"Trump health care attacks worry GOP" by Victoria McGrane Globe Staff October 14, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump lit a fuse this week that will blow a hole in the Affordable Care Act, but the collateral damage could very well include fellow Republicans.
In his latest attack on the health care law, Trump moved Thursday night to eliminate payments to insurance companies that subsidized out-of-pocket medical costs for lower-income people.
Health care specialists predict this $7 billion cut will trigger a destabilizing cascade that will jeopardize health care access for millions of Americans, as insurance companies jack up premiums or pull out of the federal exchanges altogether.
The step also heightens the risk that Republicans will be blamed for higher costs and other market disruptions stemming from Trump’s administrative assaults on the health care law, which was President Barack Obama’s signature accomplishment.
“Cutting health care subsidies will mean more uninsured in my district,” tweeted Florida GOP Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Trump “promised more access, affordable coverage. This does opposite.”
Polling indicates that Americans, including many Republicans, will indeed point the finger at the GOP. Sixty percent of Americans say they view Republicans as “responsible for problems’’ in the health law moving forward, according to an August survey by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
Trump has already shrouded the health care program in uncertainty through a number of other recent measures. This week he said he will authorize interstate sale of lower-cost insurance policies with skimpier coverage, which will siphon off healthy people who don’t require a lot of medical treatment. That in turn will saddle the more robust plans with the sickest people, further driving up costs and premiums. Previously, Trump’s administration shrank the annual enrollment period for the exchanges and slashed advertising budgets.
In the face of congressional failure to pass a repeal-and-replace law, Trump can now claim to have tried through executive orders to fulfill a portion of his campaign promise to repeal the act known as Obamacare. Trump argued the subsidies to insurance companies were unconstitutional — echoing a 2014 House Republican lawsuit that sought their elimination — because they were never approved by Congress.
He also said his actions may spur Congress to act.
“The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
Citing the potential for major upheaval, numerous Republican lawmakers had urged Trump for months to continue to making the subsidy payments. On Friday they warned of major damage to the GOP now that the president has ignored those calls.
“Barack Obama is no longer in the equation. This is on us,” Republican Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, who is retiring, said on CNN.
“It will be very destructive for the state of Nevada,” Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, an outspoken critic of congressional GOP efforts to repeal and replace the health care law, told the Nevada Independent. “It’s going to hurt people. It’s going to hurt kids. It’s going to hurt families. It’s going to hurt individuals. . . . It’s going to hurt everybody.”
Related: Another shift in Las Vegas chronology caps days of confusion
Also see: "I have come so close on several occasions to canceling my Globe subscription because of the relentless far-left bias of your editorial staff. Yes, we New Englanders are clueless as to how strongly many responsible people in this country feel about protecting their gun rights. From a larger perspective, we’re clueless about many things outside the bubble of our region...."
That is so true.
Seventy-one percent of Americans want Trump and his administration to improve the current law and make it work, rather than undermine it, according to new polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those feelings extend across the political spectrum: 74 percent of independents and 48 percent of self-identified Republicans want politicians to make the law work. By contrast, 43 percent of Republicans said they wanted the president to sabotage the ACA.
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who was among several lawmakers who thwarted attempts by Congress to repeal and replace the law this year, said she was “very concerned” about Trump’s moves this week.
Is that why she is staying on in the Senate?
Other Republicans Friday, including Representatives Leonard Lance of New Jersey and Carlos Curbelo of Florida, said Congress should move quickly to pass legislation to provide for the insurer payments, which the Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday would end immediately.
In the Senate, key Republicans have been working with Democrats on a bipartisan compromise on continuing the subsidies, which help pay out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles for lower-income Americans so they can actually afford health coverage, but Trump’s budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, told Politico Friday that the president would consider such a deal only in return for Democratic concessions on other issues.
Trump sought to give his action a populist spin, telling reporters outside the White House that the payments help make health insurance companies rich by boosting their stock prices. “And that’s not what I’m about.” He said ending the payments should spur Democrats to work with him to make health insurance “good for everybody.”
