Monday, December 13, 2010

Back in the Saddle

After an enjoyable business trip throughout Alabama last week, I'm back and looking forward to giving the hogs a smack in their snouts. While traveling I read an article that the executive suite has their snouts in the trough, slurping down bigger and more expensive health care plans ... for themselves, of course. And paid by the company, of course. Joe & Jane Worker ... keep getting their health plans cut and their co-pays increased.

Why are the best paid and most able to afford these premium plans getting them for free? And those least able to afford them getting less and less? Simple, it's greed. The hogs in the executive suite get their pals on the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors to award them more ... and more. And then they grind down the common employee with less and less to pump up earnings.

Of course, the gold-plated health plans are tax deductible, even under the Obama plan. Not even that plan gives any semblance of fraternity or equality. It's simply a disgrace for corporate governance and for US tax policy.

Free Fraternalism would cure this with simple policy: all corporate health plans must be equal for all employees - no exceptions. Enforcement would be a 100% excise tax on any executive plans that provides better benefits for them. See how simple principles let one govern with transparency and ease. Let the highly paid spend their own money for better care.

Free Fraternalism - the Right Way.

Actions

Krypto wants me to sell some US stocks - not a lot, just part of Sell High, Buy Low. The buy part will be municipal bonds. We are now seeing good quality municipal bonds yielding over 5%. I'll be buying them steadily as available.

Also, prices for TIPs have dropped fast. Krypto sold all those at higher prices. We will re-buy them in phases when the long term TIP rises over 2% real return or the ETF gets to about 105. This re-buy will be slow as I want to average in.

Simple investing: buy low, sell high; and sell high, buy low. Remember, you can and should WAIT in cash for part #2 of each of these rules.

Word of the Day

"Kleptocracy" - noun [$10] a Big Al word.
Kleptocracy means government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.
Sentence: Who can doubt that the US government AND the governance of most US large corporations are kleptocracies?

12 comments:

Bud said...

spoos green............oil green.....gold green..........silver green........yup.......QE2 is working



oh also............dollar tankaroo.......global purchasing power decimated.......thanks dr bernanke


Let's us stick our biscuit in that gravy while it's still hot my ass

Spin-em said...

Let's stick our biscuit in that gravy while it's still hot my ass


ROFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Bud said...

Bman are you long silver ? if yes............the stocks ..etf's ......or the bars?

Bunkerman said...

funny how that "global" excludes Europe where dollar is better.

sign ... hey, is that data mining?

Bunkerman said...

I have much silver in bars and pre-1964 coins. Had ETFs but sold to take sugar.

Bunkerman said...

I've been taking sugar in that sector lately by a precious metals & mining stock fund, but it's almost gone.

eventually I'll have to sell some metal IF silver & gold keep rising.

Spin-em said...

there's a bubble in Mercury dimes and windshield washer fluid

let it fall my azz

Spin-em said...

the events of this weekend proove..Brett Favre will stop at nothing to keep his starting streak alive..the team can suck it...

Spin-em said...

spelled that wrong...should be prooove..lol

Bud said...

dollar gettin smoked today.........yup.....QE2 workin............SPX 2000 by june 2011



PS.....Bman what is my prize when SPX hits 2k ??

Spin-em said...

ALERT!!!!!

Bud maybe you better run down to Pubix and grab some oranges....

Bunkerman said...

uh ... I think you need a date for that prediction, Bud: 2K before X date.

then I'll think about a prize.