Marketplace Morning Report for Monday, January 20, 2014
The headlines from China today are about the slowest growth in that giant economy for 14 years. The Gross Domestic Product figures for all of 2013 are in from the statisticians in Beijing and they were lower than even the forecasters were expecting. The big three credit-ratings agencies, Moody's, S&P and Fitch, were all criticized for giving inflated ratings to mortgage investments that helped trigger the great financial crisis. Yet these days they still control 97 percent of the industry. But that's changing. And, one of every 3 Texans has no medical insurance -- the highest rate of uninsured in the country. Part of this is high rates of diabetes and obesity. Less expensive drugs to treat these conditions are available in Mexico. But the threat of violence in Mexico has triggered a new trend---the smuggling of medicine in bulk.
The headlines from China today are about the slowest growth in that giant economy for 14 years. The Gross Domestic Product figures for all of 2013 are in from the statisticians in Beijing and they were lower than even the forecasters were expecting. The big three credit-ratings agencies, Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, were all criticized for giving inflated ratings to mortgage investments that helped trigger the great financial crisis. Yet these days they still control 97 percent of the industry. But that’s changing. And, one of every 3 Texans has no medical insurance — the highest rate of uninsured in the country. Part of this is high rates of diabetes and obesity. Less expensive drugs to treat these conditions are available in Mexico. But the threat of violence in Mexico has triggered a new trend—the smuggling of medicine in bulk.
