Archive for February 15th, 2011

Reducing the propensity to work …

February 15, 2011

Parent-to-parent chat line: “I told my son he’d better find a job so he has health insurance”

I’ve heard that refrain dozens of times from parents, so I should have picked up on this earlier …

Last week, CBO Director Elmendorf dropped a bomb at a Congressional hearing when he testified that ObamaCare would reduce the “propensity to work”.

English translation: under ObamaCare, if you don’t work, no problem.  You’ll get free health care from the government.

Well, actually, it’s not free – it’s just paid for by people who do work.  You know, tax payers.

Complement that “benefit” with a couple of years of unemployment compensation and why on earth would anybody take a relatively low paying job.

Kick back.  Relax.  And if you get sick, just send the bills to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Elmendorf says the new ObamaCare entitlement will reduce employment by about 800,000 workers … as the labor force shrinks by about half a percentage point .

Mr. Elmendorf said that the law won’t eliminate jobs, it will reduce “the propensity to work.”

As with any other government subsidy, people receiving “free” health care won’t have as much incentive to search for a job or work full time.

On that score, Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, asked Mr. Elmendorf a leading question about “the freedom to choose to not get a job.”

I guess Van Hollen thinks people shouldn’t be forced to work if the don’t want to.

Hmmm.

Posted in Behavioral Economics, Health Care / Medical Insurance | Leave a Comment »

Hey, that handbag is a fake !

February 15, 2011

TakeAway: Counterfeit products, especially low quality versions can damage a brand’s reputation.

For pharmaceutical products, counterfeits can also be very dangerous.

There are some promising new solutions to thwart counterfeiters like the one described below.

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Excerpted from brandchannel, “New Tag Aims to Impede Chinese Counterfeiting,” by Barry Silverstein, February 2, 2011

Counterfeit branded products continue to plague legitimate marketers both on the street and online. Fueled by wary consumers seeking bargains and a global economy hampered by weak or non-existent intellectual property protection, phony goods skyrocketed last year, and this year will likely be no different.

Counterfeiting is a global problem, but it seems that China has developed a reputation as ground zero for fake brands. In China, counterfeiting is a black market industry that goes far beyond luxury brands, pervading virtually every product category.  …

Now the Leo Burnett ad agency thinks it may have the ultimate solution — the 1-TAG, a proprietary anti-counterfeiting application … which can be applied to a product during manufacturing and serve as “a signature authentication.”

With the 1-TAG, products “can be verified and authenticated at every stage of their manufacture and distribution, right through to the consumer.” The brand manufacturer can associate data to the tag code, including a product description, the manufacturing date, a product expiration date, and the product’s destination.

A salesperson or a consumer uses a standard mobile phone camera to “decode” the information via a free software application loaded on the phone. Burnett says the 1-TAG can be valuable for supply-chain inspections and to authenticate a product every step of the way. So the 1-TAG is both a behind-the-scenes product control mechanism, as well as something the consumer can use to protect herself against brand fakes.

The 1-TAG is currently in development and is likely to be tested in China soon. Burnett intends to market and sell 1-TAG beyond its own clients and potentially roll it out on a global basis. …

Edit by DMG

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Posted in Mktg - Brandmarks & Logos, Mktg - Brands | Leave a Comment »