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.
IN FOCUS: DHS PROMOTING WELFARE TO NEW IMMIGRANTS IN WELCOME DOCUMENTS
STEVE FORBES: No David and it's not just the immigrants to this country, it's the people who are here now they are trying to make dependent on the government because they know the longer you are dependent on the government that means more votes for them. You had the hideous Julia cartoon during the campaign from birth to death; the government will take care of you. They are corrupting immigrants, they are corrupting us, and they have to put a stop to it.
RICK UNGAR: Nobody is handing anything out. This is just information that is available, the same information by the way that shows up on every government website not just for new immigrants. Anybody here remember Mitt Romney? His father came here from Mexico; he got that same kind of government aid. He turned out to be president of one of the biggest auto companies, became governor of the state of Michigan. Every now and then, somebody needs a little help.
MIKE OZANIAN: We have increasingly become a nation dependent on government. $3,900, years ago was the average entitlement spending in this country per person. Adjusted for inflation, that figure is now $6,600. It's a 70% increase. We have become a nation increasingly dependent on government handouts. How could we not expect immigrants coming to this country, look at that, and say ‘hey I want mine too!'
RICH KARLGAARD: You can't blame immigrants for this because if they have citizenship then all citizens should be treated equally. You have to look at welfare reform comprehensively. I think there is a little too much finger pointing at immigrants here who if they are citizens after all, qualify for the same benefits as other citizens. Steve is right; the problem is comprehensive, it applies to everybody.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: Immigrants built this nation. A lot of people who we call illegal immigrants are helping to build this nation too from all parts of the earth. The problem is yeah, we spend $1 million on welfare; that's more on defense and Medicare combined. What we are talking about also are illegal immigrants who are being food stamps. That's where the controversy is. Illegal immigrants are not entitled to Medicaid, Medicare, or social security. It's about a food stamp program set up with the government in Mexico and whether Mexico is ponying up their fair share for its citizens.
JOHN TAMNY: It's terribly unfortunate, whether it is offered to immigrants or our actual citizens. What we have to remember is that immigrants are treasures. The arrival of each one makes us more American because it signifies the arrival of the ambitious. The last thing you'd want to do is offer them handouts to come here. That ensures you get a lower quality person coming here. We want to attract only those who want to come here and achieve and this is not the way to do it.
WHILE TUITIONS ARE EXPLODING COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES' SALARIES ARE OUT OF CONTROL
JOHN TAMNY: Parents and students need to relax. They need to realize that successful college football coaches get a fraction of all the money that they raise for a school. If you succeed on the football field, donations go up that pay for all the other athletic teams; not to mention all the other professors on campus and in face lower tuition. If you want to raise tuition, get rid of these money producers at which point you are going to see tuition rise as a result.
RICH KARLGAARD: I love John, but he is wrong on this. I'll cite the University of California; they just fired their coach who is making $2.8 million per year, for that he went 3-9. Even worse, less than half of his football players graduated; this from a lead institution. So here is a coach who harmed the reputation of one of the elite universities in the country. It's not just the tuition price, it's the value of the degree and he detracted from the value of the CAL degree.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: I think the college football program is great, $1 billion annually. But how long can you squeeze students and continue to pay high college coach pay? How can you do that when the middle class is getting squeezed and they can't even afford college tuition? I've got a problem with it. Pew research says 75% of college grads say they couldn't even afford it. Mississippi State gets $2.5 million bucks and a fifth of the population in that state is unemployed and in poverty. I don't know how you can keep doing that when you keep squeezing middle class students.
MIKE OZANIAN: I think overall John is right it would increase it, but I think you really have to look at it how you measure CEO performance on a case by case basis. If you look at Kelly at Notre Dame, he is going to earn $2.3 million this year but Notre Dame is likely going to qualify for the BCS which means a direct $3.2 million payout to the school. A guy like Derrick Dooley at Tennessee, he earns the same as Kelly, but his team is terrible. That's more to Emac's point where he is not generating the revenue. You have to look at what John said; a lot of times people make donations to the school, if you want to buy season tickets to a basketball or football program, you have to make huge donations to the school. Those donations fund other programs that the school besides football.
STEVE FORBES: You have to pay for talent whether it's in sports or in business. The real reason college costs are going up is a gloat of administrative costs thanks to government subsidies. I think Scott Brown in Massachusetts was right when he pointed to now senator elect Warren. She was making $335,000 a year at Harvard to teach one course. Come on now, I would rather a football coach than her.
BILL BALDWIN: At the risk of being unpopular with certain viewers, I want to cut the salaries of coaches at tax exempt institutions all the way to zero. I think that the football programs should be moved into a for profit subsidiary. The university is for learning, football is something you do on your own time, like going to the pool hall.
CA THE FIRST STATE HAVING COMPANIES BUY PERMITS FOR CARBON POLLUTION
STEVE FORBES: It takes away money from businesses which mean less investment, which means less job creation, which means lower standard of living. This is simply another government attempt to extort money from businesses. When gangsters do it, they don't have nuclear weapons; the government does, so you have to pay up. It's just a source of more money for government by putting an artificial expense on business.
RICK UNGAR: I'm still contemplating the idea of California having nuclear weapons. Guys, its California. This is not going to be sweeping the nation you still have far more red states than you have blue states. I wouldn't be overly concerned about this yet. When it gets to congress, then let's talk about it. It's California.
RICH KARLGAARD: California was a shining light for the United States for decades and decades and no more so I'm kind of confident that it won't. What really troubles me about this is that big businesses can handle this because they have got the overhead and they can dedicate people to think about this because once again, this just crushes small business because proportionally to this about this bureaucratic nonsense is a killer.
MORGAN BRENNAN: I don't buy this because many companies have already been implementing green initiatives that actually offset their carbon. Companies like Cliffbar are actually making money on this process. I'd also note that the largest carbon producers, utilities companies and oil companies, actually have permits in place from the government that will only gradually scale down, so I don't think we are going to see major job loss.
BILL BALDWIN: How many jobs can California erase? They are killing agriculture jobs by taking away the water, their killing construction jobs by taking away your permits and now they are going to kill manufacturing by taking away your fossil fuels this is just a start for eliminating fossil fuels. When they get done in California there won't be any jobs left for anybody except for state government workers.
INFORMER: GIFT CARDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE HUGE SELLERS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. WHICH STOCKS WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS TREND?
MORGAN BRENNAN: MasterCard (NYSE - MA)
52 Wk High: $486.08
52 Wk Low: $336.26
BILL BALDWIN: HOME DEPOT (HD)
52 Wk High: $64.44
52 Wk Low: $36.41
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq - ZBRA)
52 Wk High: $41.88
52 Wk Low: $31.79
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