Host Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 70 stations) by expressing his ongoing skepticism over President Obama’s employment numbers, which seem always to be improving even when as many 16 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.
“People want jobs, and they’re tired of hearing that everything is OK. Now 1 in 4 of Obama’s biggest supporters have come to the realization that things aren’t improving when it comes to job creation. Or increasingly, Obama’s contention that America doesn’t have a really good handle who is imposing the greatest security threat,” contends Neal.
The first guest on Made in America was returning guest Professor Peter Morici, of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, a recognized expert on economic policy and international economics, who takes exception to President Obama’s proposal to offer states 75 percent in matching federal money to refund tuition for community colleges.
“You have to realize that community colleges have to admit almost anyone who wants admission, but the truth is that the three-year graduation rates at public two-year institutions is 21 percent—about one-third the rate for two-year non-profit and for profit schools, and much less than the 59 percent six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions. What will happen is that we will be pouring money into failing diploma mills that will not provide students with the academic skills they need to get a job or successfully transfer to four-year colleges,” maintained Morici.
Morici notes that community colleges are staffed by bureaucrats, who too often are not particularly adroit at identifying private sector needs and fashioning classrooms to jobs programs. Too many students are ushered into less-expensive to staff programs aimed at transferring into four-year colleges—but the standards are often not high enough, so that kids have a hard time competing with other students who have gone through the more rigorous courses at traditional 4-year institutions.
Consequently, Morici would like to see money spent on vocational training and helping to fund apprenticeship programs at manufacturing companies and others where students will learn transferable skills so they can obtain good paying jobs.
The next guest on Made in America was Mark Nix of the National Right to Work Foundation, who is disappointed over the muted response from the media and others that the Teamsters Union will no longer require federal oversight over its dealings.
“Since 1992, when the Teamsters Union was teeming with corruption and cronyism, a three member panel was installed to oversee their activities. But the NLRB quietly announced that the oversight would end. Just as the NLRB passes regulations that harm law abiding businesses, they decide to drop regulations against a corrupt organization that has donated millions to the Democrats – no coincidence,” noted Nix.
Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute was the next guest on Made in America, who would like to see the federal excise tax be reduced or eliminated for both large and small domestic brewers. Two bills are being introduced to address the excise tax on beer.
“The Brew Act would increase the number of barrels a small brewer could produce and still qualify for the reduced excise tax rate. The Beer Act would allow major brewers broader and more comprehensive tax relief. This doesn’t sound that important, but people should know that about the ½ of the money they pay for beer is due to high excise taxes,” reported Minton, who noted that the federal government may not want to lose the billions in taxes they collect from brewers.
Patrick J. Michaels, the director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, was the final guest on Made in America. He wants to see the GOP pass an amendment that will directly compete with one being drafted by Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, in which he claims that climate change is real, and it is made worse by the carbon dioxide emitted during human activity.
“This doesn’t hold up under most scientific scrutiny so I don’t understand why he thinks this will pass. And I don’t understand why President Obama continues to fight against the Keystone XL Pipeline, a single pipeline that should have been approved years ago,” proposed Michaels.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman suggested that Obama will never cut ties with his small band of environmental supporters, and will never let truth get in the way of his decisions—or agenda.
As part of his ongoing segment on the rise in the development of robots to replace human workers, Dr. Roffman noted that a robot named NAO is being introduced to customers of the Bank of Tokyo, where robots will replace human tellers.
On the cronyism front, it seems that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has never lost his ability to reward friends. He recently picked millionaire venture capitalist Deborah Quazzo to replace billionaire Penny Pritzker on the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) procurement committee.
“She seems to know how to work with the CPS. She has received $930,000 from CPS from 2010-2013, and stands to make some $3.8 million in additional contract money. But when asked if she thought this could be interpreted as a conflict of interest, she was puzzled by the question,” revealed Dr. Roffman.
Dr. Roffman also noted that to make Obamacare look better, insurance companies in Obama’s back pocket that are participating in Obamacare have given their members additional time to pay their premiums. In most cases, companies drop insurers that don’t pay their premiums on time.
Finally, a wealthy Ecuadorian woman who was denied a visa into the U.S. because she had defrauded Ecuador of some $400 million was magically granted a visa when it was discovered she was a big Obama fundraiser. Since being admitted to the
U.S., she continues to raise money for Democrats.
“Under Obama, when you know the right people and give the right amount of money, magic things can happen,” concluded Dr. Roffman. “I think that’s called cronyism.”
Each week Neal Asbury’ Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com
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