Rural Hospitals Redux

The Takeaway yesterday had a good segment on rural hospitals, basically continuing to “cry wolf” about their affordability. One of the participants in the discussion is, Dr John Waits, who with his colleagues and staff at Centreville Clinic Staff, are doing their best to help their community afford their healthcare. Dr Waits struggles valiantly in the discussion to avoid using the terms profit and subsidy. This is a mistake in my opinion, while you can talk about healthcare efficiencies, people need to hear that large hospital groups are for profit, yes even the not-for-profit ones. People need to understand that … Continue reading Rural Hospitals Redux

Stock buybacks rule – Tax breaks enable

As predicted, not by the tweeter in chief, but by almost anyone who understands big companies and executive, stock buybacks hit an all time high in 2018 and are likely to be higher again in 2019. This is a big deal, companies that buyback their stock, are reducing the number of shares available on the market. That generally means the share price goes up. Share prices are often one of the main ways executives are measured, their bonuses are usually dependant on the share price. Also, because the price of each share goes up, it makes it harder for lower … Continue reading Stock buybacks rule – Tax breaks enable

Amazon’s $15 Minimum Wage Won’t Change How Americans See Work – Bloomberg

n 2017, the real median household income in the U.S. was $61,372, which is roughly what two earners with full-time jobs making $15 an hour would make. I remain totally confused about class as a term to classify people in America. This article is a prime example. While overall this is good news, if $15-per hour helps the middle class, how little do you have to earn to be working class? And why is that term never used? As far as I’m aware the amazon deal doesn’t include health insurance, which effectively means before taxes, you’ll have to work for … Continue reading Amazon’s $15 Minimum Wage Won’t Change How Americans See Work – Bloomberg

Bringing Jobs Back to the USA

As the GOP push through their tax bill, without any transparency, one of the big ticket items is corporate tax breaks. My opinion is the government are really wasting their time, and our money giving tax breaks, especially to companies to repatriate their overseas earnings, in some kind of swap for jobs. No such thing will happen, sure there will be a few winners here and there, but nothing substantial and certainly nothing overtime. If the government wanted to do this, they’d have been better creating an incentive program, which gave them tax deductions for each net new job they … Continue reading Bringing Jobs Back to the USA

From Tax to Pariah – Colorado’s TABOR history

One mans crusade to limit Government, what he wanted, how he did it, and what happened. At least Bruce was principled. A great listen, especially on the consequences for the State and Bruce(The Pariah?) Great @serial style podcast from @ColoradoMatters from @restabro with @cprwarner On the Colorado TABOR history, tax, and some guy called Bruce. Not from Colorado? Epsiodes 2/3 still worth a listen https://t.co/7AcB6ja7vY — Mark Cathcart (@cathcam) November 29, 2017 The Taxman Episode 1 The Taxman Episode 2 The Taxman Episode 3 Continue reading From Tax to Pariah – Colorado’s TABOR history