23. June 2010

3 Comments

Yes, Big Business Is Over-Regulated, But It’s Also “Under”-Accountable and “Under”-Responsible

The BP Oil Spill prompted brilliant legal theorist Richard Epstein to remind us that the problem isn’t regulation, it’s government limits on liability (see op-ed at the Wall Street Journal).  Big Business doesn’t mind regulation, as long as it can put caps on it’s liabilities (see “Too Big to Fail” … )

A tough liability system does more than provide compensation for serious harms after the fact. It also sorts out the wheat from the chaff—so that in this case companies with weak safety profiles don’t get within a mile of an oil derrick. Solid insurance underwriting is likely to do a better job in pricing risk than any program of direct government oversight. Only strong players, highly incentivized and fully bonded, need apply for a permit to operate.

In an environment of unlimited liabilities for harmful externalities, insurance would be a must, and insurance companies will be far better regulators than the government.  After all, the government employee gets paid the same amount of money with the same amount of (never-ending) job security whether he actually assesses risk correctly or not.  The insurance company?  One wrong risk assessment, and it’s in the breadline.

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22. June 2010

1 Comment

The Moocher Index Tracks the Non-Poor that Receive Government Income Transfers

Dan Mitchell at the Cato Institute has put together a Moocher Index to track which states have the largest number of non-poor people receiving welfare.
A few quick observations. Why is Vermont (by far) the state with the largest proportion of non-poor people signed up for welfare programs? I have no idea, but maybe [...]

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18. June 2010

0 Comments

So Why No Economic Recovery? Avaricious Government and Hesitant Entrepreneurs.

The Federal Government’s wasteful spending, institutional meddling, and taxpayer plundering is giving us hesitant entrepreneurs.

Robust job growth requires boldness and risk-taking in the private sector. What we have now is boldness and risk-taking in the public sector. It is loading as much debt onto the balance sheet as possible, and creating the [...]

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17. June 2010

0 Comments

Great NFIB Report on how Obamacare Will Affect your Small Business

Too much great stuff to try and summarize here.  Just read it.  Full report available at this link (pdf).
Also contains information on Cap and Tax and Labor Law changes being pursued.
This Administration is BAD NEWS for Small Business.  Get informed by reading the report.  And then please share it with at least 5 other Small [...]

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16. June 2010

0 Comments

Art Laffer on the Coming Tax-Induced Crash of 2011

Art Laffer recently published an opinion in the Wall Street Journal titled “Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse” that is worth your time.  Tax increases are coming.  And it won’t be pretty.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the nine states without an income tax are growing far faster and attracting more people than are [...]

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15. June 2010

0 Comments

Small Business Sentiment Slightly Up; However, Sales Volume and Profit Margins Stay Down

A recent NFIB survey finds small business sentiment slightly improving, but also that most small businesses are losing sales and giving up profit margin to stay alive.
U.S. small businesses are slightly more optimistic about their economic outlook than they have been in the last two years but are still not ready to expand [...]

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14. June 2010

1 Comment

Obama Administration Laying Groundwork for Takeover of Internet. No Joke.

President Obama and his FCC chairman Julius Genachowski couldn’t take over the Internet the first time they tried.  Ever since the DC Court of Appeals stopped them the first time they tried to take it (they said it was not the province of the Executive, but the Legislature, to determine whether [...]

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11. June 2010

0 Comments

George Will Brings the Paddle Down on “Progressivism’s” Backside

If you only read on thing this month, make it this article.
Liberalism is, at heart, an impossible promise.   A promise that in aggregate the peoples of the world can consume more than they produce, that there is “such thing as a free lunch”.   Its ideal – the welfare state – is just as big a [...]

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7. June 2010

0 Comments

Public Employee Unions are Bad For Your Small Business

Public Employee Unions are bad for your local economy, bad for your small business, bad for your regulatory environment, and bad for your tax bill.  Public employees are often good people who want to make a positive impact on the word, but their unions are destructive, and their union involvement is killing [...]

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5. June 2010

0 Comments

Guess Who is Stamping Out Health Care?

