Daily Archives: February 9, 2017

The chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said Wednesday he would be open to funding insurance companies during a transition away fromObamaCare.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said during a meeting with reporters that he would be willing to continue cost-sharing subsidies and reinsurance payments during the transition if there's a long-term plan in place.

"I would be more flexible and could swallow some short-term heartburn for longer-term fiscal responsibility," Meadows said.

He added that while the payments are "significant" in terms of costs, it is a "minor component" when it comes to a smoother transition.

The insurance market could collapse without the continued payments, which compensate insurers for offering discounts to low-income enrollees and for taking on sick, costly patients.

Republican Sen. Lamar AlexanderLamar AlexanderOvernight Finance: Trump attacks Nordstrom | Judge blocks Anthem-Cigna merger | Trump, Intel tout B investment | Labor pick gets hearing date | Feds grant easement for Dakota pipeline Trump's Labor secretary pick to get hearing on Feb. 16 Repeal without replacement: A bad strategy for kids MORE (Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, indicated earlier this month that Congress may need to continue the payments to stabilize the insurance market.

What were told is if we dont act by March or April, is that in many states there wont be an insurance company there to sell you insurance, Alexander said.

Its also an area where Republicans are going to have to do some things we may not normally do, like cost sharing or reinsurance. We may not like those things, but we may have to do those things for the next two to three years to make sure people can buy insurance.

Read more:

Key conservative open to insurer payments during ObamaCare transition - The Hill

On Dec. 22, 2016, President Duterte signed the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2017 with a special provision calling on Congress oversight committee on overseas development assistance to conduct a debt audit to determine the legitimacy of 20 government-contracted foreign loans. The audit is to be completed within the 2017 fiscal year.

Earlier, on Dec. 13, 2016, a more far-reaching Senate Resolution (SR) No. 253 was filed jointly by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III directing the appropriate Senate committee to inquire, in aid of legislation, into the foreign loans contracted by the Philippine government within the last 15 years through the conduct of a debt audit.

These two initiatives are historically significant as previous attempts by civil society groups, notably the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), to compel the government to critically examine foreign-funded projects have all come to naught. In 2008, then President Gloria Arroyo vetoed a GAA special provision that would have suspended the debt service of 13 foreign loans that the FDC called fraudulent, wasteful, and/or useless.

The 2017 debt audit provision covers 20 loans from the Asian Development Bank, IBRD-World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan Eximbank, Opec Fund for International Development, French Protocol, and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria. But as SR 253 implies, these are but the tip of the iceberg with 481 outstanding foreign loans up for scrutiny under the Hontiveros-Pimentel initiative.

International debt campaigners regard a debt as illegitimate if it violates common principles of human rights and sustainable human development, justice and fairness, accountability and responsibility, sovereignty of peoples and nations, and democratic rights. SR 253 also invokes the Unctad (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) principles on promoting responsible sovereign lending and borrowing.

The reasons for declaring a particular debt illegitimate are: violation of procedures mandated by law such as bribery, fraud, coercion, or misrepresentation; onerous provisions such as public guarantees of private profits; negative impact on the environment, communities and peoples wellbeing, and on basic social services, human welfare, and safety; waste of funds through corruption, mismanagement, and project failures; conversion of private loans into public debts due to sovereign guarantees; subjecting the economy to shocks, unreasonable creditor demands, and financial market instabilities; and imposing conditionalities that violate national sovereignty and democratic principles.

Thus, a debt audit is both a political tool and a process to disentangle the web of debt so as to reconstruct the series of events that cause many nations to fall into economic and fiscal quagmires. The FDC outlines what a debt audit should look into: the context and circumstances surrounding the transactions; the process of finalizing debt contracts; the content of the contracts; the purpose of the debts; how the funds were actually used; the impacts of debt-funded policies and projects; and the impacts of the conditionalities accompanying the debts and the debt contracts.

The projected audit of 20 illegitimate loans is a preliminary but significant step toward the cancellation of all fraudulent loans and the repeal of the law on automatic appropriations for debt servicing imposed by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1977 through Presidential Decree No. 1177 and reiterated by then President Corazon Aquino through the 1987 Revised Administrative Code. As it stands, debt servicing is prioritized over any other government expenditure. The Philippines is reportedly the only country in the world with such an onerous law.

Our foreign debt now stands at P2.144 trillion. In the 2017 budget the automatic allocation for debt servicing of P335 billion (up from the 2016 total of P214.5 billion) is the second highest among all categories. The debt service for the 20 questionable loans amounts to P7.6 billion.

Such huge outlays of public funds are better used for projects that directly benefit the Filipino people, not those tainted by odious practices that bleed the countrys meager resources dry.

Eduardo C. Tadem, PhD., is president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition and professorial lecturer in Asian studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

See the rest here:

Historic audit of illegitimate debts - Inquirer.net

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at Maximos Palace in Athens, Greece November 15, 2016. (PHOTO: REUTERS)

Ive put forth lots of arguments against tax increases, mostly focusing on why higher tax rates will depress growth and encourage more government spending.

