41–50 of 196 posts
Countries with much broader safety nets for entrepreneurs are not producing the risky innovative companies that America is. But, as far as I can tell, health insurance really is the biggest factor keeping people from starting new companies. For myself and my peers, with new families and houses and student debt, etc., it's the one thing that scares us more than anything else. The prospect of a business going under is…
So sad that in the US people like him host comedy shows.
Look at South Park... they aren't exactly journalists, but they aren't afraid to ... well you know. The point is they definitely aren't trying to sleep with their sponsors.
The Daily Show is comedy, yes, but my grandma will trust Jon Stewart before anyone on Fox or CNN. Because Jon doesn't make shit sandwiches. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shit_sandwich
This addresses a larger issue, but the specifics discussed hit home with me. I started my company several months ago and lost my health insurance. After paying into the system for the last 8 years, I feel like I've just been giving my money away. I had always been under the impression that I could never be denied for insurance if I had an existing policy but obviously that was misguided. I'm overweight, I'm a smoker,…
The 90% bracket was extremely high when it existed and snared very few people.
Countries with much broader safety nets for entrepreneurs are not producing the risky innovative companies that America is. But, as far as I can tell, health insurance really is the biggest factor keeping people from starting new companies. For myself and my peers, with new families and houses and student debt, etc., it's the one thing that scares us more than anything else. The prospect of a business going under is…
A French engineer once explained to me how good the health care coverage is in France. But where is her high paying job? Not in France.
Countries with much broader safety nets for entrepreneurs are not producing the risky innovative companies that America is. But, as far as I can tell, health insurance really is the biggest factor keeping people from starting new companies. For myself and my peers, with new families and houses and student debt, etc., it's the one thing that scares us more than anything else. The prospect of a business going under is…
This addresses a larger issue, but the specifics discussed hit home with me. I started my company several months ago and lost my health insurance. After paying into the system for the last 8 years, I feel like I've just been giving my money away. I had always been under the impression that I could never be denied for insurance if I had an existing policy but obviously that was misguided. I'm overweight, I'm a smoker,…
Also, while there was a 90% marginal tax rate at one point, the structure of taxes was quite different such that the effective tax rate of the rich was closer to 20%.
This is the essence of the Peltzman Effect ( http://www.angrybearblog.com/2012/01/peltzman-effect-why-eco... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation ) "Risk compensation (also Peltzman effect, risk homeostasis) is an observed effect in ethology whereby people tend to adjust their behavior in response to perceived level of risk, behaving less cautiously where they feel more protected and more cautiously whe…
The industry joke at the time this research came out was that if the regulators were serious about auto safety they should mandate a sharp dagger sticking out from the steering wheel aim directly at the driver's chest. People would drive very carefully!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the thing is, most people don't want to run their own business no matter how safe you make it. In the aggregate you may be right. Just from my own personally experience, I can think of at least a dozen folks (extremely well-regarded in their field) who have all expressed to me a desire to strike out on their own, but it's the company-provided healthcare that keeps them from doing that. And (for the most part) the…
Isn't it possible that's just a handy self-justification, though? If healthcare wasn't an issue, would it be something else?
Looking specifically at the folks in my circle, I doubt for for two reasons: 1) they've seen me make a living at it for 9 years and they are all as smart, if not smarter than me and generally better connected than me, 2) a couple of folks in particular are supporting family members with medical needs.
We'll the USA already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Maybe if they were paying less in taxes, startups would have more money for health insurance for their employees? All entrepreneurs know that they can get better employee retention with health care policy. If companies could afford it, then would there not be a higher incentive to provide it? That being said, I believe national health insurance is…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that starting a business isn't for everyone. I'm doubtful that I would enjoy it, but I would like to be an early employee at a company. If that company can't afford health coverage, then I can't take that risk for my family. It just baffles me that health coverage is so tied to where you work. What if you could only send your kids to the schools that your employer selected, or eat at the restaurants the your…
What I think would be a better solution that could fit in everyone's worldview (those that want a more socialized health care system and those who don't want a powerful federal government) is to have cities provide a public health insurance option that a person or business could buy into. I think that the risk pool would be large and the members would be local (thus giving more rights to local communities rather than…
That only works if all cities have plans, otherwise you can find yourself trapped staying in a city that same way that one might find himself trapper working for an employer.