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...market continues to stage an improbable rally which should have been affected by concerns about the spread of the Swine flu virus and the fact that several large American banks may need tremendous infusions of capital. GDP numbers issued by the government were also shockingly bad. The economy contracted 6.1% in the first quarter which was more than any of the estimates of sane analysts. This GDP drop followed a drop of 6.3% in the last quarter of 2008. Experts tried to calm the masses by saying that some of the fall-off was due to a dip in inventories...
...President: Maybe you should. One fact that's not getting too much attention in these prospective deals, both at Chrysler and GM, is that they are a bit short on fairness. Just consider the plight of American taxpayers who have so far loaned $15.4 billion to GM and another $4 billion to Chrysler. As part of the latest flurry of announcements, both automakers are signaling that (a) they are not likely going to pay most of the government loans back, and (b) they will need many billions more. (See TIME's top 10 Chrysler moments...
...bonds is not $27 billion but more like $3 billion. But if you accept that troubled-debtor logic, then it's only fair to apply the same logic to the money owed by Chrysler to the UAW's VEBA - so its chips should be marked down as well. (In fact, by law the VEBA's IOU is junior to the bondholders' IOU.) Thus, the VEBA's IOU should not translate into a 39% equity stake but a small sliver of that. (Read about Detroit's attempts to renew itself...
Computerizing Everything It's a complex topic that boils down to this: If we who do the medicine thought more computers would save us money, we'd buy them ourselves. In fact, sometimes we do. But the federal mandate to computerize and centrally connect the entire country's medical records has little chance of saving money for anyone except the lucky insiders who sell the computers, software and support. Aside from their costs to us, electronic records are time-consuming - a constant distraction from patient care. They also put doctors on a slippery ethical slope; it's pretty easy...
...sector is already experiencing its first contraction since 2003, when the outbreak of SARS in Asia decimated tourism revenues. Michael O'Leary, chief executive of discount airline RyanAir, drew criticism on Tuesday for publicly suggesting that only the world's poorest people will succumb to swine flu, despite the fact that two middle-class Scottish newlyweds have been isolated in a hospital for several days after having tested positive for the H1N1 virus. "It is a tragedy only for people living in slums in Asia or Mexico. But will the honeymoon couple from Edinburgh die? No. A couple of Strepsils...