How to Increase Shareholder Return Today
The Wall Street Journal ran an article yesterday titled Top U.S. Firms Are Cash-Rich Abroad, Cash-Poor at Home. The piece pointed out that American companies are holding record amounts of cash, but much of it is overseas. By example, “Emerson Electric Co. has $2 billion of cash in the bank. But this... Read the full story
It’s the Spending Stupid!
As congressional leaders and the White House begin to negotiate on the fiscal cliff we are hearing a lot about raising taxes on the “rich.” The debate has morphed from whether or not to tax the rich to how to tax the rich. Apparently, a majority of Americans bought into the President’s dubious... Read the full story
The Illegitimate Tax Mandate
Following last week’s election, the President and his allies in congress are claiming the outcome of the election (and exit polls) indicates a mandate to raise taxes on the “rich.” Why? Because the President campaigned on a higher tax message. Actually, he campaigned on raising taxes on millionaires... Read the full story
Fairy Tales in the Fantasyland of Washington D.C.
Chuck Schumer, the liberal democratic senator from New York is out with some post-election blather on the fiscal cliff. Schumer and his liberal allies have yet to figure out that higher tax rates don’t generate more revenue. Here is what he said during an address at the Christian Science Monitor Breakfast... Read the full story
RIP Economic Freedom
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result... Read the full story
Housing Recovery: Your Best Investment Today or Already Overplayed?
Yesterday the Census Bureau released the September report on the number of Housing Starts and Building Permits. Both increased much more than expected—permits surged by 11.6%, and starts were up by 15%. After trudging along a Derpressionary bottom for more than three years, it is now safe to say that... Read the full story
The Burger Flipper Recovery Continues
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the September employment report today. The headline numbers are an increase in non-farm payrolls of 114,000 and an unemployment rate of 7.8%. The payroll number was in-line with estimates for subdued jobs growth, but the 7.8% unemployment rate was a shocker to... Read the full story
The Peril of a Monetary Politburo
We’ve written plenty about the Fed and QE-infinity on this site over recent days, so we had planned to lay things to rest for a while, but then Minnesota Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kocherlakota came out with one of the most perilous ideas yet from the Fed. Kocherlakota was formerly viewed... Read the full story
Bernanke: To Infinity and Beyond!
In case you missed it, last week Ben Bernanke rolled out another misguided money printing campaign. This isn’t QE3, it is QE-infinity. The Bernank opened the monetary spigot and isn’t shutting it off until he sees substantial improvement in the labor market, inflation and speculative bubbles be damned.... Read the full story
The Short and Sweet of the FOMC Meeting
The Fed announced today that it would restart the printing press at a rate of $40 billion per month. The newly printed money will be invested in Mortgage Backed Securities (since the Fed has already nationalized most of the treasury market). Including the extension of Operation Twist, the Fed will buy... Read the full story
