Credit Twitter Page “Historical Pics” (@historicalpics)
Tuesday, five states voted to hike minimum wage for workers. The common theme is that government really cares for the people. Not exactly. Government likes minimum wage increases because it means more taxes collected. Here is example:
“The minimum wage increase is not just the dollar an hour, but it’s also a raise in our taxes,” said Jason Lerner of Little Learner Academy. His family owns five child care centers in New Jersey, where the minimum wage rose from $7.25 to $8.25 on Jan. 1.
In total, these taxes add an extra 10.5% to Little Learner Academy’s payroll expenses.
Take Social Security. Employees have 6.2% of their wages withheld from each paycheck for Social Security. But what they don’t see is that their employer also chips in, matching the 6.2%. For Medicare, both the employer and the employee pay 1.45% of the wage.
Payroll taxes are a big concern when running a business. This tax is also regressive when managing a business. On top of this tax, business owners must also pay to the state disability/unemployment taxes based upon amount of employees they have.
Many years ago I had a boss tell me that payroll is the #1 controllable expense. When payroll goes up and sales don’t, payroll gets slashed.
2014 Republican mid term landslide victory gave oil investors confidence in the Keystone Pipeline finally being approved. Investors over night plowed money into the stock of Trans-Canada.
Credit Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon for pic
After raising almost $2 Million in startup money the company Minibar is now delivering alcohol to customers in Chicago.
Minibar, a startup one-hour delivery system for wine, spirits and beer, has arrived in Chicago.
Minibar says it connects users with local vendors who can deliver within an hour. Orders are placed via the company’s website, http://www.minibardelivery.com, or its mobile app (iOS and Android). Minibar also offers recommended pairings, cocktail recipes and the option to send gifts.
In the United States, the federal government not having enough money for spending is the new normal. One thing that never gets discussed is how the government sells its debt in the form of “bonds”.
What may surprise many is that banks and other financial institutions do it for the government and they are called “Primary Dealers”. Once the government has a certain amount to sell, these dealers take it to market and sell it. Here is the list of dealers:
Bank of Nova Scotia, New York Agency
BMO Capital Markets Corp.
BNP Paribas Securities Corp.
Barclays Capital Inc.
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC
Daiwa Capital Markets America Inc.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.
Jefferies LLC
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
Mizuho Securities USA Inc.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
Nomura Securities International, Inc.
RBC Capital Markets, LLC
RBS Securities Inc.
SG Americas Securities, LLC
TD Securities (USA) LLC
UBS Securities LLC
So next time you hear a politician claim banks or financial institutions are evil, they are the ones selling the debt to help that same politician in their spending addiction.
In analysis published this week, the website HealthPocket.com compared the average premiums people paid in 2013, before Obamacare plans went on sale, to 2014 plan prices. HealthPocket looked at premiums paid by non-smoking men and women, ages 23, 30 and 63, in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
“HealthPocket found that the average health insurance premium increased by double digits for each group examined, though some groups saw a much steeper increase than others,” the report said.
For 23-year-old non-smoking men, the average premium for all plans jumped 78 percent in 2014, the report said. Women of the same age saw a 45-percent hike.
For 30-year-olds, the increases were 73 percent for men and 35 percent for women. Only the 63-year-old age group saw bigger price hikes for women, with females paying 37.5 percent more for insurance on average in 2014, and men paying an average of nearly 23 percent more.
Read the rest at CNBC
Per WNEP in Scranton, PA:
Shoppers are expected to spend more than ever on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Shoppers are expected to spend around $77 dollars each this year on candy, costumes, and decorations. While the National Retail Federation reports shopping hasn’t increased on all the other holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, it has for Halloween: 62 percent more since 2005.
Overall Halloween consumer spending on candy, costumes, and decorations will hit $7.5 Billion. Candy alone will reach $2.5 Billion in sales according to the National Confectioners Association.
The US State Department recently announced they will be bringing people from African countries who are infected with Ebola to the US for treatment. The expected cost per Ebola patient to be treated is $300,000. You can read the Washington Times article here but here is just a small caption:
The document has been shared with Congress, where lawmakers already are nervous about the administration’s handling of the Ebola outbreak. The memo even details the expected price per patient, with transportation costs at $200,000 and treatment at $300,000.
As with any government projected cost, this will probably go up. Each patient will be different and the costs will skyrocket if the patients turn worse like the patient in Dallas from Liberia.
Taco Bell went way outside the bun to unveil an advanced mobile app that lets folks order and pay on their smartphones and then walk or drive in and pick up their food.
New technologies are driving the $683 billion restaurant industry like never before. McDonald’s and Starbucks both are spending huge sums on new technologies. So are Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and Domino’s. Most are aimed at Millennial consumers who would much rather interact quickly with their smartphones than stand in line waiting to order or to be seated. Chili’s has technology that lets folks pay, order more food or play games on table-top tablets.
Some 56% of consumers ages 45 to 64 recently have used technology options in restaurants. Four of 10 have ordered food or looked up menus online in the past month. About a third have looked up restaurant locations on a smartphone. More than one in 10 have ordered takeout/delivery, looked up nutrition information or made a reservation via phone or tablet apps, he says.
Read the rest here via USA Today
Hoosier Econ 