Happy Birthday – Medicaid !

Medicaid, the state-funded health insurance program for poor Americans turned 50 on July 30, 2015. The program provided care for some 80 million poor people in 2014. Click to enlarge Source: The CommonWealth Fund Before this program came into effect in 1965, poor Americans depended on charities for healthcare or simply ignored medical care when …

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Bloomberg: The World’s Strongest Banks 2015

Bloomberg Markets recently published the list of the world’s strongest banks for 2015. Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Bank(HSNGY) topped the ranking for the second year in a row. The banks were selected based on many factors. From the article: To identify the world’s strongest banks, we used the Equity Screening (EQS) function on the Bloomberg Professional service …

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The Ten Largest US Electric Utilities By Market Value

The Utility Sector is traditionally preferred for steady income and growth. The sector has lagged so far this year due to many factors including the potential impact due to higher interest rates. Currently the Dow Utility index has a P/E ratio of 16.32 compared to over 22 a year ago. The dividend yield for the …

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Too Much Financial Activity And Its Consequences

Financial activity by banks and other financial institutions have increased exponentially in the past few decades according to a report by OECD. The authors of the report note that while increased credit is good for growth in the short-term it actually leads to slower growth in the long-term. From an article previewing the report: Over …

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Are Foreign Stocks Unnecessary For US Investors?

U.S. investors have generally low allocation to foreign equities for a variety of reasons. For example, it may be due to their advisors recommending that they hold most of their assets in U.S. stocks. Others may feel comfortable investing in firms that they know about and can even buy the firms’ products in the local grocery store. This can also be …

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