Money

Why would the insurance industry spend $7.7 Million to defeat a measure that could conceivably give them an excuse to raise premiums and make even more money off of Washington State citizens? I smell a rat.

A cut in the federal funds rate, or several cuts as the futures markets are predicting, may well spur growth in GDP from the tepid rate of the first half of the year. With this, however, comes the risk of increasing inflationary pressures at a time when inflation is likely to remain above a comfortable level for maximum economic output.

The U.S. Department of Labor published an amazing study - 30% of employees are family caregivers to elder loved ones or aging parents. The study goes on to report that by 2010 that number will rise to 54%.

With the increasing popularity of cell phones, caller id's and broadband internet technology, market researchers are quickly following consumers to the world wide web. For business owners, the struggle to stay in touch and reach out to consumers using traditional market research techniques is becoming increasingly more difficult.

Social networking is like viral marketing on steroids. Companies can release a new product in the morning and have it talked about by millions of users on thousands of sites by the afternoon. But users can love a product one minute and then drop it like a lead balloon the next, depending on their experience with the product, a rumor, or whether they have had their morning coffee yet.

An exploration of contradictions between American work habits and productivity and American's slipping competitive position in the global workplace.

The World Bank predicted recently that China's economy will grow 10.4 percent this year and 9.3 percent in 2007. In contrast, the United States is in the 2 to 3 percent range. What's not been said is that China is already the second largest global economy and has held that spot for sometime and catching the U.S. very quickly.

Move meant to counter worries about credit crunch caused by dramatic drops in stock prices in volatile trading last week.

Why do we have licensing? The idea is that those involved in an industry are held to certain standards by requiring a license, and so this protects the consumer. It may even work in some cases - but that is not the motivation.

The study---the most recent available analysis of long-term wealth trends among U.S. households---is based on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) since 1968.

America is a free nation. Each individual can earn as much money as his or her ability and effort permit. This results in income inequality because different individuals in different professions and jobs with different skills, abilities and work ethics create different amounts of wealth. Such differences are a good thing.

Though eBay has changed its policies to prohibit the auction of firearm parts such as barrels, magazines and trigger assemblies thousands of gun part auctions will continue to take place on GunBroker.com, the Web's largest hunting and sport shooting auction site.

Most of we Internet business folks like losing money on the Internet. If we didn't lose money all the time, we would be out of business. Yes, over ninety percent of we Internet business folk-lose money. It's just part of our business and we can't expect others- like our wives-to understand that.

At a recent hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, Chairman Barney Frank lectured Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at length about income inequality before saying, “I apologize. You haven’t given your opening statement yet. If this had been my first hearing, I could explain that mistake a little bit easier. No good explanation comes to mind.”

Until recently Zheng Xiaou was head of the State Food and Drugs Administration for China. He was arrested in May, and charged with being responsible for the sale of six different medicines manufactured in China. These same six medicines were fakes. The sales took place during Zheng's six years as the head of the department.