Philly Fed: Sky Is Falling

CNN.com reports on the Philly Fed’s Business Activity Index, which has actually plunged into negative territory as of late.

Let me get this straight. You are the Philly Fed, and you are surveying the manufacturing sector of the freakin’ rust belt to gauge the overall regional economic outlook. Or perhaps that’s CNN’s take on the matter.

Sounds decent enough, but maybe they should read the last article I posted a link to.

Meanwhile, hospitaL administrators like Steven Altschuler, president of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, are on a hiring spree. Altschuler has added the equivalent of 4,000 new full-time jobs since he took over six years ago, almost doubling the hospital’s workforce. To put this in perspective, all the nonhealth-care businesses in the Philadelphia area combined added virtually no jobs over the same stretch.

Altschuler plans to add 3,000 more employees over the next five years as the hospital, one of the nation’s leading pediatric centers, spends $1.7 billion to expand. Next up is a new 1.2 million-square-foot research facility that will be packed with well-paid scientists and support staff. “Health care is the major engine for the economy of the city of Philadelphia,” says Altschuler.