Dodd-Frank’s Regulation Failures

                   

When politicians try to legislate from their hearts and secular religious beliefs, you are certain to get a hodgepodge of unintended consequences. The Dodd- Frank legislation of 2010, on which I’ve commented many times, is a perfect illustration.

                       

One example I would like to point out because it’s happening before our eyes and it’s an event Dodd-Frank was supposed to prevent.  Regulations are killing smaller banks, It’s tough enough for large banks to contend but the added costs of keeping up with regulations add to administrative costs and financial requirements that banks simply cannot afford.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

                   

State and Local Pension Deficits

                 

The public pension deficit gaps are worse than what the mainstream media mention. That’s because the projected income used for investments in them is too high at often- assumed 7% and 8%. Actual earnings are more like 6% or less.

                       

In reality, the estimated earnings on investments to pay

future public employee pension payments ought to be equivalent to what the state or city or other local entity has to pay when it borrows to finance pension money.

                       

Therefore, the problem we see has been hidden too long by politicians kicking the proverbial pension deficits can down the road. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Fraud-Laden Medicare and Medicaid

                                           

Medicare fraud is estimated to be well over $60 billion each year. Widespread criminal operations go mostly unchecked because of poor government oversight. It consists of ploys such as using dead doctor reports, fake patients and non-existent treatments. Practises also involve billing for nonexistent or unnecessary services, kickbacks and inflated costs.

                       

The FBI says Medicaid fraud is a $10 billion annual industry. Therefore, how is the government going to undertake a massive ObamaCare plan that will entail one sixth of our entire economy?

                       

Politicians tell you only how this fraud-infested system saves money. We now know the opposite is true, even without massive fraud. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

All Levels of Education: A Disaster

                 

The primary purpose of education is to teach a student to think, not to merely graduate and collect a degree.

By that standard, all current independent research and surveys have come to one conclusion. Education in the U.S. at all levels, from elementary to high school, through college, has been a complete, dismal disaster for the students.

                       

It has done extremely well for the educators.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Lawsuits Add Heavily to Health Care Costs

                  

The real cost of health insurance is intentionally

glossed over because about 90% of lawyer political contributions go to only one, the Democrat party.

                       

Yet, the cost of malpractice insurance and the need for tort reform, represents a major area for health insurance reform. It has not been directly addressed by ObamaCare, under the way in which MDs are subjected to malpractice.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Government Cutting Costs?

                  

Government has a disadvantage in cutting costs. Politics finds it easier to hire than to fire. Voters you fire will not vote for you again. Politics also finds it easier to overpay. Especially when government jobs are unionized.

                       

Has any government ever run efficiently? The Post Office is one example. Also consider our experience with Medicaid and Medicare. How they have botched efficiency and costs of ObamaCare.

                       

If the cost of Medicaid and Medicare have gotten so far out of hand, beyond their original projections, how can we believe the health care savings fantasies of the future? (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Fed Inflation Bias

                  

The Federal Reserve Bank policy after the turn of the 21st Century, has always shown some fear of deflation, the kind that engulfed Japan for over the past twenty-odd years. So the Fed always has had an inflation bias.

                       

But why was deflation acceptable in the second half of the 19th Century when the U. S. operated and expanded under the gold standard? Prices trended down for decades. The financial panics the U. S. experienced were relatively short.

                       

And why must we have 2% or 3% inflation as a norm? That can hurt middle class savings over time? To make it worse, an International Monetary Fund economist has suggested a target inflationary rate of 4%, to make it easier to fight recessions by adjusting interest rates. He deems today’s rates too low to be used as a recession-fighting tool. But even 2% inflation is a cruel tax. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Further Insights About Doctor Shortages

                

Amid the talk about ObamaCare is the fact we already have a shortage of doctors, particularly in primary care. This gets worse every year. Moreover, this occurs most rapidly where the government keeps restricting MD income and adds to workloads. While ObamaCare  has doctors still subject to any alleged tort malfeasance.

                       

Massachusetts, for example, covers 97% of its residents with enforced coverage, but it does not have enough doctors to accommodate the system. The average wait time to see a primary care MD is from 36 to 50 days. Yet, the state happens to have more doctors than others.

