According to the New York Times, many people believe that medical malpractice reform is the key to removing waste from the health care system and making the practice of medicine better. But a growing body of evidence shows that belief is most likely mistaken. Questions: 1. What is the rationale for malpractice reform as cost… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Cost Accounting
Repatenting for Profits and the High Costs of Breathing
Unlike other countries, where the government directly or indirectly sets an allowed national wholesale price for each drug, the United States leaves prices to market competition among pharmaceutical companies, including generic drug makers. This has resulted in a vicious cycle of repatenting old drugs that use to cost pennies with new delivery systems and processes… Read more »
Attack of the SuperCookies!
What is your privacy worth? Most people would say A LOT! According to Craig Timberg, Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers with what critics have dubbed “supercookies.” These supercookies cannot be erased and can even get around the “private” or “incognito” settings on your… Read more »
Ouch! This may sting a little.
According to the New York Times, officials are saying that short-term pain is necessary to put the European economy back on track. Regulators in the United States forced a similar catharsis on American banks in 2009, helping set the stage for the current recovery. Questions: 1. What was the result of the timid approach taken… Read more »
Shopping Comes at A Price
According to Chico Harlan, five years after the Great Recession, the most striking change in the world of low-income commerce has been the proliferation of rent-to-own stores. Questions: 1. How do rent to own stores avoid state usury laws and other regulations aimed at excessive interest payments? 2. What percentage of items are returned or… Read more »
The new trend in non-compete clauses
If you are a chief executive of a large company, you very likely have a non-compete clause in your contract and also understand the importance of this clause in preventing you from jumping ship to a competitor until some period has elapsed. However, according to the New York Times, non-compete clauses are popping up in… Read more »
Impending Huge Penalties!
The Kansas Supreme Court found that FedEx drivers were illegally misclassified as independent contractors from the late 1990s through 2011, despite being treated as employees. According to Alan Pyke, FedEx set contract agreements with delivery and pickup drivers in order to avoid the higher costs associated with making the drivers full employees. Questions: 1. What… Read more »
The Game is Rigged: Criminal Spoofing of the Market
Federal prosecutors have filed the first-ever indictment of an individual financial professional for manipulating markets through high-speed trading. By using a Michael Coscia used the high-tech trading platform at a commodities trading company that he runs, Michael Coscia placed and then cancelled dozens of large purchases in less than a second. The result was that… Read more »
Should After-Work Screenings be Part of the Payroll?
The nation’s retailers are paying close attention to the hotly contested issue before the Supreme Court this week. On Wednesday, the justices will determine whether security checks and the related waiting time should be part of an employee’s regular, compensable workday. Questions: 1. As part of the opposition of compensation for antitheft checks, retailers’ groups… Read more »
Trademarks Gone Wild
A bitter legal battle is raging between a best-selling author and a management guru against America’s largest Greek yogurt manufacturer. For Chobani, it is a fight about an ambitious brand campaign and its straining process that is built around the phrase “How Matters.” For Dov Seidman, “How Matters” revolves around his business of helping companies… Read more »