KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Thursday October 13 20916 Housing and Economic stories

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Thursday October 13 20916 Housing and Economic stories

Hospital Charges Father $39.35 For Holding His Newborn - (www.dailycaller.com) A new father was rather surprised when he received a hospital bill that included a charge of $39.35 for “skin to skin” contact. “The nurse let me hold the baby on my wife’s neck/chest,” the man wrote on Reddit, according to FOX 13. “Even borrowed my camera to take a few pictures for us. Everyone involved in the process was great, and we had a positive experience. We just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill.” Ryan Grassley, of Spanish Fork City, Utah, started a GoFundMe page with a goal of $39 to help pay off this seemingly absurd fee. He reached $70 in less than 24 hours.

Underpayments on EpiPen rebates to Medicaid could top $700 million – (www.cnbc.com) Mylan might have to write a very big check for allegedly shortchanging Medicaid on EpiPen rebates. A state Medicaid agency has estimated that all U.S. states are receiving just 15 percent of the rebates that they are legally entitled to from big drugmaker Mylan on sales of its lifesaving EpiPen through Medicaid programs. In other words, Mylan is currently not paying 85 percent of the amount of rebates it might be obligated to pay the Medicaid on the anti-allergy devices, according to the "preliminary" estimate cited in a letter from the National Association of Medicaid Directors to congressional staffers that was posted online this week.

How Corporations Turn $1 of Political Spending into a $760 Windfall - at Your Expense - (www.moneymorning.com) Results showed the political spending of the 200 companies identified was about $5.8 billion over the six years. In return, those companies got an astounding $4.4 trillion in corporate welfare... Companies that land government contracts are doing business with the most lucrative client in the world. And because the period of the study encompassed the 2008 financial crisis, generous bailouts also were part of the mix. "As middle-class Americans lost ground, the 'Fixed Fortune 200' got what they needed. What they needed included loans that helped automakers and banks survive the recent recession while many homeowners went under," the Sunlight Foundation study said... But here's the real kicker: Over the same period in the Foundation's study (2007 to 2012), individual taxpayers contributed $6.5 trillion to the U.S. Treasury. That means this corporate welfare swallowed up about two-thirds of that.

UBS: Liar Loans Surge in Australia’s Housing Bubble, Pose Risk to Big Four Banks, “Financial Stability” - (www.wolfstreet.com) UBS Securities Australia reported today that about 28% of Australian mortgages issued in 2015 and 2016 are what we in the US have come to call “liar loans,” which played a big role in the housing boom and the collapse and subsequent bailout of the global financial system. The last phase of a housing bubble needs liar loans to keep going because buyers have to reach beyond their limits, and the only way to do this is lie now, or miss out forever on buying a house to live in or get rich with quick as investor. Evidence that home buyers are lying about income, assets, expenses, and other things on their mortgage applications has been surfacing for a while, along with fears that this would eventually lead to a “Mortgage Meltdown.” The US-style mortgage fraud would be a “Nuclear Bomb” to Australia’s banks. Hedge funds are betting on this meltdown by shorting the big four banks.

British Bloodbath - UK Gilt Yields Spike Above 1% As Inflation Expectations Soar To 3 Year Highs - (www.zerohedge.com) The fallout from Theresa May's confirmation that the government will follow the will of the people continues. The flash-crash in cable overnight catalyzed just how bad this week was for the Brits. On the week, the pound fell more than it did overall during Brexit week...

And the currency weakness amid growing concerns over UK's so-called 'hard Brexit' has sparked majorfears it will send inflation soaring...

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