A lot of what I see happening today is just plain stupid – and sometimes even dangerous.
Just this past week, I observed a news story while I was in my hotel room preparing for a speech. The story was about a Michigan day care regulator who was taking enforcement action against a woman who agreed to watch her neighbor’s child. Where I live, that’s simply a neighbor helping a neighbor. But this regulator sees it differently. According to her, if the neighbor was rendering daycare services for a period longer than a half an hour, a license to provide such services was required. Consequently, according to this regulator, the neighbor was providing day care services without being properly licensed. Read more »
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Last week, Ben Bernanke declared the recession was probably over.
Bloomberg (on September 17) reported housing starts were up by 1.5% during the month of August led by multi-family dwellings.
So is the recession over? Has the housing market recovered?
Not if you examine what’s driving the reported facts. Read more »
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Last week, Obama elected to significantly raise tariffs on Chinese-made tires for a period of 3 years, invoking trade law China agreed to when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. According to an article published in “The Wall Street Journal”, the move essentially cuts off the source of nearly 17% of the tires sold in the United States. Obama gave no reason for the move other than a jump in Chinese imports.
The Chinese Government responded quickly to the Obama Administration moves announcing the start of anti-dumping procedures against US exporters of chicken and auto products into China. Citing complaints received from local producers who alleged the US products were being dumped in China at below market prices. Read more »
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