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Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

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Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

ScoobyDoo said:
I think it's because of the concerns Kepler outlined. Cause that's exactly what the Republicans have been doing to things they don't like. It's a law but they don't fund it, they don't allow appointments, and they pull the no quorum crap.
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That's when we need public outcry, a true show of solidarity, and state to our reps and senators that they need to be present for votes or risk loss of pay. Force them to do their jobs by making a public outcry for just such a law. Get Warren and a few of her allies to sponsor it, make a big spectacle of it to drum up even more popular support, and push it through Congress. Such a thing would be a guaranteed passing by the future president, whoever she may be.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

St. Clown said:
That's when we need public outcry, a true show of solidarity, and state to our reps and senators that they need to be present for votes or risk loss of pay. Force them to do their jobs by making a public outcry for just such a law. Get Warren and a few of her allies to sponsor it, make a big spectacle of it to drum up even more popular support, and push it through Congress. Such a thing would be a guaranteed passing by the future president, whoever she may be.
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That'd be nice but my cynicism says that time has passed. We've seen (background checks) things with 80% approval that can't get through. There's so many other examples. Take George W. Bush's signature entitlement law.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/medicare-allow-price-gouging-prescription-drugs/

The idea of negotiating with drug makers dates back to the creation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2003, when Republicans — who controlled Congress at the time — wrote a section into the law that banned the Department of Health and Human Services from getting involved in talks over prices. Individual, private drug plans that provide the coverage for Medicare can negotiate — with some significant restrictions.
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https://www.statnews.com/2016/01/06/medicare-negotiate-drug-prices/

This is obviously broken. The epi-pen debacle is proof of that. There are many others. No one is even trying to fix it. Just heard yesterday there is a Hepatitis C drug that costs a dollar a pill to make. They charge a thousand. We have lost the reigns on Capitalism and no one in Washington or with power has enough power to fix it.

EDIT: Here's another take on the court ruling. Thank, God for Elizabeth Warren.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/banking-industrys-attempt-weaken-cfpb_b_8340792.html
 
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Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

Kepler said:
This is very bad news.
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Did you even read it? It merely says that you cannot have one unaccountable person in charge; that person must be accountable to the Chief Executive.

You forgot the single most important rule: whatever a government agency/law is called, its actual effect is generally the opposite of the name. The CFPB doesn't do anything for "consumers" it is merely another form of government shakedown. It fines companies supposedly for "harming" consumers, yet it keeps that money itself and none of it goes to redress the supposed "harm" caused. :(
 
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Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

St. Clown said:
I understand entirely what a plutocracy is. I just don't see how consolidating power down to even fewer people - who are or were part of that same strata and now hold un-elected offices with even greater power than they had before - is a good thing.
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You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to St. Clown again.

Totalitarianism is a good thing to many on the left because they assume that the totalitarians are on their "side." Hah! No evidence whatsoever to support that assumption.
 
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Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

John Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO until just a couple hours ago, announced his retirement today. The size of his golden parachute was not immediately disclosed.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

St. Clown said:
John Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO until just a couple hours ago, announced his retirement today. The size of his golden parachute was not immediately disclosed.
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He lands on the bodies of five thousand fired low level sacrificial lambs' soft wool.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

St. Clown said:
I understand entirely what a plutocracy is. I just don't see how consolidating power down to even fewer people - who are or were part of that same strata and now hold un-elected offices with even greater power than they had before - is a good thing.
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OK, that's fair.

The problem is the GOP war against the CFPB is purely plutocratic. It's a tool for making the Haves just a teensy bit accountable to the Have Nots, therefore the ghosts of Charles Sumner and Henry Hazlitt decree it shall not stand. The Republican glee over this would be funny if it weren't so morbid.

However... I did read a follow-up that argued this may actually save the CFPB in the long run as long as the Good Guys win this fall, because it basically says "you have the scope, it's your org chart that's the problem." There will be a fight about who can change that, but you rarely get such an assist from the dark side. It's like the conspiracy theory about Roberts' King v. Burwell ruling in reverse.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

St. Clown said:
John Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO until just a couple hours ago, announced his retirement today. The size of his golden parachute was not immediately disclosed.
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An addendum to this.

I can fully understand how a CEO could be blindsided by a scandal, assuming he did not have any knowledge of what was happening before the lawsuits were filed. (I'm not saying that's the case here, just a hypothetical.)

