Cup-a-Joe

I just can’t resist returning to health care — or The Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA/Obamacare) as that wonderful piece of legislation is known.  It’s such an oxymoron, I can’t resist.

I had my interest piqued the other day by a notice I received on AHCA — it was a notification from the Department of Health and Human Services on the development of standards for the Affordable Insurance Exchanges (45 CFR Parts 155 and 157 for you geeky types).  These are the state run exchanges which “will provide competitive marketplaces for individuals and small employers to directly compare available private health insurance options on the basis of price, quality, and other factors.”

I don’t know what I was thinking (or was I?), but I started reading the 35 pages of details in the Federal Register — and rapidly determined that the Exchanges (as they are known) are going to make Homeland Security seem like a micro agency.  The scope of detail which will be monitored and regulated by the Exchanges is very broad and will necessitate a very large bureaucracy.  The exchanges will be responsible to make sure that individuals have valid social security numbers; that they qualify for appropriate discounts (which means they’ll have to interface with the IRS and/or employers);  coordinate with Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP to ensure that the individuals don’t qualify for those plans — and these rules didn’t even mention how the Exchanges are going to work with insurance carriers to make sure that the coverage is “affordable.”

I’m amazed at how our government has determined that the “initial” cost of the exchanges will be expensive, but long term costs will be reduced because of the “use of efficient systems.”  Hmm.  Government and efficient systems — another oxymoron.  In my opinion, this solution is not going to be affordable — in the short-run or long-run.  But it sounds like a pretty creative way to reduce unemployment.

My last posting covered the Administration’s proposal (or attempt) to provide goodies on one hand, while dishing out “other” stuff with the other.  Well, it really hit the fan on Thursday with the announcement by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which will require mandated postings in the shop/office explaining employee rights for collective bargaining (unionization). read more »

The administration announced today that it was proposing changes to regulations which would provide savings of over $10 Billion (over five years) to small business.  Wow, that got my attention, but I started looking for the “hook.” read more »

Many of us have heard the story before — print is an essential partner for online transactions, but the word is not getting around to senior managers.

Time and time again we hear the stories of retailers eliminating their catalogs in order to reduce costs (and sometime to improve their “green” color) and then watch their sales drop.  The latest was JC Penney.  Their decision to stop printing their catalog may have cost them $400 million in sales per a recent “Dallas Morning News” article.  Per the article, they did not realize that shoppers were using the catalog to help them shop online.

Many marketers have become enamoured with mobile and social media and thus assume that print is “so last century,” and it is no longer effective.  They don’t realize buyers are not a homogeneous mix and must be reached through a variety of channels — including print.   JC Penny’s decision to exit catalog sales may have made sense in saving short-term dollars — but in the long-term, may have had been very damaging.  Time will tell.

With the recent announcement by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi that James Clyburn, Chris Van Hollen and Xavier Becerra will join Republican counterparts Dave Camp, Fred Upton and Jeb Hensarling, it becomes apparent that the lines in the sand have been drawn and the concept of a “grand bargain” may be DOA.

“Congressional leadership is sending a loud signal they didn’t like Bowles-Simpson,” said Robert Bixby, president of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, an Arlington, Virginia-based group that advocates for a balanced budget. “If you are going to say taxes and entitlements are off the table, I don’t know what they can do that hasn’t already been done.”

Looks like we are in for an interesting ride.  Can anyone tell me how to get off?

I just read this factoid.  Per SmartTrend News Watch, the top five publicly held companies in our industry which have the most potential for earnings growth are:  Deluxe Checks, RR Donnelley, Consolidated Graphics, Cenveo, and InnerWorkings.  Who had the top potential?  InnerWorkings.  Now let me ask a Sesame Street question — who doesn’t look like the others?  Who’s not really a manufacturer — yet is considered a printer?  What does this portend for the industry?

Now that we’ve gotten past the breast beating and whining about the debt ceiling, the real work begins on how this country is going to create the appropriate fiscal balances to help us in the long term.  And it’s not going to be easy.

If you think we’re going to do it without raising income/changing taxes, you are sadly mistaken.  If you think we will do it without touching social security or medicare, you are also mistaken.  The necessary changes are going to be ugly, painful AND necessary.

Alan Simpson, who is a former Senator from Wyoming and was the co-chair of President Obama’s federal debt commission is known for his frank speaking.  ”Alan K. Simpson seems to be missing that little voice that stops most people from saying everything they think. That means he’s forever making his friends as angry with him as his enemies,” stated the author of a article I want to share.

Simpson tells it like it is and gives us insights on why getting our country’s fiscal house in order will be extremely difficult unless everyone in this country will have to “give” a little.  Enjoy!

One thing the Tea Party has right is that less government is better.  The problem with any bureaucracy funded by the public is that it has a life of its own.  The idea of getting smaller is an anathema to the employees who work in the government; thus adding fuel to the fire in the fight we’re presently seeing in Washington D.C.  And since bureaucrats/regulators are frequently much more influential than the legislators (who can be voted out of office), they begin to find ways to interpret the legislation which may not be its original intent.

Case in point is a recent “dust-up” we’re seeing in Texas with the Texas Comptroller’s office.  A field auditor has decided that USPS postage should be treated as transportation and is revenue to a mailing service provider – with no offsetting expense.  This is a 1% tax on the top line.  Not a pleasant thought if you are in the mailing business in Texas.  Oh, don’t forget that if one state starts using this methodology successfully, others will follow.

PIA MidAmerica is in the process of working with the taxpayer/mailer and his CPA to find a way to bring logic into this discussion with the Comptroller’s Tax Policy experts in Austin.  More to come.