When evaluating the health of the U.S. economy, most Americans look at unemployment figures as a key statistic. Many, however, ignore another key statistic: Americans who receive disability benefits.
In December 2011, the Social Security Administration noted that by county, more than 55 million Americans received disability (OASDI) benefits. Up from 44.7 million in 2001, this number has steadily increased in the past several years. As a comparison, in December 2011, 14 million Americans received unemployment benefits.
Illness or an accident prevents many Americans from working. They need disability benefits to survive. A recent story on NPR’s “This American Life” titled “Trends with Benefits” reported that in several counties, almost 1 in 4 working-aged residents receive disability benefits. What do we know about these counties? Is unemployment high there? Is education attainment a factor? Do these residents work out? The NPR story described one case where a doctor diagnosed a disability based partly on a patient’s education. (read more…)
Alan Jay Kaufman is chairman, president and CEO of independent wholesale insurance brokerage Burns & Wilcox, as well as Kaufman Financial Group, its parent company. He recently answered SmartBrief’s questions about leadership, continuing education and other issues in insurance.
How would you describe your leadership style?
It is framed from a variety of experiences. I learned a great deal from my father, the late Herbert W. Kaufman, who founded Burns & Wilcox in 1969. I find that my work ethic, leadership style and entrepreneurial spirit are complemented from years as an attorney in private practice.
My father built Burns & Wilcox into a nationally recognized wholesale broker and underwriting manager. When I took over the leadership of the company, my focus was the future growth of Burns & Wilcox and the Kaufman Financial Group. We expanded internationally and added other leading companies that deepened our expertise and made us more globally competitive. (read more…)
Innovation has for years come from designers and marketers, from the creators of new products. The top innovation consulting firms all spring from the roots of building new products. “Most innovative” lists are populated by … well, Apple is always first … then comes a predictable list of companies that make cool products: Nike, Samsung, etc.
But today’s new generation of innovators knows that innovation is no longer limited to the domain of companies who makes things you can see and touch.
The clothing retailer Urban Outfitters, for example, has grown from under $500 million in revenue to nearly $3 billion over the past ten years. Not only does the company consistently grow faster than the competition, they are also significantly more profitable.
I asked the CEO to explain his success. He seems to have a secret formula. Why aren’t competitors copying him? He gave me four reasons:
- While his main competitors want to appeal to a broad customer base, Urban Outfitters cares only about one: college students.
Disney has many businesses, but one of its most successful is in cruise ships. They’re popular and make money. Cruise ships in general are also problematic when it comes to environmental impact, as they are not fuel-efficient and create pollution in the air and water. How much? The Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 estimated that a single cruise ship, each day, produced the following pollution, according to The Daily Green:
“21,000 gallons of sewage
One ton of garbage
170,000 gallons of wastewater from sinks, showers and laundry
More than 25 pounds of batteries, fluorescent lights, medical wastes and expired chemicals
Up to 6,400 gallons of oily bilge water from engines”
Cruise ships haven’t lost favor with consumers, they won’t be outlawed, and they won’t voluntarily quit. But they can improve their environmental footprint and efficiency. One company that’s done this is Disney, which scored highest in a report card from Friends of the Earth last year for its efforts in sewage treatment, water quality, cuts in air emissions and improvement from two years prior. (read more…)
SmartBrief caught up with CME Group Executive Chairman and President Terry Duffy this week on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference. In Part one of this two-part interview, Duffy addressed the evolution of leadership in the exchange world. Today he chats about regulatory reform, the London Interbank Offered Rate and social media.
We are coming up on the three-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act. What did Dodd-Frank get right?
The implementation of the first phase of mandated clearing went into effect in March and came off without a hitch because the central clearinghouses that are involved in it have been doing this for a lot of years, just using futures. We take our risk models and deploy them toward swaps. Obviously you have to add in a deeper cushion of liquidity with the swaps versus a standardized futures contract, but you are basically deploying the same kind of risk-management strategy. (read more…)
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