Jack on October 6th, 2011

Cain thinks the Wall Street protestors are jealous or envious of the successful bankers, et al of Wall Street. He says the latter create the jobs and those protestors should go out and get one. Hahahaha! No, the protestors are not envious, they are angry–just like the Tea Partiers on the other side of the [...]

Continue reading about Clueless Cain; Brainless Bank of America

Jack on September 19th, 2011

The GOP says Obama’s plan to impose a minimum tax on those earning more than a $million each year constitutes “class warfare.” To which I respond, “and your point?” Or in other words, if so, so what? Let’s get real here, the reason this is so abhorrent a position to those of the Republican persuasion [...]

Continue reading about Class Warfare?

Jack on September 4th, 2011

I try not to pry into my “kids’” business. After all, they are in their 20s. So I really didn’t know what a porking he was taking from Capital One. Turns out for a low-limit card, which he doesn’t really use, they have been charging him a $5.99 monthly fee for payment protection. If you [...]

Continue reading about Capital One–Cute Commercials; No Conscience

Jack on July 15th, 2011

Kiplinger’s says, in it’s August 2011 issue, that J&J is one of 6 cash-rich stocks to buy now. They note that J&J shares “have mostly lagged the stock market since the March 2009 bottom.” And also point out that “One of J&J’s problems has been quality-control issues at its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit that resulted in [...]

Continue reading about Johnson & Johnson–Blue Chip, Value or Sell

Jack on January 30th, 2010

OBE, for short–that’s a much used phrase from a once upon a time former supervisor. Applied to projects, assignments, etc., it meant the task at hand no longer needed doing. Some might suppose that recent election results might make that an epithet applicable to health care reform. But as President Obama said in his state of [...]

Continue reading about Overcome by Events

Jack on January 4th, 2010

In most cases, insurance is something you buy to cover yourself in case the unexpected financial setback occurs–damage to your house or car for example. Or in the case of health, an acute illness or event such as a stroke or heart attack. On the other hand, you  can and should expect to have some [...]

Continue reading about More on Health Care Reform

Jack on December 27th, 2009

Because health care (chiefly what hospitals, doctors, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and drug stores provide us with)  is so expensive, most people find it difficult if not impossible to pay for out of pocket. Well duh! Yes, I know, it is so obvious–but I mention this only as a preface to serve as a distinguishing feature [...]

Continue reading about Health Care Reform, continued

Jack on December 23rd, 2009

I didn’t really want to do it, but I need a topic that lends itself both to some amount of continuity and also fits the notion that this blog is about expressing what really is happening–reaching beyond ignorance and illusion. So as arrogant of me as it may be, I will latch onto this topic [...]

Continue reading about Oh no, Health Care Reform

Jack on March 30th, 2009

One would expect an economics professor from Harvard, and a president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research at that, to know whereof they speak on matters of dollars and cents. Martin Feldstein argues that the Obama administration should withdraw its proposal to reduce the charitable tax deduction of higher income (over $250,00 for [...]

Continue reading about Sometimes Economists Don’t Make Cents

Jack on December 12th, 2008

Are bailouts of industries a good thing? Probably not, generally speaking. On the other hand, when in a financial crisis like the one facing America, they may be necessary. I find it peculiar that the financial “industry” (they manufacture or produce no goods; only facilitate production by others) could relatively easily obtain a $700 billion [...]

Continue reading about Yes, help the automakers