Furthermore, the shortage is expected to get worse

throughout the country, as doctor income is pressured downward, while workloads go up.

                       

Doctors start careers in heavy debt and it is becoming more and more impossible for them to recoup that burden with present political thinking.

                       

Universal health care planning loses lots of its common sense regarding doctor employment. Without enough competent doctors, the best planning is useless. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Inevitable Doctor Shortages

                   

Finding a doctor under ObamaCare will not be as easy as passing a law offering universal health insurance. You have to pay them a decent wage for the skills they have. In fact, a large percentage of American doctors are taking early retirement.

                       

About 1,500,000 Canadians don’t have or cannot easily find a primary care physician. In one instance, a TV video showed a town clerk pulling names of lucky winners to see a doctor in a lottery. Losers had to wait.

That’s only one reason many sick Canadians have come to America for surgery. Canadian officials call much of what we may consider essential surgery as “elective.”

                       

When we emulate Canada’s or that of the British, or any other universal health coverage version, remember health coverage does not automatically mean health care. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Upcoming Debt Disaster?

                  

Under the Maastricht Treaty, leading to the European monetary union, budget deficits were limited to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) and total debt was restricted to 60% of GDP.

                       

However,Greece consistently cheated. France and Germany and others also broke the Treaty agreement in this regard.

                       

Ben Bernanke, the past head of the Federal Reserve Bank in the U. S., had said that total debt of 2% and 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) is sustainable, but we are now past that level. (The extraordinary Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae debt are not even in the federal budget.)

                       

So why are we not headed down the same road to disaster as is Europe (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Supply and Demand of Health Care

                   

To make health coverage cheaper without government, increase coverage supply to meet demand and be alert.

                       

Add the number of patients but add more doctors. Developing disincentives for doctors to practice family medicine, will not make medicine cheaper and more available. You cannot legislate lower income for doctors and have more MDs in the system.

                       

Driving out of business over 1,500 competing private insurance companies with onerous mandates will not reduce costs. Have insurance companies compete over state lines, which they presently are not permitted to do. That will attract competition.

                       

And, rationing of benefits under the guise of “suggesting” treatments that doctors ought to give, is not a proper way to reduce demand to meet supply. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Tort Reform For Lower Health Costs

                  

Political bias in health insurance is highly evident; ObamaCare is guilty of it. It explains why tort reform was never a part of legislation.

                       

Even though the government will tell the doctor how to practice, he or she could still be sued for malpractice. All that’s needed is a cap on lawsuits.

                       

At least 25% of medical costs are for defensive medicine. Yet, impartial arbitration panels could determine whether patients have been harmed, and how, and for how much they ought to be compensated. Without lawyer imagination, subterfuge and costs. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Small Business Taxes and ObamaCare

             

Employers must insure employees under ObamaCare; those who don’t offer coverage will pay a penalty.

                                           

Labor is a major cost for most small, non-manufacturing businesses, The net, bottom profit line often does not exceed 5% or 10%. With an added health tax, many entrepreneurs who would love to insure employees when they want to attract them, are not able to afford their employment. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Government Supermarkets Also?

                 

ObamaCare in its present form, despite what the administration has said. will not force the 1500 or so private health insurance companies become more competitive. All it had to do would be to make it possible for companies to compete across state lines. ObamaCare did not call for it.

                       

But if the government presence could make health insurance more competitive, why not a government supermarket chain to cut prices? Or a government clothing chain? That is what Russian consumers “enjoyed” under the Soviet Union. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Truth-in-Advertising at Colleges

                  

I have noted before the lack of balance in colleges with regard to the world political and cultural view of campus teachers.

                       

One-sided views negate the purpose of going to college for a broad education. The minutiae that are relegated to memory are soon forgotten. But the ability to reason and think ought to be the prime college education goal.

                       

The remedy is simple: Publish the resumes, including commentaries of all professors and full time instructors, along with the rest of the routine material that colleges use to entice prospective students.

                       

Have teachers and professors comment on their ideas about recent Supreme Court decisions on business, finance and other pertinent topics.

                       

Moreover, schools ought to be responsible for the relative accuracy of such statements made to recruit students.

                                   

In short: Truth in advertising laws should apply to college recruiting. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)