The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its calculation of the costs and benefits if Congress repeals the federal health care law, but doesn't replace it. About 32 million people would be uninsured by 2026 and premiums would double. On the other hand, the federal deficit would drop by $473 billion.  Marketplace's Dan Gorenstein joined us to talk about the possibility of another repeal-and-replace plan in the cards and the future of Medicaid. Below is an edited transcript. David Brancaccio: What are we hearing from the GOP after this CBO score?  Dan Gorenstein: Well, honestly — even before this pretty brutal score came out — there was lots of talk about how repeal now and how replace later was going nowhere. So while it’s virtually impossible to say anything with certainty about this bill, David, I think it is safe to say the score from the CBO pretty much guaranteed "repeal first and trust us, we’ll come up with something great" is actually dead. Like, dead, dead. David Brancaccio: So that's repeal, only. Not replace for now. But we see that Bloomberg News is reporting today that a new CBO score is expected perhaps later today on a repeal-and-replace plan that's still somehow out there? Gorenstein: Yeah, while earlier in the week there were plenty of obituaries being written about the Senate bill, it is still alive — you can call it a zombie bill or a Lazarus bill depending on your perspective. That new CBO score will give everybody a slightly better sense of the number of people who lose coverage, what happens to premiums and how much money [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell has to play with. Last night, I was talking to a source who told me that one idea being discussed is to give states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare $200 billion to help ease the pain of ending this expansion and making deeper cuts to the program. Now that may sound like a lot of money, but the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities did the math, and when you add it all up between reductions to Medicaid and less generous subsidies — that’s a $1.2 trillion hit to low- and moderate-income Americans. Getting the $200 billion would mean signing onto a plan that cuts benefits by a trillion dollars.  Related Here is where the U.S. Congress buys its health insurance CBO director worries some Americans don't know what to believe anymore Three global ideas that could make U.S. health care better

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Wait, I thought the USA had the highest tax rate in the world? (lol)   Taxing Wages 2017 Source: OECD   The post Compare Your Country’s Tax Rate appeared first on The Big Picture.

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Valuations continue to reach new highs, and the market looks very expensive-by some measures, the third highest of all time after 1929 and 1999. Meanwhile, the economy is showing signs of slowing. I have made my own views about what […] The post Are Current Stock Prices Reasonable? appeared first on ValueWalk.

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If the rumored $1,100 price tag of the iPhone 8 makes you squirm then you’re probably not the type of person to participate in an iPhone smuggling operation. A woman was caught trying to enter mainland China with 102 iPhones […] The post Woman Takes iPhone Smuggling To A New Level appeared first on ValueWalk.

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Via The Daily Bell Gold bugs are rarely, if ever, bearish on gold. To them, it’s the only real currency in a world of money-printing central banks endlessly devaluing their fiat (that is, paper) currencies. There are few people who believe so fervently as gold bugs. But bitcoin fanatics come pretty close. These folks believe that this decentralised digital currency is the ultimate means of easily transferring value without the need for centralised entity, intermediary, or central

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When Ajit Pai was first appointed as the new head of the FCC, he promised to be a stickler for transparency at the agency. And in one way he followed through, by making it standard operating procedure to now publish FCC orders a month before they're voted on (even though former staffers and consumer advocates believe he only did so to give ISP lobbyists more time to construct counter-arguments and their legal and policy assaults). Elsewhere, this supposed dedication to transparency has been

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Nintendo Switch is not as powerful as the PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X. Its worldwide success is proof that power isn’t everything. However, the Switch gaming library has suffered a little due to the console’s lack of processing […] The post Nintendo Switch Gaming Library Getting Bigger With New Titles appeared first on ValueWalk.

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SpaceX already accepted in February that launching its Dragon capsule to Mars in 2018 was a little too aggressive, and thus, it postponed the date to 2020. Then on Wednesday, while speaking at the International Space Station Research and Development conference, […] The post SpaceX May Scrap Plan To Launch Dragon Capsule On Mars: Musk appeared first on ValueWalk.

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Americans are equal before the law – but not before the taxman. That’s because more than one comes knocking at your door. While the federal tax system is the same for everybody, local and state taxes vary greatly. As this […] The post Where Does The Government Get The Money It Spends? appeared first on ValueWalk.