Every month I write a management letter, submit it to my manager. My manager reads all the minutia I include, then edits out information to the point where things I wrote look nothing like what's published up to the next tiered manager or she removes my content entirely - we're CC'd on her management letter. That manager then does more of the same, again we're CC'd, reporting up to the Director of Trust Ops. If the director then writes a similar note to her boss, he likely does the same before it gets to the CIO, and once more to the CEO. It's a long game of telephone, where the message starts off as "purple buffalo" and ends up "purposeful glow."
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

FreshFish said:
Hmm... it seems to me that capitalism has lost in the US to the regulatory state. We don't have free market capitalism here any more, we are "ruled" more by a corporate oligarchy:
-- large corporations like big government because the barriers to entry stifle potential start-up competitors
-- big government likes large corporations because they are so compliant, so easy to find, so easy to do business with
-- so government officials and corporate executives both live large, secure in their wealth and power, while the rest of us post laments on internet message boards.... :(



I am reminded of one of those "future dystopia" movies, the original Rollerball: eventually, civil government collapsed because of too much corruption, and so the task of maintaining law and order fell to mega-corporations instead (some subtle social commentary, the first contest was between Houston and Madrid and so the scoreboard read "Hou Mad"). Ordinary people were given diversions to distract them into superficiality (another selfie, anyone? maybe we can post it on Facebook!) so no one really minded too much as long as they were fed, housed, and entertained.


and how much of a "democracy" we have left also is open to question: more and more "governing" occurs within regulatory agencies who ignore Congress and the Courts with little consequence. Who needs democracy anyway, as long as "your" guy/gal has a telephone and a pen? :(
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I'd beg to differ with most of that (although if you live in W VA, you might have that perspective). Growth in start up activity is sky high. Go to any co working or collaborative working outfit which are taking off all around the country. You'll see tons of entrepreneurs many of them extremely successful. The nature of small businesses and particularly successful small businesses has changed. These days they are ecommerce related. Go to silicon valley or check out the hundreds of projects on kickstarter.com. In fact of those companies that don't make it...the top reasons are always incompetence, lack of planning or not understanding the marketplace.

The challenges coming from large business is not that they're too regulated (I have consulted for quite a few). Its due to collusion in select industries. You go shopping for an airline ticket or to buy a hand towel online or in a store and you'll get a highly price competitive market that forces down prices back into the value chain (I.e., manufacturing). But industries like energy and health care have no transparent pricing. In the case of health care, murky pricing options take away the ability to shop price and result in a lack of supply/demand pressure...that would enforce better value further back into the health care value chain (that is to say why we have expensive medication). This is not caused by regulation, but by the inability of society to enforce a free transparent market into a number of industries. There's still this type of corruption, but capitalism has won and that's why global GDP continues to go up.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

5mn_Major said:
I'd beg to differ with most of that (although if you live in W VA, you might have that perspective). Growth in start up activity is sky high. Go to any co working or collaborative working outfit which are taking off all around the country. You'll see tons of entrepreneurs many of them extremely successful. The nature of small businesses and particularly successful small businesses has changed. These days they are ecommerce related. Go to silicon valley or check out the hundreds of projects on kickstarter.com. In fact of those companies that don't make it...the top reasons are always incompetence, lack of planning or not understanding the marketplace.

The challenges coming from large business is not that they're too regulated (I have consulted for quite a few). Its due to collusion in select industries. You go shopping for an airline ticket or to buy a hand towel online or in a store and you'll get a highly price competitive market that forces down prices back into the value chain (I.e., manufacturing). But industries like energy and health care have no transparent pricing. In the case of health care, murky pricing options take away the ability to shop price and result in a lack of supply/demand pressure...that would enforce better value further back into the health care value chain (that is to say why we have expensive medication). This is not caused by regulation, but by the inability of society to enforce a free transparent market into a number of industries. There's still this type of corruption, but capitalism has won and that's why global GDP continues to go up.
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Live in CT. Parking lot expansion in 2010 required 36 permits with 16 different agencies (including proof that there was no lead paint on vacant land that never held a building). Large businesses are leaving left and right unless they can negotiate a one-off sweetheart deal to stay. Most startups appear to be craft breweries, so we can go commiserate together. largest employers now are the state itself (including the university system), and Yale (if you include the affiliated hospital network). Hartford Insurance, CIGNA, Aetna, GE, United Technologies, all either already gone or on their way out. Colt left long ago, as did Whalers.

