FDIC Bailout

The FDIC is looking to the Fed to receive bailout funds as it is not receiving enough money to support itself. Basically, the FDIC is setup to receive its money from insured banks, but as over 90 banks have failed, their cash flow has been greatly impaired. Also, they are geared more for a bull market rather than the bear but they have suffered from a more social problem. This problem is that in good times, they were not saving enough in case bad times came, or they were greedy and spent the money they were saving for other investments.

Read the full story here.

(Article Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/yftt_336131/Now-the-FDIC-Needs-a-Bailout?tickers=TBT,UDN,UUP,TIP,^DJI,^GSPC)

President Obama's Speech to America's Students

H.R. 3200 - (National) Health Reform Bill

After a great length of time reading the preliminary health care bill, I have come to the conclusion that there are very few things that the bill would accomplish. Although there are many social and political issues, I will not be discussing those. I am simply going to layout a few simple points as to what the bill aims to accomplish.

1. National Health Care - A minimal health care system for all Americans, funded through company's who make a certain amount of income each year (this has yet to be finalized as to which number would be looked at).

2. Private Health Insurance - The bill aims to provide basic health care needs to all Americans but private insurance companies would not be changed. Existing health care plans as well as Medicare and Medical are not affected.

3. Costs - As far as the bill is concerned, each benefits category by age group will maintain the same level of coverage per group. If costs change for anyone in a group, the costs are averaged through that group to level out the costs. No other groups should technically be affected by any other group.

4. Loss of Policy - A policy can only be revoked in cases of fraud. If no fraud is found, a policy is to remain in effect unless cancelled by the policyholder.

5. Policy Changes - All affected parties must be given adequate notice as to any changes to the policy in any way.

6. Plan Financing - Initial startup costs for the program will be repaid over a 10 year period from the plan's account. All further health care costs will only be paid out from the health care plan's general account. No other funds will be allowed to be used for this program and the funds from this program can not be used to fund other programs.

7. New/Transfer Accounts - All costs/benefits must be made and the taxpayer is ultimately held reponsible.

8. No coverage for undocumented aliens.

9. Additional tax - An additional tax to be determined (currently at 2.5% of gross income) if the requirements to enroll in the health care plan are not met. This tax is limited to the national average premium for the year.

In general the bill proves to be an interesting piece of legislation. The problem with a bill like this is that much of it should be in place to regulate private health care because these costs are the real issue. Providing health care for everone seems like a downside to those who save and are able to pay for their own health care. There are enough people who are barely able to make ends meet with the rising costs of health care.

Term: Stochastic

A process in which a behavior is determined by predictable actions and a random element.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic

State of California IOU's

California could end it's IOU program on September 4th, according to the state controller.

Read the article here.

Unemployment Figures

The President released the umemployment figures for the month of July. Watch the speech below or click here for the full report and transcript.

President's Weekly Address: This Economic Storm Will Pass (from 7/31/09)

The President talks about improvemnts to the American Economy. Read the article here as well as watch the video. The video can also be watched in the player below.