Congress Warned That Public Transit Cuts Would Hurt U.S. Economy
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Public transportation advocates said at a Senate Banking Committee Thursday that if transit agencies lose federal funding, the entire nation would suffer.
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) chairman of the Banking Committee, said, “It is sometimes forgotten but reliable and accessible public transit is vital in rural areas like South Dakota, just as it is vital in large urban cities.”
Public transportation funding is among budget items members of Congress are considering reducing as they try to cut the $14 trillion federal deficit.
However, fewer bus, subway and passenger rail trips will mean more roadway congestion, transit advocates say.
“Our public transit systems connect workers with employers, keep cars off congested roads, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and get people where they’re going safely and affordably,” Johnson said.
Republicans, such as Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, say the federal government should subsidize local transit agencies only if they match the funds and agree to keep their systems in a state of good repair.
The Obama administration seeks to increase operating assistance to transit agencies. Operating assistance refers mostly to salaries for workers, but also recurring expenses like electricity.
“There’s no point in using federal dollars to buy brand spanking new buses for transit systems if they can’t afford to pay the drivers to put those buses into service,” Federal Transit Administration chief Peter M. Rogoff told the Banking Committee.
JayEtta Hecker, transportation advocacy director for the Bipartisan Policy Center, said public transportation will get the funding it needs only if Congress can be assured taxpayers are getting a good deal.
“We are not going to get consensus for the kinds of [revenue] increases that are required in transportation until we rebuild the credibility of the program,” she said. “A clearer set of performance objectives, clearer outcomes, clearer recognition that we’re getting value for our money.”
The Bipartisan Policy Center is a foundation that promotes policies supported by both Republicans and Democrats.
Other warnings about big cuts in public transportation came from a study released this week by the Urban Land Institute, a public policy group.
It concluded that the United States would fall behind other countries economically if transit spending is drastically reduced.
Outside of the United States, “in most of the developed world and in many emerging markets, countries have committed to fulfilling infrastructure agendas as essential for sustaining or enhancing living standards in an increasingly competitive global marketplace,” says the report.
One example mentioned in the report came from the United Kingdom, which is spending $326 billion over the next five years to stimulate its economy by investing in passenger rail, broadband access and energy production.
China is on schedule to complete 10,000 miles of high-speed rail lines by 2020, the report said.
Meanwhile, major U.S. cities like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco are reducing transit service, raising fares and delaying new projects as they divert transportation funding to other priorities, the Urban Land Institute reported.
Additional budget cuts are likely for defense spending, federal employees’ pensions, student loan subsidies and farm payments, according to members of the Obama administration.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week described how the Pentagon is trying to figure out which weapons systems can be reduced without risking national defense.
President Obama announced a 12-year deficit reduction plan earlier this year that seeks to save $400 billion.
The Pentagon’s review of its own budget includes ways to find management efficiencies that might reduce the size of the armed forces, Gates said.
In addition, the Obama administration is doing a “serious examination” of policies that “drive dramatic” increases in health care, retirement and infrastructure, he said.
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Corn price hits record in hunt for rationing point
The price of Chicago corn hits an all-time high of $7.69 a bushel, amid talk that even higher prices may be needed to quell demand
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ACOs Spell Gold Rush For Health Care Consultants
Washington, D.C., United States (KaiserHealth) – For months, said Washington health-care attorney Rene Quashie, his phone has been “ringing off the hook,” with hospital and doctor clients wanting advice on how to reorganize themselves to get new Medicare bonuses under the health-care law. Handling such questions, said Quashie, an associate with the firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, is sure to be “a growth area” for his firm.
And a lucrative one.
From Washington to California, the year-old health law, with its layers of complexity, is setting off a gold rush for high-priced lawyers and consultants. It’s “a full employment act for health-care consultants,” said Ian Morrison, a founding partner of Strategic Health Perspectives in Menlo Park, Calif.
Much of the activity – and the prospect of glitteringly high fees – is swirling around a widely discussed provision that encourages doctors, hospitals and insurers to team up in treating patients. Initially, these “accountable care organizations,” as envisioned in the law, will treat only Medicare patients, and will get bonuses for providing better care at lower cost. But if they work, ACOs will likely spread to private patients as well.-
The ACO issue “has all the pieces that drive consulting,” said Morrison. “There are legal, information technology and cultural changes needed to make it work, so lawyers are happy as hell, IT people are happy as hell and so are the management consultants.”