He was kidding about the stock prices, right?
I mean, he quotes them every chance he gets in lauding his stewardship of the economy.
Democrats say Trump is delusional if he believes canceling the insurer payments gives him negotiating leverage.
“Threats and bullying is not going to work” to bring Democrats to the table, said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on a conference call with reporters. “On this, politically, he’s in much worse shape than we are. The American people — even a large number of Republicans — are on our side in terms of improving the system, not destroying it.”
Bullying is for foreign policy in service to Israel.
Schumer predicted the two parties would strike a deal to restore the insurer payments by the end of the year, if not sooner.
It is a bailout, Obama's illegally tapping Fannie-Freddie funds to pay for the subsidies has disappeared down a legal rabbit hole, and one can $ee the forces at work and why they will obtain them.
I'm not saying the money shouldn't be spent on health in the fraud-filled, wildly overpriced $y$tem; all I'm saying is the real health concern here is industry bottom lines.
Ending the insurer payments will result in premium spikes for middle-class consumers who make too much money to qualify for any sort of subsidies under the health care law, said Robert Laszewski, a health policy consultant.
“Ironically, it is these unsubsidized folks who have complained the loudest about Obamacare’s big premiums and deductibles. They will now have even more to complain about,” Laszewski said in his analysis.
Maybe not:
"Millions of Social Security recipients and other retirees will get a 2 percent increase in benefits next year. It’s the largest increase since 2012 but comes to only $25 a month for the average beneficiary. The Social Security Administration announced the cost-of-living increase Friday. The COLA affects benefits for more than 70 million US residents, including Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees. That’s about one in five Americans. By law, the COLA is based on a broad measure of consumer prices generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advocates for seniors claim the inflation index doesn’t accurately capture rising prices faced by seniors, especially for health care....."
You see?
He is steering you more money as they type.
Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that ending the insurer payments would add $194 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years.
The CBO said cutting off the money would trigger premium increases of 20 percent in 2018 — an election year in which Republicans will be trying to maintain their majorities in the House and Senate.
Craig Garthwaite, a Republican health economist at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, who sees plenty of flaws in the health care law, rejected the notion that this is a strategic ploy by the administration to force Congress back to the bargaining table.
“There’s no other way to interpret the timing of this other than sabotage,” he said, pointing to the last-minute timing, just before the start of enrollment Nov. 1, with no time for Congress to act. “I think we need to stop thinking about this administration as crazy as a fox and just admit that they’re crazy. . . . They lost on repeal and replace, they’re upset about it and their solution is we’re just going to destroy the market.”
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Related: Trump won’t stop until he destroys Obamacare
Good thing I live in Ma$$achu$etts:
"Baker assails move to halt Obamacare subsidies; Healey joins suit to protect payments" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff October 13, 2017
Elected officials from both parties and leaders from all corners of the health care industry on Friday condemned the White House’s decision to cut off federal health care subsidies, warning the move will throw insurance markets into chaos and endanger affordable coverage for thousands of families.
Attorney General Maura Healey said she was joining 18 other states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island, in suing the Trump administration, arguing that it is required by law to continue the payments, known as cost-sharing reductions. They were expected to total $146 million for insurance companies in Massachusetts next year.
“What the president is trying to do is illegal, it’s harmful, and it’s got to be stopped,” she said in a call with reporters. “What Donald Trump is doing is raising families’ costs for health care and cutting off access to health care. . . . It’s cruel and irresponsible.”
Healey, a Democrat who has filed several lawsuits against the Trump administration, said the new court action seeks an injunction to ensure that the administration continues making payments.
Governor Charlie Baker joined Democrats in denouncing the White House move to roll back a key component of the Affordable Care Act. The Republican governor has urged federal officials to keep paying the subsidies.
Health insurers, consumer advocates, and politicians from both political parties had feared for months that the Trump administration would move to end the subsidies, which are used to offset the cost of coverage for lower-income Americans. Insurance companies had warned that they would have to sharply hike prices if the subsidies disappeared.
If insurance prices rise significantly, coverage could become too expensive for some individuals and families, causing them to go without — a setback for Massachusetts, where more than 97 percent of residents are covered.
The White House announced its decision late Thursday, just hours after the Massachusetts Health Connector said that it would try to shield consumers from huge increases by setting insurance rates that assume the government subsidies would continue. It was a blow to state officials who had spent months deliberating how to best protect consumers during a period of unusual uncertainty in Washington — only to be forced to rethink the situation yet again. It was not immediately clear how the state would respond to the White House’s decision.
If the government subsidies had continued, rates for popular midlevel plans on the Connector were expected to rise 8.7 percent, on average. Without the subsidies, the rates are expected to soar 24 percent.
Gee, the gouging doesn't seem as bad now.
The Connector offers coverage to people who don’t receive benefits through an employer. Most of the people who get subsidized coverage on the Connector also receive tax credits to help defray the cost of their premiums. When insurance rates rise, their tax credits also rise. So premium increases are felt most by individuals who buy insurance on the Connector but earn too much to qualify for tax credits. In Massachusetts, that includes more than 80,000 people.
Individuals are scheduled to start shopping for 2018 coverage on Nov. 1.
The pre$$ terminology regarding health makes me sick.
The government subsidies are paid monthly, so the White House’s declaration left insurers guessing whether to expect any payments in October and the rest of the year.
“We’re trying to understand the timing,” said Lora M. Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. “Maybe the money just doesn’t show up.”
The government subsidies were included in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to help reduce deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. They are available to individuals earning up to $30,150 a year, and families of four earning up to $61,500.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to yank the subsidies, which he calls “bailouts.” Now that the president has pledged to follow through on his threat, insurers want state officials to approve higher insurance rates for 2018, so that insurers can cover their costs.
The decision to cut insurance subsidies was the president’s second effort on Thursday to hack away at the Affordable Care Act; he also signed an executive order to allow for cheaper, less comprehensive insurance plans sold through business associations. That move drew rebukes from advocates of the health care law but received support from business groups.
The health care industry has slammed the administration’s efforts to unravel the national health law. The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association called the latest move reckless and destructive.
“It is now clear that health care for our nation is in dire jeopardy,” said Dr. Henry L. Dorkin, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society.....
Every single issue and topic they present to us is dire and needs urgent attention. That's why I'm giving none of them any.
--more--"
Isn't there a simple fix to all this?
"DPH slows medical marijuana fixes, infuriating patients" by Dan Adams Globe Staff October 13, 2017
Governor Charlie Baker’s administration has frozen an effort to expand the availability of medical marijuana, infuriating advocates who say the long-pending regulatory changes — which include allowing more medical professionals to prescribe and administer the drug — would help tens of thousands of sick patients.
The proposed revisions to the state’s medical marijuana rules were unveiled in September 2016 by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in response to a directive by Baker that state agencies review and streamline their regulations. The agency has already held public hearings and published draft versions of the new rules, which last year it called “common-sense reforms.”
Just watch where you throw the match.
The suggested changes include permitting certified nurse practitioners, who have advanced degrees and prescribing authority for other medicines, to also prescribe medical marijuana. Employees of nursing homes, hospice centers, and other medical facilities would also be allowed to administer it to patients.
Advocates for medical marijuana patients said the delay is exactly the sort of problem they feared when the Legislature combined oversight of the medical and recreational industries.....
The delay is the second this year and I say let them suffer.
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Come here and let me smell your breath.
***********
I didn't dig into the fine print as much today, sorry.
Related:
"Jenne Farm has appeared on countless postcards and in an iconic Budweiser commercial, and made cameos in the films “Funny Farm” and “Forrest Gump.”
The foliage around here sucks this year because of some sort of leaf blight.
