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Bulls & Bears
This past week's Bulls & Bears: Gary B. Smith, Exemplar Capital managing partner; Pat Dorsey, Morningstar.com director of stock research; Tobin Smith, ChangeWave Research editor; Scott Bleier, HybridInvestors.com president; Cheryl Casone, FOX Business correspondent and host of "FOX Business Now" on Yahoo! Finance, and Patricia Powell , Powell Financial Group president.
Trading Pit
A man with a super strain of tuberculosis — rare and extremely dangerous — gets on several planes, and puts many at risk for the devastating disease. It's so serious, the government issues its first quarantine in almost 45 years. If this becomes a TB outbreak, what will it do to our stock market and economy?
Cheryl Casone: I think we could have a problem if there is an outbreak. It's not just TB that we're looking at. A lot of these diseases have become drug resistant. Strains of the flu, HIV… look at what SARS did to Asian economies. I know people that lost their jobs because they couldn't travel to Asia to do business. This could become a real problem if people stop traveling and start freaking out. Also, some could bring lawsuits against the airlines. It could get much, much worse.
Gary B. Smith: This won't have any effect on the market. Maybe three other people will get this strain of TB. It will be very bad for them, but this is no reason for concern in the market. Let's say the worst happens and the economy slows. The market will dip and that will give all the people who haven't participated in this rally a chance to buy and that will shoot stocks higher!
Pat Dorsey: Look at what SARS did to Hong Kong. It essentially shut the whole city down. The worst of SARS hit the Hong Kong about March or April 2003. The Hang Seng, the big index in the Hong Kong stock market, was about 10,000. Today it is at 20,000. Was that a better time to be a buyer or a seller?
Patricia Powell: This should be a wake-up call to the Department of Homeland Security and every health care professional. How do we get people on the "No Fly" list? How do we export that "No Fly" list to other countries? How do we shut down someone infected like this? I was a little shocked about how cavalier we were in dealing SARS and the avian flu because pandemics have killed millions of people. You have to take this very seriously. If terrorists were infected with some kind of pandemic and got on planes or subways, it could be spread all over the country or perhaps the world.
Tobin Smith: Let's take the SARS example. China covered up all the information and tried to keep it away from the public. But here in the United States, we would hit it hard. It's a rare strain, because it's a rare disease! Trust me, before this could ever become an epidemic, we would hit it with everything we have and eliminate the problem.
Scott Bleier: It's a legitimate concern. This one infected guy is no concern for the stock market. Practically nothing matters for the stock market right now. However, if people get scared, they are going to stay home, and if they stay home, the economy will slow. If that happens we will obviously run into a hard time. But it will cause the internet economy to explode. People will stay home and will have their FedEx and UPS guys delivering everything to them.
Dems' Best Chance in '08 Promise "Not" to Raise Taxes?
If one of the top Democrats made a pledge "not" to raise taxes on "anyone"…would he or she automatically become the person to beat in 2008?
Gary B: Absolutely yes…and that person would be Rudy Giuliani! He's already in the race. The odds of a Democrat making this pledge is about one in a billion, so I don't think it's going to happen.
Cheryl: If the American people are listening to what Democrats are saying, they're all saying, "Here's my plan. It's expensive." But the top three people in the polls are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. They're all saying their plans are going to cost a lot of money.
Tobin: No one has ever won an election by saying they were going to raise taxes. So, in theory they wouldn't want to do this. But essentially what they are saying is, "We aren't raising taxes, we're just letting the Bush tax cuts expire."
Scott: I don't think the Democrat that says they're going to cut taxes will come even close to winning because people that will vote for them don't care about lower taxes. The one who has the best—and probably most expensive—social programs that Democrats want is who's going to win.
Patricia: Raising taxes is going to cause havoc with this economy. The paradox here is that people don't understand tax policy. Raising taxes actually lowers revenue and results in less money for programs that you actually want to do. The smart candidate is going to come forward and say they are going to extend the tax cuts… and put out even more! Tax cuts work and benefit everybody.
Pat: Anyone who believes any promise from any candidate—from any party—is a complete fool. Whatever promises they make on the campaign trail are useless. I don't really care if it's raising taxes or cutting spending, but we have to balance the budget somehow—especially with the Medicare and Social Security issues looming.
Chartman
Gary B. picked his best stocks.
If you want to see what Gary B. had to say about his stocks, click here.
