Inept Bureaucrats in Government

Steve Forbes, on Forbes.com, wrote a piece of basic economics for the laymen, which I repeat from time to time, for the public to learn and also remember.

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

Mr. Forbes 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. 

The basic fact: They never do. See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Good Job Training Without College

About 60% of jobs in 1950 did not require 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 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 go on to master good paying jobs once they have the basics.  (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Severe Medicaid and Medicare Problems

Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, Politicians kept expanding benefits, while talking about controlling costs. Yet costs kept 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 at Twitter.)

Taxpayers Are Paying Outlandish Athlete Salaries

The Left complains 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.

Yet, 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 at Twitter.)

Why Not Give Tax Breaks for Private Health Insurance?

Nothing the government does is truly cheap, except quality, when you total up the direct and indirect costs. 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.

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

And even more competition among about 1,500 insurance carriers. With lower health insurance costs. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Management of Institutional Investment Portfolios

Large investors such as pension funds, foundations and major mutual fund managements, often critique the management of companies in which they invest.

There are two schools of thought about the solution. The main idea has always been that you do not buy or retain ownership of securities in firms whose management you do not like.

Investors who actively promote their influence in making managerial changes often have another motive. They often are more interested in takeovers and active management.

Furthermore, it takes a lot of nerve and arrogance on the part of outside investors who think they can micromanage because they have a large stake in a company. They may make better use of their time elsewhere.

Sure, they may want to look for over-zealous salaries and bonuses and for fraud, but that should be all. Good general corporate performance is what they should seek. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

     

Compare Socialist Theory and Capitalist Realism

Realism: Socialism always ruins environment. As evidenced in Soviet Russia, China and communistic Eastern Europe. Capitalism has invariably treated the environment as an asset for future use.

Socialist countries use capitalist principles only to bail them 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 at Twitter.)