Also see: Taking a Hachette to Harvey
He didn't make print today.
Related: The (Authorized) Downfall of Harvey Weinstein
Which calls into question this man and why he gets a pass:
"At Northeastern, Bill Clinton talks discrimination, division" by Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent October 14, 2017
Former president Bill Clinton took on the politics of discrimination and division in a panel discussion in Boston Friday night, never naming President Trump but pointedly addressing recent controversies that have been associated with the president’s rhetoric and the views of some Trump supporters.
Speaking on a panel before a crowd of more than 1,000 at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena, Clinton said that racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and other biases are nothing new. “It’s just all hanging out there now, for obvious reasons,” he said, drawing applause from the crowd.
(Blog editor simply shakes head; it's Seth McFarlane all over again)
The root of the problem, Clinton suggested, is that people are not talking to one another and listening to those whose experiences and views differ from their own.
“We do have a new bigotry in America, most of us,” he said, in contrast to biases that have existed for decades or centuries. “We just don’t want to be around anybody that disagrees with us. so we self-select our news sources, we self-select our encounters.”
What a hypocritical jerk -- as the Google and Facebook censors are hard at work scrubbing searches.
Btw, thank you for selecting this as your news source, readers.
Clinton, whose wife Hillary Clinton lost last year’s election to Trump, and their daughter, Chelsea, appeared at Northeastern as part of the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting.
The event, which continues through Sunday, has convened more than 1,200 students with specialists in international issues to discuss ways to address global challenges in five areas: poverty mitigation, public health, peace and human rights, education, and the environment and climate change.
Other scheduled speakers at the conference include Congressman Joseph Kennedy III, of Massachusetts; former US secretary of state Madeline Albright; former US surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Dr. Paul Farmer, the cofounder of the Boston-based international nonprofit organization Partners in Health.
In Friday night’s talk, Clinton called on young people to seek opportunities to know people from different backgrounds and keep conversations going, to learn from those who have different experiences.
“A lot of these challenges are challenges of the mind, as well as the heart,” he said. “It’s how you think and how you feel.”
He then hit on a Muslim woman?
Clinton, in his third appearance at Northeastern, asked the students to remember that, regardless of race, religion, or any other element that makes them different, all people are connected by a shared humanity.
“We shouldn’t wait until our neighbors’ lives are in danger to treat them like our neighbors,” Clinton said.
That message was echoed by other participants in the discussion, such as Thomas Edwards, a high school senior from Houston. After rain from Hurricane Harvey flooded his neighborhood, Edwards got into a boat with friends to rescue neighbors trapped by the rising waters.
Clinton and Edwards discussed the varied backgrounds of those brought to safer ground, and the value of service to others.
“Just assimilating with people who are different from you is not as difficult as a lot of people think,” said Edwards, noting he learned the value of service at his Jesuit high school. “Just having a simple conversation can really open your mind.”
Clinton said the effort recalled to him a 1995 flood along the Mississippi River, and a visit he made then as president to Iowa. He saw a physically impaired woman delivering sandwiches to volunteers who were filling sandbags to keep the water at bay.
“She was stunted in her growth, and bones were protruding everywhere. It was obvious that she had brittle-bone disease,” Clinton recalled.
He said he approached the young woman’s father, who had brought her there and asked how he had allowed her to join the effort when it could lead to injury.
“My daughter is determined not to be a victim but a servant,” Clinton said the man told him.
He kept in touch with the family for the next two decades, he said, until the woman’s death at an early age.
“She didn’t have a long life, but she had a life that was full,” Clinton said, “deciding not to be a victim but a servant.”
Now about those allegations of sexual harassment.....
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He did have a hard time getting out of town in that boat of a limo.
"Trump pledges to defend religious groups" by Jonathan Lemire Associated Press October 13, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump assured a high-profile gathering of Christian conservatives on Friday that his administration will defend religious organizations, promising a return to traditional American values.