Brookfield Properties (BPO)
Global Sources (GSOL)
NAVTEQ (NVT)
Starbucks (SBUX)
Predictions
Cheryl's prediction: Bad hurricane season sends gas to $4/gallon
Gary B's prediction: Summer flying soars & so does Boeing (BA); up 30 percent by 2008
Tobin's prediction: Paris TV show huge hit! Comcast (CMCSA) gains 30 percent
Scott's prediction: More people fix up homes; Lowe's (LOW) 20 percent higher
Patricia's prediction: Whiting Petro (WLL) gets red hot! Up 33 percent by end of year
Pat's prediction: Jabil Circuit (JBL) powers up 50 percent in 2 years
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
Cavuto on Business
On Saturday, June 2nd, Neil Cavuto was joined by Charles Payne, "Be Smart, Act Fact, Get Rich" author; Laura Schwartz, White House Strategies; Ben Ferguson, radio talk show host; Tracy Byrnes, NY Post Business writer; Jill Schlesinger, StrategicPoint Investment Advisors; and Cody Willard , Financial Times columnist.
Bottom Line: Who's Watching You?
Neil Cavuto: Think twice before you leave your house. Anyone might be watching you up close and personal… on Google! Has Google's "Street View" technology gone too far?
Charles Payne: Absolutely! By its very nature, Google is big brother. It has to be. The more Google knows about us, the more valuable Google becomes as a company. The crazy thing is that we're celebrating this! The same people who think this is ok are the same people who are against the government wire-tapping to look for terrorists… They think it's ok for Google to know every aspect of my life and put it out there for everyone to access.
Cody Willard: But, this isn't big brother. It's little brother. I've actually trademarked that phrase. That is the future. You cannot stop the empowerment of the end user and that's what Google has always done and is continuing to do. They're taking a technology that has been out there for the government…
Charles Payne: I'm confused about the little brother though.
Cody Willard: It's little brother because all of us have access now. We have cell phones…
Charles Payne: So there's no privacy. That's the point.
Cody Willard: But, it's little brother, not big brother. There's a big difference. It's not the government that's tapping…
Neil Cavuto: Is it going too far?
Tracy Byrnes: You know, I don't think it's any different than the old guy in the apartment building with a telescope. Now, he's just doing it at his computer. If you want to be a voyeur, you're going to be a voyeur.
Neil Cavuto: You knew my dad, didn't you?
(LAUGHTER)
Jill Schlesinger: If you just walk down the street, you can take a picture with your cell phone. But, it doesn't seem to me that it's infringing on anyone's privacy. I read an article where a woman said so-and-so saw her cat. Well, shut your blinds! I mean honestly.
(LAUGHTER)
Tracy Byrnes: Neil, this isn't new. Amazon tried to do this. Microsoft is working on it.
Cody Willard: There is no stopping the movement toward empowering the end user. If Google doesn't do it, someone else is going to.
Neil Cavuto: I know it's about empowering the end user, but the privacy issue… Ben Ferguson, what do you make of that?
Ben Ferguson: Should Google give you the right to be able to stalk people? It's one thing if you take a day off of work and you go follow someone or you take pictures outside of their house. It's totally different when you can sit at work and see when your wife leaves or when your ex-girlfriend leaves or if she's home by 11 o'clock.
Cody Willard: How are you going to stop it though? Are you going to legislate against the empowering of the individual? Are you going to legislate against opening this technology up to the end user? You can't stop it.
Ben Ferguson: I don't know if you can legislate this. But, the reality is do you really want people to be able to stalk you from anywhere in the world? That makes me nervous. And if this was in the Patriot Act, I guarantee every Congressman and Senator in Washington, DC would have struck down that bill because they know it's wrong for people to be able to sit at their computer and watch you 24/7. It freaks me out!
Neil Cavuto: Laura Schwartz, let me ask you, our much esteemed Democrat on this panel. I don't mean for this to sound political, but the fact that Google is run by a couple of very liberal, independent guys… if these were two right-wing guys running this company… the press would be all over it. You can't tell me they wouldn't. And yet, outside of our talk here, there's been virtually no discussion. What do you make of that?
Laura Schwartz: I think there'd be virtually no discussion. I mean, this is great new product for Google users to use. It's going to bring people to Google who haven't been there before. Google's even creating more ad-sense for third parties to profit on. This is a great business idea.
Neil Cavuto: So Laura, you have no qualms with cameras watching you morning, noon, and night? And how I can find out what Laura's doing today by logging on to Google?
