Long-term Treasury bonds versus the S&P 500
Bonds have outperformed stocks over the past three decades, the first time that has happened for a 30-year period since the Civil War. Since 1981, long-term Treasury bonds have gained 11.5 percent a year on average, beating the 10.8 percent average increase in the S&P 500.
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Dodd-Frank's deadlines
The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill was signed into law 15 months ago, but government agencies have missed more than three quarters of the bill’s deadlines to implement new regulations, according to a new progress report.
Politico.com
Netflix loses 800,000 subscribers
Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers from its more than 23 million customers between June and the end of September, thanks to a controversial price increase to its video-rental and online-streaming services.
Associated Press
The astronomical cost of health care
Last year, Americans spent $2.6 trillion on health care, slightly more than the French spent on everything—education, defense, health care, food, housing, and more—making U.S. health-care spending alone equivalent to the fifth-largest economy in the world.
The New York Times
Turkey's credit card debt
As Turkey’s economy has grown—per capita income has nearly doubled over the past decade, to $12,300—so too has credit card debt. Nearly 7 percent of Turkish credit cards are at least 90 days delinquent. That rate is slightly higher than the U.S. delinquency rate, and it could hit 9 percent next year. Credit card debt is up 20 percent this year, on top of a 23 percent increase
last year.
Bloomberg Businessweek