Are Government Experts Really Expert?

We know that startup business is great for a booming economy. It creates new jobs. Startups are also a safety valve when there is a scarcity of job opportunities. At such time, many unemployed consider self-employment ideas they overlooked when employed.

So why do governments-- federal, state and local-- make it so hard to start a new business? With licenses upon licences and similar stumbling blocks? And taxes to boot? All these are rough enough for larger, established business operations. If government bureaucrats knew enough to think in terms of business and jobs creation, they would be more business friendly and simplify the rules. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

“Too Big to Fail” Is Too Big

If a bank, or any business, is too big to fail, according to a government regulator, it might also be too big to manage.

Perhaps the emphasis on size is misdirected when related only to the need for government oversight.

When corporate entities get gigantic, there usually are hidden management problems that are almost impossible to recognize and avoid.Those may involve more correction than possible from conventional governmental regulation.

Example: Many commercial banks also are in the investment banking business. But there are aspects of investment banking that can veer off in varying directions, which I have always felt go beyond the normal skills of everyday managerial skills at those institutions. Those specialized skills are business-oriented and are not usually the skills attained by investment bankers.

Problems encountered have little to do with the need for more regulation. In fact, the more regulation, the more likely management will fail. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Stop Charging For College Courses That Offer No Job Opportunities

Too many college courses offer few job opportunities. The only jobs open for some is as teachers of the same courses and they’re limited to academe.

The practice of universities persisting in taking tens of thousands of dollars annually for tuition in subjects where the students have no inkling of the lack of career opportunities, borders on a scam.

Academe prospers knowing full well that few grads in much of their advertised curricula will be usable by unknowing graduates. The losers are the debt-burdened students and parents as well as taxpayers who help subsidize education. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Can College-Going Be Futile?

The idea of having more college graduates is not productive. Graduates are not producing a smarter population.

Colleges are doing a poor job, comparable in many respects to what high schools accomplished in the past. In fact. educational productivity is poor from kindergarten on, through grade and high school and into institutions of “higher learning.”

The prime function of a college diploma? Apart from impressing friends and relatives? Employers use them merely as a shortcut for lazily screening and evaluating prospective employees. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Productivity Gains Affect Jobs

Economic changes occur without public knowledge or publicity, but they affect the affairs of all of us.

The public ought to get basic economics education in the media, so that they may more readily absorb information that has so much to do with everyday life.

One example: Positive changes in output per hour by industry often is considered to be good during economic recessions; it helps recovery. Companies cut staff to do this to keep labor costs low. It is happening these days.

Lost jobs, however, produce the favorable statistic. That is true only in private industry. The public sector, particularly those unionized, are being added to, with the aid of past federal stimulus funds. And they are budget-busting, absolutely non-productive. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Poor Corporate Images

There is a natural tendency not to believe what corporations say and do, because of populist left-leaning media and politicians. Corporate managers have to be doubly careful about image. They can be damned no matter what they say or do.

Companies do with images what individuals do with annual resolutions. Most individuals never seem to take those seriously.

When companies do it, the program is an expensive undertaking. Moreover, it’s a sign of desperation and poor management when it periodically and habitually occurs.

Customers and the public instinctively feel management may be hiding real problems and that it is all a sign that management is weak or dishonest. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Phony Government Inflation Figures

The U.S. Labor Dept. reports official prices for urban consumers, But they lately appear to differ a good deal from the sense of prices most Americans have when shopping. Actual prices they pay are much higher than what is being officially reported.

The Federal Reserve tells us not to worry while its policies blatantly inflate the currency. And while it does fudging with the numbers.

Such as housing costs and how to include the cost of shelter. After all, home prices could be down while rents are up. And then official statistics may conveniently only have “core” statistics and not an entire shopping list.

They may leave out oil and food prices when they’re a big part of everyday consumer cost. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)