Government and Business

Security or the Economy?

January 29, 2008

Floridians are voting today in a primary battle that could play a crucial role in deciding the Republican presidential nominee. If Sen. John McCain wins, his status as the national front-runner will be cemented. If former Gov. Mitt Romney comes out on top, the battle for the GOP presidential nomination will be up in the air.

So states the homepage at CNN.com. Now let's see...explain to me again how McCain can have "front-runner" status when he has 38 delegates and Romney has 67? And explain to me again why a win for McCain in Florida would "cement" his status whereas a win for Romney would merely put the GOP nomination "up in the air" when a win by McCain would mean he would lead Romney by only 18 delegates whereas Romney now leads McCain by 29 delegates?

But that's not really the point of this post. The topic here is whether the security or the economy is more important. Romney is the undisputed leader when it comes to the economy and job creation due to his business background, and McCain is equally the leader when it comes to security due to his military background.

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How to Avoid a Recession by Giving Tax Breaks to the Rich

January 17, 2008

Some say a recession (two quarters of negative growth) is coming. Some say it's already here. And every time a recession comes around politicians start talking about how to "stimulate" the economy. I'm sure Ben Bernanke is a smarter guy than I am, but since when has that stopped me from spouting my opinions?

So here's a recipe for avoiding or staying out of a recession permanently--more tax breaks for the rich.

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Federal Debt to Equal $53T

January 9, 2008

This is what I love about the government. Seriously, I'm not the greatest business owner, but compared to the government I'm the photo of fiscal responsibility.

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Arizona, Illegal Immigration, and Legal Immigration

January 2, 2008

So Arizona just passed a law that punishes employers who "knowingly" employ illegal immigrants or the "undocumented" as we now call them, as though all that separates legal immigrants and illegals is that the illegals misplaced their paperwork somewhere.

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Gore's Green House and the Electric Car

December 13, 2007

Gore has revamped the mansion he's gotten so much flak about and has reduced his power consumption a whopping 11 percent. Is it just me or does that number seem rather insubstantial? But aside from that, this merely gives me a segue into addressing an issue I've been wanting to say something about for years, and now that I have your attention, dear reader, here it is--why do environmentalists and those politicians who pander to them seem to focus more on politics than on actually getting things done?

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Why I'm Voting Yes on Referendum 1 on Vouchers

October 31, 2007

I'm voting yes on Referendum 1 for school vouchers in the upcoming Utah elections. Yes, I actually have read and studied the full text of Referendum 1, or House Bill 148, unlike many other commenting on it, and that has only strengthened my support of it. Here are my reasons for voting yes:

1. The opposition is spreading outright lies about the referendum.

Not that I would vote for something just because the opposition lies, but it just throws fuel on the fire and nullifies any credibility they ever had with me, and yes, I was on top of the fence at one point with this and willing to consider both sides of it.

I feel the supporting side has exaggerated some things or put some spin out there, but compared to the opposition it's night and day.

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The Global Warming Business

March 13, 2007

Warren Buffet says when he's evalutating a business he looks at the cash. How much cash is coming in, how much is going out, how much cash is in the bank. Just knowing that much about the man might tell you why he didn't get caught up in the dot-com mania. In a different way, I've heard wise people say that when you see a lot of people involved in something, follow the money. Throughout my life I've noticed that while people will become motivated, sometimes religiously so, because of a personal belief or value system they have, oftentimes if you poke deeper you'll find out that nothing motivates people to join a cause like money.

I believe this is the essence of the global warming movement, which I would prefer to call the "global warming industry," because while some are involved because they truly believe, the movement would not exist were it not for those interested in the financial gain and power they derive from it.

And BTW, I've been inspired to write this because of Chris' post on the global warming swindle.

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Paid Family Leave Would Hurt Families

February 23, 2007

Marketplace, bless their hearts, ran a story a few weeks ago by Sarah Gardner about Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd proposing to make employers guarantee at least partial family-leave pay for mother's who have a baby while working. Like most legislation pushed by the Democrats, it sounds nice if you don't look too deep.

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Separating Healthcare from Employment

January 30, 2007

I'm thrilled that lawmakers seem to finally be dealing with, or talking about dealing with, or at least planning on talking about dealing with the issue of healthcare costs and separating them from employment. Utah's own Mike Leavitt spoke last Wednesday on the White House's new ideas about healthcare. While I'm not sure I like the proposal, I do like the fact it's being discussed and change seems to be in the air. I've never seen the reason for healthcare being an employer expense, other than that it's good for the healthcare providers. On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons for it not to be linked to employment.

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Tax Breaks for Preventative Health Programs

January 22, 2007

I just started going to the gym after...man, how long has it been? I think the last time I was in a gym I was living on-campus at BYU, so this was probably around 2001 or so. In high-school I went to the gym for at least an hour per day, plus I was skateboarding several hours per day, so I was in reasonable shape, although I didn't look like Bruce Lee or anything.

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Why Not Index the Minimum Wage?

January 10, 2007

Len Burman of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center spoke on the Marketplace Morning Show regarding the idea of indexing the minimum wage for inflation. That is, add a provision to the minimum wage law to make sure it adjust with inflation each year. After all, if we're going to raise it anyway, why not have it automatically raised instead of having a big argument about it every ten years, an argument that clearly favors one political party. But while it might benefit Republicans politically to have the issue off the table since it only makes them look tightfisted, Scroogish, and downright mean whenever the issue comes up, that's just it--it only benefits Republicans politically. There's also the issue about what's best for the country, whether it's politically beneficial or not.

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Mitt Romney's Healthcare Plan

December 5, 2006

Here's Romney's healthcare initiative in a nutshell:

1. The first thing to understand is that the U.S. already provides universal healthcare, so don't get bogged down saying "But that's Hillary Clinton's plan! We don't want universal healthcare!" Tough, you've already got it. If you're uninsured and you break your arm and go to the hospital, they'll fix your arm. If you get cancer, they'll take care of you, and although they may try to charge you for it, you can get away with paying nothing, and many people do.

2. All these people who get healthcare and don't pay a dime drives up the cost for everyone else who is subsidizing them.

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Mitt Romney, Good for Employer and Employee Alike

November 19, 2006

There are multiple reasons why I get excited about the potential of Mitt Romney being the next President of the United States, even if it seems like a long shot. But aside from matters of religion, social policy, and there being fewer degrees of separation between me and him than between me and Kevin Bacon, I'm excited about the prospect of someone who is a real businessman in the White House.

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Business Implications of 2006 Elections

November 8, 2006

The results are in and we lost. Undecided races notwithstanding, every single seat in both the Senate and the House has been taken by politicians.

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