Trump also subtly stoked the fire he helped ignite over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.
‘‘How times have changed. But you know what, now they are changing back again, just remember that,’’ Trump told the cheering crowd.
Trump was the first sitting president to address the Values Voter Summit. He ticked off the promises he has fulfilled to evangelical Christians and other conservatives, pledging to turn back the clock in what he described as a nation that has drifted away from its religious roots.
Honestly, I've stopped listening to him.
He bemoaned the use of the phrase ‘‘Happy Holidays’’ as a secular seasonal greeting and vowed to return ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ to the national discourse.
His Jewish masters don't mind that bit of diversion and distraction.
He noted, as Christian conservatives often do, that there are four references to the ‘‘creator’’ in the Declaration of Independence, saying that ‘‘religious liberty is enshrined’’ in the nation’s founding documents.
‘‘I pledged that in a Trump administration, our nation’s religious heritage would be cherished, protected, and defended like you have never seen before,’’ Trump said. ‘‘Above all else in America, we don’t worship government. We worship God.’’
Trump praised his repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which limited political activity or endorsements by religious groups that received tax exemptions, as well as his administration’s effort to expand the rights of employers to deny women insurance coverage for birth control.
That was last week's news.
The White House has also issued sweeping guidance on religious freedom that critics have said could erode civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Trump waded again into the cultural war that has captured his attention in recent weeks, declaring to loud applause that ‘‘we respect our great American flag,’’ a not-too-subtle reference to his repeated denunciations of NFL players who have taken to kneeling during the national anthem.
The president also made a call for Congress to enact his agenda, including a tax cut by the end of the year. And he vowed again to undo the Obama health care law, chiding Congress for forgetting ‘‘what their pledges were, so we’re going a little different route.’’
The night before the speech, the administration announced it would halt payments to insurers, a move certain to roil insurance markets.
‘‘Our values will endure. Our nation will thrive. Our citizens will flourish. And our freedom will triumph,’’ Trump said.
Trump has long been an unlikely favorite of religious conservative voters.
A twice-divorced casino owner, Trump boasted about his wealth and sexual exploits on Howard Stern’s radio show and posed for Playboy covers with scantily clad women.
Just over a year ago, his campaign was dealt a serious setback when a 2005 Access Hollywood video emerged capturing Trump bragging about committing sexual assault.
How serious a setback was it? He won anyway!
But evangelicals largely stood by Trump, who has appeared at the Values Voters Summit twice before. In 2015, with questions surrounding whether he would appeal to evangelicals over conservative candidates like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Trump held a Bible aloft and declared, ‘‘I believe in God. I believe in the Bible. I’m a Christian.’’’
In his political calculus, it's a cheap way to keep a functional base.
In a separate development, The White House said Trump will nominate a climate change skeptic with ties to the fossil fuel industry to serve as a top environmental adviser.
It announced the selection of Kathleen Hartnett White of Texas to serve as chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality. White served under former Texas governor Rick Perry, now Trump’s energy secretary, for six years on a commission overseeing the state environmental agency.
White was fiercely critical of what she called the Obama administration’s ‘‘imperial EPA’’ and pushed back against stricter limits on air and water pollution.
Related: "The Trump administration plans to scrap former president Barack Obama’s signature plan for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from the nation’s power plants, arguing that the previous administration overstepped its legal authority. The proposal is expected to be made public in the coming days....."
See: White House to roll back climate plan
She is a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that has received funding from fossil-fuel companies that include Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.
In a 2014 policy paper titled ‘‘Fossil Fuels: The Moral Case,’’ White praised the burning of coal and petroleum for ‘‘vastly improved living conditions across the world’’ and credited fossil fuels with ending slavery.
Manufacturing and industrialization were doing that even as the Civil War raged.
Environmental groups and Democrats criticized White’s pending nomination, which will require confirmation by the Senate.
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They didn't mention the tax cuts.
