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As 60 Minutes reported last week, Medicare fraud is rampant and has now replaced the cocaine (ahem) business as the major criminal activity in South Florida. Both 60 Minutes and the Washington Post report that Medicare fraud now costs American taxpayers roughly $60 billion a year. That may sound like a lot of money, but surely it pales next to the extraordinary profits of private insurance companies, right? Well, let's see.... Last year, the profits of the ten largest insurance companies in America were just over $8 billion -- combined. No single insurance company made even five percent of what...

“Profit” and the “profit motive” have successfully been reclassified by the American political Left as a dirty word...

With less than half the doses estimated to be needed likely to actually be available, the government has set rules aimed at directing short supplies to those deemed most vulnerable. As expected, children and pregnant women top the publicized priority list. Unexpectedly, though, it has been disclosed that Wall Street bankers and brokers have also been allocated a share of the scarce supply. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explained that “ordinary people can’t be expected to understand the strategic need for us to keep Wall Street up and running. Missing a single day’s trading because of the flu could cost...

WASHINGTON – In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up." But in pillorying insurers over profits, the critics are on shaky ground. Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones. Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure. This partly explains why the credit ratings of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry. In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up." Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some...

WHY is Congress so eager to cut $160 billion-plus from Medicare Advantage? The program does things that President Obama and other liberals normally praise. Is the cut simply the price charged by AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons) for overlooking the rest of the $500 billion in Medicare cuts meant to finance "health-care reform"? Medicare Advantage offers a range of benefits beyond basic Medicare. It combines many elements Obama and other liberals like -- such as subsidized premiums for low-income elderly, "pooling" of insurees to provide bargaining power and managed care that emphasizes prevention, treatment of chronic conditions and...

Obama-linked consultants cash in$24 million spent on pro-health overhaul ads By Sharon Theimer ASSOCIATED PRESS Tuesday, August 25, 2009 President Obama's push for a national health care overhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election off-season to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers. **SNIP** There is no evidence that Mr. Axelrod directly profited from the group's ads. Mr. Axelrod took steps to separate himself from AKPD when he joined the Obama White House. AKPD owes him $2 million from his stock sale and will make preset payments over four years, starting...

What a difference a year makes. In 2008, we were treated night after night to video clips of the obscene spectacle of Congresspersons berating oil company executives because Big Oil was making a profit. There was talk of Excess Profits Taxes, and endless posturing punctuated with faux indignity. Okay, fast forward to now, and try to pick out the phony headline . . .

Given the public outcry over news of Goldman Sachs's recent record earnings, you'd think many people would prefer Goldman had lost money. Does that really make sense? I can understand why some people are upset, since I've heard from many of them. Their argument is that Goldman Sachs, like other recipients of funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, might well have failed without taxpayer assistance. Now, without the slightest sign of being in any way chastened, Goldman bankers have gone out and earned so much that they stand to receive huge bonuses that rival those at the height...

General Electric Co.’s second-quarter profit fell by 49 percent, plagued by declining revenue in its financial services, industrial and technology units, including its GE Healthcare division.

Prophets of Doom has been around probably since the beginning of man’s existence on earth. Whether one believe man was created by God from the dust of the earth, or he evolved from a sea creature, a monkey, or matter from a collision of the planets commonly known as the big bang. Whatever your preference for the origin of man it is no secret that from the time he began walking on planet earth he began predicting its end. It’s now estimated that more than 50% of the world population give doomsday prophets some credibility regarding “End Time Events” thereby...

Mark my words. GM's first penny in profits will be celebrated and heralded as a major accomplishment of the Obama administration. Keep in mind that GM's future foreseeable profits will be made at the expense of you and I, the unfortunate taxpayers.

Hagan Suing Water Authorityby John Hammer Editor April 16, 2009 Your water rates may go up, and your newly elected Democratic US senator may be somewhat responsible; not in her official capacity, but personally. Sen. Kay Hagan's husband, Chip Hagan, and others have filed suit against the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority (PTRWA), which is the owner-operator of the Randleman Dam. The PTRWA board was told Tuesday that this year it was going to have to increase its budget for legal expenses by a considerable margin to pay for the cost of being sued by Hagan and other downstream hydroelectric...

The nation's largest banks have made quite a comeback. Having nearly brought the market to its knees a few months ago, the financial sector has surprised experts with impressive profits. Citigroup -- widely considered to be the country's weakest big bank -- reported this morning net first-quarter income of $1.6 billion, beating analyst expectations and making it the bank's best quarter since 2007, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit said. Citi's news comes on the heels of reports showing better-than-expected, first-quarter profits by three other major banks: $2.1 billion for JPMorgan Chase, $1.7 billion for Goldman Sachs and $3 billion for Wells...

Citigroup posted a smaller-than-expected loss thanks to cost-cutting and improved investment banking. Still there were missing details and the report left questions open like when will Citi be ready to repay its bailout funds to the government and are its taxpayer supported profits from this quarter sustainable? (See "Citi Profits, For Now.") Wall Street was unimpressed with Citigroup and the stock fell 1.5%, or 6 cents, to $3.94, in midday trading. The past 12 months have been unkind to the New York-based firm, whose seen its market value sink no less than 84.3%. Meanwhile, General Electric ( GE - news...

HOUSTON (AP) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007. The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near an unheard of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen roughly 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis. In the fourth quarter...

The New York Times Co. reported a steep drop in third-quarter profits on Thursday, the latest gloomy earnings report in an industry battered by online competition and falling print advertising revenue. The New York Times Co. said net profit fell by 51.4 percent in the third quarter to 6.5 million dollars, or five cents per share, from 13.4 million dollars, or nine cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The company, which owns About.com, The Boston Globe, International Herald Tribune and 16 other daily newspapers besides the flagship The New York Times, said overall advertising revenue fell...

GOP presidential candidate John McCain sounded more like a Democratic presidential candidate (a recurring trend) when he joined the Left’s oil industry bashers a few weeks ago. Asked by a North Carolina voter whether he supported a Jimmy Carter-era windfall profits tax, McCain responded: “Um, I don’t like obscene profits being made anywhere — and I’d be glad to look not just at the windfall profits tax — that’s not what bothers me — but we should look at any incentives that we are giving to people or industries or corporations that are distorting the market.” Here’s an idea for...

Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and Shepard Smith talk about today's oil markets. They make a good point about gas prices not rising proportionally with crude. Thank goodness for that!

WASHINGTON - Senators told oil executives Wednesday that high oil prices cannot be explained by supply and demand and the oil industry's concentration — and OPEC price collusion — is contributing to the costs facing consumers. ADVERTISEMENT Executives of the five largest oil companies were appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said there's an unexplained "disconnect" between prices — at nearly $130 a barrel — and legitimate supply and demand. "We need to get prices under control.... We can only conclude that the oil markets have failed," said Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis. But Shell Oil...