Another parasite in the US economy that could spur the next recession

Wall Street's short sellers are beginning to talk about healthcare as the next major threat to the US economy.

Costs are so high that the market will have to correct sooner rather than later.
Left unchecked, a market-led correction will be brutal.

Imagine a parasite living in the US economy, siphoning off the cash that has powered the middle class for decades. We know it's there, but no one — on the right or the left — is talking seriously about how to slow its growth.

This parasite is the U.S. healthcare system. It is already causing more damage to the economy than we probably know, and at least one group of people seems to have this figured out: the same Wall Street doomsayers who predicted the financial crisis.

Here's what they know, in the broadest terms. Healthcare spending took up 4.8% of consumer spending in 1984, hit 8% in 2014, and then surged to 10% by 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So the bet here is simple: America, one way or another, will be forced to confront the parasite that is its healthcare system, and the companies that are using the sleaziest tactics will be picked off first — by prosecutors, lawmakers, insurance companies, or the press — leaving sick customers in the lurch.

Source: BI
Trader-G.Bozhidarov

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