Failure to put it on the balance sheet is certainly an issue. But that is separate from the issue I was discussing which was the impact of national policy on private economics. In particular, countries which have a nationalized health care setup (direct or insurance based) spread the cost out amongst all members of society. The system in the US does not and therefore each company faces different healthcare-related costs that end up being reflected in the cost of their products. A company that makes a car in Sweden may have higher tax rates but they also may save significantly in areas like healthcare and retirement compared to competitors in the US. Furthermore, US companies may see significantly more volatile cost structures for things like healthcare which handicaps them when it comes to planning and budgeting.
Judah On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 12:44 PM, Jochem van Dieten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ** Private ** wrote: >> http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/16/gms_healthcare_dilemma/ > > I think http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64599-2005Apr18.html > provides a much better description of the economics. I think it is fair to > say that GMs OPED healthcare obligations are an insurance contract that they > have been very careful not to call an insurance because then it would be > regulated. > > Anyway, GMs failure to put it obligations on the balance sheet for 50 years > (seems like a hot topic these days) is not an indication of a systemic > failure in the healthcare system. > > Jochem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:274602 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
