Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 48 stations) by expressing concern that New York could elect left wing liberal Bill de Blasio as its new mayor. He suggested that if he patterns himself off of President Obama, it would be a big mistake, considering that Obama’s approval ratings are about the same as George W Bush’s when he left office.
Made in America welcomed return guest Michael F. Cannon, the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies, who predicted that if Obamacare takes effect, it will cause private insurance markets to implode and will build consumer anger toward private insurers.
“People have long known that the infamous glitches in the Obamacare web launch were going to be a problem. The best thing that could happen to Obamacare is that it is delayed, or better yet, overturned,” said Cannon.
Host Neal Asbury, whose The Legacy Companies, has more than 200 employees, is finding that he has to pay an eight percent “Obamacare premium” tacked onto his other healthcare coverage which is going to rise by at least 16 percent.
“This is a story I’ve heard a lot. Since 2010 we knew that Obamacare was going to cost people more money, especially those with job-based coverage. Some people who buy insurance directly through private insurers are seeing an 80 percent increase in their premiums, and in many cases, it’s for worse coverage,” noted Cannon.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman predicted that if people enrolling on the Obamacare website are having problems now, the problems will only grow worse when millions of people try to access the site to check on their coverage.
“The end result is that private insurers are lowering the scope of their services, which will mean less access to doctors and hospitals while out-of-pocket costs increase. In short, Americans are getting robbed,” concluded Cannon.
Neal and Dr. Roffman continued the discussion on whether being held accountable means anything on Capitol Hill.
“HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius says she takes full responsibility for the failure of the Obamacare launch. But what does that mean? There are no repercussions,” noted Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed, adding that Sibelius’ mea culpa sounded insincere, especially since she read it off a paper.
“If she was guilty, is she going to quit? Is she going to fix it? When people say things they need to be held accountable. But these are empty words, and nothing happens,” suggested Dr. Roffman.
Dr. Roffman segued to a discussion on job creation where President Obama is finally being held accountable for a lack of jobs.
“His approval ratings are near 38 percent, but they will rise when he announces that thousands of jobs are being created, but leaving out that most of them will be seasonal or part-time jobs created largely by big box stores for the upcoming holidays,” said Dr. Roffman.
Neal added that when people rely on part-time jobs they are five times more likely to live in poverty.
“But this isn’t happening in the government, where billions of dollars in back wages was paid to government workers laid off during the government shut down. In essence, they got a long paid vacation,” said Neal, who added that the biggest threat to national economic security is the lack of jobs because it stops investment.
Made in America’s next guest was return guest Lance Roberts from STA Wealth Management, who noted that people are no longer investing for long-term growth, but are favoring risky, short-term investments.
“At one time, people were making long-term investments, which help the economy. But the Fed keeps pointing to the rise in the stock market as a sign that the economy is growing. But only five percent of consumers are in the market, while 72 percent are living paycheck-to-paycheck. When the stock market grows, it doesn’t filter down to the general population,” suggested Roberts.
He noted that while the Fed should get credit for stabilizing the economy, they should bow out of the market and allow it to operate on its own. The cost of capital will not go up, and while interest rates will initially rise, the resulting recession will bring down rates, which will spur more productive investment.
The final guest on Made in America was Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum, a national organization of citizens who participate as volunteers in the public policymaking process.
Schlafly is concerned that the GOP is being forced to accept the influx of illegal immigrants advocated by the Democrats, whose business constituents want access to a big pool of cheap labor — a betrayal to legal immigrants and U.S. workers.
“Most of the millions of immigrants we have welcomed came from countries where the only government they knew was one that made all decisions about economic and social policy. The current level of legal immigration to America adds thousands of people every day whose views and experience are contrary to the conservative value of limited government, which will lead to increased government spending, more pressure on our hard-pressed health care system and overcrowded public schools,” predicted Schlafly.
She suggested that a grass roots movement must begin to speak up about the influx of illegal aliens, and reminded listeners that George W. Bush signed a bill to secure the borders with more fences, which was never enacted,.
“The influx of these new voters will reduce or eliminate Republicans’ ability to offer an alternative to big government. It is suicide for the GOP to accept this initiative because it will bring in more Democratic voters who want the government to make more decisions about their lives,” concluded Schlafly.
Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman concluded the show by returning to the topic of cronyism and its resulting waste of taxpayer dollars.
“We are seeing the seeds of cronyism in the expected Hillary Clinton presidential run. She is being paid $400,000 for two speeches by Goldman Sachs. She’s making some close friendships in the investment community, which will one day impact her campaign—and perhaps her presidency,” said Dr. Roffman.
He continued to point to the cronyism resulting from Obamacare, especially the $27 million going to Obamacare navigators, including the Apex Body Shop and the Brooklyn Cupcake Bakery in New York City, that seem an odd choice to guide people through the intricacies of Obamacare. The problem is this—neither venue knew they were Obamacare navigator offices of record! Dr. Roffman noted that these choices should be no surprise since they are being directed by the SEIU. Bottom line: where’s the money?
Finally, continuing the discussion on Obamacare, Dr. Roffman noted that while we all know that CGI was given a $678 million no-bid contract to create the website, they have received millions more over the years for other contracts –to the tune of almost $1 billion, all tied to friends in the administration. It pays to bundle for the Obama administration!
Each week Neal Asbury’s 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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