Today, lets look at a practical, real-world example.

I wrote a column for The Hill looking at why Greece is a fiscal and economic train wreck. I have lots of interesting background and history in the article, including the fact that Greece got into the mess by overspending and also explaining that politicians like Merkel only got involved because they wanted to bail out their domestic banks that foolishly lent lots of money to the Greek government.

But the most newsworthy part of my column was to expose the fact that austerity hasnt worked in Greece because the private sector has been suffocated by giant tax hikes.

the troikaimposed the wrong kind of fiscal reforms. what mostly happened is that Greek politicians dramatically increased the nations already punitive tax burden. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments fiscal database tells a very ugly story. on the eve of the crisis, the tax burden in Greece totaled 38.9 percent of GDP. This year, taxes are projected to reach 52.0 percent of economic output. Every major tax in Greece has been dramatically increased, including personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, value-added taxes, and property taxes. Its been a taxpalooza Whats happened on the spending side of the fiscal ledger? Have there been savage and draconian budget cuts? there have been some cuts, but the burden of government spending is still a heavy weight on the Greek economy. Outlays totaled 54.1 percent of GDP in 2009 and now government is consuming 52.2 percent of economic output.

For what its worth, the spending numbers would look better if the economy was stronger. In other words, Greeces performance wouldnt be so dismal if GDP was growing rather than shrinking.

And thats why tax increases are so misguided. They give politicians an excuse to avoid much-needed spending cuts while also hindering growth, investment and job creation.

Lets close by reviewing Greeces performance according to Economic Freedom of the World. The overall score for Greece has dropped slightly since 2009, but the real story is that the nations fiscal score has dramatically worsened, falling from 5.61 to 4.66 on a 0-10 scale. In other words, during a period of time in which Greece was supposed to sober up and become more fiscally responsible, the politicians engaged in an orgy of tax hikes and Greece went from a failing grade for fiscal policy to a miserably failing grade.

Heres a the relevant graph from the EFW website. As you can see, the score has been dropping for a decade, not just since 2009.

This is remarkable result. Greek politicians should have been pushing the nations fiscal score to at least 7 out of 10, if not 8 out of 10. Instead, the score has gone in the wrong direction because of tax increases.

Though I dont expect Hillary and Bernie to learn the right lesson.

P.S. For more information, heres my five-picture explanation of the Greek mess.

P.P.S. And if you want to know why Im so dour about Greeces future, how can you expect good policy from a nation that subsidizes pedophiles and requires stool samples to set up online companies?

P.P.P.S. Lets close by recycling my collection of Greek-related humor.

This cartoon is quite good, but thisthis one is my favorite. And thefinal cartoon in this postalso has a Greek theme.

We also have a couple of videos. The first one features avideo aboutwell, Im not sure, but well call ita European romantic comedyand the second one features a Greek comicpontificating about Germany.

Last but not least, here are somevery un-PC maps of how various peoples including the Greeks view different European nations.

View original post here:

Greece and the Folly of Trying to Solve an Overspending Problem with Tax Increases - People's Pundit Daily

February 08, 2017 17:21 ET | Source: JUST ENERGY GROUP INC.

PRESS RELEASE

Just Energy Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results

Reaffirms Fiscal 2017 Base EBITDA Guidance of $223 million to $233 million

TORONTO, ONTARIO - - February 8, 2017 - -

Just Energy Group, Inc. (TSX:JE; NYSE:JE), a leading retail energy provider specializing in electricity and natural gas commodities, energy efficiency solutions, and renewable energy options, announced results for its third quarter fiscal 2017.

Key Highlights:

1 Profit includes the impact of unrealized gains (losses), which represents the mark to market of future commodity supply acquired to cover future customer demand. The supply has been sold to customers at fixed prices, minimizing any realizable impact of mark to market gains and losses. 2 See "Non-IFRS financial measures" in unaudited interim condensed consolidated MD&A for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2016. 3 Not a meaningful figure.

"During the quarter, our gross margin per customer continued to increase and our attrition rate improved," commented Co-CEO Deb Merril. "Our gross margin per customer improvement initiative yielded desirable results once again this quarter in both our Consumer and Commercial businesses, and our attrition rate continues to improve. We believe the combination of these trends is a strong testament that our strategy to provide value to our customers is working and will support our future growth objectives. While we made significant progress along a number of important strategic, operational, and financial objectives that are enabling us to continue pursuing profitable growth, our total sales and customer addition goals were challenged during the third quarter. These challenges came as a result of lower than anticipated levels of customer switching activity due to relative price stability in gas and electricity markets, and the effect of increased competition that typically occurs in low-commodity-price environments. Fortunately, our business has delivered strong results year to date and remains healthy so that we remain well positioned to achieve our fiscal 2017 guidance while also delivering meaningful cash flow."

