The Phony World Health Report Bible for ObamaCare

One of the main reasons for need of ObamaCare was the fact U.S. lagged behind so many others in the world in delivery of proper health care. The proof given was in statistics provided by a World Health Care study in the year 2000.

It showed that the United States ranked 19th in national life expectancy for 1980 to 1999. During that period, Japan, Australia, Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom ranked higher.

The study, it turned out had politically-induced flaws. For example, if fatal injuries such as auto fatalities were omitted, the United States had the best life expectancy.

Also important: The WHO study did not bother to evaluate the quality of health care, nor did it ask unhappy recipients in the various countries what they felt about services they were getting.

So which statistics do you believe were expounded as the reason for America to take on socialized medicine as in Europe and elsewhere? 

The questionable figures induced by America’s extensive auto use and accident rate or those the politicized World Health Report was designed to show and ObamaCare was glad to employ? (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Oil Lies

The  administration still takes credit for the amount of domestic oil we happen to be now drilling. But this is oil we had planned for in the previous administration. The truth is, the present administration has been holding back approvals for new drilling.

And to add to this misinformation,  the administration claims there are already sufficient oil leases extant and approved on which to drill. A very amateurish statement indeed.

Simply, not all oil-lease acreage can be drilled. Studies by the oil companies are made on them and they remain idle for the probable reason that they are not productive nor economically feasible.

The truth of our energy policy is that the U.S, has enormous sources of petroleum for at least the next century, maybe longer.  Right now, Economic sources of wind and solar power, preferred by the green environmentalists, are decades away.

We need more economic reality and less political chatter.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Illusive Tort Reform Would Lower Health Costs

I have constantly commented on ways to make health care cheaper, without impacting the entire system with a socialized version.

One way would be to reduce provider costs. Physicians and hospitals say this could be done if they would curtail defensive practices.

The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says that about 10% of medical expense is attributable to medical malpractice lawsuits. Only about 2% is caused by direct lawsuit costs.

Add about 5% to 9%, due to MDs having to practice defensive medicine. That is, they add tests in case a plaintiff lawyer asks them in court: Questions such as “Why didn’t you do this procedure…?” (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Why Tax the Rich?

“Taxing the rich” is an excellent populist campaign slogan for those who are seeking votes from voters who are economically ignorant.

It appeals to those politicos who may know the facts but would rather get votes any way they can. Even if they must lie to acquire the votes.

The truth is from past experience, actual tax rates are not important; it’s the tax revenues those rates produce that count. And experience shows that lowered rates have produced more revenues from the so-called rich.

But politicians who talk down to voters love to “tax the rich” because the level of intelligence they appeal to loves to hear the phrase.

Remember: High tax rates do not automatically mean high tax revenues in the real world. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)    

America Suffered with Government-Pushed Home Ownership

The U.S. government failed home owners but you probably will never see an inept media take the blame for repeating the bytes that populist politicians-in-power cited in promoting the fiasco. 

I repeat this because Uncle Sam is at it again with mortgage “bailouts.”

The U. S. government saw to it that everyone who wanted one owned a home whether they could afford it or not.

Uncle Sam provided loan guarantees where tiny down payments were made.

The U,S also set mortgage payments out to 30 years, and permitted interest-only loans.

We had to have U. S. Government-guaranteed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac instruments to create a subprime problem and eventually all the excuses to bail out banks.

How come, our neighbor to the north, Canada, has had no problem and no deep housing recession? It has no concerted program for all of this mortgage aid. Canada does not go in for the liberal housing subsidies that the U.S. has to this date, and for which Congress has never taken responsibility.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Importance of Gross Domestic Product or GDP

You hear about Gross Domestic Product or GDP. It reflects a country’s economic activity, actually the value of all a country’s products and services  produced in a period or a year. GDP generally represents a good indicator of the county’s economic health.

It can be skewered when natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis, or wars influence unusual economic activity. But the GDP can be a standard against which we can measure our debts and national and social accounts. 

Especially our debts. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                       

                                       

   

Cap and Trade Is Being Imposed Anyway

The idea behind Cap and Trade is to cut down on carbon emission pollution, the type from using fossil fuels. Politicians in charge get to designate which industries get what quotas for emissions with which they can befoul the air.

