Was Paul Ryan the Right VP Choice for Mitt Romney?

Did Mitt Romney make the right choice in Paul Ryan, when he named the Congressional Representative from Wisconsin his Vice Presidential running mate? The positives for Ryan are clearly his charisma, intellectual acuity, conservative values and financial acumen. He’s got leadership skills and even looks presidential. However, the mark against Ryan probably cost him a run at the presidency this year. When Ryan came out with his strong plan to reform the entitlement programs, he polarized himself from party favor because of the backlash from the media and America’s senior sector. Surely President Obama will use that same issue against Ryan and Romney in the coming weeks. The soon to be formalized GOP candidate, Romney, has already pre-empted the likely strike from the Democrats with a series of proactive campaign advertisements making the President look like the destroyer of senior programs. So, I ask, has Paul Ryan bettered the chances of Mitt Romney or weakened them? Would someone else have been a better choice? While we’re at it, add your insight and view about entitlement programs and what should be done to preserve America’s future and current way of life.

COMMENT TO THIS DEBATE TOPIC

SEE DEBATE ARCHIVES

Topic should interest SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrials (NYSE: DIA), PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ), ProShares Short Dow 30 (NYSE: DOG), ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS), ProShares UltraShort QQQ (NYSE: QID).

Taxes and the Deficit Seed of Corruption

The President presented his plan to trim the deficit Monday, and inspired this article in the process. President Obama has been attempting to find revenues for the nation’s balance budgeting effort, and the easy score would be from taxes, or rather the killing of “temporary” tax breaks for higher earning Americans. Those are the so-called Bush tax cuts, which accompanied the silly $300 checks the short-sighted economic crash test dummies in DC cooked up before President Bush left office.

Our founder earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. "The Greek" has written for institutional newsletters, Businessweek, Real Money, Seeking Alpha and others, while also appearing across TV and radio. While writing for Wall Street Greek, Mr. Kaminis presciently warned of the financial crisis.

Taxes and the Deficit Seed of Corruption

Relative tickers include NYSE: XOM, NYSE: CVX, NYSE: COP, NYSE: HAL, NYSE: AET, NYSE: NBR, NYSE: NE, NYSE: RIG, NYSE: BHI, NYSE: MCO, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: MRK, NYSE: PFE, NYSE: UNH, NYSE: WLP, NYSE: CAH, NYSE: MHS, NYSE: HUM, NYSE: GSK, NYSE: BMY, Nasdaq: ESRX, NYSE: WPO, NYSE: NYT, NYSE: BRK-A, NYSE: BRK-B.

You’ll recall that those tax cuts were supposed to last for just a short time, but Republicans are saying they are still needed. Democrats have determined that they have hardly been useful to date, and that higher earning Americans can afford to help the nation balance its budget by simply going back to old standard rates. The typical Republican rebuttal to this is that these taxes also impact small businessmen and kill hiring. In his latest proposal, the President shown light on this debate, discussing the so-called “class warfare” commentary his revenue targeting has inspired. But the President notes the uber-wealthy have tax savvy (read expensive accountants), which leads to effective tax rates that are often less than the menial staff they employ. Famed billionaire and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) Warren Buffet verified this argument in his disclosure that his secretary has a higher effective tax rate than he does (NYSE: BRK-A).

I’m on the President’s side on this one. I agree that it makes more sense for the richest Americans to support the budget balancing effort than it does for social security-check dependent senior citizens to. It is certainly not a black and white issue, though, and contributions can be found elsewhere, bit by bit, including from killing unnecessary and purported unethical projects like abortion support. But, I also want to see the oil companies like Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) lose their unnecessary and unethical subsidies. If you are going to call for doing what’s right, like the president did today and like his opponents will rebut, then do what’s right.

However, keep in mind that the more items included in any legislation, only increase the difficulty in getting its passage. And the two items just mentioned, and always reported by the popular press, offer only a tiny real capital raising opportunity. For this reason, it seems clear entitlements cannot go completely unharmed. But the harm can be limited and targeted in ways that might even make more sense for today’s world. However, the President (and I) cannot justify current tax rates for higher earning Americans while snipping away at welfare and social security, especially in times like these!

