OK. Here I go again. I’m going to tick off a few of you with my discussion of small business.. The facts are that our government has no clue that not all “small” business are the same, nor do they understand that lifestyle businesses are not really small businesses. Yet, they produce economic policies assuming the contrary. And, because of that our national economy suffers.
Continue reading Our Economy Needs Entrepreneurs
Many of you know I used to own a trucking corporation. It was a captive- in other words, we used our authority (trucking registration) to haul our own products and raw materials. We operated up and down the East and West Coasts, and radiated out to and from the Midwest.
Continue reading Keep on Truckin? Nope, not any more…
We thought it was the Arab Spring. But, now, the revolts in Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Chile, Russia, and the various US states are showing that was too simple an explanation. These revolts (with the probable exception of Russia) are now aimed at democratically elected governments.
Continue reading Arab Spring? I think not.
Friday,(link here) I discussed a slew of SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) decisions afforded us by the Roberts’ Court- the most pro-business (read “Big Business”) Supreme Court ever. Well, here is a case they just decided, that small businesses can overturn without going to court- by using public opinion against one specific Big Business.
Continue reading The Supreme Court Decisions- and Restaurants
I’ve written about the Supreme Court before (in general and also with a scientific analysis of its biases). This has been the most pro-business Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ever, so it is not surprising that decisions like the ones offered this week (as of this writing) are being promulgated. We knew this from decisions that were announced a few years ago, when SCOTUS ruled that businesses get more rights than individuals. (Citizen’s United basically claims that corporations are people. But, people need to act morally and ethically- while Big Business claims that there are no such scruples required of business.)
Continue reading SCOTUS decides that Civil Rights don’t matter anymore
Truth is stranger than fiction. Especially, when we are talking about how banks (you know, the industry that basically tanked four years ago and you and I bailed them out, only to have them stab us in the back) are putting the screws to their customers. No, I am not going to talk about some new fee, how they change their policies willy-nilly to cost us money. Nope! I am going to explain how the banks save money- and put us at risk.
Continue reading Surprise! You’re Sharing!
Continue reading Shared Group Homes- with a Twist and a Benefit
The Federal program we know as Medicare, became a reality on 30 July 1965, when it was signed into law. But, the first patients could not sign up for benefits until 1 July 1966. And, by 1979, the American Medical Association managed to get a ruling that the moneys paid to doctors under the program could not be revealed to the public. The reasoning (sic) was that this was an invasion of the physician’s privacy.
Continue reading FOIA now works for Medicare, too!
We discussed uncompensated care a few days ago, where I mentioned the variation in health care costs across the US. But, is that variability related to the cost of living in the various regions of the US? Or, is it attributable to the relative health of folks in various regions?
Continue reading Healthcare Costs- Controversy and Data
We all have heard (or read) how middle class wealth has been devastated over the past quarter century. Even now, as the economy seems to be perking up, it’s only the very wealthy that are seeing those gains. Mostly because the stock market is way up (interest rates are so low, it’s the only place for the wealthy and the retired to park their funds)- and housing has still not recovered (which is where the bulk of middle class wealth is found) to those pre-2009 levels.
Continue reading Is the Tax Code Fair?