Too Many Kids Waste College Time and Funds

                       

Colleges have financial motives to admit dumb high school school “grads.” The U.S. Department of Education statistics indicate that three quarters of high school students who graduate in the bottom 40% of their classes still get to attend college.

                       

Most never graduate college, though they may spend as much as eight years, and more, in school. And, they often leave in heavy debt.

               

What is more, few of these students get jobs that ever require a college education. Their efforts simply waste precious time and money. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Dismal Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Outlook

                       

By 2050, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, will take up nearly the entire federal budget. By 2080, Medicare alone will comprise the entire federal outlay.

                       

There will have to be drastic corrections done by our politicians but many, primarily on the left, prefer to defer taking on the problem. It does point up government stupidity today, created for us, our children and grandchildren.

Solutions can only involve less services, reduced benefits, rationing and the ever-looming threat of higher taxes, as well as inflation we have never experienced before. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Bad Aspect of Whistle-blowing

                       

Anti-business sentiment in government which goes out of its way to look for evil that exists in business, as if it’s exclusive solely to business, has come up with the successor to sliced bread as a panacea for what ails society. Whistle-blower laws have made a bounty available to employees who can sniff out dirt on their employers, then quit, and go running to the regulators.

                       

It also helps plaintiff lawyers add to billions in fees.

                       

A top executive cannot discover problems down the line in a giant operation, unless employees report back to him. Accordingly, those report problems can be immediately corrected.

                       

But with the whistle-blowing bounties guaranteed by government law, the employee instead of reporting to a boss, heads off to the regulators and lawyers, where the opportunity for tremendous, jackpot payoffs are possible.

                       

It’s becoming tougher to be a top executive when anti- business politicians are happy to sue or criminalize employers in  class warfare campaigns.

                       

You don’t run a successful business when spies are lurking to allege crimes that may be mythical, but still are personally and corporately damaging.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Venture Capital Investors Play the Odds

                       

The Wall Street Journal reported that, of the 6,613 U.S, based companies that were initially funded by venture capitalists in their “hot” years from 2006 through 2011, 11% were acquired or had IPOs. In other words, they could be considered, in my estimation, to be successful deals as venture capitalists see it.

                                   

                       

About 84% were independent and still operating, and the 5% left went out of business.

                       

What was not said was that those 84% or so had to include many struggling independents. The exit strategy for venture capitalists is to be acquired or to go public in about five years for a big payoff,

                       

That 11% figure for IPO or acquision must include a big winner.

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

Getting a Real College Education?

                       

The college system does more for colleges, their  teachers and staff, on balance, than it does for their large portion of consumers.

                       

Only 40% of two million college freshmen graduate in four years; 45% never graduate. And graduates are ill-prepared for careers.

                       

Forget about education. The experience helps parents boast that their kids went to college, and it does the same for the dropouts themselves. They generally never have to mention whether they ever did earn a degree or job skills.

                       

Or whether their major was medicine or “communications,” or a form of physical ed. Whatever the major, it frequently fails to prepare a student for a worthwhile job. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Tough Government Regulations Aren’t Needed

                       

Politicians constantly repeat their gospel of government regulation. It is a mantra so often repeated that it’s a rule by which they govern.

But all it does is provide power for them to dispense largess and thus control voting blocs.

                       

Regulations destroy small business which cannot cope with them. They therefore appeal to large corporations which detest them, but, unlike small business, have the funds to hire lobbyists who can contend with the government bureaucrats.

                       

Dodd-Frank is a classic example of legislation which builds an ever- festering self-generating nuclei of ever-growing regulatory bodies, none of which have ever been approved by voters. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Cost of the Federal Reserve’s Actions

                       

I have often written about the Federal Reserve’s loose money activity which allows the Treasury a free hand to go into debt when the Fed buys bonds and literally adds to the money supply.

Thereby fueling future inflation. It’s a condition that cannot be easily remedied in the future.

                       

But there are other dire consequences of Fed activities, aside from future inflation; such as making it impossible for the average citizen to accumulate savings; making it extremely difficult for small business to compete with government for available dollars with which to profitably operate.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The failure of Today’s “Green” Industry Products

                                               

A whole sector of “green” products has grown, items which are now marketed,  based on the premise that our planet is being savaged by polluters and greedy merchandisers.

                       

The FTC has slowly come to the conclusion that many who are promoting these progressive “solutions” to the perceived environmental problems are, themselves, deceiving the public.

                       

Their “green” products and services may actually have little to do with improving the planet. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Controlling Poll Results

                       

The public are influenced by polls, whether consumer, economic, financial or political. The media emphasizes their importance over and over so frequently that the public assume it worthwhile to consider the results.

                       

But it’s essential that the public know that any poll,consumer,  economic, financial or political, can be manipulated by the way questions are framed. As a result, polls are used to sell services, products and politicians.

                       

If you want to believe the polls, learn exactly how they were conducted and the type of questions asked. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Art Value by Price Tag

                       

No matter what the expert opinions tell you, there is unfortunately a bottom line to the determination of art value.

                       

No matter what experts say, buying art too often is determined by price tags placed on the item. And, of course, what I refer to all the time as the Bigger Fool Theory.  

That is, someone will come along and pay more for that item you bought.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Your Pocketbook and the Federal Reserve

                       

Far too many Americans are not concerned about Federal Reserve activity. They ought to be because it affects their pocketbook and those of their children and descendants.

                       

A lesson: When the Fed buys bonds it creates reserves for the banking system, which, in effect, creates paper money or credit. When times are bad and business has no full use for that credit, the Fed’s action is useless. But once a recovery takes place, all that paper money that’s been created, translates into inflation.

                       

When the Federal Reserve sells bonds it tightens the money supply but once the barn door has been opened, the escaped horses of inflation have taken over the economy. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Health Care Facts

                       

An Institute of Medicine study concludes that about 40% of premature deaths in the U.S. are due to bad behavior. Only about 10% are because of poor medical care.

                       

Social and physical environment contribute about 20% to the premature death figure and genetics 30%. So why take a wrecking ball such as ObamaCare to remedy what can be easily done?

                       

Give people without insurance who cannot afford it free insurance vouchers, and see that everyone gets insurance, even if not currently insurable.

                       

And finally, and most importantly, put a cap on insurance payoffs by having malpractice tort reform. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Health Care Suggestions

  

                                                               

Private insurance for all is possible, if the pool is large enough. To do this, states and the federal government must break down the barriers they place on insurance companies.

                       

Permit the sale of health insurance across state lines.  Despite thousands of pages of federal legislation, it isn’t possible.

                       

Make private health insurance groups large enough to spread risk.

                       

And immediately legislate tort reform, including mandatory arbitration by special courts to process patient claims. This would eliminate huge legal fees, over and above a reduction in needless tests and doctor malpractice premium charges. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)