The Eurozone Crisis..

The US economy on track to grow 2%-3% this year. However, British economy has stalled; no one major European country will grow above 1%. This is troubling period for Europe but more concerning is how will this impact US... Peep Fareed's take on the Eurozone:

Goldman Sachs Rule The World...

Confession of a Wallstreet Trader admitting who really runs the world as if we don't know.. But his candor could not come at a time where people are quenching to hear things like this whether its true or not. They want to believe what they've always speculated since 2008 or the rise of a recession. But Allesio Rastani has the whole blogosphere salivating and uproaring about the condition of the economy and wallstreet's inability/arrogance to overlook their major role. He blames all this on Goldman Sachs and predicts that in 12 months millions of people's savings will vanish and how day traders are looking forward to another recession. You got to peep this for yourself....

Must Read... Warren Buffet Sounds Off!!!

Warren Buffet, 2nd richest man in the world is telling Congress to stop looking out for the super rich and pass laws to raise taxes.... WHOA!!! Tell it my man.
Click this Link

Fareed Zakaria breaks it down!!!!

An in depth breakdown of how much in the hole we are to China. Looks like China's economy needs us as much as we are dependent on them. "One hand wash the other both wash the face" - Jadakiss

McDonald's Healthcare

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal (I would post the link, but it's not free) about McDonald's executives having to defend their healthcare options for their hourly chain workers.

Rundown:
Assumes $8/Hour @v40 hours/Week
Employee Cost
$710 ($27.31/Check)
Annual Benefit Cap
$2000
Pre Tax % of Income (Cap as % of Income)
4.3% (12%)
After Federal Tax % of Income (Cap as % of Income)
4.9% (13.7%)

How does McDonald's justify having employees pay $710 annually for just $2000 of medical coverage? That's 1 trip to the emergency room. I just had an appendectomy and I know $2000 doesn't cover it. The cheapest corporate healthcare plans McDonald's offers cost $682 & $920 and have no annual cap. Only 10% of hourly workers hit the annual limit and the insurance company keeps the rest of the premiums. The insurance company gets away this cap thanks to McDonald's. This is not health insurance, this is effectively payment $710 to go to the doctor and get some medication. If anyone is really sick they are screwed. Under the new healthcare law the annual cap should be $750K but that was waived for McDonald's because the company said they would drop insurance for their hourly workers. Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas defended McDonald's.

I ran some numbers:
If 250K workers participate
$178M in Revenue
10% hit the cap + 2% to account for other coverage
$60M in expenses
$118M Rough Gross Margin, 66%

If 100K workers participate
$71M in Revenue
10% hit the cap + 2% to account for other coverage
$20M in expenses
$51M Rough Gross Margin, 72%

This is what's wrong with this country. McDonald's is large enough that they could push on a health insurance company to get a more favorable deal, however the corporation doesn't want to incur anymore costs for people they could really care less about because they know they can easily replace them as this country moves towards producing more and more uneducated children.

This is why a public option or healthcare co-ops would work. If the working poor, which is what you are when you have a healthcare limit of $2000, could at least pool their money then it could be used to provide healthcare to those who need it rather than go to corporate profits. I'm not against corporate profits, except when it comes to health insurance companies.

Capitalism, then Socialism, then ...?

Here is an interesting post I wanted to get your take on:

http://momento24.com/en/2010/05/09/lula-da-silva-before-being-a-socialist-you-have-to-be-a-capitalist/

Lula da Silva: “Before being a socialist, you have to be a capitalist”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, mused about various aspects before leaving office next December.
After eight years in office, Lula said: “A head of state is not a person, an institution, (…) he has to carry out the agreements that are possible. I’ve learned that in power and I think has been good for Brazil. “
He further expressed that it is unacceptable that a president has a certain inclination with others with their own ideological bent: “I get along with Aznar and Zapatero, I have to relate to Pinera in Chile like I did with Bachelet. The exercise of power, I am a citizen, how can I say…? Multinational, multi-ideological, right? “.
He described the situation when he was elected Brazilian president: “The country had no credit, had no working capital or financing or income distribution. What kind of capitalism was that? A capitalism without capital. I decided then that it was necessary to first build capitalism, then make socialism, we must have something to distribute before doing so. “
In this vein, the president added that “if the country does not have anything, there is nothing to distribute, and employers need to know that they have to pay slightly higher wages so that people can buy the products they manufacture. Henry Ford already has said this in 1912. “