Posts Tagged ‘Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines:’

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Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

About Kenneth Gerbino

Kenneth Gerbino is head of Kenneth J. Gerbino & Company, an investment management firm now in its 37th year. The company manages private equity accounts and the Gerbino Gold Group, LLC, a private hedge fund that invests in precious metal mining stocks. Ken is advisor to the publicly traded Precious Capital Global Metals & Mining Fund traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange. Ken was the founder and Chairman of the American Economic Council (AEC), a nationwide economic reform group that was credited with the passage of the United States Gold Coin Act of 1984, which established the United States Gold Eagle coin. AEC seminars included participation by Alan Greenspan, Noble Laureate F. A. Hayek and Robert Bleiberg, ex-Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s.

Posts Tagged ‘Current headlines’

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Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

Archive for the ‘Stock Market’ Category

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?category_name=stock-market

Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

Archive for the ‘Economy Update’ Category

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?category_name=economy-update

Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

Archive for the ‘Latest Events’ Category

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?category_name=latest-events

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

About Kenneth Gerbino

Kenneth Gerbino is head of Kenneth J. Gerbino & Company, an investment management firm now in its 37th year. The company manages private equity accounts and the Gerbino Gold Group, LLC, a private hedge fund that invests in precious metal mining stocks. Ken is advisor to the publicly traded Precious Capital Global Metals & Mining Fund traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange. Ken was the founder and Chairman of the American Economic Council (AEC), a nationwide economic reform group that was credited with the passage of the United States Gold Coin Act of 1984, which established the United States Gold Eagle coin. AEC seminars included participation by Alan Greenspan, Noble Laureate F. A. Hayek and Robert Bleiberg, ex-Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s.

Archive for the ‘World News’ Category

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?category_name=world-news

Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Twitter founders return to roots, relaunch Obvious

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?p=17

ASPEN, Co. (Reuters) – Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams plan to revive Obvious, the company they conceived years ago as a technology project incubator that eventually spawned Twitter.

Stone and Williams will continue to advise Twitter on strategic matters, but devote the lions’ share of their time to The Obvious Corporation, Stone told the Aspen Ideas Conference at the ski resort on Tuesday.

The pair, along with others such as Jack Dorsey, who now runs payments service Square, created the four-year-old website that allows users to send 140-character messages across the Internet. It has grown into a microblogging phenomenon used by celebrities and heads of state alike, hailed at times as a crucial tool in promoting the free flow of information.

Neither Stone nor Williams told conference attendees explicitly what they intended with Obvious, apart from saying that they were excited about building projects that will improve people’s lives.

“All the biggest ideas are obvious in retrospect,” said Williams. “If we get as lucky as Twitter, that would be great.”

Dick Costolo replaced Williams as Twitter’s CEO in October, a move Silicon Valley sources have said re-focused the microblogging sensation on monetization, or translating its fast-growing pool of users into revenue.

“The Twitter crew and its leadership team have grown incredibly productive. I’ve decided that the most effective use of my time is to get out of the way until I’m called upon to be of some specific use,” Stone said in a blog post. here

“Our plan is to develop new projects and work on solving big problems aligned along a simple mission statement: The Obvious Corporation develops systems that help people work together to improve the world.”

“This is a dream come true!” Stone said.

DYNAMIC DUO

In a conversation with Walter Isaacson, the Aspen Institute’s chief executive, the duo skipped from topic to topic, flummoxing audience members hoping for clues on their new venture.

They discussed the advantages of closed versus open systems online; how the Internet was changing philanthropy through services such as Kickstarter that allow crowdsourced funding; and how the Internet has affected distribution of content much more than content itself.

“There are more fundamental things than how distribution evolves to change publishing,” Williams said.

The two charmed the audience, frequently drawing laughs with their deadpan wit. Stone described himself and Williams as “hallucinogenically optimistic”, while their Obvious partner Jason Goldman, formerly vice president for product at Twitter, “is always like, ‘here are the 10 ways we can get screwed’.”

Social networking services like Twitter and Facebook are increasingly challenging established online powers like Google Inc and Yahoo for Web surfers’ time and advertisers’ dollars.

Twitter, which began courting advertisers one year ago, is still in the early stages of building a business. The company is expected to bring in about $150 million in ad revenue this year, compared with Facebook’s roughly $4 billion in ad revenue, according to research firm eMarketer.

In December, Twitter was valued at $3.7 billion in a $200 million funding round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. An auction of Twitter shares on the secondary market in March suggested investors were valuing the company at more than $7 billion.

One audience member asked if there was a bubble in technology.

“Maybe investor excitement is outpacing the development,” Williams allowed. But he was firm about his corporate progeny.

“I’m holding my Twitter stock long-term,” he said. “If there is a correction, these things always go in cycles. So that will be fine.”

Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: BofA settles on mortgage repurchase claims

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?p=19

A Bank of America sign is displayed outside a branch in Tucson, Arizona in this January 21, 2011 file photo. Bank of America Corp is close to a deal to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims from a group of powerful investors that lost money on mortgage-backed securities, a person familiar with the matter said on June 28, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Joshua Lott/Files

Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:17am EDT

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp settled nearly all of the claims related to the legacy Countrywide-issued first-lien residential mortgage-backed securitization (RMBS) repurchase exposure for $8.5 billion in cash .

