Aug 24th, 2005 · Texas turns to the private sector to try to cut Medicaid costs. Under a program called Disease Management, a company gets in touch with the 55,000 Medicaid patients who incur the highest expenses and tries to get them to better manage their diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Bill Zeeble of member station KERA in Dallas reports.
Aug 19th, 2005 · Economic analyst Howard Davidowitz joins host Alex Chadwick to discuss the effects that record high crude oil and gas prices are having on America's retail sector. Gasoline prices have topped $3 in some cities, and consumers are feeling the pinch -- leading some to warn spending may dip in other consumer areas.
Aug 5th, 2005 · The July employment report shows robust job growth, with 207,000 new jobs created. The growth was centered in the retail and service sectors, while manufacturing continued to lag. Analysts wonder if manufacturing will continue to lose jobs, even as the economy grows.
Jul 24th, 2005 · A decline in union membership in the United States has been steady and profound in recent years, despite efforts by labor organizations to get a foothold in fast-growing sectors of the economy such as telecommunications.
Jul 22nd, 2005 · The London bombings have awoken Europeans to the specter of home-grown terrorism. That awareness is most acute in France, which has the continent's largest Muslim population. Many say the failure to integrate Muslim immigrants and their French-born children into French society could leave a sector of the population ripe for radicalization.
Jun 1st, 2005 · Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson announces he will step down on June 30. He was appointed head of the SEC in 2003. Known as an aggressive enforcer of U.S. securities laws, Donaldson said in a statement that he was resigning to spend more time in the private sector and with his family.
May 20th, 2005 · Burt Rutan is the aerospace engineer who won the $10 million X-Prize for launching SpaceShipOne, the first reusable, private-sector spacecraft. He was honored Thursday in Washington by the National Space Society and used the opportunity to call for making space travel more fun.
May 8th, 2005 · On Thursday, Standard & Poor's cut the debt ratings of GM and Ford to junk status, dealing a serious blow to major automakers and companies that supply them. The move undermined market confidence in the two companies and erased earlier modest gains after the announcement by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian that he has proposed to buy hundreds of thousands of GM shares. To get a sense of the larger issues facing the auto industry, host Liane Hansen speaks with University of Michigan Business professor Dr. Gerald Meyers.