Are Amazon prices fair or not?
May 26, 2021

Are Amazon prices fair or not?

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The District of Columbia is suing Amazon for allegedly fixing online prices at the expense of consumers. Plus, evidence that investors are seemingly less worried about inflation this week — at least so far. And, a new health care challenge is brewing: The part of Medicare that covers hospitalizations, hospice and skilled nursing is projected to become insolvent sooner than expected.

Segments From this episode

The market seems to be less worried about inflation this week

“This week, there seems to be buy-in from investors that the Fed truly is not going to raise interest rates, these increased prices that we’re seeing right now in the economy are just transitory while supply lines get back in line, and, ultimately, things will get back to normal,” said Susan Schmidt, head of U.S. equities at Aviva Investors. We’re seeing that buy-in in the form of the 10-year Treasury yield drifting down, to closer to 1.5%. It’s been as high as 1.7%, Schmidt said. Yields move inversely to prices.

COVID unemployment is causing a serious funding issue for Medicare

Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is projected to become insolvent sooner than expected — within three to five years.
The pandemic recession has pushed so many people out of work that funding for Medicare Part A, via payroll taxes, is down.
FG Trade via Getty Images

Music from the episode

The team

Victoria Craig Host, BBC
Stephen Ryan Senior Producer, BBC
Jonathan Frewin Producer, BBC
Daniel Shin Producer
Jay Siebold Technical Director
Brian Allison Engineer
Meredith Garretson Morbey Senior Producer
Erika Soderstrom Producer
Rose Conlon Producer
Alex Schroeder Producer