Useless Unemployment Numbers

                     

Monthly government unemployment numbers often have little to do with reality. If corporations spewed out such faulty figures they would be hauled off to court and their officials jailed.

                       

The media usually goes along with the official government charade by placing a spin on what you are supposed to make of the raw figures, depending on the political party of media favor.

                       

One exceptional illustration was the past administration’s creation of the “jobs saved” number. Jobs saved were merely estimates of the “coulda, shoulda, and if” variety, that could not be truly measured.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)   

Create Jobs With Corporate Tax Cuts

                

The U.S. corporate income tax is too high, in relation to what is being imposed by other countries, many who unabashedly claim to be socialist or who have otherwise managed economies. They definitely don’t profess to have capitalist underpinnings. I include Communist China in this category.

                       

They all realize the importance of relatively low corporate tax rates.

                       

Yet, one major party in America has a social mantra of “soaking the rich” and the corporation is targeted as rich, though the taxes paid are really a cost of doing business and must be priced into what’s sold.

                       

There is no logic in keeping U.S. corporate taxation as high as it is, when you want to keep American business competitive in global markets and at home.

                       

And while we’re at it, let American corporate already-taxed earnings overseas come back home, tax free, The funds can create jobs here. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Health Care Outlays

               

Much is made about how much Americans spend on health care, compared to others; the French, as one example.

                       

We spend about 16% of the GDP on health-related services. It’s perfectly acceptable to do so, if we get the best care available. Provided it’s not directed and controlled politically by the government. That is when mismanagement sets in, as it has whenever government runs any business or service,

                       

And while the French spend about $6,000 per household less on health care, they get far less in services and quality than Americans do, a fact that proponents of ObamaCare never disclose,(See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Don’T Depend on Financial Wizards

                 

Steve Forbes, on Forbes.com, April 21, 2010, wrote a piece of basic economics for the laymen, which I repeat here, for the public to learn and also remember. Today and in the future.

                       

The media does a poor educational job, but Mr. Forbes sums up a bit of Education 101, for all,  including those whose parents have bankrupted themselves to send kids to college.

                       

Mr. Forbes’ article reflects on the erroneous supposition that there are always ”wise” men around who try to manipulate economic problems and fine-tune the necessary financial remedies necessary to mitigate and rectify them. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Good-Paying Jobs Without College?

                

About 60% of jobs in 1950 did not require some special skills. According to ETS, Educational Testing Services, there were plenty of jobs for those looking for work requiring no special abilities.

                       

Now about 80% of jobs are considered skilled and need training, not all of which are available to high school graduates.

                       

This is a fault of high schools. You don’t need a college degree for most non technical work positions. You would not, if K-12 standards in English and mathematics were adequate.

                       

We send non-scholarly kids to expensive college where they become useless graduates. All we have to do is train them for useful, profitable work while in high school. They can thus master good paying jobs once they have the basics. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Medicaid and Medicare Failures

           

Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, Politicians kept expanding benefits, while talking about controlling costs. Yet costs keep skyrocketing.

                       

This couldn’t happen in private business because of the likelihood of bankruptcy. But government intervention prolonged losses and made matters much worse and expensive. As long as taxpayers continued to pay the bills. Eventually enormous amounts have been paid.

                       

This same government failure, as we see with fraud-infested Medicare and Medicaid, is on the menu with ObamaCare. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Suing the Analysts

                   

Lawsuits can possibly arise when credit rating agencies, who judge the quality of bond or derivative issues, are considered the cause of investors’ loss of money. Making it easier to sue can thus open a can of worms.

                       

The First Amendment is supposed to guard free speech. That usually protects financial analytical reports. Including opinions on Structured Investment Vehicles or SIVs, or derivatives, or any form of corporate and municipal bond.

                       

Can analysts and their employers be sued for malpractice if their opinions have been wrong? Or are they covered by the First Amendment? What does any court decision do to those who evaluate due diligence in the future?

                                           

Every so often a move is made to sue credit agencies for alleged malpractice. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Economists to Know

                   

Economists can see what has worked well in the past and what has not, but there is no predictability. Modeling and planning did not work properly in the past, and will not in the future. As one observer has said, “economics is history trying to be physics.”

                       

Politics plays a big role in the thinking of many. It produces the variations we are accustomed to, as an accommodation by economists tuned to the political interests they may favor.

There are a handful in which I have more confidence. Examples: Milton Friedman, Friedrich von Hayek, among others, whose work I follow. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Economists’ Agreements

                   

Economists generally agree on basic tenets of economics. These have to do with the long-term effect of deficits, and the Inevitability of inflation as a result. They usually also agree on incentives for business and, to some extent, on tax cuts for small business, in efforts to increase jobs. Other than for basics, their opinions differ.

                       

I’m not impressed by their awards, especially Nobel prizes. Economics involve many complex variables and facts, unknown and the unknowable, and can be difficult to understand. It definitely is not a science.   (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)   

Taxpayer-Aided Athlete Salaries

                

Politicians complain when a "rich" top executive gets more than a million or so a year of “taxpayer-protected” income. What about a ball player who hires no one, who makes ten million and more a year? And may actually be a loser?

                       

Remember: Money is fungible. The payment does not have to be direct. Money can be substituted from one pocket of government or payer to the other, to hide the source of funding. It adds up to the same total outlay.

                       

Many ball parks are subsidized in some way by government, and thus the fungible funds are being used to pay grandiose athlete salaries. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Good Business Management

                   

I’ve been asked and I’ve written on the subject of business management over the years. It’s a subject based on my personal, hands-on experience in small, medium size and large business.That leads me to frequently disagree with advice and suggestions gleaned from media.

                       

I note their preferred ideas that managers be taught in so-called “top” schools and have MBA degrees in business. I have looked at the curricula of such schools over the years. However, I’m not impressed by management-by- formal-schooling..

                       

I find there’s a bottom line: It has little to do with formal education of business management. It does have a connection with open, creative minds that are willing to learn about practical business and financial matters, often on-the-job, either part time at the outset or as small entrepreneurs at some stage. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

Social Security Isn’t Real Insurance

                     

Social Security was set up as a supposed insurance program which it never was. It’s not insurance, with no lock box, no reserves, and no benefits directly tied to contributions. As I have always said, it is more of a Ponzi scheme than a legitimate retirement insurance program.

                       

There’s been talk of doing away with the payroll deductions because it amounts to a severe “progressive” tax that liberal politicians abhor. But there is yet a better argument for doing away with the deductions. It would stop the masquerade that Social Security is a legitimate insurance program.

                       

Private Social Security is a viable option. Those who don’t like common stock can instead invest in government bonds. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

Private Health Insurance Can Be Cheaper

                   

Nothing the government does is truly cheap, except to cheapen quality. ObamaCare health insurance never will accomplish what it intends to do.

                       

One 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 insurance.

                       

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

                       

Also, permit more competition among the about 1500 insurance carriers. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

                       

Capitalist Realism vs Socialist Fantasy

                  

Socialism always 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 themselves out of dire economic disaster after socialism fails. Even in so-called socialist countries, it’s capitalist principles that countervail socialist errors.(See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Fear of Lawsuits For Firing Employees

                   

How to fire someone with an eye on potential lawsuits starts when you first make the hire, and your employer/employee relationship while the employee is in your hire.

                       

Do not discriminate. Be sure you are aware of legal hiring tenets. Also keep an employee manual that tells each employee his or her rights as well as obligations.

                       

When you do actual firing, give that employee written notice and the reasons for the discharge. Be sure you have back-up evidence for your action. And I would suggest a witness attesting to that meeting and its procedure. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter)