Republicans' Sickly Obamacare Replacement

(Bloomberg View) -- Repeal and Replace Is in Critical Condition

The Republican alternative to the Obamacare is in, and the reviews are ... not good. “Dead on arrival,” according to Rand Paul. “Bad policy,” said the Heritage Foundation. “A train wreck waiting to happen,” according to the Cato Institute. And critics on the left were hardly any kinder.

At Bloomberg View, the reviews were equally scathing. Megan McArdle, no fan of the Affordable Care Act to begin with, is stunned that Republicans managed to create something even worse than Obama's health-care law, while Jonathan Bernstein suspects the bill isn't actually designed to work at all. Meanwhile, Albert R. Hunt marvels at Republicans' chutzpah in not providing cost estimates for the plan.

Young People Don't Share the Fed's Irrational Exuberance

Consumer confidence has surged for Americans older than 54, and sunk for those younger than 35. Given the Federal Reserve's demographic makeup  — the youngest voting member of the FOMC is 43 — Conor Sen worries that Baby Boomer policy-makers will forge ahead without taking millennials' concerns into account.

Trump's H-1B Squeeze Threatens America's Tech Leadership

If Donald Trump manages to restrict highly skilled immigration to the U.S., global competitors will rise the same way Silicon Valley did: by attracting immigrant entrepreneurs who hire the best talent in the world. Leonid Bershidsky explains why there's a good chance tomorrow's next big tech advances will come from Israel, China, Canada, Germany and beyond. 

Science Is Elitist for a Reason

These days scientists are under near-constant attack for their perceived superiority, but some kind of elitism seems essential to successful science. For proof, Justin Fox looks back to 17th-century France, when a highly selective group of academics came together in pursuit of an admirable goal: results.

Ritholtz's Reads

• The golden age of hedge funds (CFA Institute)
• A guide to reading for investors (Safal Niveshak)
• The 10 breakthrough technologies you need to know about right now (MIT Technology Review)

(Read Barry Ritholtz's full daily news roundup here.) 

Bloomberg Gadfly 

• Tech deals stuck below stock summit
• Retail bankruptcies don't always help rivals
• Lindt's chocolate blueprint for Nestle

(Read more from BV's sister site for fast business commentary.)

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