President Obama has said he has no interest in running GM.
At the end of March, Obama fired GM CEO Rick Wagner.
At the end of May, Obama told Detroit Mayor Dave Bing GM will not move its headquarters from downtown Detroit to its suburban Warren tech center.
At the end of May, the UAW and the Democrat Congress told GM it could not import its Chinese made autos into the United States.
At the beginning of June, Barney Frank told GM CEO Fritz Henderson not to go forward with closing a Massachusetts distribution center.
June 10th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, The Reign
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Amtrak - government owned, union workers.
United States Postal Service - government owned, union workers.
General Motors - government owned, union workers.
June 3rd, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, Obama '09
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There has been much made recently regarding the Federal KIAs (know-it-alls) wanting to limit paychecks for employees in the financial industry. Opponents claim it is not such a good idea. Yale Law School Professor Jonathan Macey stated, “This is a very bad trend.”
That may be so, but KIAs instructing America’s businesses how much to pay their employees is nothing new. Been going on since October 1938. That is when the KIAs deemed $0.25 per hour the least one could be paid, whether they earned it or not.
Why not a maximum wage if we have lived with a minimum wage for over 70 years? Come to think of it, there are some Hollywood types that should sacrifice a little like the rest of us…way over paid!
May 20th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, The Reign
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This week The Wall Street Journal published “Is Government Health Insurance Cheap?” It was written by a recent head of Medicare and Medicaid and a former U.S. assistant secretary of health.
The essence of their article regards the assumption government run health insurance has lower overhead costs than does private insurance (per the Socialists). The authors discuss four fundamental differences the way the two systems approach patient care, which in turn affects overheads. One difference is the way fraud is managed and accounted for.
First, Medicare has nearly no anti-fraud budget. Since fraud does not impact Medicare’s profit (Medicare is basically a non-profit organization), they don’t spend much to fight it.
Second, Medicare does not account for fraud, it accounts for payments made in error. Subsequently, these payments are not overhead, just plain old payments.
So beware the snake oil salesman.
April 16th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense
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Thomas Sowell wrote an easy-to-understand book entitled Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy.
An interesting bit of information is the return on different types of assets over a long period of time. Taking inflation into account, one dollar invested in 1801 would have been worth different amounts by 1998:
. Bonds, a gain of almost $1,000.
. Stocks, a gain of more than $500,000.
. Gold, a loss of $0.22. (It would have been worth 78 cents in 1998.)
March 11th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense
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Today, The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece entitled In “Defense of Obamanomics” by Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
In her magnificent writing, Professor Tyson mentions reducing our dependence on foreign oil. She fails to mention the huge increase to our dependence on foreign debt-holders.
Selling bonds to foreigners is far riskier to American security than buying oil from foreigners.
March 9th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, The Reign
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Mr. Obama gave his election victory speech the night of November 4. The Dow Jones (DJIA) went down 486 points the next day.
Mr. Obama gave his inaugural address just after noon on January 20. The Dow Jones went down 332 points that day.
Mr. Obama gave his economic speech to congress the night of February 24. The Dow Jones went down 80 points the next day.
February 25th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, The Reign
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The Detroit auto company CEO’s utilized their corporate jets to meet with congress. Tisk tisk. The big bank CEO’s meet with congress and are made to confess to the high crime of corporate jetting. Tisk tisk.
Nancy Pelosi has a corporate jet, the C-20A/B, a military versions of the Gulfstream III. It is part of the 89th Airlift Wing based at Andrews Air Force Base.
Do as I say, not as I do.
February 19th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, Freedom of the Bash
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9625 on election day, November 4, 2008. Through the close of the markets on February 12, 2009, the economy has shown its confidence in Mr. Obama by dropping 17.6 percent, to 7933.
(For the uninitiated, the stock market reflects anticipated events of three to six months into the future. Therefore, Mr. Obama inherited the ups and downs of the stock market since election day. It has been his market.)
February 12th, 2009 | Dollars & Sense, The Reign
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