No matter where you look, someone, is talking about the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare. What frustrates me in all these discussions is that healthcare insurance has taken on a life of its own. By my definition, it is out of control because it is no longer insurance. Insurance, such as auto insurance or homeowners […]
The New Super Insurance Read More »
Social Security is a major component of payroll in any business. Social Security is essentially a federally administered fixed annuity. A fixed annuity is a readily available commercial insurance product where a person makes periodic deposits in return for fixed future payouts. With a fixed annuity the issuer (the insurance company or the government) assumes
Do We Need Social Security? Read More »
My grandparents legally immigrated to the US from Germany after WWI. With an identified sponsor and a trade, the path to legal immigration was open to them. Today this is not the case, so what is different today? The answer is robust social welfare programs paid for by citizens, who often make more than new
Illegal Immigration is Good Read More »
That got me thinking about the role licensing plays in business. A common belief is that state licensing is necessary to protect the public from bad actors. The reality could not be further from the truth. Can you imagine a group of people getting together and spending their time and money to create a petition
Is Licensing Really Necessary? Read More »
I recently read an article about Uber Taxi that got me thinking about the role the government plays in creating monopolies. For those not familiar, taxis are licensed and are given a medallion to prove they are licensed. Uber Taxi is a ride-sharing mobile application where any car owner can list their location and make
Monopolies Require Government Assistance Read More »
Wealth can be defined as a measure of one’s assets in the form of cash and equivalents as well as the market value of ones physical and intangible assets. These assets are accumulated during one’s lifetime with after-tax income. Therefore, the current use of graduated income tax rates, which applies to ones earned income, interest
Graduated Income Tax Accelerates Wealth Divide Read More »
In the news, you often see that the US accuses China of being a currency manipulator by artificially keeping their currency low. If their currency were allowed to rise, goods produced in China would get more expensive in the US and we would buy less of them. Higher prices would mean that Americans would have
How to Leverage China’s Currency Manipulation to Your Advantage Read More »
A trade deficient or a trade surplus unto themselves are not necessarily bad things. A trade deficit simply means that you buy more from your trading partner than he buys from you. The opposite is true with a trade surplus. You have a trade deficit with Wal-Mart, but a trade surplus with your employer. If
Understanding the Trade Deficit for American Business Read More »
Taxing the rich reduces the relative incentives and encourages more coasters. In school, smarter people should not get a harder test simply by the virtue that they work harder than the slackers that do not study. We should reward people for risking their personal capital to start a business that creates employment. Rewarding lucky risk
Is Taxing The Rich Sound Economic Policy? Read More »
Economies grow through incentives or the lack of disincentives for business investment. In pro-business countries like the US, the cost to lay off an employee can range from two weeks to six months of the person’s salary. In pro-labor countries, like many in the Europe Union, the cost to lay off an employee can exceed
Pro-Labor or Pro-Business? Read More »
