Category Archives: Economics

CEOs Want Health-Care Reform

Posted on May 28, 2009 by John Hunter

Decades ago Dr. Deming emphasized the deadly disease of excessive health care costs in the USA. Since then, year after year, the situation has become worse (reaching $2.2 trillion in spending in 2007 – 16.2% of GDP). During that time … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged Deming, Economics, government, Health care, health care system, leadership | 6 Comments

Google’s Innovative Use of Economics

Posted on May 24, 2009 by John Hunter

Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability Google depends on economic principles to hone what has become the search engine of choice for more than 60 percent of all Internet surfers, and the company uses auction theory to grease the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Economics, Google | Tagged Data, Google, Innovation | Comments Off

Toyota Posts Loss of $6.9 Billion in Last Quarter

Posted on May 8, 2009 by John Hunter

Toyota Posts Loss of $6.9 Billion in Last Quarter For January-March, Toyota booked a $6.9 billion loss, in line with consensus estimates, and cut its annual dividend nearly 30 percent — the first cut since at least 1994, when it … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Investing, Manufacturing, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street

Posted on April 30, 2009 by John Hunter

Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street The famous Pecora Commission of 1933 and 1934 was one of the most successful congressional investigations of all time, an instance when oversight worked exactly as it should. The subject was the massively corrupt … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Systems thinking | Tagged Economics, ethics, government, Public Sector, regulation | 2 Comments

Another Year of CEO’s Taking Hugely Excessive Pay

Posted on April 6, 2009 by John Hunter

I continue to do my part to publicize the abusive CEO pay packages that the current crop of unethical CEO’s, and those sitting on corporate boards have supported (Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay 2008 – 2007 post on CEO pay … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Management Articles | Tagged bonus, commentary, economic data, ethics, executive pay, Investing, leadership, overpaid executives | 6 Comments

USA Spent $2.2 Trillion or $7,421 Per Person on Health Care in 2007

Posted on March 16, 2009 by John Hunter

Health spending in the United States grew 6.1 percent in 2007, to $2.2 trillion or $7,421 per person. For comparison the total GDP per person in China is $6,100. This continues the trend of health care spending taking an every … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged economic data, Economics, Health care | Comments Off

Community Banks Ask Why They Must Pay for Wall Street Greed

Posted on March 7, 2009 by John Hunter

Minnesota Bank Asks Why It Pays for Wall Street Greed TCF is among more than 8,300 banks and lenders insured by the FDIC facing increased fees and a one-time “emergency” charge designed to raise $27 billion this year for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged commentary, economy, ethics, government, John Hunter | 1 Comment

Warren Buffett’s Letter to Shareholders 2009

Posted on February 28, 2009 by John Hunter

Warren Buffett published his letter to shareholders yesterday. As usual, it is of great interest to anyone interested in the economic, investing and management ideas. In 1995, MidAmerican became the major provider of electricity in Iowa. By judicious planning and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Investing, Management, Respect | Tagged Investing, managers, respect for people | 2 Comments

Cost Cutting is Much Different than Waste Removal

Posted on December 30, 2008 by John Hunter

Cost Cutting is Much Different than Waste Removal by Jim Womack The very last thing to consider is the one thing managers seem to embrace most readily: cost cutting. This means leaving out steps and features that actually create value … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking | Tagged Lean thinking | 1 Comment

Looting: Bankruptcy for Profit

Posted on December 19, 2008 by John Hunter

Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit by George Akerlof, University of California, Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Paul Romer, Stanford Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). George Akerlof was awarded the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Economics, ethics, executive pay, overpaid executives | 7 Comments