The political purpose?  There are fees involved and penalties. That’s where the hidden taxation arises, and accumulates as a giant tax gimmick that directly and indirectly hits industry and the consumer. The answer to any entrenched politician’s dream.

The Chinese and India want nothing to do with it because it destroys economies. New Zealand tried it for a couple of years and quit. The Australians put it on hold after some sober thought. Yet, the administration appears ready for the fiasco.

Legislative enactment is highly unlikely, so the administration is enhancing the provision its own way, through the Environmental Protection Agency action, literally behind the public’s backs.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Credit Availability

No matter how good your credit is, the lender must still have funds to give you and an inclination to take the risk of giving them to you despite that good credit.

Conventional bank profits came from lending money to worthwhile risks. That convention isn’t any longer as simple as that.

U. S. regulators now have a habit of investing their populist political reasons. After all. consumers vote and banks do not.

When officials feel existing mortgage terms have to be changed, they “suggest” them. When they feel the bank’s books need strengthening, the customers’ good risks cannot be taken. And so on.

Credit availability is thus on the line. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Shovel-Less, Shovel-Ready Jobs

To elaborate on the administration’s past emphasis on the use of almost a trillion dollars as an anti- recession slush fund for political purposes. To be certain it isn’t entertained again.

It was supposedly a pick and shovel job proposal but the funds were used primarily to pay unionized state employees.

But proposed pick and shovel job proposals are meaningless to women and skilled workers who make up such a large part of the work force. This did not help in the 1930’s when women were a small part of the workforce. It certainly is of no use in today’s high-tech industrial society.

What is more, government jobs emphasis create poor psychology. This job program philosophy creates just the opposite employment atmosphere, if we must overcome fear and gloom to get over a recession and so-so recovery. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Available Venture Capital

   

Less venture capital deals are available because of a recession. Capital is also tight because the exit door is smaller for the venture capitalists with ample funds. In other words, it’s not as easy for them to sell what they have back to the public via underwritings.

There is no shortage of funds for new business. There are simply less willing underwriters to get the VCs off the hook. Less buyers to speculate on the wares investment bankers have. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Failed Keynesian Stimulus

Liberals often refer to the opinion of John Maynard Keynes, to accommodate the idea of economic pump-priming. But he, himself, was not decisive in such methods of producing prosperity, as those who claim to be his followers.

Examples of the left’s misuse of Keynes’ theory:

Prosperity depends little on investment in industry, That did not produce jobs and income in the 1930s.

Lower interest rates did not help during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Lots of bank reserves and deposits didn’t help when the banks were afraid to make loans to industry.

Large public works did not create meaningful jobs. And higher taxes were poisonous,

Yet, we continue to hear Keynesian suggestions.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)    

The Price of Oil

The price of oil and other energy products that Americans pay is completely controlled by American will. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans don’t know this and do little about it.

They therefore place the blame on the pricing policy of producers outside American borders.

The truth is, America is awash in its own supplies of oil sources, in addition to other sources of energy. All it needs is oil extraction and refining now, until it can fully develop wind and solar and atom sources, so called renewable resources, and develop them when they make economic sense.

But groups of politicians in America see to it that we do not drill for abundant domestic oil, nor refine it.

The OPEC monopoly should have no affect on America. They can adjust their own supplies at will, to suit whatever pricing OPEC wants.

OPEC may control oil prices no matter how much America produces by adjusting supply, but U.S. oil makes us independent of oil politics and saves the U.S. dollar from being attacked. It would also create a vast number of American jobs And American foreign policy independence.

America can be rid of economic and international pitfalls with its enormous reserves, were its anti-drilling, anti-refining politicos amenable. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                

                                       

                               

             

                               

        

The Price of Oil

The price of oil and other energy products that Americans pay is completely controlled by American will. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans don’t know this and do little about it.

They therefore place the blame on the pricing policy of producers outside American borders.

The truth is, America is awash in its own supplies of oil sources, in addition to other sources of energy. All it needs is oil extraction and refining now, until it can fully develop wind and solar and atom sources, so called renewable resources, and develop them when they make economic sense.

But groups of politicians in America see to it that we do not drill for abundant domestic oil, nor refine it.

The OPEC monopoly should have no affect on America. They can adjust their own supplies at will, to suit whatever pricing OPEC wants. 

OPEC may control oil prices no matter how much America produces by adjusting supply, but U.S. oil makes us independent of oil politics and saves the U.S. dollar from being attacked. It would also create a vast number of American jobs And American foreign policy independence.

