general election

By Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

After Indiana, American politics have entered a new period.

For eight months, Donald Trump’s electoral strength has astounded, shocked, and dismayed the political class and terrified the inner circles of the GOP. The outer-borough New Yorker, pushy WASP (Russell Baker’s phrase of some thirty years ago), developer and TV star with flamboyant personality, bold and bombastic, a militant centrist, an Eisenhower Republican with a Berlusconi temperament, has managed to carry out what amounts to a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, or at least its presidential process.

Eliot Cohen has an idea:

It is time for a third candidate, and probably for a third party.

Some people will dismiss this notion as absurd. However, only those prescient enough to have forecast Trump’s success have the standing to certify impossibilities. If the Trump candidacy has blown up every other aspect of political conventional wisdom, why not this one?

• Global stocks slide as yen, euro gains question policy potency (Reuters)
• U.S. Index Futures Signal Stock Losses as AIG Drops on Earnings (BBG)
• EU Sees Weaker Growth in Eurozone and Wider EU as China Slowdown Weighs (WSJ)
• Euro Set for Longest Run of Gains Since 2013 as Fed Focus Fades (BBG)
• German Bonds Advance as EU Cuts Euro-Area Inflation Outlook (BBG)
• Trump hopes to land decisive blow in Indiana showdown with Cruz (Reuters)
• Hedge Funds Under Attack as Cohen Says Skilled People Are Scarce (BBG)

The writing was on the wall long before the largest US insurer, UnitedHealth, decided to pull the plug on Obamacare in mid April.  Then, just a week later, Aetna’s CEO said Thursday that his company expects to break even, but legislative fixes are needed to make the marketplace sustainable.

"I think a lot of insurance carriers expected red ink, but they didn’t expect this much red ink,” said Greg Scott, who oversees Deloitte’s health plans practice. "... A number of carriers need double-digit increases."

It gets better.