Tag: Money

HLN Carol Costello Trump’s Market Correction

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On Tuesday, February 6, 2018,  I joined Carol Costello on CNN’s HLN in studio. The stock markets are extremely volatile with a record point loss yesterday. Sean Hannity blames President Obama while President Trump has taken credit for every high. Should Trump take credit for the correction, too?

My other panelist was CNN Contributor and KABC talk radio host John Phillips

Here is a little clip.”…thanks to Pres. Obama who took us out of the Great Recession and put the policies in place that brought unemployment down. That trendline started in 2010 and sure didn’t start with this president.”

“What comes up must go down too. And so there will be another recession and this is going to happen potentially under Pres. Trump’s watch.”

And here is the full segment:

FNC Happening Now – Repair or Replace ObamaCare

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Push to repeal, replace ObamaCare turning into adjust, wait?

Ian Prior, communications director for American Crossroads, and Ethan Bearman, radio talk show host, join the debate

Thank you to Fox News Channel for having me back on Happening Now with host Jon Scott to discuss the state of the Republicans and their approach to health care. My fellow panelist is Ian Prior communications director for American Crossroads to defend the Republican approach.

Is it going to be repair or replace the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)? Senators Lamar Alexander and Orrin Hatch seem to be leaning toward repair.

I argue that nobody is addressing the core issues at hand such as patient/doctor relationships, food, and exercise.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains California Proposition 65 and 67

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Ethan Explains California Proposition 65 and 67 – Plastic Bag Ban Money

This is numbers 15 & 16 of 17 of the California statewide ballot initiatives in 2016 that I’ll cover. Both are related to the California statewide plastic bag ban and what to do with the money. Proposition 65 is the “Dedication of Revenue from Disposable Bag Sales to Wildlife Conservation Fund Initiative.” Proposition 67 is the “California Plastic Bag Ban Veto Referendum.”

Proposition 65 sends the money that grocers collect, by law, for the paper bags and sends it to the California Treasury for management by the Wildlife Conservation Board.

Proposition 67 lets the grocery stores keep the money.

Since the plastic bag ban was to help save the oceans and environment from plastic pollution, doesn’t it make sense to spend the money on environmental programs?

I never understood why grocers were forced by law to charge for the brown paper bags. Why not let them compete and make it a value added service? Instead it became a government mandated revenue stream. I want to keep plastic bags out of the ocean, the beaches, and the rest of the environment. But, since our legislators decided on forcing a charge for paper bags, let that money go to environmental programs.

I say YES to Prop 65 and NO to Prop 67.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday, noon to 2 p.m. on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains California Proposition 61

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Ethan Explains California Proposition 61

This is number 11 of 17 of the California statewide ballot initiatives in 2016 that I’ll cover. Proposition 61 is the “State Prescription Drug Purchases. Pricing Standards. Initiative Statute.” Also known as the “Drug Price Standards Initiative.”

Who doesn’t think drug prices are too high here in the USA? With the Pharma Bro, Mylan, and so many other drug pricing scandals, many of us are conscious of the problem.

And let’s not forgot how those drug prices play into our ever soaring health care premiums and deductibles.

So, here in California Proposition 61 is an attempt to rein in drug prices for state agenices by tying prices they pay to the VA. Seems logical to find the lowest government price in the USA and make state agencies pay that same, low price.

Except it doesn’t.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a special deal with the pharmaceutical companies to ensure low drug prices for our military veterans who heeded the call of our country. This initiative might impact that contract and availability of drugs.

 

Worse yet, there will be an endless flurry of lawsuits over this which will drag out for many years and likely cost millions, if not tens of millions of dollars to fight.

Finally, Prop 61 only helps a couple hundred thousand to maybe a million Californians, not the 37 million who live here. Another special interest grab benefitting the few on the backs of all of us. If you really want to fix this problem, fully repeal the Prescription Drug Marketing Act signed into law in 1988 which banned the re-importation of USA made drugs from countries like Canada where they have lower, fixed prices on pharmaceuticals.

I say NO to Proposition 61.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday, noon to 2 p.m. on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains California Proposition 59

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Ethan Explains California Proposition 59

This is number 9 of 17 of the California statewide ballot initiatives in 2016 that I’ll cover. Proposition 59 is the “California Overturn of Citizens United Act Advisory Question.”

Money in politics is corrosive to a democratic system as the person with the most money can buy the most influence.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was ruled on by the United States Supreme Court in January of 2010. This ruling said money is equal to speech and protected under the First Amendment. Further, “the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections. While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially where these ads were not broadcast.”

Bad news for our country, right?

But Proposition 59 doesn’t fix this ruling. It is an abuse of the ballot initiative process by crowding the ballot with a non-binding advisory that changes nothing, nothing about money in politics.

As I argued in my book, “Liars & Whores: How Big Government and Big Business Are Working to Save Their Own Assets, Not Yours,” money is not speech. From the book:

Money is not equivalent to speech. Money is a substitute for bartering goods or gold. Money and bartering alike are methods of economic transaction, not forms of speech. If you traded a goat for a sheaf of wheat, would you consider that speech? Or how about an iPad for an Xbox, still speech? Corporations, unions, and non-persons should not be able to participate in political campaigns as individuals.

What I also find interesting is the volume with which my friends on the left argue against Citizens United, yet they leverage it to their advantage every bit as much as my friends on the right. Take a look at what OpenSecrets lists, you’ll see just as many liberal groups with money as conservative.