Lobbyists, lawyers and consultants are holding frequent ACO conferences — and finding them oversubscribed. Some consultants are charging from $25,000 for a day of strategy sessions to $1 million to actually implement the strategy.
Gorman Health Group, a 150-person consultant firm based in Washington, charges $25,000 to $100,000 for an ACO strategy, which is usually done in conjunction with other work, said founder John Gorman, who was a Medicare official in the Clinton administration. Among the topics discussed: whether the health system has to make major cultural changes to become an ACO.
The Camden Group, based in Los Angeles, charges about $30,000 to $100,000 to advise health systems on how to get ready to become an ACO, said Steve Valentine, the firm’s president.
Meanwhile, Washington lawyer Randy Fenninger said his firm, Holland & Knight, is expanding its ACO practice in response to requests for advice from hospital and physician clients in Miami and Chicago.
The ACO frenzy is bound to increase. The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a 429-page proposed ACO rule, and a final version is due by year-end. The first ACOs are scheduled to launch in January 2012.
“Every time there is a new programmatic initiative in D.C., there is a wave of new consulting opportunities,” said Jeff Goldsmith, president of the consulting firm Health Futures and associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Virginia. “But I have never seen anything quite like this in my 35 years in this business.”
Medicare pays physicians separately for individual services, which critics say leads to fragmented and excessive medical care. Under the proposed rule, ACOs that care for their patients at a lower than expected cost would reap bonuses from the money they saved Medicare. In some cases, those that had cost overruns would face penalties.
“ACOs are going to be part of the traditional Medicare program beginning in 2012, and if you are a hospital, you are seeing this and thinking money is going to go out of the system and its going to be taken out of your hide,” said Jay Cohen, executive chair of Monarch Healthcare, an independent physicians’ group in Irving, Calif. “So to preserve their interests and stay relevant, they are thinking they need to get control.”
Joan Mason of the Cleveland-based Gateway Group said many hospitals and doctors lack the necessary computer capabilities and other infrastructure to form ACOs soon. Last December, she said, a hospital wanted to hire her to create an ACO within six months. “I said ‘No, I can’t do it because you can’t go from zero to ACO.’ ” She said she’s planning a speech entitled “ACOs: Why Fools Rush In.”
Still, some say there are good policy reasons to move ahead with the new organizations. “ACOs are worth doing because we need to build systems of care,” said Steve Lieberman, a consultant and a fellow at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution. “The system is fragmented, doctors are very unhappy and everyone wants to reduce the costs.”
The Engelberg Center provides about 100 health systems with access to its “Learning Network,” a collaborative between Brookings and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice. The center has charged $2,500 or more to members to join, depending on the type of health system. The network produces conferences, newsletters, webinars and access to ACO experts, such as Engelberg Center Director Mark McClellan — the former head of Medicare and Medicaid — and Dartmouth Center for Population Health Director Elliott Fisher. McClellan, who was Food and Drug Administration Commissioner under President George W. Bush, and Fisher are longtime proponents of the ACO concept.
A consultant’s bill for putting an ACO into place can be high. Premier, a Charlotte nonprofit alliance of 2,400 hospitals and 70,000 health-care providers, created an ACO implementation collaborative to help hospitals take advantage of the Medicare law and changes occurring in the private market.
Premier charges a $150,000 annual membership fee for access to its team of implementation consultants, who specialize in care management, physician integration, contracting, payment systems and network development. Camden Group charges $200,000 to $500,000, while the Advisory Board may charge as much as $1 million to implement an ACO plan.
Even insurers are getting into the consulting business. Aetna, which has long experience in managing costs of care, has started creating partnerships with health systems and will charge them consulting fees.
“Given the complex combination of requirements [for ACOs], we can raise our hands pretty frequently” to offer solutions, said Lonny Reisman, Aetna’s chief medical officer.
One reason doctors and hospitals turn to ACO consultants is to sort out the blizzard of pitches they’re getting from technology and other companies selling wares that they contend will pave the way to becoming one of the new organizations.
“Dozens of companies are pitching us regularly” on technology products and databases that supposedly will make it easier to become an ACO, said Tripp Jennings, chief medical information officer of Palmetto Health Quality Collaborative, which was launched by a South Carolina hospital system to create an ACO. “It’s a cornucopia of products out there, and what is challenging is that each of these products has its own piece of the solution.”
Provided by Kaiser Health News.
