What’s a Hedge Fund to Do?
November 11th, 2008
Medical tourism
There’s a pretty good three-part series on medical tourism written by Corrie MacLaggan of the Austin-American Statesman. Part 3 was in the paper today; but you can read them all on their website now:
- Part One: In pain and uninsured, a Texas truck driver goes to India to get his hip fixed
- Part Two: U.S. insurers consider sending patients overseas for cheaper treatment
- Part Three: Issues can arise after surgery far from home
It’s exciting to see the growth in an industry which may help depress health care costs at home. There are still a lot of obstacles to overcome, like malpractice and the certification of health tourism agencies. Of course, the opponents of medical tourism are doing their part to inject scare tactics into the argument — not unlike the pharma industry’s “warnings” of buying prescriptions from Canada. That’s fine; there are bound to be issues raised on both sides, so long as the opinions are well-founded and intelligent. Unfortunately, to be quoted saying things like “I’m sure it’s a nice place” can’t be interpreted as anything other than ignorant and arrogant.
All in all, I thought the piece did its job in walking us through a constantly-advancing medical tourism industry. It’s likely that the industry in 2 years will look nothing like it does today. Whether it’s more regulated or more “cowboy”, there’s no telling.
Check out the sweet map of medical destinations while you’re at statesman.com.
October 28th, 2008
How we got here
Bloomberg put together a pretty darn impressive two-part series on the blame for today’s crisis that is assignable to ratings agencies. First, PART 1: how the ratings agencies let loose the AAA bonanza of structured debt obligations (part one), then PART 2: how it made billions for Wall Street only to have the bottom fall out (part two).
The fact that these guys did what they did and get stay in business — while their former customers crater and leave irreparable damage on shareholders and taxpayers — is appalling at best. It’s a damn shame.
September 25th, 2008
Google to blame for the UAL fiasco?
Hardly. And that’s what the SEC will find when they close their inquiry. Coming from a guy with a background in publishing platforms, the Sun-Sentinel should have had controls in place to keep the Googlebot (the automated web crawler) from gaming their ranking. When Google visits your site, they leave footprints everywhere. There’s no excuse for treating it like an actual person, which is exactly what the Tribune tech folks did.
I predict a quiet reorg at the Tribune, and a little but of soul searching in the market as to why they’ve believe anything at this point.
September 12th, 2008
Content v Distribution
Poignant article from the NYTimes on the new focus on content at Time-Warner.
I love the strategy but really, distribution is being commoditized? Sure, you can believe that, so long that you believe commodity prices can swing out of whack for long periods of time. If that’s the case, YouTube is the next crude oil!
August 9th, 2008
Pedestrians and property values
The New York Observer notes yet another example of how designing pedestrian-friendly living spaces can bump up property values.
Anyone who’s lived on a golf course knows this.
August 3rd, 2008
How Anheuser-Busch screwed the pooch
The WSJ.com Blog relays a fascinating story about a deal with Modelo — and a fish — that got away.
July 20th, 2008
Suburbian ghettoization
The Atlantic serves up a scathing rebuke on the “success” of inner city redevelopment.
June 29th, 2008
Einhorn
Awesome profile of the hedge fund manager David Einhorn. The guy strikes me as a weenie, but he’s a weenie that earns a 25% annual return.
June 17th, 2008
