Word: hiked
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...people in Kaliningrad have a lot to be angry about. A hike in import duties has crushed one of the region's most vital industries: imports of used cars from Europe that are then sold in Russia. The end of that trade has put as many as 20,000 locals out of work. The price of utilities has jumped. On top of that, the unpopular governor, a Kremlin-appointed former tax minister from Moscow named Georgy Boos, levied a new tax on drivers. During the worst bout of unemployment and economic decline in a decade, reports of Boos' lavish vacations...
Playing fiscal detective to track down the logic for the hike is unsatisfying. "Washington opened the sluice gates of military spending after the 9/11 attacks primarily not because it was the appropriate thing to do strategically but because it was something the country could do when something had to be done," military scholar Richard Betts wrote in Foreign Affairs in 2007. Neither Presidents nor lawmakers want to be branded unpatriotic by trying to cut defense spending, a non sequitur if there ever was one. Many lawmakers cloak their advocacy for hometown weapons production in such red, white and blue bunting...
...doubts come as the U.S. continues to throw its weight behind the campaign. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signed an agreement for enhanced cooperation in the Mexican capital this week, declaring that "the collaboration between Mexico and the United States has never been stronger." The latest accord follows a hike in funding for the so-called Mérida Initiative to beef up Mexican security forces. In total, the U.S. has pledged $1.6 billion worth of equipment and training for its neighbor, including eight Black Hawk and 13 Bell helicopters for Mexico's army and federal police...
Still, it's true that the Anthem Blue Cross rate hike is a perfect example of why the current individual insurance market is unsustainable. After all, the justifications the company provides for why its rates have to increase do make sense. In a bad economy, the people most likely to cancel their health insurance are healthy people; this leaves the remaining so-called risk pool less healthy, and therefore more expensive to insure. (Waxman, in a follow-up letter to WellPoint, asked the company to explain why data show that it had more individually insured customers in California...
...customers. Since he bought his policy in 2005, he has seen his premiums rise dramatically. Just last year, his monthly rate jumped from $361 to $495, a 27% increase. Kapoor, who pays his premiums via automatic debit from his bank account, did not receive a notice about the 2009 hike and didn't realize it had happened until reviewing his bank statements several months later. This year's hike - to $665 - may be too much for him to bear. He's considering switching to a plan with less desirable coverage. "Last year, I was really, really angry," says Kapoor...