The largest U.S. bank by assets said it intends to record an additional $5.5 billion provision to its representations and warranties liability for both Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) and non-GSE exposures in the second quarter of 2011.

On Tuesday Reuters reported that Bank of America was close to a settlement agreement with a group of powerful group of investors that lost money on mortgage-backed securities.

Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: News Corp. Weighs Next Steps

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?p=39

Rupert Murdoch and his tight-knit group of advisers at News Corp. have put a variety of strategic options on the table as they attempt to stem the fallout from a scandal and map out a future for their businesses, according to people familiar with the situation.

Britain’s Parliament asked News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and News International CEO Rebekah Brooks to appear for questioning. Bruce Orwall has details on that and why the U.K. government is urging News Corp. to drop its BSkyB bid.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO: Could be forced to separate himself from or shed News International, once a jewel of his media empire, as he contemplates the future shape of the company

One idea contemplated in recent weeks is an option Mr. Murdoch has long shot down: selling his other British newspapers. News Corp. has informally explored whether there were any potential buyers for its U.K. newspaper unit, News International, according to people familiar with the matter. The unit, which includes the Sun, the Times of London, the Sunday Times and—until this week’s closing—News of the World, was once one of Mr. Murdoch’s flagship divisions and one of his favorites.

Given the poor economics of the newspaper business, there didn’t appear to be any buyers, according to these people. It is possible that News Corp. could revisit the idea of selling or spinning off News International in the next six months, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

The idea of shedding News International shows just how swiftly times are changing for News Corp. As U.K. police investigate allegations of phone-hacking and police payments at the now-shuttered News of the World, News Corp. has been looking to calm jittery investors and appease its critics.

A range of deals related to assets of all sizes are on the table, making the company prone to a reshaping, the people familiar with the matter said.

A spokeswoman for News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal, declined to comment.

In addition to the sudden closing of News of the World on Sunday, the scandal already has forced the company into a series of smaller decisions that could have larger implications in the years to come.

Earlier this week, the company took steps to delay its proposed deal to acquire the 60.9% of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC it doesn’t own. The company withdrew prior concessions it made to get the pay-TV takeover deal approved, thus triggering a review by the Competition Commission. Now, there’s more time for the political atmosphere to cool off. But the U.K. government is backing the opposition party’s call for News Corp. to drop its takeover offer.

While the deal is an important strategic move for the company to double-down in television distribution, if it fell apart it wouldn’t necessarily have a big effect on News Corp., according to one person close to News Corp., who noted that the company already controls BSkyB and was pursuing the remainder because it felt the deal was the best current use for its cash.

Tuesday, the company threw shareholders a bone, announcing plans for a $5 billion stock buyback, increased from the $1.8 billion remaining in its current stock-repurchase program. News Corp. shares, which fell 7.6% on Monday, traded higher for some of Tuesday but finished down 13 cents to $15.35 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

News Corp. has been going through some sweeping transitions. In March, Mr. Murdoch promoted his 38-year-old son, James Murdoch, who had been head of European and Asian businesses, to deputy chief operating officer to give him a greater role in the company’s U.S. operations. The previous month, News Corp. agreed to acquire Shine Group, the TV-production company run by Mr. Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth, bringing her into the News Corp. fold. The company also has been pursuing a smattering of small deals, such as its recent sale of the Myspace social network.

News Corp., which had revenue of $32.8 billion for the fiscal year ended June 2010, has contemplated selling or spinning off News International or spinning off all of its papers periodically for years, according to people familiar with the matter. It has also considered various other permutations, such as spinning off its satellite-TV operations.

But Rupert Murdoch’s love of newspapers suppressed any newspaper deal. “It was basically one of those things where it was talked about for maybe two to five minutes and Rupert would say, ‘No way,’ ” another person familiar with the company said, referring to the newspapers.

James Murdoch is among those who have been frustrated by the U.K. papers and has been itching to sell U.K. assets and bulk up more internationally, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The feeling among some executives is, “If the U.K. government is going to be this vindictive, maybe we should just sell out altogether and let them see how these [newspapers] do without [us],” one person familiar with the matter said, referring to politicians’ efforts to dig into reporting tactics.

There could be a business case for doing so, as well. Before the decision to close News of the World, News International already was planning a host of cuts to deal with the industry-wide decline in print advertising. It is unclear how News of the World’s closure has affected the cost-cutting plan.

The next few weeks could require more decision-making as investigations continue. Politicians and the public expect to hear more from key players soon. Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, were asked to appear before a parliamentary committee as early as next week.

Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Opinion: What costs trillions and kills the economy?

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/?p=48

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”

About Kenneth Gerbino

Kenneth Gerbino is head of Kenneth J. Gerbino & Company, an investment management firm now in its 37th year. The company manages private equity accounts and the Gerbino Gold Group, LLC, a private hedge fund that invests in precious metal mining stocks. Ken is advisor to the publicly traded Precious Capital Global Metals & Mining Fund traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange. Ken was the founder and Chairman of the American Economic Council (AEC), a nationwide economic reform group that was credited with the passage of the United States Gold Coin Act of 1984, which established the United States Gold Eagle coin. AEC seminars included participation by Alan Greenspan, Noble Laureate F. A. Hayek and Robert Bleiberg, ex-Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s.

Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Opinion: What costs trillions and kills the economy?

http://world.brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/

Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.

Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.

Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.

“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.

There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.

The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.

“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”

The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.

The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”