Friday, September 14, 2012
The Arab Spring turns dark
The Arab Spring. What was hoped to be a time of enlightenment and progress has turned out to be nothing other than a plunge into deeper darkness. From Khadafi to this?
A poor, backwards part of the world is devolving into further chaos. Over 20 countries are in deep states of protest and rioting. The time is coming that this will have to be dealt with. Unfortunately, our President is too busy fundraising to do much on the subject. He has not even been in Washington DC for days.
Another attack on American property or embassy will have to be answered. It must be dealt with in force. The question is does President Obama have the guts to act? I am not so sure. So far we have done absolutely nothing.
These people are crazy. They are full of hate towards the United States and everything we stand for. We should not stand by and allow these scum-of-the-earth act as such. The crowds are chanting "Death to America".
At the very least we should stop sending foreign aid to the Middle East. We send $1.5 billion to Egypt alone every single year. What an absolute waste. Especially when we have $16 trillion in debt ourselves. Afghanistan gets $3.9 billion! Pakistan hates us, yet we will send $3.1 billion their way this year.
One of the stated purposes of our foreign aid is "to promote democracy". How is that working out? These people hate us. The Islamic radicals are in charge. The Muslim Brotherhood is in control. These people are whackos.
The Middle East is a ticking time bomb. It will eventually explode. One of our closest allies Israel will need to be defended and we will rise to help them without doubt.
Could we be on the verge of another World War? Possibly so. The Middle East radicals will stand together . We will stand with Israel and Western Europe will stand with us as well.
Is this where we are headed? Possibly not in the very near future, but I fear this lies within our time horizon. Let's hear your thoughts in the comments!
How will Obamacare impact small businesses?
Just how will Obamacare impact small businesses? We have heard all kinds of stories from both sides of the table. Republicans and Democrats all have their own take on Obamacare.
At the recent International Franchise Association convention held in Washington this week we got some ideas from the small business owners that will be directly impacted. That's where Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David Barr pulled out his powerpoint showing how funding Obamacare will cut his profits in half overnight.
With simple math the small business folks understood, he spelled out that their only choice is to slash employee hours so they aren't eligible for company-paid health care or stop offering insurance and pay the $2,000 per employee fine. Barr has 23 stores with 421 employees, 109 of whom are full-time. Of those, he provides 30 with health insurance.
Barr said he pays 81% of their Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, or $4,073 of $5,028 for individuals, more for families, for a total bill of $129,000 a year. Employees pay $995. Under Obamacare, however, he will have to provide health insurance for all 109 full-time workers, a cost of $444,000, or two and half times more than his current costs. That $315,000 increase is equal to just over half his annual profit, after expenses, or 1.5% of sales.
As a result, he said, "I'm not paying $444,000." Providing no insurance would result in a federal fine of $158,000, $29,000 more than he now spends but the lowest cost possible under the Obamacare law. So he now views that as his cap and he'll either cut worker hours or replace them with machines to get his costs down or dump them on the public health exchange and pay the fine.
"Every business has a way to eliminate jobs," he said, "but that's not good for them or me." But that's not all. His experience tells him that most low-wage workers he would have to cover under Obamacare won't take it because their $995 share is too high, meaning those the program was set up for won't see any benefit. And those who do will because they have major health issues, likely resulting in higher premiums to him.
This will be the norm throughout the United States. Every business owner will have to deal with the same issues. The result will not be pretty at all.
Check out the latest from the Investor Business Daily Obamacare List
At the recent International Franchise Association convention held in Washington this week we got some ideas from the small business owners that will be directly impacted. That's where Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David Barr pulled out his powerpoint showing how funding Obamacare will cut his profits in half overnight.
With simple math the small business folks understood, he spelled out that their only choice is to slash employee hours so they aren't eligible for company-paid health care or stop offering insurance and pay the $2,000 per employee fine. Barr has 23 stores with 421 employees, 109 of whom are full-time. Of those, he provides 30 with health insurance.
Barr said he pays 81% of their Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, or $4,073 of $5,028 for individuals, more for families, for a total bill of $129,000 a year. Employees pay $995. Under Obamacare, however, he will have to provide health insurance for all 109 full-time workers, a cost of $444,000, or two and half times more than his current costs. That $315,000 increase is equal to just over half his annual profit, after expenses, or 1.5% of sales.
As a result, he said, "I'm not paying $444,000." Providing no insurance would result in a federal fine of $158,000, $29,000 more than he now spends but the lowest cost possible under the Obamacare law. So he now views that as his cap and he'll either cut worker hours or replace them with machines to get his costs down or dump them on the public health exchange and pay the fine.
"Every business has a way to eliminate jobs," he said, "but that's not good for them or me." But that's not all. His experience tells him that most low-wage workers he would have to cover under Obamacare won't take it because their $995 share is too high, meaning those the program was set up for won't see any benefit. And those who do will because they have major health issues, likely resulting in higher premiums to him.
This will be the norm throughout the United States. Every business owner will have to deal with the same issues. The result will not be pretty at all.
Check out the latest from the Investor Business Daily Obamacare List
Monday, September 3, 2012
Obama - The numbers don't lie on the first four years
One month after taking office in 2009 President Obama stood in the elegant East Room of the White House gave a finger-waving talk on fiscal responsibility and boldly pledged to halve the deficit in his four years. He would bring the deficit down from $10 trillion to $5 trillion.
Fail. Instead of reducing our national debt by 50% as he promised, President Obama has actually increased our national debt by 50% to almost $16 trillion.
Here is another Obama quote from an appearance on the Today show just after he took office in February 2009. “I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years. … A year from now, I think people are gonna see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still gonna be some pain out there. If I don’t this done in three years, then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition.”
Just take a look at these numbers and see if America is better off after four years of the current Presidency.
Unemployment - from 7.8% to 8.3%
Median Income - from $55,000 to $51,000
National Debt - from $10.6 to $15.9 trillion
Price of Gas - from $1.84 to $3.82
How can anyone decide to vote for such failure? I guess all the people who get their handouts from the government will surely vote Democrat, but otherwise??? Any hard working American cannot allow us to continue down this path to bankruptcy and failure. Just look at the failing countries of Greece, Spain and Italy in Europe. That's where we are headed unless we change.
Fail. Instead of reducing our national debt by 50% as he promised, President Obama has actually increased our national debt by 50% to almost $16 trillion.
Here is another Obama quote from an appearance on the Today show just after he took office in February 2009. “I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years. … A year from now, I think people are gonna see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still gonna be some pain out there. If I don’t this done in three years, then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition.”
Just take a look at these numbers and see if America is better off after four years of the current Presidency.
Unemployment - from 7.8% to 8.3%
Median Income - from $55,000 to $51,000
National Debt - from $10.6 to $15.9 trillion
Price of Gas - from $1.84 to $3.82
How can anyone decide to vote for such failure? I guess all the people who get their handouts from the government will surely vote Democrat, but otherwise??? Any hard working American cannot allow us to continue down this path to bankruptcy and failure. Just look at the failing countries of Greece, Spain and Italy in Europe. That's where we are headed unless we change.
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