Laura Schwartz: But, the cameras and the video are not live. But, I do think that new technology comes with new concerns.
Neil Cavuto: It's just a matter of time.
Laura Schwartz: You know, Google has talked about privacy. If you want to flag something you're not comfortable with, you can do that. We have a do not call list for our telephones, maybe we can have a do not show list online. But, when it comes down to it, the images are taken from public places.
Neil Cavuto: I'd have to block out every restaurant from my wife.
Ben Ferguson: It's not an issue of public places when you are following a person. We're not talking about cars at an intersection. We're talking about being able to follow a human being. That's not about being in a public place at all.
Laura Schwartz: Well, right now, the street level technology doesn't let you do that.
Charles Payne: Cody's saying we should raise the white flag and just give in to this. First of all, I think there's a problem when things are taken from us involuntarily…. whether it's our freedom, our rights, our way of thinking. If you want to volunteer to go on the Internet and put all of your information out there, fine. But I have a problem with people putting information about me on the Internet. I think we're all to a certain degree hiding something.
Cody Willard: I don't think they're taking power from you. I think they're giving you more.
Ben Ferguson: I didn't sign up for a reality TV show. That's the point. I did not sign up to be on a reality TV show and not get paid.
Tracy Byrnes: But you know what, Ben? This technology has done amazing things for us. For instance, you can sit at your computer now and watch your children at day care. And that is an amazing thing.
Ben Ferguson: That is a service that they offer to you.
Cody Willard: It's not as if this is proprietary content to Google. Google is acting as a conduit, as a pipe to the world's information.
Neil Cavuto: Here's the thing, guys. When everyone was looking into the Patriot Act and violating people's rights, it caused a hullabaloo. But, with Google showing video on the Internet for the world to see, that's ok. It seems weird.
Jill Schlesinger: The information is already available. That's the issue.
Laura Schwartz: When you talk about the NSA wire-tapping program, many Republicans had issues with it, just like the Democrats, and that's because they were doing it without a warrant. The government was tapping into private phone conversations…
Neil Cavuto: Laura, c'mon. You're splitting hairs. If this somehow had the Republican Party behind it, you would be apoplectic.
Laura Schwartz: Hey, Neil there is data-mining going on in both camps, and it's incredibly useful… just like how Google makes sure that the pop-up ad refers to something you're looking at.
Ben Ferguson: Laura, the difference is simple to me. When you have technology where you can watch your child at day care, you're electing to use that technology. When you sign up to be on a reality TV show, you're signing up for it. When I'm walking down the street or when someone can see when I'm at my house and when I'm not at my house… criminals can use that information and rob me. That's a security issue.
Tracy Byrnes: Ben, if somebody wanted to rob you, they're going to rob you.
Laura Schwartz: And that's why some people have blocked the satellite shots of their house.
Neil Cavuto: Ok, we're going to Ben Ferguson's address so you all can download it…
(LAUGHTER)
Head to Head: Role Model$?
Neil Cavuto: Paris, Lindsay, and Britney… they're rich, famous, and in your face! Are spoiled celebrities like these making the rest of us feel bad about our own financial situations? Ben, what do you make of that?
Ben Ferguson: Well, I think it's absolutely true. People love reading about other people's glamorous lives. But, it's affecting the way people live their own lives, financially. People are living outside their means. They're getting the bigger house they can't afford. They're driving the Mercedes, the BMW on $30,000 salaries. They've got purses and wallets that cost more than the money they have to put in them! And that's what's going to hurt this economy.
Cody Willard: We've seen this when Mae West was around… Zsa-Zsa Gabor… even Shannon Dougherty. I mean, these people have always been around.
Neil Cavuto: I love Shannon Dougherty.
(LAUGHTER)
Cody Willard: Why not? I'm a big fan of Mae West. But, why is this a negative? Let's strive to be like them. I was just in San Antonio, New Mexico, and I ate at the original Conrad Hilton bar. It's the best burger restaurant you'll ever go to. And that's inspirational. Why is that a bad thing?
Neil Cavuto: But, you have the money. So, what Ben was saying, and I don't know if you agree, Charles… but you point this out in your book… to aspire to good things isn't bad, but to do them ahead of the fact could be. So is it bad for Americans to imitate celebrities when they don't have nearly enough money to do it?
Charles Payne: Absolutely. It's bad. It's good to want to be like that, but when you feel the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses… And, there's an odd twist to this: When you see rich people go into an abyss, what some people say is "I told you. Money can't buy happiness. I told you!" So, it adds fuel to the fire for people who hate prosperity.
