regime uncertainty

Bloody Scenes from the Next Episode of Economic Crisis

"Stand by for round two of the global economic crisis, coming soon to a screen near you. It’s going to be as bloody and chaotic as the scenes on your TV from Cairo and Damascus. Yet, as ever, the chorus on Wall Street manages to keep a straight face and sing the same tune while robbing investors blind. Just listen to them on Bloomberg or CNBC and you would think the Fed has this all under control and the U.S. economy is recovering. Now, admittedly, economists are all facing the wrong way too. There is hardly a man or woman willing to stick their neck out and say the inflation-distorted figures that purport to show a recovery are turning in the opposite direction." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBloody Scenes from the Next Episode of Economic Crisis

Near the Debt Ceiling, No One Can Hear You Scream

"Let’s put these clues together. We have another fiscal crisis imminent with a looming debt ceiling drama. We have a Federal Reserve that is already doing a huge and unsustainable amount of 'stimulus' buying. And we have an economy far weaker than it’s been in more than a decade despite the bluster over GDP. The bigger concern is that the market doesn’t have any of this priced in at all. It’s true that August was the worst month for stocks since May 2012. Yet the market fell just 3.1% and is only 4.5% off its all-time high. That’s barely a scratch." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNear the Debt Ceiling, No One Can Hear You Scream

Government Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

"New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan (R-59th District) New York State Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-140th District) are sponsoring a bill that would cover bowling shoes. The bill in the assembly is co-sponsored by Assembly members Brian Kolb, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Jane Corwin. It would require alley owners to post signs, warning keglers not to wear bowling shoes outside, lest they become wet and increase the likelihood that a bowler could slip and fall when they come inside. I think we have pretty much everything covered. Can we now disband all state and federal law making bodies?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

Strangled By Red Tape

"We’re talking about a huge cost to the economy, and it’s been getting worse for the past 12 years. If those numbers don’t make you sit up and take notice, how about these ones? Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every year filling out government forms. The economy-wide cost of regulation is now $1.75 trillion. For every bureaucrat at a regulatory agency, 100 jobs are destroyed in the economy’s productive sector. The Obama Administration added $236 billion of red tape just in 2012. Today’s Byzantine system is good for tax lawyers, accountants, and bureaucrats, but it’s bad news for America." Continue reading →

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Philadelphia applies retroactive lap dance tax at gentlemen’s clubs

"After failing to institute hikes on soda and cigarettes, Philadelphia officials have reportedly slipped a lap dance tax under the radar. Attorney George Bochetto, who represents Club Risque and Cheerleaders, said the move is 'financial desperation' and part of an effort by the city to tax the same thing twice. According to appeal petitions, Cheerleaders owes $486,482 and Club Risque owes $320,538. The city audited the lap dance encounters then 'issued an assessment going back five years,' Bochetto said, plus interest and penalties. 'It’s over the top,' he told the newspaper. 'Unbelievable.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPhiladelphia applies retroactive lap dance tax at gentlemen’s clubs

Obama Calls Income Gap ‘Wrong’ — After Widening It

"The Census Bureau's official measure of income inequality — called the Gini index — shows similar results. During the Bush years, the index was flat overall — finishing in 2008 exactly where it started in 2001. It's gone up each year since Obama has been president and now stands at all-time highs. It's worth underscoring that the growing income gap under Obama isn't the result of the rich getting fabulously richer. Nor is it any sort of indictment of 'trickle down' economics. Instead, it is the direct result of Obama's historically weak economic recovery, which has left the rest of the country falling behind while the wealthy have managed to make gains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Calls Income Gap ‘Wrong’ — After Widening It

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

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