-2015-5
- Major sporting events have big impacts on the cities that host the events. The Indy 500, for example, has the biggest economic impact of any event in the country, pumping an estimated $431 million into the Indianapolis economy in 2015. By comparison, the Kentucky Derby adds $217 million to Louisville’s economy; the U.S. Open tennis tournament helps New York by $360 million; the Tournament of Roses (Rose Bowl) adds $306 million for Los Angeles.
- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities have increased an average of 5% through March of this year, led by San Francisco’s gain of 10.3% and Denver’s 10% pickup. Prices in Columbus show average gains of 4.2%, which represents the 37th consecutive month of year-over-year home price gains. Gains in most cities are the result of short supply of available listings against a high demand from potential buyers. (Source: Bloomberg)
Thought for the week
“Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.”
Jackson Brown, Jr., American author (b. 1940)
Economic Discussion and Graph of the Week (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
“In 2014, the federal government collected 17.5% of GDP in tax revenue. Throughout the 1960s, the amount, on average, was 17.3%. While this value fluctuated, it did so in a fairly narrow band. Thus today we collect about the same amount in taxes relative to the size of the economy as we did in the 1960s. What did change dramatically since the 1960s is the composition of federal spending, and it is this change that restrains fiscal options today. The two charts below illustrate how we now spend most of the money collected on things that did not even exist in 1965, leaving much less for all the other things we were so successful in funding back in the 1960s,” (Source: American Institute for Economic Research).
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