Neil Cavuto: Well, that's like O'Reilly. He always wants to go clubbing. You know, I say, "Bill, chill."
(LAUGHTER)
Neil Cavuto: Tracy, you're saying we have to cool it on this.
Tracy Byrnes: I don't think we're aspiring to Hollywood. We're aspiring to be more like the guy next door.
Cody Willard: I'm aspiring to be Hollywood.
Tracy Byrnes: You ARE Hollywood!
(LAUGHTER)
Neil Cavuto: I'm aspiring to be Charles.
Ben Ferguson: People are aspiring to be these famous people and that's why the celebrities are on the front of all these magazines.
Tracy Byrnes: No, I don't think so. Who wants to be Lindsay Lohan?
Cody Willard: We always wanted it because we do have the upward mobility.
Neil Cavuto: Laura, let me get your thoughts on this. Do you think there's something in our society that compels people to imitate those who have it all?
Laura Schwartz: Absolutely, especially when it comes to adolescents who don't have the filter between fact and fiction and what reality really is. Reality is so skewed with these people. We want to have the same houses, the same cars, the same purses as the celebrities. It's like peer pressure, but they're not our peers. Now, adults. We totally get it. It's a scam. It's ridiculous.
Cody Willard: My first boss on Wall Street was a 73 year old Hungarian who had been on the Street 30 or 40 years. He used to quote Mae West… "Too much of a great thing can be wonderful."
Charles Payne: When you say they don't influence us, I find it odd because they're who we use in our fashion magazines and on ads on TV. They sell us things.
Tracy Byrnes: But, I don't aspire to have a house in Bel Air.
Charles Payne: Well, your kids may.
Tracy Byrnes: Well, that's where I come in and smack them down to reality.
Ben Ferguson: Look at the eating disorders in this country today. Look at how many young people have eating disorders. It's because of Paris Hilton and because of Nicole Richie. People want to be like them.
Cody Willard: C'mon! Don't put that on Paris Hilton.
Laura Schwartz: Those kids need good parents to show them the difference.
Neil Cavuto: I don't want to blame Lindsay for my binge eating…
(LAUGHTER)
More for Your Money: Getaway $tocks!
Neil Cavuto: Buy these stocks now, and our guys say they just might help pay for your ultimate summer getaway!
If you'd like to see what each had to say about their stock, click here.
Tracy Byrnes: Lowe's (LOW)
Charles Payne: Starwood Hotels and Resorts (HOT)
*Charles owns shares of this stock.
Jill Schlesinger: BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index (ADRE)
*Jill owns shares of this stock
Cody Willard: New York Times (NYT)
*Cody owns shares of this stock
FOX on the Spot
Ben: Fred Thompson will be the next president!
Charles: America's going green; big biz benefits!
Tracy: Gas prices fall below $3 by September!
Jill: Gas prices continue to rise, but so do stocks!
Laura: Immigration bill literally "costing" GOP!
Neil: Fred Thompson runs the "anti-campaign" race
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
Forbes on FOX
Flipside: Gas Is Cheap At Twice The Price
Mark Tatge, Chicago Bureau Chief: I think Americans are spoiled. I have family in the UK who spend $8/gallon. They don't even blink over it. If we had higher gas prices it would force people to conserve energy. We use the majority of the energy in the world and we're cheap and we're spoiled.
Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief: Gas prices are too high. We're in a big country. We need our cars. England has 50 million people in a country the size of Iowa. They don't need to drive as much and they can use mass transit more.
Michele Steele, Forbes.com Reporter: We need our cars, but the question is do we need to drive Ford Expeditions everywhere. In the last 10 years SUVs, as percentage of market share, have doubled. It doesn't seem like Americans are changing their behavior and frankly that means that gas prices aren't high enough.
Victoria Barret, Associate Editor: Mark's family in England are probably driving a golf cart, compared to what I drive. They're getting more fuel efficiency. They're paying more for gas but their cars are more efficient. So it's not really a fair comparison.
Elizabeth MacDonald, Senior Editor: Gas prices are still around the high, on an inflation-adjusted basis, that they were in March 1981. The refineries are at a choke point right now. Congress has mandated that ethanol producers produce as much energy as Kuwait and Nigeria. That's going to ratchet up prices even higher.