America can be rid of economic and international pitfalls with its enormous reserves, were its anti-drilling, anti-refining politicos amenable. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Financial Analysts Can be Wrong

Be careful when Wall Street analysts tell you how good or bad a bank or insurance company is, or when you ought to buy, or sell any of its securities.

Few Wall Street analysts are experts in the fields. I have recently commented about bank analysts. Today, I would like to point out that it’s impossible for an analyst to know much about an insurance company unless that analyst is conversant with the detailed reports filed by each insurance company with its state insurance regulatory authorities.

These reports delve into the individual insurance programs and reserves, details that have no resemblance to the balance sheets and profit and loss statements but have a direct bearing.

Unfortunately, few if any insurance analysts on Wall Street even know what they are, or what they are called. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                    

Congressional Budget Office Figures

The CBO or Congressional Budget Office can become a major tool of foolish shenanigans in Congress if taken out of context. Thanks to the media which never explains, exactly, what the auditing function of the CBO is.

The CBO does the bookkeeping for Congress. It calculates whatever Congress puts before it to calculate. If congressmen put in garbage, the CBO turns out garbage. The CBO gives no opinions or interpretation. Congress has lied about its numbers in the past and the CBO had to report the same lies.

So look to figures from Congress for their validity before you have them validated by the CBO. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                        

                               

             

                               

        

                                   

   

                               

How We Could Have Solved the Residential Real Estate Fiasco

I repeat what I said a couple of years ago. It’s still worth retelling.

There could have been a quick solution to the financial meltdown on Wall Street. It was overlooked by “experts” and the Federal Reserve.

The government could have bought up all the excess empty tract developments in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, and razed them. They would be off the market. No surplus real estate to undermine other property values.

There would have been a stop to the psychological real estate contagion that spread to the other states. The law of supply/demand would have applied. Much smaller bank assistance would then be needed to clean up the banking books.

We would have had a normal recession, not what has become an excuse for government-meddling. At a cost of multi-trillions that will entangle the economic and social lives of future generations of Americans.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)    

Mark-to-Market Accounting is Dangerous to Investors

Mark-to-market financial accounting recurs as a topic from time to time. It hurt banking in the 2008 financial meltdown. I repeat the potential problem because it will no doubt return some day and bore a hole in your investment accounts.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, loves this standard, which pegs values of financial assets to the volatility of the securities markets. Banks hate it because it helps put their earnings and balance sheets in constant danger.

I have always maintained that the rule was one of the main factors in the subprime financial meltdown. Because it was always hard to price volatile securities, some of which had too limited a market for reliable evaluation. And as a result of the mis-pricing, short sellers were able to wreak havoc on banks even further, to the extent of the collapse we witnessed.

Yet. instead of taking this discrepancy into account early to prevent disaster, mark-to-market financial accounting rules were kept on. After the meltdown, rule adjustments were allowed, A case of closing the barn door after the horses left.

I speak from experience as a former Wall Street senior banking analyst: When the books allow for the sequestering of questionable assets and the analysis is done correctly, you avoid disaster by posting conventional bookkeeping numbers during financial emergencies. It can prevent short-term psychological disasters that fester into long-term catastrophes. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                    

Be Careful of Financial Experts in Office

Don't rely too much on “experts” to control your destiny; that is, with government or its agencies.

I am referring to those in the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the administration, Congress or anyone in official Washington, in a position to try to micromanage our government.

Notice that they go to the same Ivy League schools? Outfits which never give students bad marks? The same schools which turn out students we hear about and see on TV? Which, as a result, hire fellow alumni because they are like-minded?

I have reported before about their financial and business flubs. More in my future comments.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                    

Stimulus Funds: Good Politics, Bad Economics

Stimulus attempts by government most often are a political ruse. That they have failed in the past always seem to be forgotten by some academics. So they, along with willing politicians, occasionally rehash them.

What was used was actually “slush funds” to prop up favored state governments, to meet budget deficits. The latter have been primarily due to outlandish, public employee union contracts.

Very few private jobs were created by so-called stimulus funds. It was slush fund money that helped temporarily preserve government union jobs. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Chronically Unemployed College Graduates

Further to my past comments on college attendance and its problems.

We see shortages of skilled labor all around us, but plenty of unemployed college grads.

