Business Blog

Where have you been? That’s a question Mississippi’s hospital executives should have to answer as the Legislature winds down and Republican leaders in both houses refuse to think pragmatically about expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. The hospital CEOs and the Mississippi Hospital Association seem to have been largely absent from the wrangling [...]

Time for Plan B! Wait, there is no Plan B? As expected, the Senate rejected rival bills aimed at preventing the looming sequester Thursday, meaning that $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will almost definitely kick in on Friday. Bills introduced by both Democrats and Republicans failed to receive the necessary 60 votes to pass. [...]

In this column, Robert Shrum says sensible Republicans seeking to renew the viability of a conservative party that seems out of touch after a stinging defeat at the polls are being denounced as ‘heretics.’ Shrum says the party might never find its way back. Later in the piece, Shrum says … One of Limbaugh’s targets, [...]

Republicans in Congress may want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to die in its infancy, but most Americans are looking forward to the work the bureau will do in bringing more transparency to bank checking account transactions, a new poll has found. Americans with checking accounts believe banks must do a better job of disclosing [...]