Welcome to the world of Income Inequality. Today the phrase seems to be on everyone’s lips — Democrats, Republicans, conservatives and radicals, millionaires, billionaires, the broadcast talking heads — and all over your browser and Twitter feed. President Obama has proclaimed Income Inequality “the defining challenge of our time,” and made it clear that Democrats will...
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How can you protect your medical privacy?
The Health Information Privacy and Accountability Act of 2003 – HIPAA – offers basic, but not complete, protection of your medical records. Take these extra steps to ensure you’re shielding your medical records from thieves and peepers. Under HIPAA, your health care provider can share your medical records. Give your provider a written statement that...
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Your medical data is a hot commodity
There’s a hot new commodity on the market: individuals’ medical records, available literally for pocket change. It’s not only legal, but it’s a thriving industry. In fact, McKinsey & Co. forecasts that the trade in medical data will be a $10-billion annual industry by 2020, driven largely by health agencies’ conversion to electronic medical records...
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Hard lessons in taking a stand, making lasting change
As the year ended, anti-Apartheid legend Nelson Mandela passed on. In rejoicing over the freedom of his people, Mandela once said: “The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our...
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Trendpost
The global financial crisis lingers. Moving forward under the current systems and structures ensures that general economic conditions will continue to deteriorate, the gap between rich and poor will widen, and the populism and class warfare trends we’ve forecast will accelerate. In 2014, a collective consciousness will firmly take root across the globe, one that...
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Altruism finds its heart on the Internet
Every morning, without fail, my wife turns her attention to the greater good while she sips her first cup of tea. She steers her browser to a website (greatergood.com) where, with a click of the mouse, she can donate a few cents to ameliorate world hunger, fund autism treatment and research, and support the work...
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Trendpost
Altruism will find an even broader and more comfortable home in the digital world in 2014, which will fuel giving and meaningful, focused acts of charity across the globe. Here are some sites that will be leading the charge: GoFundMe.com creates crowdfunding sites for individuals, groups and organizations to raise money for medical issues, education...
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Wake-up call: Confronting the abuse of power head-on
The future has never been clearer. If societies continue on the current path set by major political leaders, financial powers, multinational interests and military forces, we can forecast with full confidence that tomorrow will bring more sorrow than joy, more hardship than prosperity, more war than peace, more physical and mental illness than strong bodies...
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Trendpost
Trendpost As the Fed accelerate its taper program, we forecast market fundamentals beyond Fed control will push interest rates higher. And since this has been an interest rate recovery (see “The Interest Rate Recovery,” Trends Journal, Spring 2013), the higher rates go, the deeper the economy will sink. Therefore, in its effort to avoid economic...
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March to economic madness
Back in June 2013, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke proposed to taper — and possibly end — the Fed’s unprecedented $85 billion a month purchases of mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries, stock markets tumbled and bond yields rose. The Dow Jones Industrials and the Standard & Poor’s 500 each fell 1.4 percent. The Nasdaq composite...