Mike Ozanian, Senior Editor: We haven't built a new refinery in over 30 years. Comparing us to Europe is like saying the Yankees are good because they have a better record than Tampa Bay. If higher taxes and disincentives made us drive less we would be driving less because the government's been raising gas taxes for years.
In Focus: Best Thing for America and Markets: Muzzle Jimmy Carter?
Jim Michaels, Editorial Vice President: I don't know whether it's hurting the nation and the market but he's sure hurting himself. Under his watch American prestige sank to the lowest level it ever has. The Iranians kidnapped 50 American diplomats and tortured some of them for over a year. Carter did nothing. When he finally acted it was a disaster. He should be apologizing for his own Presidency.
Mark Tatge: I don't think there is anything he needs to apologize for. I think you need to put Carter in perspective here. He was a guy who tried to broker deals. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a guy who didn't invade countries or start wars.
Steve Forbes: By that logic Jimmy Carter is a better President than FDR or Lincoln. He wrecked the U.S. economy, he had a disastrous foreign policy. With that kind of record he should be apologizing.
Quentin Hardy, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief: To try and compare Jimmy Carter to George Bush shows you where George Bush is these days. 52 hostages – he delivered them back alive. He lost that election in part because he stayed with getting those hostages out. That was a good thing. He did the Camp David Accords. Under Bush what do we have; Abu Grab, North Korea and Iran is getting the bomb.
Victoria Barret: Pacification can lead to bad things. This is not about Carter vs. Bush. It's about decency. Former presidents have the right to criticize, to be skeptical but to call the current leader the worst ever is just not decent.
Rich Karlgaard, Publisher: I'm glad Jimmy Carter is speaking because he shows the face of the idiotic, anti-war left. The more people see people like this, the better.
This $ummer: Do or Die for the Housing Market?
Neil Weinberg, Senior Editor: It's put up or shut up time for the housing market. We took the body blow from the sub-prime mortgage market. We've seen that existing housing sales were down in the spring. Still the economy is strong and labor is good and there are jobs out there. People need to get out there and buy now, or else we're in for trouble.
Quentin Hardy: It's gonna be a slow crawl out of here. It's a buyers market but the buyers aren't showing up. It's not a disaster but a slow crawl out.
Jim Michaels: We're certainly in trouble for another year because if that inventory isn't cleared up, buyers are going to be afraid to buy because they'll be expecting prices to go down. Demand is still there. Problem is, prices got a little too high and the market got flooded with inventory. This isn't a housing depression, it's a housing recession.
Lea Goldman: Buyers are not jumping in right now, mortgage rates are on the rise and interest rates potentially may be rising soon too. If you're a first time buyer you don't want to get in until you know you are getting a deal. And sellers don't want to put their homes on the market now.
Steve Forbes: It's not going to be do or die for the housing market this summer. Fortunately, housing is not the entire economy. The Federal Reserve is still printing too much money. Inflation is still out there. Before year end, housing prices are going to go up and that will bail them out once more.
Informer: Red Hot $ummer Stocks!
If you want to hear what each Forbes panelist had to say about their stock pick, click here.
Mike Ozanian: PC&E Corp (PCG)
Lea Goldman: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)
Neil Weinberg: AMR Corp (AMR)
Rich Karlgaard: D. R. Horton (DHI)
Elizabeth MacDonald: Paccar (PCAR)
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
Cashin' In
Our Cashin' In crew this week: Wayne Rogers, Wayne Rogers & Co; Jonathan Hoenig, CapitalistPig Asset Management; Jonas Max Ferris, MaxFunds.com; Dagen McDowell, FOX Business News; Stuart Varney, FOX Business News; and Price Headley , BigTrends.com
Hillary's Economic Plan: Smart or Socialism?
In a major economic speech by Senator Hillary Clinton last week, she proposed a society where "we're all in it together", "ensure" that the middle class succeeds, and promised affordable health care for all Americans. Is this a smart plan or is this socialism?
Stuart: I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It is profoundly un-American. We're not all in this together. This country was not founded on group politics. It wasn't based on class politics or class economics. It was founded on individual effort, liberty, and freedom. This is profoundly different from the socialism-light of dear Hillary.
Dagen: Stuart, what Hillary is talking about is as American as apple pie and baseball. She's trying to address worries of job losses and ridiculously expensive health care. If she was an anti-capitalist, she wouldn't be the third largest recipient of money from the finance and security business or the largest recipient of money from the computer and internet industry.
