Cavalcade of Risk

I’m honored to once again Hank Stern’s Cavalcade of Risk, a kinda sorta departure from the usual stuff I do with MCM. [One caveat – I tried to use the auto-poster app, and the weird spacing results resulted from that effort. After slogging thru it for many (well, a few at least) minutes, I gave up – apologies for the spacing]
Today we’ll begin with Silicon Valley Blogger’s reminder that with a few rare exceptions, the house always wins. In this case the ‘house’ is the stock market, and SVB reminds us to ditch emotion and focus on reality (good luck with that!) at
The Stock Teacher contributes a post on the risks – financial and emotional, inherent in investing in high-flying stocks (something few of us can relate to, I’m sure) at Ouch- CROX Just Taught Me A Lesson.
Jim asks a question we all should consider when buying or renewing insurance – what’s my appetite for risk? Jim’s is higher than some.
Joe Manausa‘s perspective on the Fannie and Freddie bail out bill is very local – HR 3221 is Good For Tallahassee.
Sticking with the real estate theme for a moment, one of my new favorite blogs is penned (typed sounds so déclassé’) by
Jason Voiovich. His contribution for this ed. of CoR is Reverse mortgage: Hero or villain?, an excellent and thorough review of the pros and cons for consumers and mortgage brokers.
FMF has a quick update on the state of medical tourism – net is there’s a lot more going on these days, including acceptance of medical tourism in some Blue Cross and Aetna plans; read More Insurance Firms Allow Medical Tourism
I was looking forward to reading Nancy Germond’s take on management in her post entitled . I was not disappointed. My only addition is that most of us (your author included) exhibit jerk-y behavior from time to time, so please don’t tar all with the same damning brush!
Raymond contributed multiple posts, including a thoughtful and well-researched piece on federal deposit insurance -something any IndyMac saver wished they’d read thoroughly a few months before that bank cratered. Click thru to
Is My FDIC Insured Checking Or Savings Account Safe If My Bank Fails? to see what would happen to you if your bank followed suit.
As host, I get to pick who’s here and who stays on the sidelines – a difficult task, but a necessary one if we are to retain your interest – and one principle is to avoid multiple posts from the same contributor. I also get to break my own rules, and Jim’s post on car rental insurance is well written and brief and educational – which covers the requirements in my book. Before you head out on that trip, read Credit Card Rental Car Insurance is Secondary Coverage!?
Our august founder and resident sage, Henry Stern shows his age (and lack of memory loss) Car 54, Where Are You (and how’s your insurance)?, an entertaining look at the possible use of vehicle gps tracking devices by insurance companies. Big brother, indeed – but at a lower premium…
It will come as no surprise that the leading cause of death among public safety employees was heart attacks and vehicular accidents. What did surprise me – a lot – was the death rate among volunteer firefighters. That’s the report from Workers’ Comp Insider, the go-to source for the latest in the WC world.
Jason Shafrin is one of the better health care economists. His contribution is a synopsis of Health Affairs’ article on the Chinese health care system – a fast and educational take which includes this nugget the top social concern in China is “high medical expenses.”
On to my little corner of the world – IN-surance (that’s how southerners pronounce it). Colleague Richard Eskow notes the recent demise of FL Gov. Charlie Crist’s effort to cover more Floridians was doomed to fail from the outset.
Louise from the great state of Colorado chimes in with an interesting take on mandated universal coverage, Colorado State University style. Seems grad students are forced to buy into the CSU plan unless they can prove they have the same-or-better coverage.
From the east coast, David Williams finds that some docs in Massachusetts want to try to force drug stores to not provide medical care, by “barring health care providers from selling tobacco products”. David notes this is a slippery slope; I’d add that it reminds me of the old artisan guild strategies, as well as some of the more distateful aspects of union featherbedding…
Lastly comes this contribution from your author, a dissection of the reasons folks go without health insurance.
And with that, we’re outta here!