Also see: Trump is everywhere and Americans are getting buried
"‘We’ll be there’ for Puerto Rico, Trump says a day after critical messages" by Peter Baker New York Times October 14, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump sought to reassure Puerto Rico on Friday that he was not abandoning the hurricane-ravaged island, shifting his message a day after blaming its leadership for the territory’s crisis and warning that he “cannot keep” federal troops and emergency workers “in P.R. forever.”
In a morning post on Twitter, Trump stuck to his position that Puerto Rico was already deeply troubled before Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit, but he cast the point in a tone of greater solidarity.
He repeated that sentiment in a speech later in the morning at the Values Voter Summit.
Called them “incredible people.”
Trump has sent conflicting messages about Puerto Rico for weeks, at times offering expressions of resolve to help those devastated by the storms and at others seeming to blame the island for its own troubles and lashing out at people who have complained about an inadequate federal response.
The contrast with his more consistent approach toward Florida and Texas when they were struck by hurricanes has fueled suspicions about why he has treated the predominantly Hispanic island differently.
Because he is a racist?
The president’s tweets Thursday about Puerto Rico generated anxiety. In those messages, Trump noted that the island had already been caught up in a financial crisis “largely of their own making” with “a total lack of accountability” and an infrastructure that “was disaster before hurricanes.”
After Trump said federal troops and emergency workers cannot stay on Puerto Rico forever, the island’s governor quickly telephoned the White House chief of staff seeking clarification and was reassured that the federal government remained committed.
Trump’s advisers spent the rest of the day sending that message, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency posted its own Twitter message promising Puerto Rico it would be there “every day” to help get through the crisis.
Three weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, 83 percent of the island was still without power, 36 percent had no running water and 45 percent was without telecommunication services. Hospitals were operating on generators, and while most supermarkets were open again, the government was struggling to ensure that they were stocked.
The House on Thursday approved $36.5 billion more in aid to Puerto Rico and other areas hit recently by natural disasters, adding on to a $15.3 billion relief measure in September.
House Speaker Paul Ryan got a firsthand look Friday at the hurricane damage in Puerto Rico as the US island territory seeks billions more in assistance to recover from the storm.
Ryan and other members of the congressional delegation boarded helicopters with the island’s governor to see some of the areas that the storm hit hardest Sept. 20.
After Congress passed the $36.5-billion multistate disaster package, Puerto Rican officials warned that more will be needed.
Another Atlantic hurricane, Ophelia, is forecast to remain a powerful storm for the next few days as it churns across the northeastern part of the ocean.
The Category 2 storm, which poses no immediate threat to land, was located Friday about 545 miles southwest of the Azores. Top sustained winds were 100 miles per hour as the storm moved east-northeast at 12 miles per hour.
Trump pulls out of Paris and we have a hellacious summer season.
Hmmmm.
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Also see:
"The storm destroyed an estimated 80 percent of the value of the island’s agricultural crops. Bulldozers have been brought in to remove the bodies of thousands of cattle, poultry, horses, and other animals. Acres and acres of crops, everything from plantains to yucca, were destroyed. Greenhouses were demolished, their steel frames crumpled as if made of clay....."
They “have never seen anything like this before.”
Related: In Puerto Rico, lasting damage but little help
Now you know how Haitians feel.
Good thing the military is in charge:
"Army fires 2-star general amid improper relationship probe" Associated Press October 13, 2017
WASHINGTON — The two-star general who heads US Army Africa has been fired and recalled to Washington, amid allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with the wife of an enlisted soldier, the Army said Friday.
Oh, no! They are the most respected in polls of Americans and a model for all Americans.
An Army statement provided to the Associated Press said that Major General Joseph Harrington was removed from his job due to a loss in confidence in his ability to command.
He is one in a string of senior Army officers who have been disciplined for bad behavior, triggering the development earlier this year of new programs aimed at shaping stronger, more ethical leaders.....
