Shortages!

USA Today did a story on the 'growing shortage' of doctors in America. The article predicts that with the growing population, there will not be enough trained and skilled doctors in practice to meet the need of the people. Wisconsin sits average on the doctors-per-capita scale with a 2.6.

President of the American Medical Association, John Nelson, speculates that the aging population may put a strain on the doctors in practice. The demand for doctors is increasing, but is there a supply to meet the demand?

Or is it that the doctors are ill distributed? Many doctors prefer to live in cities where there are lucrative, insured patients to tend to. Doctors also gravitate towards the high-paid jobs. There may be a surplus of sports medicine, but no radiologists.

Now, medicine in a very inelastic service. People need doctors, so when the supply of doctors drop, the price rises and stays there until the supply goes back up.

Supply, Demand, Tariffs and Ethanol.

http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.php?Id=275&yr=2007

Some people see ethonal as a way to ease America's reliance on foreign oil. In this report from the Wisconsin Ag Connection, it shows that despite sharp tariffs, foreign ethanol suppliers can compete with domestic prices. So even though we aren't relying on foreign oil, we are beginning to rely on cheap foreign ethanol.

Matt Hartwig, from the Renewable Fuels Association asked, "Why should we be trading dependency on one energy source for dependency on another?"

Ethanol is a biofuel, though... petroleum? Not so much. The environmental economist would see this as an advantage.

The Bush Administration has said it would like to see the tariff on imported ethanol go away. There is a loophole, though. If the ethanol is dehydrated in the Carribean, the tariff is waved. Only 7% of of annual U.S. ethanol can be duty-free.