Jonathan: Dagen, listen to what Hillary says. She does not believe that we are individual beings with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that we are here to serve our neighbor. This is the road to serfdom and it scares me.
Wayne: Hillary Clinton has characterized her speeches as a plan, but that's wrong. She doesn't have a plan. It's just a series of platitudes and it doesn't make any sense. She used the word "fair" throughout her speech. Who decides what is fair? Hillary Clinton decides what is fair? Give me a break. The federal government decides what is fair? I don't think so.
Price: The problem here is not just socialism, but economic collapse. We're looking at tax cuts being repealed. Tax cuts are what has made this economy strong and made this stock market strong. These will get repealed if Hillary gets in office and she does have a good chance because of the anti-Bush vote. If you didn't like President Bush's economy, then you are really not going to like the economy come 2008 and beyond.
Jonas: Hillary is not a socialist; she is a populist. She just says what the audience wants to hear. Primaries are coming up and liberals really come out to vote then. She was talking to tech companies about bringing immigrants to work for them. That's more capitalist than all the republicans running for office right now.
Jonathan: Hillary fundamentally believes that we have an altruistic duty to serve others.
Jonas: She fundamentally believes in saying what people want to hear. If she were president, she would bring it to the middle where there's no socialist vote.
Should You Be Able to Sell Your Organs to the Highest Bidder?
A new Dutch reality show revealed as a hoax to raise awareness for organ donors. It claimed to give a dying woman the power to choose the recipient of her kidneys. Should Americans be able to sell your organs to the highest bidder?
Jonathan: Who owns your body? You do. As long as there is no force or coercion involved, the government has no business telling me what I can do with my own body. If I want to sell my kidney, I have every right to sell it to the highest bidder. The public doesn't own my kidney. I do and I should be able to sell it for whatever I want.
Wayne: This is unethical. We already have a donor program. If we were able to sell our organs, those who are rich would corner the market.
Dagen: I am totally on board with this idea. Doctors, insurance companies, and drug companies already make money off transplants, so why not individuals? There was a law passed just a few years ago that gives financial help to those who donate organs. Why not take it a step further?
Stuart: My interest in this is medical. I want to increase the supply of organs coming on to the market. Put a price on those organs and you increase the supply. What's wrong with that?
Price: There's a gray area. The principles are good and it should be a free market idea, but the lawyers would kill this. As soon as someone dies from this, there will be a lot of lawsuits. In principle it's a good idea, but in reality it's not going to work.
Jonas: It's not even a good idea in principle. You're talking about an eBay for organs. It is just so sick and ridiculous. I'm as much of an economic liberal as anybody, but we have not even begun to deal with the capitalism issue. The DMV can pay people to put organ donation on their driver's license. There are a million ways to solve the lack of organs. We've got so many prisoners who could give organs to get a sentence reduction.
Stuart: I have an asset. Who are you to tell me whether or not I can use that asset and in what circumstances?
Ward Churchill: Proof Tenure Is Bad For Our School System?
An American business can fire a person and he or she is gone that day, but not at a school. Would our kids get a better education if schools were run more like a business?
Jonathan: If privatized, our kids would get a better education if schools were run more like businesses. It's an embarrassment that we cannot fire a guy like Ward Churchill, but the citizens of Colorado are subsidizing. They are paying his salary! If you privatize the schools, administrators can hire and fire whoever they want and the citizens aren't forced to subsidize it.
Wayne: The University is at fault for giving this guy tenure in the first place. It was terrible judgment. This guy is a fraud from an academic point of view and that is the problem. If he were out in the world with free speech, he could say anything he wants. It should just not be done at the university and propagated to students.
Jonas: Is it any different from the way corporate America is run? Many executives have a golden parachute. You can't fire someone just because you don't like what they say.
Stuart: I've got six children and I'm a consumer. Every year in America, tuition goes up more than the rate of inflation. Colleges are never asked to cut costs, become more efficient, and compete like private enterprise.
Dagen: In recent years, universities have become more like businesses. There's been the rise of for-profit universities and the rise in adjunct or tenured professors.
Jonas: Isn't the purpose of tenure to give a teacher or professor freedom of speech without being fired?
Best Bets: High Ri$k, High Reward Stocks
To watch this segment in its entirety, please click here.
Wayne: BE Aerospace (BEAV) (Friday's Close: $38.91)
Price: TBS International (TBSI) (Friday's Close: $22.70)
Jonathan: Cellcom Israel (CEL) (Friday's Close: $26.00)
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