From the better late than never file, here is the 2005 Year in Review: Best of the Blogs from Pundit Review Radio.
Among the highlights: Newsweak getting dropped by WRKO and replaced by bloggers (thanks Newsweak!), Dick The Turbin Durbin being held responsible for infamous trilogy analogy, the Harriet Miers debacle, Porkbusters and much, much more. Check it out.
Excellent editorial in today’s Wall St. Journal editorial section entitled “Hillary Care Returns.” (sub req.)
Our quasi-socialist healthcare system has been an abysmal failure in this country. We need genuine market based reforms that enable individuals to deduct healthcare expenses (HSAs), provide for interstate commerce/allow qualified insurance companies to sell insurance nationwide, and that sets caps on damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases (an anethema to Dems who whose life blood are donations from the trial lawyers).
I hope that Bush and the GOP make this a top domestic priority in ’06. Medicare/Medicaid represents the largest single unfunded entitlement/liability and must be reformed immediately to ensure that benefits are not reduced/taxes raised (as is proposed on businesses such as Wall Mart in Maryland.) HSAs have been a great start. Now it is time to roll back the “free drugs for wealthy seniors”- who can’t even understand the labyrinthine new “prescription drug benefit” and replace it with market based solutions which always result in the most efficient allocation of scarce resources.
The government can’t run the DMV or post office efficiently. It’s time for them to get out of the healthcare business permenently. Instead of penalizing Wall Mart and other successful businesses by imposing burdensome regulations and additional taxes which will result in fewer jobs, let’s deal with the “root cause” of the healthcare problem- our intrusive federal government.
As the editorial notes the proposed tax in Maryland will have a devestating impact on all private businesses not just evil Wall Mart (who is by the way the single largest private employer in our nation):
The details vary by state, but already it’s clear the new tax would eventually hit companies a lot smaller than Wal-Mart. In Rhode Island, proposed legislation takes aim at businesses with only 1,000 employees. In other states proposals would mandate payouts of 9% or more. Once the principle is established that employers must allocate a certain share of their payroll to health care, it becomes easier to gradually extend the mandate to all businesses.
Why is it that liberals always look to more government involvement and higher taxes as the solution to every societal ill? Didn’t liberalism always used to mean less government involvement and more individual liberty, freedom, and choice?
Tonight on Pundit Review Radio we will close the loop on the Alito confirmation hearings. We will also talk to a blogger who was invited by the Republican National Committee to attend the hearings and cover them live. Matt Margolis, founder of Blogs for Bush and GOP Bloggers will join us to discuss this interesting strategy of inviting bloggers and their readers to have a first hand account of the hearings. What else is behind this strategy? A desire to go over the heads of the dreaded MSM? We’ll find out. Is there any doubt that the political elites understand the importance/impact of blogs?
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Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. This unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 9pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Bostonâ??s Talk Leader.
After three days on the job at Sirius Satellite Radio, Howard Stern filed to sell all 34 million of his shares. Now, to be fair, just because he filed to sell doesn’t mean he IS going to sell. However, it looks awfully bad for Stern in a number of ways.
First, if Stern does sell, he is going to be suspected of a classic Pump and Dump. As Richard Suttemier said on TheStreet.com,
I wonder how many Stern fans are cursing him now for pulling the plug on his own shares? When he rang the opening bell at Nasdaq he said shares were worth $10 to $15.
TheStreet.com’s resident lunatic Jim Cramer added,
Am I an idiot, or did Howard Stern just do the greatest pump and dump in history? Did he not say that things were great and that Sirius (SIRI:Nasdaq) was doing well? Did he not just come on television, ring the opening buzzer or whatever they have at the Nazz and get all lathered about the stock? And now he’s free to sell 34 million shares? I mean, how many people went and bought the stock much higher because of what he just said, and now will feel compelled to “average down” when Stern does his selling?
Now, you could argue that Stern knew nothing and that he simply doesn’t matter. He can say what he wants because he is a big star. But last I looked, there was no Big Star immunity to the 1934 Act.
It’s not just the appearence of impropriety in selling his shares so soon after saying they were 50% undervalued. What does it say about his belief in the company’s long-term future? More important, what does it say about his respect for CEO Mel Karmazin, who signed him to his 5 year, $500M contract? Karmazin must be furious. Once news got out about Stern’s disclosure, Karmazin was forced to go into crisis mode, making a significant buy of stock which he described as a “statement buy” to demonstrate his confidence in the company. What a way to be treated by your biggest star in his first week on the job. Thanks Howard.
William Gabrielski, again, from TheStreet.com,
So, Sirius (SIRI:Nasdaq) CEO Mel Karmazin is doing damage control today with his 1-million share “statement buy.”
While it is true that a filing does not necessarily mean a sale is imminent, I don’t think Karmazin would have made his purchase today if he believed there wouldn’t be additional headline risk from the actual sale of Stern’s stock in the coming days and weeks.
Knowing what I know about Mel Karmazin from following Sirius and even taking him to task a bit in person, I would imagine he must be very embarrassed about Howard Stern’s decision to make a filing that states he can sell any and all of his shares whenever he wants. Karmazin has a lot of pride in “his company,” and Stern is making him look bad right now.
Stern says Sirius stock is 50-75% undervalued yet Morningstar says it is 300% overvalued,
Sirius Satellite Radio (NasdaqNM:SIRI – News)
Price/fair value ratio: 302%
From the Analyst Report: “With all of the substitutes to satellite radio available, each installed satellite radio unit will not translate into a self-paying subscriber. Not all consumers will want to spend $150 per year for satellite radio when terrestrial radio, still available through satellite radio hardware, costs nothing. In our opinion, digital music on MP3 players, wireless networks capable of streaming Internet radio into the car, and content through cell phones loom as potential threats, too.”
Maybe Howard Stern believes Morningstar more than he believes his own BS.
UPDATE: Seriously, Does the Sirius-Howard Stern Deal Make Sense?
Have you ever had one of those days where someone says something that just sets you off? BizzyBlog’s Tom Blumer apparently had such a day today.
A commentor named David pushed all the right buttons in repsonse to a post,
Americaâ??s fastest growth rates in the 50â??s, 60â??s, and 90â??s coincided with relatively periods of relatively high taxes (and low deficits). And please donâ??t give me the â??oh but it would have grown even faster with lower taxesâ? line – you simply donâ??t know. Only an extremist fringe of economists believe in supply-side economics; Bush Sr. was right to call it â??Voodoo Economics.â?Â
BizzyBlog’s response is devastating. Insight, analysis, charts, graphs, links, etc. Check it out for yourself.
David brought a wet noodle to a gun fight. Nice job Tom.
After sitting politely for two days while Ted Kennedy tried to paint her husband as a racist and a bigot, Samuel Alito’s wife broke down in tears today after Senator Lindsay Graham apologized to the judge and his family for having to sit through this character assassination.
Look at this this way Mrs. Alito, it could have been worse, at least Kennedy didn’t offer you a ride.
Captain Ed said it well,
Massachussetts should be ashamed of themselves for returning this vacuous boob to represent them in the highest levels of the government.
Some of us are Captain.
Actor Sean Penn has finally quit his four-pack-a-day smoking habit after watching his father Leo Penn dying of lung cancer. Penn, who turned 40 last year, says he’d been trying to kick the habit for some time but it was seeing his movie director dad lose his battle with lung cancer that finally urged him into action. Penn says, “I always told myself that I should quit smoking at 30. By 40 there was no choice anymore. Watching my father die was the clincher.”
Actor Sean Penn admitting that the stress of living under the current administration was making it tough for him to quit smoking.