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Published January 26, 2017
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.
ECONOMY ADDS 288,000 NEW JOBS IN JUNE; SPARKS NEW DEBATE OVER JOBLESS BENEFITS
JOHN TAMNY: There's a very obvious correlation because incentives matter. If you know you're going to get a check from the government whether you're working or not, there's necessarily less urgency to go out and look for a job. And it should also be stressed that unemployment rates make it more expensive for businesses to hire you. If you're getting a dollar from the government, that's an extra dollar that a business has to offer you to lure you back from the sidelines. So the correlation is very clear; this is a positive step.
BRUCE JAPSEN: I think people want to work and I think when people do find a job, they can't take unemployment benefits anymore. One of the bad things in this report though is that wages are not rising which also may show that people are taking jobs that are of a lower wage, proving that people want to work; they don't want to be on these benefits.
STEVE FORBES: If unemployment benefits are too high and long they hurt. I think another factor is at work and that is finally banks are starting to lend again to small and new businesses, which are the big job creators. So that's beginning to overcome some of the adversity of the huge uncertainty of ObamaCare.
RICK UNGAR: There are always going to be a few bad apples, the people who really don't want to work and show up and collect their unemployment check. That's a very small number of people. People not only want to work but if you understand how small an unemployment check is, it doesn't go very far.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: If you look at what happened in states like North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, when they cut jobless benefits, a whole bunch of people did get jobs. But more people went on food stamps, disability, and welfare. So there's a tradeoff when you cut benefits.
SABRINA SCHAEFFER: When I looked at that jobs report, the thing that struck me was two different numbers. One was that 12 percent number, those are people who are working part-time but want full-time work. To me that sounds like the real problem. We have a lot of people who want better work but they can't get it and employers aren't adding hours. The other concerning number is the 74 percent, that's the number of people, according to a Fox News poll, that said that they still feel the recession is impacting them.
END EMPLOYER AND GOVERNMENT-PROVIDED HEALTH COVERAGE TO SET AMERICANS FREE
SABRINA SCHAEFFER: We want more Americans to have control over their health care costs and the best way to do this is to allow them to have more ownership when it comes to health care. I think the Hobby Lobby win was a big victory for anyone who supports limited government or religious freedom. But really what it does is to put in sharp relief the importance that we give people more ownership over their health care dollars and that ObamaCare is the wrong direction for the country.
BRUCE JAPSEN: ObamaCare ended exchange approach, where people buy coverage on exchange. And private exchanges, which a lot of private employers are going to, actually does move you to a lot more independence because you get a chunk of money and you get to choose from a menu of health plans.
STEVE FORBES: They want to create dependence on the government but unintentionally they are blowing up the old system. They are not going to go back to the single-payer system we had before. What's going to evolve, and just don't get sick over the next three years while this happens, is a system for the first time where patients are in charge. That means true catastrophic health insurance, and that means cheaper insurance with nationwide coverage.
RICK UNGAR: Now that everybody can get insurance, remember not that long ago, if you had pre-existing conditions you might not be able to get it, the only way you could get it was through a company-employee plan. So I could get behind it but there's one big problem that we'd have to tackle. At least the company, because it has so many people they're covering, has the bargaining power of a lot of participants. When you're on your own, you're on your own unless we find a way to create blocks of negotiating panels.
CARRIE SHEFFIELD: It is true that ObamaCare is trying to decuple employment and have the portability of having insurance, but it's going about it all the wrong way. It has all these mandates that load the plans up. The conflict we have here with Hobby Lobby is the fact that the government was mandating these excessively high types of contraception that Hobby Lobby just found morally-objectionable. Hobby Lobby was already covering 16 of the 20 or so mandated contraception coverage.
JOHN TAMNY: I think future history books are going to marvel at the idea that we put government in the control of health care. Capitalism, for all its clichés, provides an abundance. It clothes us, feeds us, and flies us around the world. The idea that capitalism can't provide us with health care is just laughable. If we want Americans to have it, you want to put it in the hands of private markets because that means that most people will get it.
TRUCKER ACCUSES OFFICER OF SPEEDING AND USING CELLPHONE; TAPES CONFRONTATION
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: Everyone should be accountable, including bullies in law enforcement. Listen, they have cameras in subways, in shopping malls, all sorts of place. By the way, I was in England recently. They caught a woman actually reading behind the wheel of a car. So yes, I think cameras are actually a good idea.
JOHN TAMNY: Even if it were to save people's lives, I do not want to live in a society where we're spying on each other like this. Definitely not.
CARRIE SHEFFIELD: Give consumers the choice. If I want a sunroof, if I want heated seats, if I want a camera, give it to me. It would help with insurance claims, as well. If you're hauled into a court of law and you've got the video evidence, there you go.
RICK UNGAR: I think that's terrific. The guy was a jerk, but I don't want all of us to become junior men for the NSA. They'll get everything we record.
STEVE FORBES: I don't want to be a constant reality show, and I don't want former Mayor Bloomberg seeing if I have a "Big Gulp" or not.
PREDICTIONS
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: ALPS (G-SRA)
THURSDAY'S CLOSE: $35.42
52-WEEK HIGH: $35.56
52-WEEK LOW: $28.25
JOHN TAMNY: TARGET (TGT)
THURSDAY'S CLOSE: $59.51
52-WEEK HIGH: $73.50
52-WEEK LOW: $54.66
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/strong-jobs-report-sparks-debate-over-jobless-benefits