Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Three California Programmers Create Alternative Healthcare Website; Mish Checks It Out Posted: 09 Nov 2013 04:15 PM PST CBS Evening News reports S.F. programmers build alternative to HealthCare.Gov Website On Friday, President Obama had this to say about problems with the Obamcare website during a speech in New Orleans: "I promise you, nobody's been more frustrated. I wanted to go in and fix it myself, but I don't write code." But plenty of programmers do write code. And three of them have created their own website that addresses some of the most annoying problems with HealthCare.gov. In a San Francisco office shared with other tech start-ups, three 20-year-olds saw HealthCare.gov as a challenge. With a few late nights, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser built "thehealthsherpa.com," a two-week-old website that solves one of the biggest problems with the government's site. "They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front," said Liang. He added: "They want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision." Liang showed CBS News how it worked. "You come to our website and you put in your zip code -- in this case a California zip code. You hit 'find plans,' and you immediately see the exchange plans that are available for that zip code." The CBS video interview is interesting. Click on link at the top if video does not play. Thanks to reader "Rick" for the link. Not Quite Ready I entered my zipcode, 60012,  and requested all plans for me alone - over 50, and no plans came up. I tried again with "you and spouse" and again no plans came up. Either they do not have all zipcodes entered or there are some other issues. In my post Tips on Navigating Obamacare Costs on HealthCare.Gov - My Personal Experience - Obamashock! I noted there were 60 plans for McHenry County. Perhaps they need to add "county" for some states. Regardless, the website has a better interface and with a few bugs fixed, no one will need Healthcare.Gov, a website that cost taxpayers something on the order of $300 million. I emailed the website developers and will post an update when I hear back.  As is typical with government projects, it seems no one really knows for sure what the healthcare.gov costs. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com  Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

ECB Caught Using Fictional Rating System for Italian Bonds Used as Collateral for Loans Posted: 09 Nov 2013 10:26 AM PST Spiegel online has an article on the non-transparent as well as fictional way the ECB treats Stripped Bonds (Strips) of Italian Banks handed over to ECB as collateral for loans. Currently ECB rates various Italian Strips with an "A" rating, though no rating agency rates Italian bonds, let alone Strips, with an A. ECB claims it is correct, because a tiny rating agency, DBRS, still rates Italian bonds with an A. However, DBRS said to Spiegel upon being questioned, that this particular rating was not to be applied to Strips. Two hours later DBRS sent an email to Spiegel, claiming that they (Spiegel) must not use this information in public. Via Google Translate from Der Spiegel, with thanks to reader Bernd, please consider The strange standards of the ECB When it comes to the valuation of bonds, the ECB wants to be independent and transparent. But that manages to SPIEGEL ONLINE information, not always. In many Italian government securities, the central bank based on a credit rating that is not according to the rating agency for these bonds. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the European Central Bank (ECB) has very unusual standards when it comes to the valuation of government bonds, on deposit as collateral for loans. Specifically, it's about 116 Italian government bonds without coupon interest rate, known as stripped bonds or short strips. They are currently valued by the ECB and the Italian national central bank with a grade of "A" - although rating agencies actually do not assign that grade. By assigning an "A" rating, the ECB favors those banks that submit such papers as collateral when they borrow money from the central bank. This especially favors Italian financial institutions. In the evaluation of collateral, the ECB relies on the scores of the four rating agencies. While large companies S & P, Moody's and Fitch Italy have credit already on a "B" status downgraded, only the smaller agency DBRS, caries the "A" rating of 116 Italian Strips bonds. The problem: The agency itself has told SPIEGEL ONLINE stated that their ratings are not applicable for Strips. Stripped bonds are securities of a special kind: The offshoot of fixed rate bonds are sold to pay the revenue generated interest due to other securities. They also have a so-called zero coupon: The yield on these strips with some long term will only be paid when due, until then sees the investors in such securities no money. The profit of the investor resulting from the difference between the purchase price and the redemption at maturity of the bond. It is an investment that requires a lot of trust in the buyer's future solvency of the seller. In this case, the confidence of future Italian governments apply. And this must be long: 56 of these strips have remaining maturities of more than ten years, 30 of which are not paid 20 for years, the last three not until 2041. Fitch rates 107 of the strips as 'B'. The classification used by the ECB should not be used. It's that simple. Suddenly, DBRS Is Silent Just three hours after the ECB's reply to the request by SPIEGEL ONLINE, another e-mail came from DBRS: Statements to SPIEGEL ONLINE should not be made public and DBRS would longer comment on this matter. That's what you call an emergency brake. Emergency Brake More than a little pressure on DBRS by ECB president Mario Draghi, coupled with a distinct willingness of the ECB to look the other way? Ya Think? What other sleight-of-hand magic is the ECB making? I used the word "Fictional" in the title of this post. "Fraudulent" seems more like it. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com     Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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