DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
REPORT: COMPANIES PLANNING TO SHIFT MORE H'CARE COSTS TO WORKERS DUE TO OBAMACARE
CHARLES PAYNE: Here's the thing, we already saw this happening. I have my own business. We grapple with this every single year. We were promised, everybody was promised, that this would change. Obama Care was going to change. We were going to bend the cost curve. This is sending it much higher.
DAGEN MCDOWELL: It's more of a burden. You have young people who can stay on their parent's insurance well into their mid-20s. As more people pile into employer-based programs you will see higher premiums and higher deductibles particularly for family care. That's where the costs will go up. Democrats like to brag that the health care spending has slowed to the lowest level in half a century. Nevertheless, it's something that started happening ten years ago. You're seeing a record cost for health care. The increases will continue to skyrocket, in part because of this law.
CHARLIE GASPARINO: Could you imagine if President Obama ran on the truth of this stuff? Just say he tried to sell it? Listen, you're going to get thrown off your plan. You're going to pay more. This is a big lie and it's coming apart. Part of me says just let it roll and let the worse happen. The other part of me says that's going to hurt this country really bad.
ADAM LASHINSKY: Most of you would probably agree that one of the problems is the way health care's been paid for over the past generation. People stopped taking responsibility for their costs, they said, "Oh, my company will pay for it." The company said, "Guess what? We want you to pay for it a little bit more." Maybe now they'll think about some of your wasteful spending.
NEW FIGURES SHOW GOV'T MADE $41.3B PROFIT ON STUDENT LOANS IN 2013
CHARLES PAYNE: It's amazing. President Obama, he hinted, he winked, he suggested, "Hey, hook me up; put me back in the office, I'll get rid of this stuff." What about competition? What if the government went back to the business of guaranteeing this thing but making sure the private sector competed? This is like Obama Care; it's ratcheting up the expense of going to the college exponentially.
DAGEN MCDOWELL: This money goes to cut spending in education department. I don't think the government should be in the business of providing all students with loans.
CHARLIE GASPARINO: When the government's in it and given all this money, why can't you go to a state school? Why do you need a loan to go to Yale?
ADAM LASHINSKY: I think the comparison with housing is actually an inapt one. I think the government should be in the business of making student loans or insuring, guaranteeing, helping, or subsidizing student loans. Over the decades, we created this culture where we told people, "You have to own your own home or somehow you're doing something wrong." I think we've gone overboard. We should ratchet it back, but we should certainly not eliminate it. We should get control of it. We should say to students, "Go to college if college is the right choice for you. Buy a home if you can afford a home."
BANKS WARN POTENTIAL FED MOVE COULD LEAD TO FEES ON DEPOSITS
CHARLES PAYNE: They're talking about going to zero. If they go to zero, they aren't giving banks any interest. Banks have to pay insurance on the money that they hold. The banks are like, "Listen, we either charge you for holding your money, or come and get it. We're not making loans with it." It could be a different kind of world out there.
CHARLIE GASPARINO: I don't think this is the Fed's fault. This is Dodd-Frank. It actually helps banks a lot. This is Dodd-Frank. There are so many embedded costs into that regulatory structure, with capital requirements and everything else.
DAGEN MCDOWELL: I don't think it will happen. I don't think the Federal
Reserve, to Charles' point, is going to cut the interest rate paid on bank reserves. I don't think banks will do this. Number one: that is one of their biggest moneymakers. Number two: you sell other services to people who have money on deposit so they can easily make up what they might lose.
ADAM LASHINSKY: I agree. Rates are probably going up, not down. In the unlikely event they were to charge, reasonable people would say, "Okay, I'll pay it. I'd rather have it there where it's safe than under my mattress."
STRONG STOCKS
CHARLES PAYNE: Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA)
ADAM LASHINSKY: SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY)
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