Again, Proposition 59 solves nothing and is a simple grandstanding move.

I say NO to Proposition 59.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday, noon to 2 p.m. on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains California Proposition 53

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Ethan Explains California Proposition 53

California has 17 statewide ballot initiatives this year. Here I talk about Proposition 53, California Voter Approval Requirement for Revenue Bonds above $2 Billion Initiative.

Californians already vote on general revenue bonds. This proposal is inflation adjusted for voters to approve revenue bonds for over $2 billion. Things like the Sacramento River Delta Water Tunnels and the California High Speed Rail will be covered by this initiative.

This is a great way to hold politicians to account for their project promises and for voters to have more input. We already vote on this kind of money on everything else, we should on revenue bonds as well.

The arguments against are singular and weak. All under the banner of local control, which I usually support. Here, the local control over a $2+ billion dollar revenue bond? Like what? They claim bridge repairs in Los Angeles.

Really? A bridge repair in Los Angeles? I find that a specious argument for the Democratic majority in Sacramento to continue spending on revenue bonds as they see fit. Regardless of what the voters actually want.

I say vote YES on Proposition 53.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Proposition 51

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Ethan Explains Proposition 51

California has 17 statewide ballot initiatives this year. Here I talk about Proposition 51 “School Bonds. Funding for K-12 School and Community College Facilities. Initiative Statute”

Should the state take over school bonding for construction & repair? Up until this initiative, that has been a local issue.

And I bet you can’t guess the money behind the initiative. You don’t think it’s the developers? Oh, it is. Nearly $10 million.

And this is an area where Governor Jerry Brown and I agree, keep the money and control out of Sacramento, keep it local.

Vote NO on Proposition 51 November 8th.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Trump Paying Taxes

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Ethan Explains Trump Paying Taxes

There is a big to-do this week speculating about Donald Trump’s level of taxation based on his non-release of his tax forms. Even Mark Cuban the billionaire, who was front and center at the debate on Monday night, is jumping into the fray, with this quote:

“And I tell my tax lawyers and everybody, you know, take advantage of — do what the law recommends. But I’m not against paying taxes. And I’ll give you a perfect example. When the Dallas Mavericks were building a new practice facility, which we’re just opening, I had the opportunity to go to Dallas and and play different cities against each other to get different rebates and everything. I didn’t do it.”

Mr. Cuban realizes that was a choice, right?

We don’t have to pay any more than the minimum necessary under the tax code. If you don’t like the tax code, then blame your elected officials in Washington, D.C. They control how much we pay and are responsible for the 74,000+ page tax code.

Famously, Judge Learned Hand stated in Commissioner v. Newman in 1947 – “Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.”

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

KGO 810

Ethan Explains Police Shooting Videos

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Ethan Explains Police Shooting Videos

The question of police body cameras continues to grow in importance. They are an important tool for both the police and the public in getting the record straight in ALL interactions between us.

Now with the shootings in Tulsa and Charlotte, the failure of our government to ensure openness and accountability is in focus. In Tulsa, they released the videos and while we may disagree on what exactly they tell us, we have a much better idea. And guess what? No riots.

In Charlotte the North Carolina state legislature passed a law limiting the video release only by court order. So, we have two totally different accounts of what transpired. And riots have ensued alongside the peaceful, legal, protests.

We must demand that all police body cam video be escrowed by a third-party so nobody can delete what they don’t want us to see. Body cams shouldn’t be able to be deactivated when on-duty. And there needs to be rules and regulations in place when we fund body cameras to ensure their proper release to We The People.

Listen to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday from noon to 2 p.m. Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Tangled Trump

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Ethan Explains Tangled Trump

The polls show a dead heat between Sec. Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald J. Trump, and I’ve spent plenty of time picking apart Clinton. Now we find out that the Trump Foundation, while not ethically challenged regarding our government, is deeply problematic.

The Washington Post editorial board goes as far as calling Trump a “scam artist” because of the problems with the Trump Foundation. From the article:

Mr. Trump does not appear to have given his own money to the Trump Foundation since 2008, and by then Trump funds had become a tiny slice of the organization’s revenue. Since then, the available records suggest, a charitable group that bears the billionaire’s name has been funded by others. That has not stopped Mr. Trump from claiming credit for doling out other people’s cash. He happily accepted an award from the Palm Beach Police Foundation in 2010 — then he cut the group off once the real source of the money, a New Jersey charity, stopped contributing to the Trump Foundation. Donations he promised on “The Celebrity Apprentice” would come out of his “own wallet” instead came from his foundation or a television production company. The story is the same with a 2009 TV contest called “Trump pays your bills!”, in which the Trump Foundation, not Mr. Trump, paid the winner’s bills.

Further, Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald wrote a well researched piece documenting all of the conflicts of interest a President Trump will have due to his international business dealings. From his piece:

A close examination by Newsweek of the Trump Organization, including confidential interviews with business executives and some of its international partners, reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals, although there is no evidence the Trump Organization has engaged in any illegal activities. It also reveals a web of contractual entanglements that could not be just canceled. If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.

Done with the broken duopoly yet? I suggest we need Governor Gary Johnson on the presidential debate stage to provide a third approach to running the United States of America.

You’ll want to listen to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays noon to 2pm on KGO 810 and grab the podcasts at www.kgoradio.com