Let’s see compromise and comprehensive spending reform, but while avoiding damage to economic growth and without putting our seniors on the street. It’s a challenging task, but somehow, I suspect there’s enough fat in that budget to allow for it. We can find a way to keep the effort from impacting small businessmen operating on the fringe; it would only take a little creative thought and design. Once a Reagan Republican, I’m not a fan of taxes, but let’s call a spade a spade. If you want to balance the budget at a time when the economy needs support, something I said very clearly we shouldn’t do time and again, then we have to look at this honestly. Now that we’ve given Standard & Poor’s (NYSE: MHP) the seed of corruption to play with, we have to find the monies to pay with.

The broader indexes were lower before the President spoke and are down sharply at this hour, with the Dow off 1.6%. Still, energy and health care, which would be more sensitive to the President’s speech, are down a bit more:

Relative Stocks	Monday’s % Change
(Prices measured at 2:10 PM ET)
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM)	-2.4%
Chevron (NYSE: CVX)	-2.3%
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL)	-4.0%
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP)	-2.0%
Transocean (NYSE: RIG)	-2.7%
Noble (NYSE: NE)	-3.1%
Nabors (NYSE: NBR)	-6.0%
Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI)	-3.3%
Aetna (NYSE: AET)	-1.5%
Moody’s (NYSE: MCO)	-1.3%
McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP)	-0.7%
Merck (NYSE: MRK)	-2.2%
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)	-0.9%
MedcoHealth (NYSE: MHS)	-0.3%
Humana (NYSE: HUM)	-0.8%
Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH)	-0.7%
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK)	-0.5%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)	+0.2%
UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH)	-1.9%
WellPoint (NYSE: WLP)	-1.9%
Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX)	-0.3%
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO)	-2.7%
New York Times (NYSE: NYT)	-4.8%

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

The Debt Ceiling Debate

Fringe groups on each side of the political spectrum, but especially The Tea Party, are holding America hostage, while sensible voices who understand the importance of America’s perfect sovereign debt rating desperately seek to restore common sense.

It is my view that at this late date, the debt ceiling had better be raised to avoid near-term default, and that active efforts continue to establish adequate budget measures to restrain the now interested Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s (NYSE: MHP, NYSE: MCO). By the way, it really bugs me that now that this issue is on the tongue of every American, the agencies suddenly determined America’s debt position was of great short short-term importance and warn of ratings change even with a new ceiling. The levity of such a change is not well understood, especially by the agencies who horrifically rated Mortgage-Backed Securities ignorant of the potential for home price decline, driving a booming MBS market and playing key role in creating the financial crisis.

I want to know your opinion on this highly important debt ceiling issue and balanced budget measures. Please feel free to range widely across these topics. With a week to go before America defaults and life as we know it perhaps expedites its transformation into something far less appealing, tell us where you stand on:

