Monthly Archives: September 2013

With Three Weeks to Go, Nobody Knows What ObamaCare Will Cost.

"So far, 17 states have issued estimates. The exchanges are supposed to be ready for business on October 1. Coverage begins on January 1. Where are the missing 33 exchanges? The federal government must run them. The federal government is staying mute. With three weeks to go, there is no real understanding of what the costs will be for most premium payers. This is going to be an administrative disaster. It is a programming disaster. It is going to prove to millions of voters that the federal government does not know what it is doing. This will become evident on October 1, the day the new fiscal year begins." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith Three Weeks to Go, Nobody Knows What ObamaCare Will Cost.

More Bad Consequences from Obamacare

"I am an insurance agent for the nation's largest multiple line insurance company. There are over 17,000 of us, all independent contractors with our own employees, who, like us, are not employed by the insurance company. On September 3rd, the company announced that it would terminate all Group Medical health insurance that our employees (who work for us, not the company) participate in, effective January 1st, 2014, citing the Affordable Care Act and its restrictive underwriting requirements." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMore Bad Consequences from Obamacare

IRS Rule Leads Restaurants to Rethink Automatic Tips

"An updated tax rule is causing restaurants to rethink the practice of adding automatic tips to the tabs of large parties. Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service will begin classifying those automatic gratuities as service charges—which it treats as regular wages, subject to payroll tax withholding—instead of tips, which restaurants leave up to the employees to report as income. The change would mean more paperwork and added costs for the restaurants—and a potential financial hit for waiters and waitresses who live on their tips but don't always report them fully." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Rule Leads Restaurants to Rethink Automatic Tips

Jeffrey Tucker: How to Fake a Fast Food Strike

"There’s every indication that people outside the restaurants protesting didn’t actually work for the place they were protesting. It was a classic 'rent-a-mob' situation, and the rent was being paid by political activists whose agenda has nothing to do with helping the average burger flipper. These were mostly media stunts cooked up by the Service Employees International Union, which bused in these so-called workers as a fulfillment of a little charade and subsequent media blitz. The SEIU coordinates these protests with various professional worker groups and in conjunction with the press to make the biggest possible splash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeffrey Tucker: How to Fake a Fast Food Strike

Can We Pay a Minimum Wage That Makes Everyone Rich?

"More people -- an increase in the supply of labor -- want to work at McDonald’s at a rate of $15 an hour than $7.25. That leads to an influx of workers into the labor force and higher unemployment as new entrants fail to find a job. The road to a higher-paying job goes through education, training for the jobs of tomorrow, and incentives such as the earned income tax credit, not through the imposition of a floor on wages. So the next time someone tells you that the U.S. needs to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, ask him what’s so special about $15. Why not raise it to $50, or $100, and make everyone rich?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCan We Pay a Minimum Wage That Makes Everyone Rich?

McDonald’s Dollar Menu Is About To Become “The Dollar Menu & More”

"McDonald's Corp. says it has been testing higher priced versions of its famous value menu. The Dollar Menu & More that was tested has three price points -$1, $2 and $5 or 'shareable' items such as 20-piece McNuggets. Another version that was tested has prices of $1, $1.79 and $4.99. Earlier this year, Wendy’s revamped its 99-cent menu to a 'Right Price Right Size' menu, with prices ranging up to around $2. Sure looks like signs of price inflation, not deflation, to me." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMcDonald’s Dollar Menu Is About To Become “The Dollar Menu & More”

When It Comes To Healthcare, Paul Krugman Is Wrong 100% Of The Time

"In a recent New York Times column Krugman pronounced Obamacare a success before it has even been tried. Why? Because the premiums to be charged in California health insurance exchange are apparently lower than what the experts thought they would be. Aah… let’s see… Everybody thought health insurance premiums would be 100% higher. In fact, they are only 60% higher… Hooray… Break out the champagne! I’ll come back to these price comparisons in a minute. For the moment, I would ask: What kind of an economist would celebrate an expected price decline without asking what happened to quantity or quality? This is an Econ 101 mistake." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhen It Comes To Healthcare, Paul Krugman Is Wrong 100% Of The Time

Stolen Public School Textbooks Went Unnoticed for Five Years.

"A Long Beach book buyer has been accussed of stealing thousands of new and used textbooks from four school districts in a massive scheme that involved 12 other people, including two librarians, a campus supervisor and a former warehouse manager. During a two-year period beginning in May 2008, Frederick allegedly paid more than $200,000 in bribes — from $600 to $47,000 per person — for school employees to steal textbooks in literature and language arts, economics, physics, anatomy and physiology." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStolen Public School Textbooks Went Unnoticed for Five Years.

Entire School District Shuts Down — Out of Money

"Michigan’s Buena Vista — 'Good View' — school district in Michigan shut down this week. It is out of money. Some teachers say they will teach for free. But will all of them do this? In any case, it’s illegal. Michigan doesn’t allow it. The state cut funding by $3 million, due to declining enrollment. The nearby Pontiac School District is close to bankrupt. It can’t meet payroll. Two districts in Arkansas are bust. The Philadelphia district in Pennsylvania is begging for money from the state. We are in an economic recovery. What happens in the next recession?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEntire School District Shuts Down — Out of Money

Snapple Guy’s Overnight Success Took Decades

"A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Marsh was the child of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a cobbler. Mr. Marsh and his brother-in-law Hyman Golden originally ran a Brooklyn-based window-washing and office-maintenance business. In 1972, they teamed up with Arnold Greenberg, who operated a health-food store in Manhattan's East Village, to create Unadulterated Food Products Inc. The company made juices and sold eggs and produce. After renaming the company after one of their early products, carbonated apple juice, the founders became known collectively as the 'Snapple Guys.' They built up the brand one cooler at a time in New York City's pizzerias and bodegas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnapple Guy’s Overnight Success Took Decades