Americans Have Mixed Feelings About Economy, Trump Presidency, WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds
WASHINGTON—A strong economy and a polarizing president have left Americans with mixed feelings about the nation’s course. A majority say 2018 was a good, or at least average, year for the country, but also that the U.S. is on the wrong track. According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, one-third of Americans say the economy will get worse in 2019, the highest level of wariness in five years, the poll found.
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 13:52 UTC
Hotel-Style Hospitality Comes to Hospitals
The friendly touches at a luxury hotel aren’t normally expected at a busy Bronx hospital. But that is exactly what Marcello Khattar of Montefiore Health System is trying to do—put a little of the hotel experience into the health-care setting. Mr. Khattar, 36 years old, is a director of patient experience and customer service at Montefiore, a new role. His charge is to make the hospital experience feel a little warmer, easier and more personal. It is not enough for a patient or family member just to have medical needs met,...
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 13:52 UTC
What Federal Courts -- And Obamacare's Architects -- Don't Get About Pre-Existing Conditions
Enrollment went up after Obamacare’s individual mandate was repealedIt’s theoretically possible for a truly punitive individual mandate to work. But Obamacare’s individual mandate was too weak to have that effect. But enrollment in Obamacare’s insurance exchanges actually went up, from 10.3 million to 10.6 million. The misleading politics of pre-existing conditionsPolls show that Obamacare’s requirement that insurers offer coverage to everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions, is popular. INVESTORS’ NOTE: The biggest publicly-traded health insurance companies include UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), Humana (NYSE:HUM), Molina (NYSE:MOH), and Centene (NYSE:CNC).
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:45 UTC
Eli Lilly And Merck Show Strength In Market Downturn
I asked Wayne Himelsein, who has a long track record of outperforming, why he is buying Eli Lilly and Merck. Ken Kam: As the market continues to sell-off, can you give us some guidance into where we should look to put capital, both broadly and specifically? Kam: Is showing strength in times of market weakness enough to justify buying the stock? Wayne identifies the stocks he wants to own by following the trading that results from good, solid, actionable research. Wayne Himelsein's Logica Focus Fund (LFF) has an 18+ year track record that extends through 2 market crashes, numerous corrections, and sector rotations.
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:41 UTC
Texas Judge Deals Obamacare A Major Blow
As part of the tax overhaul passed last year, the ACA penalty for not having health insurance was abolished. [T]he court finds the individual mandate is essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA." Indeed, the individual mandate is an integral component of the law, because it facilitates pooling of risk and expands population-wide access. So, I won't weigh in on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. To those who wish to nix ACA and say the individual mandate is non-severable, be careful what you wish for.
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:41 UTC
The Blockchain Startup That Wants To Rent Your Spare Bandwidth to Defeat The Hackers
When his business fell victim to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, he set out to find a solution. During a DDoS attack the server is bombarded with so many useless requests, reducing its capability to serve genuine users and bringing the site down. There are solutions on the market to counter the attacks, but Niebylski, now 19, believes that Gladius, the blockchain startup that he co founded, offers a more effective solution. "We had tried to launch a fitness app, but as soon we published it, we started getting hit with DDoS attacks," he says. The Ethereum blockchain on which Gladius is built presented the founders with some of their biggest challenges.
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:30 UTC
How The Drucker Forum's Management Transformation Message Resonated
While there were many different viewpoints expressed at the Drucker Forum 2018 and much lamenting about the obstacles to management transformation, the Forum's conclusion that a major transformation is already under way around the world resonated strongly widely on social media, particularly Twitter. Management Transformation Already Under WayThe Drucker Forum itself has been active in disseminating the news that the movement to transform management is not something that has to be launched: it is already in motion:Global Drucker Forum @GDruckerForumDrucker Forum 2018: A Major Transformation Of Management Is Already Under Way by @stevedenning @Forbes #GPDF18 @rstraub46 #management #leadershipThe news was celebrated widely. One major Result of Drucker Forum 2018: A Major Transformation Of Management Is Already Under Way paper.li/guenter_koch/1… Joe Pine@joepineMust read from @stevedenning on learning from the Drucker Forum #gpdf18 CoachingOurselves@coachourselvesCanadavA nice wrap up of last week's @GDruckerForum on the human dimension of management in Vienna! It's a fact, a major transformation of management is already under way. 1/3 Drucker Forum 2018: A Major Transformation Of Management Is Already Under Way via @Forbes forbes.com/sites/steveden… IDEAS FOR CHANGE@Ideas_4_ChangeWhat makes organizations successful in an ever-changing world?
