QUOTE OF THE DAY
Detroit News: Gov't announces GM 'exit strategy' — taxpayers to lose billions!
The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares — or 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. — back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit the Detroit automaker by March 2014.
The Detroit automaker said it will purchase 200 million shares of GM stock held by Treasury for $5.5 billion — or $27.50 per share — nearly $2 above the stock's closing price on Tuesday. GM shares jumped sharply on the news and were up 7.5 percent to $27.36, or $1.90, early afternoon in very heavy trading.
When will death spiral states impose taxes on fleeing citizens?
One of the most fascinating characteristics of government borrowing - whether at the local, state, or federal level - is that debts contracted over time are obligations tied to specific geographical boundaries but not to the citizens living there when those debts were incurred. For example, while it's customary to say that each of the 210,000 residents of Stockton, California, are on the hook for their share of the bankrupt municipality's estimated $700 million in unpaid bills, the day one of them picks up and moves, personal responsibility for that debt drops to zero.
Imagine if that type of tax "evasion" were eliminated. How would it change America?
Investor's Business Daily: Fiscal Cliff's Dirty Secret: It's Not About Taxes At All, But Too Much Spending
There's a lot of talk right now about an impending fiscal cliff. But we already went over a cliff economically in this country a long time ago.
The current debate over tax hikes is an empty one built upon a false premise. The debate is whether raising tax rates will address our current crisis. The premise is that it is a lack of taxation that has led to the crisis. Both are hopelessly wrong.
MarketWatch: Why a recession may be coming no matter what fiscal-cliff deal is reached
How will the fiscal cliff talks end? Will the leaders reach a last-minute deal, saving the economy from disaster, like a script of a typical television drama?
Spoiler alert: We could already be in a recession. This is not the conventional wisdom. The common narrative goes some like talks look ugly, but in the end things will get resolved either before Jan. 1 or later in the month and the economy gets a new lease on life.
The recession signal is being sent from the latest U.S. current account deficit report released earlier Tuesday.
Bloomberg: As Deadline Passes, Only 18 States Plus D.C. Will Operate Exchanges
With the passing of the Dec. 14 deadline for states to declare whether they intend to run state-based insurance exchanges, a total of 18 states and the District of Columbia appeared poised to run SBEs.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a Dec. 17 blog entry that 10 states had filed blueprint applications with HHS to set up SBEs under the Affordable Care Act. Applications were filed by California, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Utah. HHS is to act on the applications by Jan. 1, Sebelius said.
Oklahoma Watchdog: Cash-Only Surgery Center Becomes a Model for Free-Market Health Care
Taking a “cash only” free market approach, the Surgery Center of Oklahoma City is causing a stir locally, and attracting nationwide attention.
What the company calls “price transparency” with guaranteed rates for procedures is even triggering a home-grown version of medical tourism.
CNBC: The Fiscal Cliff Is Depressing Twitter Users
Twitter users are getting emotional over the fiscal cliff.
About two-thirds of tweets posted about the fiscal cliff express fear, sadness or anger, according to research by Hootsuite, a social media management company.
