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Friday, November 20, 2009 @ 6:43am

Taking the fight public

Negotiators prefer the anonymity of an airport row hotel conference room, not so much as letting the maid staff overhear any of the pertinent details. The idea being to keep control of the tug-of-war. But that's not the case any longer with Regence BlueShield and Swedish Medical Center. Regence, feeling the pincers close further from Swedish on raising reimbursements, let the Seattle media in on the details. And juicy they are when you consider that the end game is the area's largest hospital telling Regence members that their insurance is as good with their accountants as the Bulgarian Lev is at Niemen Marcus.

Its important to note that a lawsuit plays at the center of this, Swedish wants 20-million for it claims were under payments by Regence for years. Swedish's president Cal Knight tells me that Regence has been paying less than any other insurance provider for years. Regence VP of Provider Services then retorted that they pay Swedish more than any other hospital, and the 32% increase so desired now would have a chilling effect on the finances of their members....Boeing workers, construction, teachers.

It happens....hospitals ending contracts with insurance companies. But not typically in cases like this...considering Regence has 400,000 members in King County...its fair to estimate Swedish sees quite a few. We're talking disruptions in continuity of care for critical issues. Now that the fight is no longer tucked away under sheets, we'll see if public pressure plays a roll in budging these two implacable foes a little closer.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 @ 7:31am

What comes around, goes around

After watching manufacturing jobs escape overseas to cheaper labor markets...we may seem some of those jobs start to return. It may be hard to fathom....but unless the dollar makes the miracle comeback, its simply going to be cheaper to buy our exports. The dollar has been in a freefall since March, a reverse trend of the stock market. With news today that consumer-side inflation was barely up in October, and unemployment remaining fairly constant, there's no reason to think that the dollar will warm up, much less get hot.

China has grumbled about the declining dollar since it makes up the bulk of that country's two-plus trillion dollars in currency reserves....but even though that may carry increasing weight with China's growing economic power, the dollar will remain the lynchpin of world business dealings for the foreseeable future. The U-S may be down, but its expected to get back up before the ten-count. What China realizes is that the manufacturing jobs they've poached to fuel their economy, could float back across the Pacific with the dollar remaining low. Labor will become cheaper here, and there'll simply be more demand based on the economics. It won't be a tsunami of jobs returning...but the first waves will hit our shores next year.

In the Puget Sound, small manufacturers will take the lead in bringing back jobs next year according to Dick Conway with the Puget Sound Economic Forecaster. He tells me it will be smaller companies picking up the slack....don't expect anything from the area's largest manufacturer, Boeing, they've hit peak employment and production.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 @ 8:18am

Boeing snags first orders at Dubai

Air shows just aren't what they used to be. After sitting on the sidelines since Sunday, Boeing finally picked up some orders at the Dubai Air Show, eleven 737's from a pair of airlines you've probably never heard of. Tassili and Air Algerie . Its good to see the North African market showing some life, if you've never been, the beaches along the southern Mediterranean are absolutely stunning...and now you can fly safely on a 737.

Airbus hasn't been blowing Boeing out of the water during Dubai...only picking up a handful of orders themselves, although a couple were for the A380 which carries a stiff price tag for the world's largest passenger jet. But orders aren't the important thing at the moment for Boeing, they still have a large backlog from the order bubble of 2005-07. That bubble never really burst like many predicted, only a few orders have been canceled, so the work is still there. No, the most important thing for Boeing is getting that 787 up in the air before the end of the year. If it does that, and passes its fuel tests, then the company will be set. If there's another last-minute three-to-six month delay, then the troubles will only get worse as a crisis of confidence takes deeper root among investors and airlines. Just a little pressure.

Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 7:40am

Opting in for Overdraft Protection

In a bid to protect consumers from fee-hungry financial institutions, banks will be required beginning July of next year to ask customers whether they want to "opt-in" for overdraft coverage. The problem being is that people don't pay attention to their checking account balances, make purchases that go over, and the bank kindly covers the difference as well as happily attaching a fee for your pleasure..often times as much as $25 to $35 dollars. Now, that fee may be worthwhile if you were paying your mortgage, but how many times have you been hit for buying a cup of coffee or lunch?

Any rule that protects consumers against banks is a good thing, banks have ridden their fee whips hard this year, essentially padding their profits when otherwise businesses has dried to a trickle and distressed residential and commercial loans continue to eat away at their foundations like corrosive acid.

There is of course a very simple way to avoid overdraft fees. Don't do it. You've got to be aware of what's in your checking account at all times, and if you are at all in doubt, keep your hands off your debit card. Of course there are times when even good financial management can fall into tatters when you're unemployed and have a family to take care of, but otherwise.....don't fall back on overdraft protection. Its bloody obvious and the most simple method of keeping yourself in decent financial shape, don't spend what you don't have. May not be as much fun, but I guarantee you the boredom is worth every penny as your bank has to keep its hands off your money.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 7:03am

Bing picking up steam

Its a long slog, but percentage point by percentage point, Microsoft's Bing search engine is slowly moving up the charts. Still not in double digits, but Bing did improve by seven percent from October over September, while Google and Yahoo each dropped a bit. Its worth noting that Comscore is the most highly regarded analytical site for search engines, but the Hitwise numbers probably aren't that far off the mark. Its also important to note that Microsoft and Yahoo haven't begun working together yet, so Bing hasn't gotten any bounce from that impending partnership.

Microsoft isn't just standing pat with Bing, its also adding the ability to find more info by hovering your cursor over a search query, and its now going to incorporate info from WolframAlpha into Bing....in case you've forgotten, that's the website that promises actual answers to questions, not just results to a keyword search. What's available right now is pretty basic, with the WolframAlpha info focusing on fitness, nutrition and complex math questions. Wanna know what your Body Mass Index is? Here ya go.

I've played around with Bing, and find it to be a competent search engine, its intuitive and looks sharp. But I've got to admit, I haven't broken free of my Google addiction.....as most others haven't either judging by Hitwise's number that nearly 70-percent of us rely on Google to find stuff. That's a tough habit to break. But you've got to give it up to Microsoft for trying. The best thing they can do is continue to innovate, the very thing that has dogged them for years, allowing Google and Apple to take commanding leads in search and consumer-related categories. The key will be Google's answer...this will force the Mountain View boys to keep coming up with new ideas or risk eventually becoming obsolete. Either way, the winner is you and me.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 7:19am

787 nearly ready?

Word from Flightblogger is that engineers have completed the repairs on the center wing box for the first 787, and that it will undergo testing at the end of this month, with the hope of getting the plane airborne before Christmas. That would still fall within the latest time frame for first flight. But before getting to that the point, the key will be whether or not the repair passes muster, it was a tricky repair that involved a section of the wing where there just wasn't much room from maneuver. But if it does pass the test, there's no reason to think the first flight won't occur by the end of December. That may be a big "if"....but here's what Boeing is telling me "we are satisfied with the progress being made with the modifications and are on-track to fly before the end of the year." Not much obviously, but engineers all along felt it was a fairly straightforward procedure, just time-consuming.

The wing fix has pushed back the original flight by about six months. Unless something else crops up between now the targeted date for first flight, we may finally see the 787 up in the air. I think there's a lot of doubt from observers as to whether that'll happen, the doubt has been well-founded given all of the problems with the program, but Boeing has been finding out the hard way that building a new-era plane, with a global supply network, isn't the same as assembling a 737. Eventually, they'll get a handle on this. Customers have stayed loyal, if anything, the delay hasn't hurt, allowing airlines to push off large capitol expenditures by a couple of years. Airbus hasn't been able to take advantage of the delays, the A350 is still years away, and there just aren't any other competitors. It helps to be part of a duopoly.