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US export win helps Chicago wheat top $8 a bushel
The grain rises above $8 a bushel for only the second time in the past two years, helped by US victory in an Egyptian wheat tender
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Why Traders Mistake in Stock Market
The answer to the question “why do traders make this Mistake in Stock Market” could probably apply to all of the mistakes.
The primary cause of Mistake #1 is simply the lure Of easy money. The underlying thought seems to be “why Bother wasting a lot of time planning; why not start getting Rich right away?” This is understandable. There is probably not a soul on this earth who works for a living who has never once dreamed of making some huge sum of money quickly and easily and then living a life of spoiled luxury from that day forward. And the fact of the matters that futures trading offers just that possibility (which is exactly what makes futures trading so alluring, yet so dangerous). Consider these success stories: In a trading contest in 1987, Larry Williams ran $10,000 up to $1.1 million dollars in less than a year. Michael Marcus started with a trading account of $30,000 and over a period of years garnered over $80 million in profits. Richard Dennis became a legendary trader in the grain pits in Chicago in the 1970′s. Starting with a reported $400, Dennis ran it up to over $200 million dollars (his father is reported to have made one of the greatest understatements of all time when he said, “Richie did a ratty good job of running up that $400 bucks”).
Let’s face it; these numbers are staggering. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to achieve the kind of success that these individuals have? Unfortunately in Stock Market, most individuals tend to focus not on the “achieving” part of the process, but rather the “post-achievement” period. In other words, if you asked the question “could you imagine having this much success trading futures,” most people would not begin mentally drawing up plans as to how they would trade soybeans. Quite the opposite. Most people would start drawing up a mental laundry list of all the things they could do with the money. The “doing” part is not nearly as sexy as the “done” part.
Crop prices soar after US slashes corn yield hopes
Prices of corn, soybeans and wheat jump in Chicago by the exchange limit after a flagship US report tightens supply prospects for all three crops
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Trading Futures – The Fundamentals of Futures Contracts
The heritage of trading futures dates back again to the 1840s in Chicago when commercial dealings among farmers started to consider off. With that stated, the heritage is a complete diverse topic so that is about all this write-up will touch when it arrives to that. Nonetheless, a definition of futures trading is even now essential to obtain great realizing of how it operates and how much you stand to gain from employing it.
Trading futures pertains to a contractual agreement to buy or market a distinct commodity – which could be agriculture, outfits, technology, etc associated commodities – or economic instruments (this kind of as stocks, stock possibilities, currencies, and the likes) at a pre-determined value in the upcoming. It frequently demands the parties undertaking what is termed “futures contracts” which information the top quality and quantity of the underlying asset.
Relating to Investopedia, the conditions “futures contract” and “futures” refer to fundamentally the identical point. This indicates, if you ever hear an individual say they purchased some “agriculture futures”, what they are declaring is the identical as declaring they acquired into some “agriculture futures contract”.
The general contract in the expense earth is that trading futures is a significant economic concept; meaning the futures current market is a key fiscal hub, as it provides a floor for extreme competitors among buyers and sellers and, a lot more importantly, delivering a centre to handle value hazards.
Like nearly each other monetary dealings, the futures industry is extremely dangerous, liquid (i.e. modifications in supply or need have a smaller result on cost), and intricate by dynamics, but it can be understood very easily if you are keen sufficient to understand.
With that stated, irrespective of how liquid, high risk, or complicated the futures industry may well be you can even now advantage significantly from it. For this to come about, you can either: do it yourself as an investor if you are positive of what you are performing; or open a managed account, equivalent to an equity account – where your broker would have the power to trade on your behalf, following disorders agreed upon when the accounts was opened; or, final but not the least, join a commodity pool which like a mutual fund is a group of commodities which can be invested in. The commodity swimming pool presents a very much reduced risk for investors like you – specially if you are unsure how trading futures operate.
Examine a lot more on Trading Futures by clicking the hyperlink.
Major Futures Trading Exchanges-Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board Of Trade & Nymex
Futures trading is one of the ways to make money and grow your wealth overtime. Many people only invest in stocks. However, trading futures contracts like copper, wheat, corn, coffee, soybeans, pork bellies, cattle, crude oil, gold, ethanol, heating, gasoline, silver, interest rates, currencies and others can be highly lucrative.
If you want to profit from commodities than futures trading is the best and direct method of getting access to the commodity market. There are several active futures trading exchanges in the US. Three of the world’s largest futures exchanges are located in Chicago.
