More employers penalize smokers with higher insurance premiums

walmart

Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest employer, recently sought the higher payments from some smokers, as much as $2000 more than non-smokers.

Employers are making  a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding employees with good habits as more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs.

 

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Solving America’s innovation problem starts with solving with the immigration problem

statue of liberty

America should not ignore an obvious source of human capital – those from other countries.

What drives innovation? People with creative ideas, intellectual talents and personal ambition do.  America has always relied individual and collective breakthroughs in human knowledge and production to enhance our lives and our econom, from advances in science, mathematics and health care to new technologies, products and companies. As the nation continues to find ways to improve the educational and life opportunities of its own citizens to help spark innovation, we should not ignore an obvious source of human capital–those from other nations.

 

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Good looking employees are paid more and get better perks: study

female workers

More attractive female workers earn four per cent more than their plainer colleagues.

Daniel S. Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas-Austin reveals in his new book what the world of advertising has known for decades – that beauty sells.

 

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Bailout for Federal Housing Authority inevitable

fha bailout

FHA bailout looming.

With the government’s explicit guarantee of mortgages a bailout appears to be inevitable for the Federal Housing Authority. This should not be surprising news to anyone who follows the mortgage market closely, but a new study by Wharton finance professor Joseph Gyourko makes this conclusion clearer. As a bailout for the FHA looms, Congress will likely become enraged again — on behalf of the taxpayers they represent. What impact would an FHA bailout have on the housing finance policy debate?

 

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Denver ‘very stong candidate’ for new satellite patent office

Denver-546

Denver, Colorado

Under a bill signed by President Barack Obama in September, Denver is a “very strong candidate” for a new satellite patent office. John Bryson, the newly confirmed secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced the news Wednesday during a Colorado visit.

 

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Credit unions benefit from backlash against big banks

credit union

Credit unions added more new members during that month than in all of 2010.

Credit unions are benefiting from the backlash against big banks over new fees.   And in Texas, credit unions gained $326 million in new deposits from 47,000 new members during the month leading up to the so-called Bank Transfer Day. The Saturday event was orchestrated by an online campaign urging consumers to move their money from banks to the generally smaller credit unions.

 

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