Friday, March 8, 2013

ALLY FINANCIAL - ORIGINALLY POSTED 2/24/12

You think we would have learned our lesson.  Every time I turned around I saw this ad for Ally Bank promising consumers all kinds of wonderful benefits.  Upon a quick look it turned out that Ally was nothing more than part of the whole Obama thoughtless financing of questionable companies.  I now read that Ally Financial is hiring a turnaround specialist, probably at huge fees.

Did you ever notice all the ads on TV with disclaimers of one sort or another in letters that are so small they can hardly be seen and certainly can't be read?  So much for change and transparency under this Presidential Administration.  

Saturday, March 2, 2013

ANTI-GROWTH POLICY...DESTRUCTIVE...SEQUESTER MEANINGLESS(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 7/11/11)

There is so much talk about the deficit. Most of it is just plain wrong.

The deficits the Federal government was having almost every year going back to 1975 were generally manageable. Unfortunately, between 2008 and 2009 the federal income tax receipts dropped $400 Billion dollars. As a response, spending increased almost $1 Trillion dollars in order to stop a slide into depression. The policy has succeeded. Unfortunately the total deficit then became $1.4 Trillion dollars. There really wasn’t a significant deficit problem until the housing and financial crisis of 2008. That’s the first matter.

The second matter is all the talk about Medicare and Medicaid is total nonsense. The facts are that about 50 percent of all medical care expenses go to people 65 and over. EITHER WE WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THESE PEOPLE OR WE DON’T. Furthermore, most of the payments to take care of these people 65 and over go to pay for labor. Do you really think that labor costs are not going to rise and do you also think we aren’t going to take care of the people 65 and over? Well we are going to take care of the people 65 and over and labor costs are not really going to decline.

On the Medicaid end with younger people we take care of the indigent and the disabled. Yes, there are some crooks and cheats. AGAIN THE QUESTION IS DO WE AS A NATION WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THE INDIGENT AND DISABLED THAT ARE NOT CROOKS AND CHEATS OR DON'T WE? Or do we just want to tighten the procedures for those that really need help.

I don’t know what the “Tea Party” stands for and I’m basically a Republican. Unless you want Disney running our national parks and want to rely on Boeing to run the NASA program we better face up to the fact that government is here to stay. Most of the expenses are fixed and no matter what your political viewpoint, probably necessary.

The problem is we are destructive of our own national wealth. We let corporate executives who cheat assume practically no liability for mismanagement. We let our unions destroy major industries by not finding a way to adjust wages when competitive forces require it.

There is only one way out of this. Increase corporate and personal tax receipts by growth and incentive not by creating a “rich against poor” environment.
 

Shepard Osherow. All Rights Reserved