The Debt Ceiling Debate

DEBATE TOPICS ARCHIVE

Article should interest investors in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), TD Bank (NYSE: TD), PNC Bank (NYSE: PNC), State Street (NYSE: STT), Janus (NYSE: JNS), T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Alcoa (NYSE: AA), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), 3M (NYSE: MMM), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), AT&T (NYSE: T), Travelers (NYSE: TRV), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX), Manpower (NYSE: MAN), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), 51Job Inc. (Nasdaq: JOBS), Monster World Wide (NYSE: MWW), Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), Administaff (NYSE: ASF), Kforce (Nasdaq: KFRC), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX), Kelly Services (Nasdaq: KELYA), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA), SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), PowerShares QQQ Trust (Nasdaq: QQQ), ProShares Short Dow 30 (NYSE: DOG), ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS), ProShares Ultra QQQ (NYSE: QLD), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX), The NASDAQ OMX Group (Nasdaq: NDAQ), Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), E*Trade Financial (Nasdaq: ETFC), Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW), Asset Acceptance Capital (Nasdaq: AACC), Affiliated Managers (NYSE: AMG), Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP), TD Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD), BGC Partners (Nasdaq: BGCP), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS), CME Group (NYSE: CME), Cohn & Steers (NYSE: CNS), Cowen Group (Nasdaq: COWN), Diamond Hill Investment (Nasdaq: DHIL), Dollar Financial (Nasdaq: DLLR), Duff & Phelps (Nasdaq: DUF), Encore Capital (Nasdaq: ECPG), Edelman Financial (Nasdaq: EF), Equifax (NYSE: EFX), Epoch (Nasdaq: EPHC), Evercore Partners (NYSE: EVR), EXCorp. (Nasdaq: EZPW), FBR Capital Markets (Nasdaq: FBCM), First Cash Financial (Nasdaq: FCFS), Federated Investors (NYSE: FII), First Marblehead (NYSE: FMD), Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF), Financial Engines (Nasdaq: FNGN), FXCM (Nasdaq: FXCM), Gamco Investors (NYSE: GBL), GAIN Capital (Nasdaq: GCAP), Green Dot (Nasdaq: GDOT), GFI Group (Nasdaq: GFIG), Greenhill (NYSE: GHL), Gleacher (Nasdaq: GLCH), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), INTL FCStone (Nasdaq: INTL), Intersections (Nasdaq: INTX), Investment Technology (NYSE: ITG), Invesco (NYSE: IVZ), Jefferies (NYSE: JEF), JMP Group (NYSE: JMP), Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS), KBW (NYSE: KBW), Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG), Lazard (NYSE: LAZ), Legg Mason (NYSE: LM), LPL Investment (Nasdaq: LPLA), Ladenburg Thalmann (AMEX: LTS), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Moody’s (NYSE: MCO), MF Global (NYSE: MF), Moneygram (NYSE: MGI), MarketAxess (Nasdaq: MKTX), Marlin Business Services (Nasdaq: MRLN), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), MSCI (Nasdaq: MSCI), MGIC Investment (NYSE: MTG), NewStar Financial (Nasdaq: NEWS), National Financial Partners (NYSE: NFP), Nelnet (NYSE: NNI), Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS), NetSpend (Nasdaq: NTSP), Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN), Oppenheimer (NYSE: OPY), optionsXpress (Nasdaq: OXPS), PICO (Nasdaq: PICO), Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC), PMI Group (NYSE: PMI), Penson Worldwide (Nasdaq: PNSN), Portfolio Recovery (Nasdaq: PRAA), Raymond James (NYSE: RJF), SEI Investments (Nasdaq: SEIC), Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF), Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), State Street (NYSE: STT), SWS (NYSE: SWS), T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW), Visa (NYSE: V) and Virtus Investment Partners (Nasdaq: VRTS).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

QE3 Anyone?

TOPIC OF DEBATE

Should the Federal Reserve Introduce QE3? Will the Fed usher in Quantitave Easing Part III Anyway?

With the economy seemingly about to dive, we were thinking there’s a decent chance the Federal Reserve might revert back to its old line. However ineffective quantitative easing has been for sustained growth of the broader economy, it seems the government can’t yet come up with any better ideas. Therefore, there would also seem a distinct possibility it might not want to risk pulling away an aid now that might someday actually gain traction, especially with economic data-points offering insight into a questionable outlook. What say you to our topic of debate?

QE3 Anyone?

DEBATE TOPIC ARCHIVE

Topic should interest investors in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), TD Bank (NYSE: TD), PNC Bank (NYSE: PNC), State Street (NYSE: STT), Janus (NYSE: JNS), T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Alcoa (NYSE: AA), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), 3M (NYSE: MMM), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), AT&T (NYSE: T), Travelers (NYSE: TRV), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX), Manpower (NYSE: MAN), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), 51Job Inc. (Nasdaq: JOBS), Monster World Wide (NYSE: MWW), Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), Administaff (NYSE: ASF), Kforce (Nasdaq: KFRC), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX), Kelly Services (Nasdaq: KELYA), SFN Group (NYSE: SFN), CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI), Cross Country Healthcare (Nasdaq: CCRN), On Assignment (Nasdaq: ASGN), AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE: AHS), Barrett Business Services (Nasdaq: BBSI), Hudson Highland Group (Nasdaq: HHGP), StarTek (NYSE: SRT), RCM Technologies (Nasdaq: RCMT), VirtualScopics (Nasdaq: VSCP), General Employment Enterprises (NYSE: JOB) and TeamStaff (Nasdaq: TSTF).