![]() |
||||||
![]()
Raymond Richman - Jesse Richman - Howard Richman Richmans' Trade and Taxes Blog World Economic Growth is Slowing -- we were published in today's American Thinker We begin:
To read the rest, go to: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/11/world_economic_growth_is_slowing.html The economic case against Obamacare -- Ray was published in Saturday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review He begins:
To read the rest, go to: http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/5100523-74/obamacare-health-insurance#axzz2lfC50PPA People's Bank of China announces plans to reduce future currency manipulations I missed this article which appeared in Bloomberg on November 20:
If the People's Bank of China follows through, then the following will happen in the United States:...
World Economic Growth is Slowing I suspected that world economic growth was slowing when gasoline prices started to decline this fall. My hypothesis has been that short-term changes in world oil prices are largely driven by changes in world-wide demand, not supply. When the world economy is growing, world oil prices tend to rise. When the world economy is slowing, oil prices tend to fall. Thus the price you pay at your local gas station is one of the chief indicators of world economic demand. But falling oil prices could have other causes as well. Perhaps an increase in Iranian oil production, due to the lifting of sanctions, was causing them to fall. My suspicions of a worldwide demand slowdown were given support by the latest report of United States trade. In September 2013, U.S. exports fell by $3.0 billion, on a seasonally adjusted basis, from $191.9 billion the previous quarter. When worldwide demand declines, demand for U.S. exports tends to decline. But a one-month decline in exports does not a trend make. This decline could have been an aberration. My suspicions were confirmed by a November 19 report from the OECD, one of the organizations that tracks world economic data. It predicts that, by the time growth is calculated for 2013, world economic growth will increase just 2.7% this year, down from a 3.1% increase last year. There appears to be a consistent trend of declining world economic growth:... Obamacare is a Classic Case of Bad Economics From Conception to Implementation The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 (commonly called “Obamacare”) is a classic case of a misguided and badly implemented government program from an economic point of view. It restricts freedom of choice and imposes a series of bad new taxes. While taxes are needed to subsidize those Obamare participants who do not pay the full cost of their Obamacare insurance, the selected taxes violate the accepted principles of taxation in every instance. Moreover, the Act mandates coverages that increase the cost to those who do not want those coverages. Not a single Republican voted for the Act. No wonder since so many provisions violate traditional American values such as financing the abortion of healthy fetuses, the provision of contraceptives, et al., not to speak of the Act’s prohibition of free choice among health insurance plans and health savings plans, and the numerous tax increases to finance the legislation. Obviously, the Democrats who controlled both houses of the Congress at the time did not need or even want any Republican support for it. They wanted full credit for it and are now getting it! From an economist’s point of view, the major defects of the law are:
Because it prescribes what the insurance policies must cover, consumers have little choice in selecting a plan. As a result, insurance companies cannot compete by offering alternative policies. Consumer freedom of choice is non-existent. a misguided and badly implemented government program from an economic point of view. It restricts freedom of choice and imposes a series of bad new taxes. While taxes are needed to subsidize those Obamare participants who do not pay the full cost of their Obamacare insurance, the selected taxes violate the accepted principles of taxation in every instance. Moreover, the Act mandates coverages that increase the cost to those who do not want those coverages. Not a single Republican voted for the Act. No wonder since so many provisions violate traditional American values. such as financing the abortion of healthy fetuses, the provision of contraceptives, et al., not to speak of the Act’s prohibition of free choice among health insurance plans and health savings plans, and the numerous tax increases to finance the legislation. Obviously, the Democrats who controlled both houses of the Congress at the time did not need or even want any Republican support for it. They wanted full credit for it and are now getting it. From an economist’s point of view, the major defects of the law are:
Because it prescribes what the insurance policies must cover, consumers have little choice in selecting a plan. As a result, insurance companies cannot compete by offering alternative policies. Consumer freedom of choice is non-existent. Some of the taxes it imposes are the following, together with some comments:... Chrysler's CNG fuel tank breakthrough Chrysler announced this week that it has invented a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) fuel tank that could revolutionize CNG-vehicle design. Here is a selection from a November 12 Automotive News article about their announcement:
The US Did Not Create 205,000 New Jobs in October, 2013 -- Jobs Fell by 499,000 As we have been pointing out for several months, the data with respect to employment and unemployment published by the BLS needs to be read carefully before accepting the summaries, the news reports, and television reporting. We prefer to ignore the seasonally adjusted weekly data because as economists we see no need to seasonally adjust weekly data. If the data is seasonally adjusted, the actual data should be reported and an explanation why the trend, if any, may not be relied on because of seasonal factors could be mentioned in a footnote. Another example of the misuse of seasonal data appeared last week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in October, 2013, 205,000 new non-agricultural jobs were created, according to a survey of employers. We were surprised by the figure since the four weekly reports made during the month indicated that more than a 1.2 million new claims for unemployment insurance were filed in October. Checking Table 1 of the monthly report corroborated what the BLS reported. But what is one to make of Table 8, which contains both unadjusted and adjusted data from the household survey. Not seasonally adjusted non-agricultural employment decreased 499,000 and seasonally adjusted non-ag employment decreased even more by 667,000.... Excellent NY Times Op-Ed on the Trade Deficit Recently the New York Times published an excellent op-ed about the trade deficit. The piece is by Jared Bernstein and Dean Baker. They conclude: "If we continue to run large, persistent trade deficits, we have no good choices. We can offset that exported demand with either bubbles or budget deficits. Or we can go austere and slog along with unacceptably high levels of unemployment and weak growth. "But if we shift our focus from reducing the budget deficit to the trade deficit, we could make a big difference, not just in the national accounts, but in the lives of people for whom that unfavorable math has meant hardship for far too long." The entire piece is worth a read... Reading the Tea Leaves in Virginia Last night the votes were counted in Virginia's state-wide elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General along with all members of the House of Delegates. The results defy the strong interpretations partisans of all stripes and on all sides would like to read into them. The electorate, in the end, fits no one's ideological box, and serves no party's crusade.... Stop the Growth of Government Which Leads to Socialism Which Leads to Fascism It is no accident that Hitler and Mussolini were socialists before they organized their National Socialist (NAZI) and Fascist parties. It is the inherent tendency of socialists to become authoritarian. It is no accident that Stalin, when the Kulaks refused to give up their crops, confiscated their farms, murdered millions of them, and exiled all the remaining to Siberia. They believe that the end justifies the means. It does but it does not justify illegal means like murder, threats of financial and bodily harm, and blackmail. Pres. Obama has now been shown to be persecuting his perceived enemies as evidenced by the IRS discrimination against conservative groups, the blatant lies that under Obamacare individuals and businesses could keep the health care policies if they wanted to, the selective prosecution of banks -- J. P. Morgan but not Goldman Sachs an Obama favorite, and now threatening Bank of America. He has also been charged with urging insurance companies not to criticize Obamacare under the implied threat that they would suffer consequences. The federal and state government impose huge taxes on cigarettes because they have been shown to be health threatening as if the danger associated with smoking were not enough. The hypocrisy is self-evident; the government could ban cigarette smoking as it has with marijuana and cocaine but it would lose all the money it extracts from taxes on cigarettes. ...
|
![]() Archive
September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 Categories:
Outside Links: Wikipedia: Journal of Economic Literature: Atlantic Economic Journal: |