Consumer Confidence Soars

Looks like the stimulus plan is working:

WASHINGTON - A private research group said Tuesday that consumer confidence soared in April amid hopeful signs that the economy is starting to stabilize

The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose 12 points to 39.2, up from a revised 26.9 in March. The reading marks the highest point since November and well surpasses economists' expectations for a level of 29.5.

The Expectations Index, which measures how shoppers feel about the economy over the next six months, skyrocketed to 49.5 from 30.2 in March.

A Great Way to Lower Health Care Costs

I just wanted to pass along this great article from the Washington Post about one Pennsylvania health care system that has found a way to lower the costs of bypass surgery by about 15 percent while improving patient outcomes. And, much to the GOP's disappointment, it has nothing to do with trial lawyers:

You could think of them as the Maytag repairmen of health care.

In an industry that makes its money by selling more -- more tests, more surgeries, more drugs -- Geisinger Health System officials gambled three years ago that they could succeed by doing less, but doing it better.

Mimicking the appliance company that advertised its products' reliability, the health system devised a 90-day warranty on elective heart surgery, promising to get it right the first time, for a flat fee. If complications arise or the patient returns to the hospital, Geisinger bears the additional cost.

The venture has paid off. Heart patients have fared measurably better, and the health system has cut its bypass surgery costs by 15 percent. Today, Geisinger has extended the program to half a dozen other procedures, and initiatives such as the counterintuitive experiment in Pennsylvania coal country are now at the heart of efforts in Washington to refashion how care is delivered across the United States.

Though not identified by name, the Geisinger model tracks closely with the policy goals of President Obama. A key target is to reduce expensive errors, duplication, and unnecessary procedures that do nothing to improve health and may actually result in worse outcomes.

Here's Your Sign Folks

This is exactly the news that we need to signal the beginning of an economic recovery: rather than staying dependent on exports, Chinese manufacturers are beginning to push to sell to Chinese consumers rather than American.

For the last decade, the U.S. consumer has been the engine that drove not only the U.S. but the global economy. This recession has made plainly obvious that we can't do it alone any more. Once China increases domestic consumption and stops being so reliant on the U.S. market, then trade with China can become trade again, something it hasn't been for decades:

Liu Dequan says he has had to alter the ornamental lamps his firm had fashioned for the US market. He’s changed the plugs to fit Chinese sockets.

“Since the financial crisis happened I have had no foreign business at all,” Mr. Liu laments. “I decided that I have to work on the domestic market no matter how difficult it is.”