Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Losing money? You have good company.

In 1720 calculus inventor Isaac Newton lost a fortune in a stock market crash that he had personally predicted. Mark Twain lost a fortune investing in an automatic typesetting machine. Dozens of entertainers and sports stars have at some point filed bankruptcy, including Randy Quaid, Jerry Lewis, Grace Jones, Kim Bassinger, Walt Disney, and Mickey Rooney, who did it twice.

These are not stupid people. But the list doesn't include the 50% of Americans who file bankruptcy because of medical bills.

McKinsey & Co. estimates that by 2015 consumers will be paying $420 billion for medical expenses out of their pockets, not including insurance premiums.

Maybe it's time for us to learn from Isaac Newton by doing some calculus to get us out of this mess.

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