Hope your perspective is more prevalent than mine nationwide!
 
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Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

FreshFish said:
Live in CT. Parking lot expansion in 2010 required 36 permits with 16 different agencies (including proof that there was no lead paint on vacant land that never held a building). Large businesses are leaving left and right unless they can negotiate a one-off sweetheart deal to stay. Most startups appear to be craft breweries, so we can go commiserate together. largest employers now are the state itself (including the university system), and Yale (if you include the affiliated hospital network). Hartford Insurance, CIGNA, Aetna, GE, United Technologies, all either already gone or on their way out. Colt left long ago, as did Whalers.

Hope your perspective is more prevalent than mine nationwide!
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A lot of this type of thing is restructuring due to market forces - ecommerce, a mobile workforce and globalization. None are specifically bad (globalization can be a real challenge if you don't sell globally), but they will lead to reductions of visible business real estate. But that doesn't appear to be your issue there. I would believe that those are symptomatic of different issues.

Your businesses aren't withering. Some other region beat you. Usually businesses don't move due to regulation. More frequently somebody else is providing the labor force these businesses want or secondarily a sweet offer from a local municipality. That many business relo's almost have to be workforce related. Labor is either not qualified or more likely expensive. I will say potentially we're in a similar boat as you, but companies rarely leave here. Don't know of any easy fix for that.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

5mn_Major said:
A lot of this type of thing is restructuring due to market forces - ecommerce, a mobile workforce and globalization. None are specifically bad (globalization can be a real challenge if you don't sell globally), but they will lead to reductions of visible business real estate. But that doesn't appear to be your issue there. I would believe that those are symptomatic of different issues.

Your businesses aren't withering. Some other region beat you. Usually businesses don't move due to regulation. More frequently somebody else is providing the labor force these businesses want or secondarily a sweet offer from a local municipality. That many business relo's almost have to be workforce related. Labor is either not qualified or more likely expensive. I will say potentially we're in a similar boat as you, but companies rarely leave here. Don't know of any easy fix for that.
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Evidently you've never been to NYS, where Remington is packing up because of Cuomo's 2nd amendment violations, and Tim Horton's skips town in order to do national expansion.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

5mn_Major said:
A lot of this type of thing is restructuring due to market forces - ecommerce, a mobile workforce and globalization. None are specifically bad (globalization can be a real challenge if you don't sell globally), but they will lead to reductions of visible business real estate. But that doesn't appear to be your issue there. I would believe that those are symptomatic of different issues.

Your businesses aren't withering. Some other region beat you. Usually businesses don't move due to regulation. More frequently somebody else is providing the labor force these businesses want or secondarily a sweet offer from a local municipality. That many business relo's almost have to be workforce related. Labor is either not qualified or more likely expensive. I will say potentially we're in a similar boat as you, but companies rarely leave here. Don't know of any easy fix for that.
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CT doesn't have any reserves of oil or natural gas underground at all. The legislature nonetheless is considering an anti-fracking bill anyway even though no one ever will try it here in the first place. They really do value symbolism over logic. Good intentions are all that matter; no one cares at all about actual results.

I kid you not, the majority leader of the state Senate is named Looney.
 
Re: Completely Unwoven: Business, Economics, and Tax Policy 4.0

FreshFish said:
CT doesn't have any reserves of oil or natural gas underground at all. The legislature nonetheless is considering an anti-fracking bill anyway even though no one ever will try it here in the first place. They really do value symbolism over logic. Good intentions are all that matter; no one cares at all about actual results.

I kid you not, the majority leader of the state Senate is named Looney.
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Sounds like wasteful govt. Don't think its causing companies to leave, but wasteful nonetheless.
 
Kepler said:
We need TR Trustbusting II.
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It's official. Does this add jobs/growth to the economy or is it a "the only way to grow the bottom line is to acquire more bottoms?"

I say No. It doesn't create anything other than move electrons around somebody's digital empire.

tD has said no. HRC? Will she have to wait for the email from the House of Morgan before she says anything?

I would think Liz is gleefully sharpening her knives this AM. This is right up her alley.
 
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