A Winter Chill!!!
Just imagine that you are enjoying the weekend only to wake up Sunday morning and find out that you were robbed of 10% of your assets overnight. If you had insurance, you might feel a little more secure. Otherwise, you would feel vulnerable and less secure. Now imagine if the thief was your government. What […]
The Debt Roundtable – Now it's the Government's Turn
The 2007-2008 stock market correction changed the debt focus for corporations, individuals and government. Corporations and individuals changed for the better, but the government has not. In the graphs below – both provided by J.P. Morgan – you can see that both corporations and individuals have reduced their debt levels over the past 4 years […]
Currency War – Act III Will Be a Major Devaluation of Euro
Not because they want to, it is because they will be forced to do so. The history of the early 1930’s is being replayed today. After the financial meltdown in 1929 that led to the Great Depression, countries were under huge financial stress. England was the first to go off the gold standard in September […]
Sector Boom – Energy!
Over the next few years, the energy landscape will be changing dramatically. North America is on its way to energy independence which will have not only implications for America, but the world. For example, at Germany’s upcoming Munich security conference, fracking and America’s energy boom will be at the top of the agenda. The boom is […]
Update on Tax Changes from Fiscal Cliff Deal
We mentioned in our last update that many of the details related to the tax changes surrounding the fiscal cliff legislation were hard to come by at that time. We now have more clarity on those changes and want to share some of the more important ones with you. As mentioned previously, the bill permanently […]
Fiscal Cliff
Legislation to avert the fiscal cliff passed both chambers of Congress yesterday. President Obama is expected to sign it into law today. In short, the bill lets a variety of taxes increase for wealthy Americans, averts most middle class tax hikes and leaves entitlement programs untouched. Although all of the details of the legislation are […]
Searching For Growth
The two areas that have helped the US economy grow since the 2008 collapse have been manufacturing and exports. Things may be changing, however, as we are beginning to see a real decline in exports – see chart below. The contraction in Europe is also starting to spread. This is not surprising as we are […]
Over the Cliff?
The “Fiscal Cliff” is the popular term used to describe the conundrum that we face at the end of this year when the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011 are scheduled to go into effect. This Act’s combination of higher taxes and spending cuts would have a dramatic effect on the economy and […]
Difficult Few Weeks Ahead for the Euro
The Euro is likely to have a few rough weeks ahead that may cause indigestion for some at Thanksgiving. The problems in Europe still linger and, along with the fiscal cliff in the United States, likely will take center stage in the coming weeks. A couple of things coming up in Europe are: 1) The […]
Election Day Hangover
The stock market is reacting to the results of yesterday’s elections very poorly with the Dow Jones off by over 250 points as of the time of the writing of this update. Is this justified? In our opinion, much of this downward movement is justified for the following reasons: 1) Uncertainty. The Bush tax cuts […]