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:30 UTC
Ten Customer Service/Customer Experience Predictions for 2019
Here are my thoughts on customer service and customer experience as we head into 2019:Customers continue to get smarter. They know what they want and expect when it comes to the customer experience. Customer service and customer experience has been and will continue to be, one of the best marketing investments a company can make. Employee experience will be as important, if not more so, than customer experience. It can also help the agent cross-sell the customer (and yes, that is an aspect of good customer service).
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 13:18 UTC
Here's How To Get A Free Copy Of 'Assassin's Creed Odyssey' On PC
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a very good game. It's a free game and all you have to do to get it is...play the game! All your progress and anything you purchase during the Project Stream test will transfer over to your copy of the game, so that's also pretty great. I'd like to see how Project Stream works in any case. And free, dear readers, is free.
Source:Forbes
December 16, 2018 12:56 UTC
Possible Drone Collision Renews Focus on Safety Systems
U.S. government and industry efforts to prevent accidents between planes and drones are receiving heightened attention in the wake of a possible collision last week between an Aeromexico jetliner and an unmanned aircraft. Days after one of the carrier’s planes touched down in Tijuana with a large dent and an adjoining gash in its nose, investigators and airline officials on both sides of the border still haven’t definitively said whether the cause was hitting a drone, striking a bird or some unrelated structural problem.
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 12:56 UTC
Amazon Targets Unprofitable Items, With a Sharper Focus on the Bottom Line
Amazon.com Inc. has trained people to buy everything from major appliances to daily staples online. Now it is having second thoughts about some of those sales because they don’t make money—and is pushing big brands to change how they use its site. Inside Amazon, the items are known as CRaP, short for “Can’t Realize a Profit.” Think bottled beverages or snack foods. The products tend to be priced at $15 or less, are sold directly by Amazon, and are heavy or bulky and therefore costly to ship—characteristics that make for thin...
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 12:56 UTC
Hopes Dashed For a Middle East Markets Bonanza
The Persian Gulf was poised this year for a financial revolution that never arrived. After Saudi Arabia’s national oil company launched plans for the world’s biggest public offering in early 2016, a wave of energy-related IPOs was supposed to sweep across the region, transforming many traditionally statist oil companies. But the partial privatization of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Aramco, was put on hold, creating ripple effects across the Gulf.
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 12:56 UTC
Escaped child killer missing for more than 40 years may be ‘hiding in plain sight,’ feds say
Marshals Service added Lester Eubanks to its “15 Most Wanted List” on Dec. 7 in hopes of ending his 45-year stint on the lam. In 1972, Eubanks’ death sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But it was on Dec. 7, 1973, when Eubanks eventually made his escape, after prison officials took him to a shopping center in Columbus, Ohio. Marshals Service Deputy Director David Anderson said in a statement. Marshals Service Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102.
Source:Fox News
December 16, 2018 12:33 UTC
To Expand Access to Emergency Contraception, Some Colleges Try Vending Machines
Some universities are installing vending machines where students can purchase emergency contraception, an effort to remove barriers to and anxiety surrounding products like Plan B.Barnard College in New York said it would soon install a vending machine, months after Columbia University did. Stanford University, Dartmouth College and a few University of California campuses have added vending machines with Plan B or its generic alternative in recent years. Yale University students have pushed for one, and the student council...
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 12:00 UTC
The Wounded Stock Market Still Pays Dividends to Investors
Dividends have been a silver lining for the stock market this year, but investors are grappling with whether they can keep up such a rapid pace of growth. Companies in the S&P 500 have spent nearly $421 billion on dividends through November, a record-setting sum that eclipsed last year’s mark of roughly $391 billion and the full-year tally of $420 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. More than two dozen companies announced additional dividend increases so far this month, which will push the year’s total even...
Source:Wall Street Journal
December 16, 2018 12:00 UTC