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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.
NEW LABOR BOARD RULING SPARKING CONCERNS FOR JOB MARKET
GARY KALTBAUM: It's not just about a McDonalds; it's about every company out there. Franchisee -franchiser agreement laws have been there for about 30 years because they work very well. It's very tough to start a small business. When you have a big company, and a great company, like McDonalds that you get in with you can grow it that much better, which helps the economy in a big way. This steps right in front of it, and it's not just this, it's everything else the administration does with their rules and regulations...This is all about the unions. It's about more challenges, more power, getting higher wages and taking over. Everything that unions get their hands into business does not do well. Look at GM. Leave a 30 year law alone that does so well.
JOHN LAYFIELD: We haven't received real wage growth in 14/15 years due to inflation. In regards to job growth, 200,000 is a good number, but we really need 300-350,000 per month to start arching down that labor participation rate. You have franchises, they are going after McDonalds, they realize that franchisees are owned by mom and pops and they can't afford to go after these guys individually so they're trying to tie a corporation who has nothing to do with wages or hiring at the local franchise level to all these franchises. If this works, it will also be for auto dealers, this will be for every other corporation in the world that is located in the United States. This is absolutely insane, it's a gross overreach and it's a way to get more union members.
JONAS FERRIS: It will raise cost to consumers; I think it's going to hit the dollar menu more than anything. If labor costs go up, you're not going to be able to serve burgers for a dollar anymore. It's not like its nuts, if you go to a McDonalds, and you ate a tainted burger and got sick or even died, you would expect to sue McDonalds and not have some mom and pop franchise go bankrupt and you don't get any money. So how is this any different? I would imagine you would want the ability to go to the corporate head of the company to settle the issue.
GARY B SMITH: In Jonas's example, maybe the burger was undercooked because that franchise owner opted not to hire enough people. Should you be able to sue McDonalds Corporation for that? No, you would have to go after that franchise owner, because the franchise owner is the one who dictates to the bottom line. A McDonalds normally gets a cut off the top line, the total sales not the profitability.
JESSICA EHRLICH: There is a real case to be made here. Imagine if you were at a 7-eleven and you slipped and fell there, you have a case that can be brought against the main 7-eleven if there is reason to believe they have co-liability there. This is not about small business; this is about a fear of employees being able to express their rights about forming unions. Unionization does not cause job loss.
REPORT: AIR TRAVELERS FROM EBOLA-OUTBREAK REGION AREN'T BEING SCREENED DUE TO COSTS
JOHN LAYFIELD: This is the one place government needs to spend the money. Polio was supposed to be a trillion dollar disease, and has been virtually eradicated through prevention. There is a company in later stages of a vaccine for Ebola. This must be encouraged and expedited to make sure it's safe. If you want to eradicate recidivism rates in prison don't let a kid go there, prevention is so much easier. Money is better spent on prevention than reacting to a problem.
JONAS FERRIS: The problem here is that a lot of these emerging market diseases that we don't have here, and don't have the profit motive to be honest. The government needs to provide a profit motive to our biomedical companies to provide a solution to this.
GARY KALTBAUM: The cost of not doing something is humongous. Spend what you have to spend to make sure nothing ever happens. This is one thing I don't mind the government spending on.
JESSICA EHRLICH: It's always a good thing to be spending money to make sure we are leading in science and preventing diseases. However, there are so many diseases we have that are affecting a large number of Americans currently. Everything from juvenile diabetes to cancers, all of these things are killing people now and we should be focusing our money and attention to those diseases.
GARY B SMITH: We should be focusing our efforts on what is important. By most of the panel's definition we should have spent trillions and trillions of dollars on HIV virus, because essentially Ebola and HIV are spread the same way. So we have about the same chance of curing both, yet we didn't spend the money curing HIV virus and it's still not cured. More people will die of cancer and heart attack than by Ebola. The other problem is when we give an unlimited amount of money to research in government; they always manage to exceed it. Yes, we should spend money but we need to keep it in perspective how its spread and how it compares to other deadly diseases.
NEW CALLS IN U.S TO GET OFF MIDEAST OIL AS SAUDI KING CONDEMNS ISRAEL'S ACTIONS
GARY B SMITH: It's a crime we keep sending the Saudi's money for oil. Keep the oil! We can live without Saudi oil; they can live without the revenue and profits we send to them. Let's make a stand to who our friends are.
JOHN LAYFIELD: We are the only developed country in the world without a national energy plan. Get the oil from Canada or Mexico. We don't have to be independent from everyone else in North America, but let's be North American independent. We have no energy policy and no grownups in D.C
JONAS FERRIS: The only national energy policy that could stop Saudi Arabia from earning this much money is a massively high gas tax. At the end of the day we don't have to buy their oil, the Chinese will buy it, and they will be just as rich. There is no way to cut them out of the equation without getting really radical. Merely drilling more here isn't going to cut their profits.
JESSICA EHRLICH: The best thing we can do is go for our clean alternative energy fuel future. In particular here, we only consume 4 percent of Saudi Oil. In Europe our allies, rely heavily on Middle Eastern oil, we need to help them help us make a difference and all move away.
GARY KALTBAUM: We are getting to the point where we don't need them. We are going the right way, enough is enough we need to know who our friends are and our enemies - tell them to take a flying leap.
PREDICTIONS
JONAS FERRIS: Calm your market jitters with U.S bonds (VGLT) up 10 percent in 1 year.
GARY B: Cheesecake (CAKE) is deemed unhealthy, the stock is not! Up 25 percent in 1 year.
JOHN LAYFIELD: Make a splash, (PHO) up 20 percent in 1 year.
GARY KALTBAUM: Apple is still sweet (AAPL) up 25 percent in 1 year.
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/will-nlrb-ruling-slam-the-breaks-on-hope-of-job-recovery