Co-CEO, James Lewis added, "We are coming through a very important period in our Company's recent history where we've been able to transform the profitability profile of the business while also repairing our balance sheet and overall financial position. The successful execution of these initiatives is allowing us to pivot from a period of internal repair to a period of what we believe will be prolonged growth. During the third quarter, we announced a very exciting and important entry into Germany, the largest energy market in continental Europe, through the acquisition of SWDirekt. Our future geographic expansion plans in Europe are on track, we are experiencing great customer acceptance of our growing product suite and long term loyalty programs, and our pipeline of value-additive products and opportunities for channel expansion are robust. Today, we are capable of delivering more value to customers than ever in our history and we are squarely on the path to future sustained growth."

Co-CEO, Deb Merril concluded, "We are in a very exciting period for Just Energy. We are aggressively pursuing a growth strategy centred on increasing the number of customer contracts, expanding our geographic presence, transforming our brand, enhancing our sales channels, pursuing strategic acquisitions, and providing new products and structures that meet the changing needs of today's consumers. Moving forward, we feel the successful execution of our strategy will continue to generate great interest in our offerings and result in significant net customer contract additions."

Third Quarter & YTD Operating Performance

To view the graphs associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1085324_graph.pdf

ANNUAL GROSS MARGIN PER RCE

Customer Aggregation

Margin per RCE improvements during the quarter demonstrated continued success of Just Energy's margin improvement initiatives. The Company remains focused on maintaining its profitable customers and ensuring that variable rate customers meet base profitability profiles, even if this results in higher attrition. This improved profitability per RCE will add to the Company's future margins over and above any growth in the customer base.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

The Company continued to pursue aggressive debt reductions in the third quarter of fiscal 2017. As of December 31, 2016 Just Energy's book value net debt was 2.5x Base EBITDA, lower than both the 2.6x and 2.9x reported for March 31, 2016 and the prior comparable period, respectively.

Fiscal 2017 Outlook

Based on year to date performance, management believes that the Company will achieve its previously provided fiscal 2017 Base EBITDA guidance range of $223 million to $233 million, reflecting continued growth year over year. Fiscal 2017 guidance includes deductions to Base EBITDA of approximately $30.0 million to $35.0 million for prepaid commercial commissions, an increase of $12.0 million to $17.0 million over fiscal 2016, which would previously have been included as amortization within selling and marketing expenses. Just Energy expects to offset this headwind with continued strong gross margin performance.

The Company's balance sheet improvement initiatives have resulted in significantly improved debt ratios and management remains committed to further reducing and refinancing its debt in a shareholder-friendly manner. Management expects to achieve its net debt to EBITDA target ratio of 2.0x or less in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2017 and expects to maintain this relative level moving forward.

The repositioned business model has improved the Company's ability to drive profitability and cash generation, thus providing management with the confidence and freedom to commit to future dividend distributions at the current $0.50 per common share level.

Earnings Call

The Company will host a conference call and live webcast to review the third quarter results beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, February 9, 2017, followed by a question and answer period. Rebecca MacDonald, Executive Chair, President & Co-Chief Executive Officers James Lewis and Deb Merril, and Chief Financial Officer Pat McCullough will participate on the call.

Just Energy Conference Call and Webcast

Those who wish to participate in the conference call may do so by dialing 1-888-465-5079 and entering pass code 9284222#. The call will also be webcasted live over the internet at the following link:

http://event.onlineseminarsolutions.com/wcc/r/1357734-1/5C5D979A54FB072545293279884C0606

An audio tape rebroadcast will be available starting at 12:30 p.m. EST February 9th, 2017 until March 11th, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. EST. To access the rebroadcast please dial 1-888-843-7419 and enter the participant code 9284222#.

About Just Energy Group Inc.

Established in 1997, Just Energy (NYSE:JE, TSX:JE) is a leading retail energy provider specializing in electricity and natural gas commodities, energy efficiency solutions, and renewable energy options. With offices located across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, Just Energy serves approximately two million residential and commercial customers providing homes and businesses with a broad range of energy solutions that deliver comfort, convenience and control. Just Energy Group Inc. is the parent company of Amigo Energy, Commerce Energy, Green Star Energy, Hudson Energy, Just Energy Solar, Tara Energy and TerraPass.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information. Forward-looking statements and information in this press release include, but are not limited to, the redemption of the Debentures and the timing thereof. These statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to general economic and market conditions, levels of customer natural gas and electricity consumption, rates of customer additions and renewals, rates of customer attrition, fluctuations in natural gas and electricity prices, changes in regulatory regimes, results of litigation and decisions by regulatory authorities, competition and dependence on certain suppliers. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Just Energy's operations, financial results or dividend levels are included in Just Energy's annual information form and other reports on file with Canadian securities regulatory authorities which can be accessed through the SEDAR website at http://www.sedar.com, on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov or through Just Energy's website at http://www.justenergygroup.com.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor the New York Stock Exchange has approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Pat McCullough Chief Financial Officer Just Energy 713-933-0895 pmccullough@justenergy.com

Or

Michael Cummings Investor Relations Alpha IR Group 617-461-1101 michael.cummings@alpha-ir.com

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See the original post:

Just Energy Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results - GlobeNewswire (press release)