Obamacare

Writing as someone who was strongly stock-oriented for most of a long investing career, I can assert that at today's low dividend yields, it is difficult to see stocks as strong trees on which to rely. The Smithers parameters provide cautionary evidence for the bulls who point to current "low" price-earnings ratios and "sunny skies almost forever" views of corporate profits and predict stock market returns well above bond yields for years to come.

When it comes to corruption, cronyism and general muppetry in Washington D.C., the only real question is 'where does one start?' Yet one has to start somewhere to conclude with a list of the ten most corrupt and despicable marionettes in D.C. Which is precisely what JudicialWatch has done in its annual compilation of the "Top 10 Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington D.C." for 2011. And confirming what everyone knows, that both the left and right are merely irrelevant names for the same general social affliction, or should we call it by its true name - wealth pillage - the split is even between democrats and republicans. In no particular order, the winners of 2011 are...

Another constitutional slap in the face for the constitutional scholar. Just out from Reuters: the 11th Circuit Court of "Appeals court rules that Obama's healthcare law's individual mandate to own health insurance unconstitutional." It has thus found in favor of the 26 states that challeneged a requirement that Americans should purchase health insurance. What next: Obama takes Obamacare to the Supreme Court? And just when the summer seemed like it may finally get boring for a change...

The new year is finally here, which means the new composition of Congress and the Senate is now in play and tickets to another year of political theater are rapdily selling out. In the meantime, republicans are not wasting a single minute. Michigan Rep Fred Upton, who will lead the House Energy and Commerce committee, said today that he expects "significant" bipartisan support for a proposed repeal of the health care overhaul -- a vote he said would be held before President Obama's State of the Union address, reports Fox News. Politico chimes in: "We have 242 Republicans. There will be a significant number of Democrats, I think, that will join us. You will remember when that vote passed in the House last March, it only passed by seven votes." Of course, this is just more of the same theatrical BS that has made all of America sick and tired with the charade that is "democratic" governance. And wlsewhere, just to confirm that America's banana republic will be cemented in under three months, when Congress passes the debt ceiling to well over $15.5 trillion, Austan Goolsbee was heard advising America not to play chicken with the debt ceiling (i.e., to pass it to an arbitrary number with preferably one hundred zeroes). The alternative to not increasing the ceiling is per Goolsbee, in true kleptocrat fashion, untold misery and destruction.

My criticism of the "public option" proposal urged by MoveOn spokesperson Heather Graham drew some jeers from the pack, so I thought I'd expound on the topic of national health care. This first article is about the experience of other countries. To come up with the best system possible, why not take a look at systems around the world that are run or sponsored by governments. Do some research and find out what works and what doesn’t. Also, we should be very skeptical of cost estimates for the proposed system.