Like in the financial sector:
"Abby Johnson sends clear message with fund manager’s firing" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff October 13, 2017
Star money managers are few and far between, so Gavin Baker’s abrupt departure from Fidelity Investments last month had plenty of people in the mutual fund industry scratching their heads.
Fidelity and other big fund companies usually plan a methodical transition when a top performer leaves. But this one came out of the blue, with two co-managers put in charge and Baker gone without explanation.
But then on Thursday came the news that Baker had been fired for allegedly sexually harassing a junior employee, according to a person familiar with the matter. The decision to dismiss Baker, who managed the Fidelity OTC Portfolio, was approved by CEO Abigail Johnson, the person said.
But a spokeswoman for Baker disputed the account, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by the Globe. She said Baker left amicably before planning to become engaged with his longtime girlfriend, an analyst and fund manager at the company. Baker, the spokeswoman said, believed that he and his fiancee should not work at the same firm, and that he’s excited to start a new job later this month.
Either way, industry experts said that the way Baker’s departure played out was highly unusual in a world where one manager can bring in millions of dollars in fees each year with a successful fund. With Hollywood, cable television news, and Silicon Valley under fire for cultures considered hostile to women, Fidelity’s move was a clear signal that sexual harassment would not be tolerated.....
Okay.
Time to start segregating by sex again.
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"In a rare public conversation, Johnson and Bloomberg talk innovation, housing costs, and Trump" by Beth Healy Globe Staff October 13, 2017
In a rare public appearance, Fidelity Investments chief executive Abigail Johnson interviewed Michael Bloomberg under a dome on City Hall Plaza Friday.
The meeting of the powerful Boston-born billionaires was part of HUBweek, an innovation-themed festival founded by Harvard, MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, and The Boston Globe.
While Bloomberg — never known for being reticent — did most of the talking, a few of Johnson’s questions offered some insights into her thinking.
The 55-year-old Fidelity chief spoke before a friendly audience. Her husband and mother were in attendance, as was former Fidelity Magellan fund manager Peter Lynch.
At one point, Bloomberg said his family members are prevented from working at the media and financial information company he owns. But Johnson’s rise at family-owned Fidelity, he joked, “has worked out OK.’’
Johnson remained steadfastly neutral on politics, while Bloomberg took several pointed swipes at Trump. But she pointedly asked Bloomberg if he planned to run for election. “If not you, who?”
Bloomberg said he considered running in the last presidential election, but that as an independent, he determined he couldn’t win. He predicted Trump will complete his first term and run for a second.
When Johnson asked Bloomberg about his views on the future of journalism, he criticized what he called “sensationalist press” aimed at attracting viewers and online clicks. He blamed the media in part — including The New York Times — for enabling Trump’s victory, saying he benefited from nonstop front-page coverage of his outrageous comments.
“We’ve dumbed down the level of the discourse and the sophistication,’’ he said.
Bloomberg made plugs for public education and repeatedly said many of the country’s problems — from poor children not learning to read, to adults who are uninformed voters — are the result of an inferior education system.
“Shame on us,’’ he said.
On a positive note, Bloomberg said the private sector and local governments continue to make strides in the effort to combat climate change.
OMG!
Like her father, Abigail Johnson typically avoids the spotlight. But she has in recent months been raising her public profile. She did an interview last month with investor David Rubenstein on Bloomberg Television and at a May technology conference she talked about bitcoin, the digital currency.
She sent mixed messages on bitcoin.
This week, Johnson wrote a piece for the Financial Times in which she advocated more closely aligning fund manager pay with investment performance. She is expected to speak later this month in Washington, D.C., at an industry conference.
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Related:
"The Commerce Department said retail sales grew 1.6 percent in September after a small decline in August. Health insurers and hospital operators skidded after President Donald Trump said he will stop government payments to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act. Bank of America climbed while Wells Fargo faded as banks continued to report their third-quarter results....."
The hacking has produced a $ymbiotic harmony.