The largest futures trading exchange in US is Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). A large number of futures contracts get traded on CME that includes commodities, stock index futures, foreign currencies, interest rates, environmental futures and others.
The commodities futures that get traded on CME include live cattle, milk, lean hogs, feeder cattle, butter, limber, pork bellies, Goldman Sachs Commodities Index and fertilizer.
Now, one of the ways to trade stock market is to trade stock indexes like the various S&P 500 like the S&P 500 Midcap, Small Cap as well as the Russell 2000 and the NASDAQ 100. CME provides you with the opportunity to trade futures contracts on these stock indexes as well as their mini versions the E-Minis.
GLOBEX is the Electronic Trading Platform owned by the CME Group that allows the electronic trading of these contracts almost 24 hours a day. So you can easily trade almost all these contracts from the comfort of your home electronically using your computer.
The second most important futures exchange is the CBOT ( Chicago Board of Trade).The futures contracts that are available on CBOT include agricultural futures like the soybeans, ethanol, rice, corn, wheat and others. Mini contracts on corn, soybeans and wheat are also available for trading on CBOT.
Interest rate related futures contracts that get traded on CBOT include Treasury Bonds, FED Funds, spreads, municipal bonds, German debt and swaps. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures popularly known as Dow futures and its E-Mini version plus gold and silver futures and their mini versions also gets traded on CBOT.
Now the best place to trade crude oil, natural gas, gasoline as as well as a host of other energy futures in the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange).This is infact the global hub for energy trading and offers futures contracts on unleaded gasoline, heating oil, electricity, light sweet crude, natural gas, propane and coal.
Futures contract on precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium also get traded on NYMEX. Futures contracts on metals like copper and aluminum also are available on NYMEX.
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Futures Trading – A Beginners Guide To Trading Futures
What is Futures Trading? Futures’ trading is a form of investment which involves speculating on the price of a commodity rising or falling.
What is a commodity? Most commodities you see and use every day of your life:
the corn in your morning cereal which you have for breakfast, the lumber that makes your breakfast-table and chairs the gold on your watch and jewelry, the cotton that makes your clothes, the steel which makes your motor car and the crude oil which runs it and takes you to work, the wheat that makes the bread in your lunchtime sandwiches the beef and potatoes you eat for lunch, the currency you use to buy all these things…
… All these commodities (and dozens more) are traded between hundreds-of-thousands of investors, every day, all over the world. They are all trying to make a profit by buying a commodity at a low price and selling at a higher price.
Futures’ trading is mainly speculative investing, i.e. it is rare for the investors to actually hold the physical commodity.
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What is a Futures Contract?
To the uninitiated, the term contract can be a misleading however the term is used because a futures investment has an expiration date. It is similar to other forms of short-term contract. You don’t have to hold the contract until it expires. You can cancel it anytime you like. In fact, many short-term traders only hold their contracts for a few hours – or even minutes!
The expiration dates vary between commodities, and you have to choose which contract fits your market objective.
For example, if today was June 30th and you think Gold will rise in price until mid-August. The Gold contracts available are February, April, June, August, October and December. As it is the end of June and this contract has already expired, you would probably choose the August or October Gold contract.
The nearby (to expiration) contracts are usually more liquid, i.e. there are more traders trading them. Therefore, prices are a true reflection of trading activity and less likely to jump from one extreme to the other. But if you thought the price of gold would rise until September, you would choose a back-month contract (October in this case).
Nor is there a limit on the number of contracts you can trade. Many larger traders/investment companies/banks, etc. may trade thousands of contracts at a time!
All futures contracts are standardised in that they all hold a specified amount and quality of a commodity. For example, a Pork Bellies futures contract (PB) holds 40,000lbs of pork bellies of a certain size; a Gold futures contract (GC) holds 100 troy ounces of 24 carat gold; and a Crude Oil futures contract holds 1000 barrels of crude oil of a certain quality.
A Short History of Futures Trading
Before Futures Trading, a producer of a commodity (e.g. a farmer growing wheat or corn) could find himself at the mercy of a dealer when it came to selling his product. The business of transacting between producer, agent and end-use needed to be legalised so that specified amounts and quality of product could be traded between producers and dealers within a specified time-frame.
Contracts were drawn up between the two parties specifying a certain amount and quality of a commodity that would be delivered in a particular month…
…Futures trading had begun!
