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PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP STILL GETTING BASHED FOR TAKING CALL FROM TAIWAN'S PRES
Steve Forbes: No, and in fact it was a brilliant move by the way liberals love to deal with our enemies that's why they say it's bad to be an enemy of the U.S., Worse to be an ally of the U.S. In this case what Trump did was absolutely fabulous, he made it clear we're going to defend our interests in the South China Sea, cyber security, barring our companies from having full selling rights in China especially if they're cutting edge and appoints Terry Branstad the new ambassador to client who knows President Xi of China. In effect what trump is saying, we will negotiate but with you it will be different from what you have had in the past from us.
Bruce Japsen: Listen, I think that my issue -- the phone call isn't that big of a deal to me but I would say that there's 54 percent of the American electorate and the votes are still being counted and it's growing that still have concerns about Donald’s temperament here. So when he goes off and he does this and takes a call and then he tweets later that like they called me, it doesn't send a message that he knows what he's doing or that there's a game plan. So that's my concern because he just goes off half-cocked on all these things and I don't really see a game plan here. I guess we will have to wait and see how it turns out.
Rich Karlgaard: Not only does he have a point, the logic of that is so brilliant and crystal clear. I didn't vote for the guy, I’ve been critical of the guy. I thought this was brilliant. A lot of my liberal friends on Facebook thought it was brilliant. Trump is a master negotiator and he knows that the U.S. has leverage with China right now, you know, China desperately needs the U.S. Economy to keep its growth rates up and its middle class growing and trump is going to use that leverage.
Mike Ozanian: Well, I think what china probably was most upset about was Donald Trump's indiscretion, but as China and the rest of the world are learning is that the president-elect speaks his mind. How refreshing is that, David? Someone that tells the truth. And the people that are concerned about his behavior, they are the same people who said that when he ran he would never get the republican nomination and then once he got it he would never beat Hillary Clinton. They were wrong on both of those counts and they're wrong here
.John Tamny: My main thing is that I don't have an opinion on China versus Taiwan, but I certainly don't think our president should be placating either side. The reality is people in China; people in Taiwan invest in each other aggressively. It's not President Trump's job to deal with what is a local issue.
Elizabeth MacDonald: That was a moral failure of the Obama presidency. Just the refusal to basically say evil is wrong and say that countries like Cuba or Iran brutalizing and slaughtering their own people, that's wrong. And Donald Trump is doing that. He's speaking with moral clarity. And, you know, by the way, we also had -- do you remember Secretary of State John Kerry saying about the Charlie Hebdo attacks, he could see some rationale in that. Now we have a leader saying this is right, this is wrong. Rich and Mike are absolutely right. I do, again, say that is president Obama’s greatest failure is his refusal to hate and condemn evil acts.
NEW FOCUS ON REPLACING OBAMACARE AS INSURERS AND HOSPITALS ISSUE WARNINGS
Steve Forbes: David, whenever we have real free markets scars tease turn into abundance, prices come down. Why not with healthcare, you see it with lasik surgery for the eyes, you see is in cosmetic surgery. How about having hospitals post prices for all these products and services. How about hospitals posting each month how many patients die from infections received after they're admitted to the hospital, 90,000 a year. David, there is a surgery center in Oklahoma called the Surgery Center of Oklahoma and their prices are low, they bundle, they're public about it, they don't take insurance, they're so good that now the state of Oklahoma is having its own employees go to them because they're so cheap and effective.
Bruce Japsen: Well, I would be for, which would never happen, the Bernie Sanders idea of single payer which would get rid of all the middle men known as insurance companies.
Mike Ozanian: To me, David, there's no mystery with healthcare. There's nothing that distinguishes it from, say, food or sneakers or anything else that you buy. It should be a decision based on the customer and, you know, it's extremely personal. You know, what doctor I want to see, what type of treatment I want. It's much more personal than anything else. So the more control I have, the more I’m going to feel comfortable with it.
Rich Karlgaard: Well, I think you have to disrupt the existing order and particularly, you know, when many of these hospitals are not behaving professionally as Steve points out and are not being transparent about prices and about infection rates. But I have some sympathy for them because if you take away Obamacare you're simply going to get people crowding emergency rooms and the hospitals are left dealing with this.
John Tamny: Absolutely. When people -- when free people are venture buyers high prices fall, the first ballpoint pen cost $15 now it doesn't, the first laser printer cost $17,000. My problem with the republicans is stop coming up with solutions and just repeal Obamacare. Once you do that and just allow competition into what is a service like any other you will see prices fall because those who provide the service will come in and compete on price.
Sabrina Schaeffer: I think that the central goal in all of this is to give individuals more ownership and control over their healthcare dollars. To Mike's point the way we have control over our food dollars and our clothing dollars. To sort of respond to some of the progressive concerns I think one of the reasons there was this big push for universal coverage was because they felt that people weren't going to a doctor soon enough, but if we repeal Obamacare it means that insurance would go back to being what insurance was originally intended for, for catastrophic things, not for your daily or your routine visit to the doctor. So we're all going to have to reset the way we think about insurance and this will be much better for everyone.
STOCKS SOARING SINCE ELECTION DAY
John Tamny: Well, markets never price in the present they always price in the future so Trump deserves credit for this rally, but to be fair and balanced, if Republicans want what's true to be true, they must also acknowledge what was never true, that the fed was the source of stocks rallying all these years up to that point. That never made sense, either, neither does The New York Times.
Bruce Japsen : Of course they do because the economy was in a ditch when W. left office and unemployment is down and wages are starting to tick up. But I will give Trump a little bit of credit because his promise to make America great again appears to be to make America dirty again because he's appointing all these fossil fuel people to his cabinet.
Elizabeth MacDonald: Listen, if the media gets it so right why did they get the election so wrong. If they knew he is so great why wasn't Hillary elected? The Fed helped this rally, the markets look forward, this is a trump rally and they're going like gangbusters right now.
Sabrina Schaeffer: Yeah, I certainly think so, David. John can correct me if I’m wrong but I think markets respond to sort of the perception of what's going to happen and you don't have to be a Donald Trump fan to see that people believe that he is going to have a pro-growth agenda. He's already sort of showing that in terms of rolling back burdensome EPA regulations and taxes and we're talking about repealing Obamacare. Sort of this massive expense. So I can't imagine why the stocks would move in any other direction.
Mike Ozanian: And that's showing up in the value of our currency, David, since Donald Trump was nominated president the value of the U.S. dollar has increased, it's gotten stronger, I know I’m making Steve Forbes and john Tamny very happy but money is flowing in, the strength of the dollar is the proof.
Steve Forbes: As long as he pushes forward with tax and deregulation. Small cap stocks are doing well, they've been hurt by regulation.
STOCK PICKS
Elizabeth MacDonald: (FCYIX)
Mike Ozanian: (BA)
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