Private Health Insurance

              

Nothing the government does is truly cheap, except quality, when you total up the direct and indirect costs. ObamaCare health insurance never will accomplish what it intends to do.

                     

A suggestion: Tax employer-provided health-care benefits but return this money to employees in the form of tax deductions, to buy their medical insurance as they buy home and auto coverage.

                     

That will make insurance transferable and keep workers on their jobs with coverage. You will then have health- insurance security and portability, along with personal independence.

                     

And even more competition among about 1500 insurance carriers. With certain lower health insurance costs. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Socialist Theory and Realistic Capitalism

                              

Socialism ruins environment. As evidenced in Soviet Russia, China and the past communist Eastern Europe. Capitalism has invariably treated the environment as an asset for future use.

                     

Socialist countries use capitalist principles only to bail them out of dire economic disaster after socialism fails.

Even  so-called socialist countries use capitalist principles to correct  socialist errors. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Investment Management Decisions

Large investors, pension funds, foundations and major mutual fund managements, often evaluate  the management of companies in which they invest. The main idea has always been that you do not buy or retain ownership of securities in firms whose management you do not like.

Other, usually large  investors, actively promote their influence in making managerial changes. The latter often have another motive. They often are more interested in takeovers and active management.

                     

Furthermore, it takes a lot of nerve and arrogance on the part of outside investors who think they can micromanage because they have a large stake in a company. They may make better use of their time elsewhere. Certainly, they may want to look for excessive salaries and bonuses and for fraud. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Budget Problems

Government wasteful spending is more than a waste of money. Excess spending that produces budgetary debt causes even deeper recessions than we would normally have.

I have repeatedly reported that stimulus funds have actually been a political slush fund, doled out to “friendly” recipients.  Independent study has shown actual overall job losses while the “stimulus” was applied to mainly help certain states balance their bloated budgets.

                     

Remember the Soviet Union with its periodic Five Year Plan stimulus efforts and their notable lack of success.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Pricing Oil

                 

Every time the prices of oil and gasoline go up, there’s a call for a congressional hearing, to put oil company CEOS on the grill.

                     

Of course, the results, after all the political hoopla, are the same. The politicos find nothing, despite all their efforts. The media get their headlines and stories. But the facts will be overlooked--again.

Oil prices are now low, so all is quiet.

                     

The oil companies pay an effective tax rate of about 40%, much higher than most corporations, far too high in an industry where exploration is so necessary, and expensive.

Oil prices are determined by expectation of future long-term oil production. Supply and demand for oil play an important part, and the left does all it can to reduce supply. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Stimulus Efforts Should be Non-Political

A stimulus ought to be a genuine job generator. Experience shows it should work quickly and be practical, not effective after the eventual, normal recovery would have occurred. There are frequent normal cycles in an economy.

                     

Moreover, a real stimulus will not change the country’s political and social infrastructure. To many politicians, a stimulus is political opportunity.

                     

The stimulus should not be an excuse to provide political payoffs. A stimulus is not supposed to promote voter turnout or change the form of government. And it certainly should not cause inflation to endanger our children and grandchildren in the future. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

A Real Stimulus

              

A stimulus planned during a recession must act quickly, if it is to be practical. It’s supposed to stimulate the economy with minimal cost.

                     

A government really fully aware of how to stimulate a morbid economy would institute a quick tax cut on all types of income; that always works, Tax cuts on interest and capital gains.

                     

Corporate tax cuts are tremendous boosts to an overall depressed economy especially when most foreign country rates are much lower than those in America. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)