Tag: economics

Question on US National Health Insurance

Question on US National Health Insurance

Posted on by Jack

I have a question on US National Health Insurance:

If we had a true National Health Insurance plan in the US, would it be pro-business or anti-business? Currently we are basing things mainly on employer-provided insurance. I would think the cost of that would put companies at a disadvantage in competing internationally. Also there would be competitive advantages and disadvantages within the US.

Would a true National Health Insurance plan in the US put all companies on a level playing field with both other US companies and rivals in countries where there is National Health Insurance?

What do you think?

Megabank dangers

Megabank dangers

Posted on by Jack

We don’t need banks that are too big to fail. These Megabanks endanger are financial system. We should cut megabanks down to size.

The Dodd-Frank financial reforms try to prevent these megabanks from endangering the system but can’t guarantee that. The only way to do that is to prevent banks for getting so large that their failure would bring down the entire system. And since several banks have reached that size, they need to be broken into less dangerous pieces.

Jon Huntsman presented such a plan last year but of course did not get the Republican nomination.

Gretchen Morgenstern reported in last Sunday’s New York Times that Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, also proposed that too-big-to-fail banks be broken-up. The article also discussed other points on community banks as compared to megabanks. It is an article well worth reading.

Little Book of Alternative Investments and humor

Little Book of Alternative Investments and humor

Posted on by Jack

The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth is indeed a little book. It is about 250 page but those pages are little – a bit less 5 by 7 inches according to my ruler.

I have enjoyed several books in this Little Book, Big Profit series. Of course, Ben Stein is not only an economist but a humorist (among his many talents) and for those of us who enjoy his humor, this is a wonderful new addtion to the series. Not only do Stein and DeMuth explain the world of alternative investments beyond the standard stock/bond portfolio in an extemely clear way but they add a touch of humor to make the economic lessons entertaining.

They propose looking at an entire portfolio in terms of risk. And discuss adding alternatives to your portfolio to decrease risk and add a bit of return as well. They also discuss several stategies used to decrease risk and suggest cheaper alternatives. And strategies that are unlikely to work for most of us. Learn about commodities, collectibles, real estate, hedge funds, and more and how they could fit into your portfolio or NOT. Who knew there were so many hedge fund types? Read this book and you may decide to check out more in the series.