Much of this is the result of the going-to-college-marketing fluff. It’s not only tuition-expensive, it puts so many young people into huge debt that makes it almost impossible for them to get a firm grip on a decent career path. 

Yet, constant pressure to go to college is preventing students and parents alike from seeing through this dilemma and possible choices.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                    

Why Go to College?

Don’t go to college just to make money. You can work at many skills, jobs and professions without a college degree.

Should you need a degree for window dressing or social reasons, you can acquire one, part-time, and cheaply, from recognized schools via the internet. And while you are creating your career at a paying job.

Make up a list of job categories or small businesses you would like to be in. You will see how just a few require college expense. Some might need trade school training for a short time.

When academics tell you that college grads earn more, the numbers are often suspect. Comparisons are made with those close to minimum wage, not at skilled, non-college jobs.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                       

Unions Actually Create Economic Malfunction

Unions help selective employees for the short term in getting wages and benefits, often beyond what supply/demand would provide. But the same employees may not be better off in the long run. Not if their jobs become insecure, as a result.

With unionism, there is often an arrangement forced on employers that has little to do with economic requirements or sense for work done. So there is frequently a poor allocation of economic resources.

In economic life for the long run, employees get what they are worth to an employer. The law of supply and demand works. If your skill is needed, an employer will pay dearly for it. If the worker cannot provide value, the job will pay less or disappear.

Unless it’s subsidized by the consumer or taxpayer. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)    

Liberalism is a Secular Religion

                                

Psychology of facts, as opposed to steadfast beliefs, is part of politics. It has unfortunately evolved into a religion-like atmosphere that often affects economics and business.

Conservatives claim their economic stance is based on the written constitution, and on historic economic fact, events that actually happened in this country and the world. They are reacting to such events.

Liberals tend to react, almost religiously, on the basis of beliefs, the way life ought to be. If the constitution does not remedy what liberals believe is wrong, simply adjust the meaning of the constitution. And if the majority of voters don’t want that heart-felt change, liberals would find a like-minded judge to rule for the change.

Unfortunately, many dictatorships have started with precisely this method of adapting government constitutions to what well-meaning folks think ought to be. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Health Care’s Increasing Cost

                               

Health costs are rising as much as three times higher than inflation. But this is not really so. You cannot compare costs when new advances in medicine defy any true comparison of medical procedure and achievement. 

The government factors in efficiency in its cost-of living statistics, but overlooks it when it comes to health statistics.

So, much of the health care inflation talk is bogus, and used for political objectives. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)                                    

Bumbling Bernanke of the Federal Reserve

Ben Bernanke, who heads up the Federal Reserve Bank, no doubt works hard at his job, and his intentions are fine. But he’s been bumbling along.

His buying of bonds builds up future inflation. His zero interest policy is great for big banks and speculators, at the expense of small business and the middle class.

           

Moreover, I feel his media-event open conferences don’t do the American economy any good. The actions of the Fed should not be disclosed to the public in advance.

           

The Fed is most effective when it creates economic shock, not by tipping off the financial world in advance. Otherwise, all the financial players will act in advance and help counteract what Fed action is supposed to do. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Why Do We Import Workers With Little Skills?

                                              

I frequently comment  about  poor education American students get in public schools and college, despite the huge taxpayer drain such education takes each and every year.

           

In the high schools, the U.S. has a high dropout rate. It’s interesting to see how we compare with other countries in this regard. Our rate is about 23%, Germany’s is under 3% and Japan’s a bit more than 5%; Great Britain’s about 9%. However, Portugal’s is 37% and Mexico’s 56%.

           

Then there’s the result of U.S. immigration policy where we import even legal immigrants who do not have high school equivalency. How do we train them for the skilled jobs we need? There are already few jobs for the able. How do we prepare for the unready? (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Franchise Lures

I repeat this because of the enormous prevalence of franchise “opportunity” lures in the form of ads and media reportage.

Franchises are a particularly dangerous, tricky area of business, on which I often comment because of faulty hype.

I would avoid buying a franchise because of their poor cost-benefit relationships, unless you are buying an extremely well-known name brand with an excellent reputation for dealing with franchisees. There are only a small handful worth buying with name-recognition and worthwhile management assistance.

       

 If you are still not convinced, at least be forewarned. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinesNewshole at Twitter.)