INVESTING: Congress’ first 100 hours suggest we’re in for long year

Investors could get shafted from the big guys at the top. The most powerful people in America potentially could fleece the average investor, and the only recourse we might have is hope.

No, I am not talking about the outrageous but legal (a contract was signed) exit pay package of the former CEO of Home Depot. I am not talking about the options scandal that eventually wrapped up Steve Jobs from Apple, even though he is worth every penny the company pays him and 10 times more.

I am talking about Nancy Pelosi and her rag-tag band of communists. So far, the free market my grandfathers fought to protect has gone relatively unscathed in the first vaunted 100 hours, but some of Pelosi’s recent comments send a shudder down my spine. I only hope she said them for short-term political gain.

This month, Pelosi is attempting to jam a bill down our throats that could literally kill. This innovation-destroying bill is disguised as a prescription-drug-negotiation scheme.

She figures that as long as the government is paying for the drugs, it might as well have the power to demand better prices (this is not allowed under current law).

The Democrats are using the VA medical plan as a blueprint for what they want. Understand, though, that availability of the best life-saving drugs is far less in the VA plan. Pelosi’s bill would radically decrease the number of choices for health care consumers. In addition, the massive drop in revenue for drug firms would hinder their ability to produce new drugs.

One of the hottest areas of emphasis of the first 100 hours was increasing the minimum wage.

If they succeed in hiking the wage enough over the next few years, small-business owners all over the country will suffer.

And the unintended consequence will hit Pelosi right in the heart of her constituents. Unemployment of lower-end workers will increase as business owners do what they’ve done since the beginning of time: replace a rising cost input with a lower-cost one.

The Home Depot story brought out a lot of Democratic loudmouths who believe Congress should put controls on CEO pay.

Look, shareholders have a choice when it comes to the stocks they buy. If they don’t like how a company is paying its people, they can sell the shares! A more judicious company would love to have their investment. I work in an industry where the government controls my pay. It’s ridiculous.

If the stock market begins to get the jitters from what investors see in Washington, it won’t be an all-out rush for the exits. Large and persistent sellers will leave their footprints in places where we will have time to see them.

So far, I don’t see anything more than an overdue, mild pullback. As I have been saying since late September, buy on dips. Areas of concentration should be largecap American growth companies. As for you, Nancy, the free market works. Please leave it alone!