In 1878, a central dealing facility was opened in Chicago, USA where farmers and dealers could deal in ‘spot’ grain, i.e., immediately deliver their wheat crop for a cash settlement. Futures trading evolved as farmers and dealers committed to buying and selling at a specified time in the future. For example, a dealer would agree to buy 5,000 bushels of a specified quality of wheat from the farmer in June the following year, for a specified price. The farmer knew how much he would be paid in advance, and the dealer knew his costs.
Not too long ago futures markets consisted of only a few farm products, but now they have been joined by a huge number of tradable ‘commodities’. As well as metals like gold, silver and platinum; livestock like pork bellies and cattle; energies like crude oil and natural gas; foodstuffs like coffee and orange juice; and industrials like lumber and cotton, modern futures markets include a wide range of interest-rate instruments, currencies, stocks and other indices such as the Dow Jones, NASDAQ and S&P 500.
Who Trades Futures?
It didn’t take long for businessmen to realise the lucrative investment opportunities available in these markets. They didn’t have to buy or sell the ACTUAL commodity (wheat or corn, etc.), in order to trade the price movement of a commodity. As long as they exited the contract before the delivery date, the investment would be a simple trade. This was the start of speculation in the futures markets, and today, around 97% of futures trading are speculative by nature.
Andrew Baxter is one of Australia’s most highly regarded trading and investment educators. Andrew is also a co-founder and facilitator of the Elite Traders Group, Options Trading Mastery and various other educational programs aimed at leveling the playing field between professional and private traders.
For More Information About Andrew’s Free Educational Webinars and Resources, please visit the Elite Traders Group Website: http://www.EliteTradersWebinars.com.au
Understanding Futures Trading With A Futures Trading Course
A futures trading course can be highly beneficial to investors and traders wanting to begin immersion in futures contracts. Futures trading is a market exchange that is deeply rooted in American economic history and has evolved into the cash commodity trade that it is today. Futures contracts have a finite lifetime and are primarily used for hedging price fluctuations and taking advantage of price movements. The futures contract itself is as tradable as the goods that are provided within the contract.
Future trading began in the mid-1800 when Chicago wheat merchants sold their wheat to dealers who shipped it around the country. At this time, it was a dealer’s market. Merchants did not have adequate equipment, facilities, or procedures for effective handling of the wheat and were at the mercy of the dealer. Over time, a central place was established where merchants and dealers could exchange their wheat for cash. This is where the futures contract began. Merchants and dealers would enter into a contract for future sales. These contracts suited both parties, and it was not long after that the contracts themselves began being traded.
Hedgers and speculators are the two groups of future traders. Hedgers use futures contracts to protect the possibility of losses. Hedgers are usually businesses or individuals. Speculators are independent floor traders and investors. These brokers handle the companies or individuals behind the goods. Both hedgers and speculators incur some risks when entering into a futures contract. Futures contracts have finite lives, unlike stock. These contracts are primarily used for hedging price fluctuations and movements. However, knowledgeable investors can exploit mispricing and cash in considerably.
Unlike stocks, futures pricing is extremely unstable. This is why it is extremely important for futures traders to do their homework, and not expect effortless results. Traders should be aware of signals and market news. A futures trading course can significantly prepare a prospective trader for the ups, downs, and signals of futures trading. Supply and demand are the biggest indicators in the commodity trade. This type of information can be gathered from news organizations, press releases, research facilities, and trade organizations. Investors should also be aware of political events, psychological factors, and natural disasters. All of these variables significantly contribute to the supply and demand of the commodity market.
Futures traders can help minimize their losses by pursuing several opportunities. A buyer can take a short futures position and hope the futures prices will go down. Alternatively, investors can place a limit or stop-loss order and only buy or sell if the desired price is reached. The Commodity Exchange Act also places in some protections for traders. This is governed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is an independent agency of the United States government.
Due to the volatile nature of futures trading, a futures trading course can offer investors many resources to help them invest with confidence. These courses are offered by companies who have been in the business for many years and are eager to help. With unique software and perfected methodologies, an investment in a futures trading course is an advisable option. After completion of a futures trading course, there are further opportunities for continued education.
A futures trading course can be extremely beneficial to both seasoned investors and new investors. As the market is always changing, methodology and signals adhere to the evolution. These courses can help maximize profits and reduce risks by providing the latest information and most relevant tips and techniques. With research and know how, investors can turn a great profit by buying and selling in futures trades.
Andy West is a writer for NetPicks, which offers valuable trading services and products including the Futures Trading Course.
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