The Europeans May Not Want U.S. to Follow Them

The Left in America want the U.S. to become more like Europe. That means socialized medicine and more governmental control of industry and society.

Despite the heavy spending and taxation for European-style socialism, the only real budgetary savings here come with defense issues. The Obama Administration and Congress can only give Americans this ultimate touch of Europe by reducing defense expenditures.

You would think the folks overseas would eventually be pleased with this. However, Europeans may not fully realize it, but the more America acts like them, the less secure Europe will be.

Europeans spend very little on defense, compared to the U.S. We are the ones they always have been able to rely on. In other words, we have been paying for their defense without much outlay on their part.

Who will defend Europe if the U.S. cuts its defenses to the bone?

The best most of their armed forces can now deliver is meals-on-wheels.

Misrepresenting John Maynard Keynes

I want to repeat what I have noted before. Left-leaning Democrats love to claim they are following the tenets of John Maynard Keynes whenever they say they are attempting to spend their way out of a recession with government outlays. This is only their exclusive version of Keynes economics.

Keynes did not believe you stimulated an economy by CONSTANTLY spending and spending to stimulate. The current administration does not look at the futility or lack of success of what it has been doing. But it is dedicated to repeating much of the same. Despite the fact the public debt has us right on track to be the next Greece, or worse.

Inept Government Job Creation

Government liberals have their idea of creating jobs: Make work. Whether at a government office or at a construction site. Hand out a pick and shovel, if that is what it takes. Their House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, just announced her best method: Place them on unemployment insurance.

Getting down to reality, left-leaning politicians have no concept of creating jobs, that of using the psychology of entrepreneurial spirit. That is why they will tax small business in the depths of a severe downturn. Why they raise minimum wages for small business during economic recessions.

Through the use of such dampening forces to see that jobs are not created by what they consider questionable private business.

Basically, the Left does not like business. They look at profits as criminal, to be taxed away for redistribution back to the community by wise governmental bureaucrats.

Unequal Pay For Women Pay Levels

Women pay levels have been the subject of controversy for some time. There is no doubt they had been discriminated against in the past. The question is whether they still are, when anti-discrimination laws have been around for decades and penalties are severe.

True, women still tend to earn less. But there can be valid reasons. Because many women do leave jobs in mid-career for maternity reasons and that distorts statistical averages. Others prefer to spend more time to family.

Still, there are more variations in certain professions than others which makes this not the sole explanation for income variation. . Hostile environment may often be be possible. The discrepancy varies by profession.

Women’s needs may vary within those jobs, especially where measures of hostility may actually exist.

Misleading Unemployment Figures

It is worthwhile repeating that fallacies appear when reporting on the number of jobless.

This is particularly true these days when the conventional media chooses to overlook the missteps this administration attempts with various employment “stimuli.”

Example: There are those, who once jobless, find new employment within reasonable time. Then, there are those with in-between jobs that may be just temporary or part time. And others during a recession, who go off for work in totally different areas, for lesser work hours.

The number of weeks someone is unemployed is an important statistic. While many unemployed give up seeking work and if able, retire earlier under Social Security at reduced benefits.

New job creation figures are important. Look also to see the type of jobs created. Government work is not creative. It does not have a multiplier effect as do private industry jobs.

Pharmaceutical Exorbitant Charges?

The media give the impression that drug prices are too high in the U.S., compared to prices, for example, in Europe.

Prices for the same pharmaceuticals are certainly much lower overseas. But the reason is simple. Pharmaceutical companies are blackmailed into selling there below true cost.

To do that with the knowledge of the governments holding guns to their heads, they must raise prices in the U.S, to make their profit. No profit, no business. And if there is no business, no drugs can be produced.

A company spends as much as a billion dollars to find and research a new drug before it’s on the market.

Think about this the next tine you get an economics lesson from a politician on the enormous profits drug companies make. Furthermore, if they are so profitable, why are not all the geniuses on Wall Street falling over each other buying drug stocks?

You will notice that pharmaceutical securities are not investor favorites. They are merely left-leaning politician scapegoats.

Read Employment Agreements

You may be agreeing to more than you want when you take a job, when you overlook employment application fine print,

For example, many companies include a mandatory arbitration clause. That means you agree to give up your right to take disputes to court, even when the employer has broken the law.

When the case goes to an arbitrator, the grounds for appeal are limited. The National Employment Lawyers Association estimates that more than 30 million Americans are bound by arbitration clauses at work.

Employers in financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals usually favor arbitration because it keeps costs down. It also prevents cases from being out in the media.

A recent study found that arbitrators decided in favor of employees about 30% of the time, and when the individual arbitrator had worked previously on a case with the employer, the employee won only 12% of the time. Employees can often fare better in court because jurors are more easily swayed.

I am not saying arbitrators are prejudiced. They may be wiser than jurors. But employees do not always have the better case