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Another day, another 'soft' data point disappointments and heads towards it 'hard' data reality. This time is the turn of the Philly Fed survey, which missed expectations and dropped to 19.5 - its lowest since Nov 2016. Remember Philly Fed hit a 33 year high in February - what does it say about these surveys that it is now languising back at 9 month lows? New Orders collapsed, employees tumbled, and average workweek slumped... but hope rose very modestly for business activity 6-months

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Uber’s whole value proposition is that it’s cheaper, quicker and easier. But this week the ride-sharing service was accused of being not so easy for people who are disabled. The group Disability Rights Advocates, filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber. The suit argues the company discriminates against New York City riders with disabilities because it doesn’t offer enough wheel-chair accessible vehicles.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

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Bund yields and the euro are lower after the ECB statement seemed to tilt dovishly - with Draghi proclaiming there's more "whatever it takes" if we need it - painting quite a different picture from his normalization chatter a few weeks back. We are sure he will explain himself fully to avoid any and all confusion during this morning's press conference. Bund yields back at 2-week lows but a long way to go to erase Draghi's turmoil. Once again, here are two cheat sheets to keep tabs on whether

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On the heels of the most excruciating 30 seconds of handshaking ever, President Trump is trying to play down the incident during a New York Times interview, joking that French President Emmanuel Macron "loves" holding his hand. As The Hill reports, the two leaders shared an extended departing handshake in Paris last week, which was mockingly timed by MSNBC. Anchor Katy Tur saying the two leaders were "enjoying new romance."  "The latest handshake that was seen

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The Blackstone Group Q2 2017 and Bank of New York Mellon Q2 2017 earnings reports were released before opening bell this morning. Blackstone reported economic net income of 59 cents per share on in revenue, compared to the 62 cents […] The post Earnings: Blackstone Group Q2 2017, Bank Of New York Mellon Q2 2017 appeared first on ValueWalk.

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Millennials Can Punt On Bitcoin, Own Gold and Silver For Long Term  - Bitcoin volatility shows not currency or safe haven but speculation- Volatility still very high in bitcoin and crypto currencies (see charts)- Bitcoin fell 25% over weekend; Recent high of $3,000 fell to below $1,900- Bitcoin least volatile of cryptos, around 75% annualised volatility- Gold much more stable at just 10% annualised volatility- Bitcoin volatility against USD about 5-7 times vol of traditional

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While nobody was expecting much from the ECB's policy statement this morning, with all eyes on Draghi's press conference in 45 minutes, judging by the disappointed market reaction to what were largely canned remarks by the ECB which sent the EURUSD in kneejerk reaction lower, positioning is indeed stretched and unless Draghi comes out with hawkish bazookas blazing, the EURUSD may slide bigly. Back to the ECB's decision, it announced that it kept both its rates and QE unchanged, with QE expected

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Republicans were unable to resolve existing differences about the healthcare bill after a Wednesday late-night meeting which ended with no deal, despite President Donald Trump’s demands that they keep trying. Party members also met with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price behind closed doors on Wednesday night to try to reach an agreement on a plan to undo former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature legislation, popularly known as Obamacare, according to

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Escalation of the diplomatic row between Berlin and Ankara ended in a clear message. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned German citizens that they risk arrest if they travel to Turkey. As KeepTalkingGreece.com reports, the German government on Friday warned citizens travelling to Turkey that they are at risk of arrest. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Germany had revised its travel advice in the wake of the recent arrests of several human rights activists, including German national

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The Kremlin responded to media reports that President Donald Trump held a second “secret” meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, saying it has prompted “astonishment” in Moscow and displays a “lack of understanding” while confirming the two did chat informally over dinner.  "The use of such notion as "undisclosed" or "secret" meeting causes absolute astonishment and lack of understanding" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV, Channel One. Peskov said

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Snap stock plunged yet again on Tuesday, falling under the $15 per share mark for the first time ever, which will likely help it continue to be the best-performing short position. The company just added some new features to Snapchat, […] The post Snap Inc Versus Instagram: Tenacity Against Overwhelming Scale appeared first on ValueWalk.

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