I just received this article from the Ludwig von Mises Institute and wanted to share it.  Some may applaud Holder’s actions, but think of the consequences.  You know that artificial price ceilings create shortages.  What happens when physicians are not paid enough for their services to cover the cost of providing those services?  Already Medicare [...]

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2. June 2010

1 Comment

A New Look at Cash for Clunkers Confirms what Stimulus Programs do – Nothing (but Harm)

From the Coyote Blog, see the graph below.  Stimulus funds just create purchases now that will be forgone later.  And they subsidize the purchases with tax funds or debt, basically transferring funds from one person to another for no good reason (other than buying votes, of course).
The dotted line simply averages the sales for the [...]

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1. June 2010

3 Comments

Health Care Reform Bill Buries Small Businesses in a Deluge of Paperwork

Human beings can have a high standard of living when their needs get met.  In a marketplace, needs get met best when a few conditions occur.
1) the person who has the need is able to communicate that need to someone who can provide for that need.
2) the person who has the means to meet the [...]

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21. May 2010

15 Comments

What is Big Government?

What is Big Government?

Big Government shouldn’t be confused with Government proper.  Government proper, limited in its power and scope to only those tasks which legitimately protect life, liberty, and property from fraud and criminality, is not Big Government.  It is the foundation of a free civilization.

Here are some definitions of Big Government from a few online dictionaries.
“Government perceived [...]

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25. April 2010

1 Comment

Small Business is now the “Most Trusted Institute” in America

If America is to return to greatness, it will be on the backs of its small businesses.  Not just because we’re the most important job creators in the country, but because we’re also the most trusted group in America.
Be proud, small-business owners! You’re now the most trusted group in America. Listen up, federal government! You’re [...]

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21. April 2010

1 Comment

Big Business and Big Government are Symbiotic

Big Business always gets bigger when Big Government grows – because Big Government needs Big Business.   Big Business also loves Big Government – its over-regulation kills off smaller competitors.  They are symbiotic.  The “health” of one ensures the “health” of the other.
Tim Carney’s book Obamanomics does a great job spelling out how and [...]

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7. April 2010

1 Comment

The New Tax – on *your* CO2

(This post is, of course, tougue in cheek, but since the Obama Administration’s EPA recently declared CO2 (the stuff we exhale) to be a pollutant, is it really such a stretch?)
Our current administration in Washington is seeking new ways to raise money for all the new entitlements they are creating.  Almost [...]

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25. March 2010

1 Comment

What ObamaCare Means for Small Businesses

It’s important to look past the minutiae of the bill, and straight to the overall economics of the thing.  Let’s look past what it means for healthcare and straight to what it means for the economics of a small firm.
1.  ObamaCare means a harder economic climate for Small Businesses
At core ObamaCare is a mandate.  It [...]

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23. March 2010

0 Comments

Cash for Clunkers update – predicted failure now *fully* confirmed even more than previously

Cash for Clunkers update – predicted failure now *fully* confirmed even more than previously

Not to toot our own horn, but, toot toot.
Graph from the American Thinker, Care Sales ($millions) Reported by Dealers.:

Cost to taxpayers for each extra car sold because of Cash for Clunkers:  $20,000
Number of clunkers turned in (and taken out of the market):  677,081
Price increase for used cars since CfC:  13.7%
Change in [...]

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21. March 2010

4 Comments

Cry your tears if you must, then sharpen your knives – the battle over healthcare is not close to over

This post will be a short, but we wanted to get something up tonight.  It’s been a disappointing day, but while some are despairing we are not.  The odds of overcoming a super-majority in the senate, a massive majority in the house, and a president elected by a large margin were always very steep.  But [...]

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15. March 2010

1 Comment

Managed Care Scam

I am a doctor. I wanted to share the below which was first published in an online publication of a physician community, Sermo.  It is a rather accurate assessment of what has been the reality of health care in our country.  Physicians are being squeezed out of existence.  There is the spectre of a 21% [...]

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11. March 2010

0 Comments

“Senate Health Bill Would Up Costs for Millions in Middle Class”

A non-partisan study finds that ObamaCare will raise taxes on the middle class, a direct violation of his campaign promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less that $250,000 per year.
The Senate health care bill crucial to saving President Obama’s signature domestic initiative will hit the wallets of a quarter of all Americans making [...]

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