Your retirement savings plan, the 401(k) or any other defined contribution plan, is the product of cost cuts. For years now, in the private sector, the 401(k) has replaced defined benefit products such as pensions. In the public sector, where job security is supposed to mean less pay, employees continue to receive both, life-time job security and golden pensions. It’s time taxpayers had a say in the matter. Here are some workable solutions that help level the playing field courtesy of my friend Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at Cato Institute. Freezing Hiring: … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2016
Donald Trump Laying the Groundwork for an Investment Explosion
The Swiss know about the enormous potential in America Infrastructure rebuilding. Here swissinfo.ch delivers a concise rundown on some potential winners. Trump has announced big investments and wants to build this wall in Mexico,” Sika spokesperson Dominik Slappnig, told Swiss Public Television SRF. The Swiss firm specialising in construction material employs over 1,500 people in North America and made a turnover of CHF839 million ($848 million) in the region. It has already acquired two American companies - FRC Industries in Alabama and L.M. Scofield in Los Angeles - this year. “We’re … [Read more...]
Destruction in the Bond Market Looks Like This
We have warned against the extreme volatility in long bonds from just a slight up-tick in rates. Read here, here and here. In 2012 I explained the concept of duration writing: "wait until interest rates go up. The word to remember is duration. A bond’s duration is an approximation of the percentage decline in its value for every 1% increase in interest rates. The smaller the duration, the less sensitive a bond is, and therefore the less risky in terms of interest rate fluctuations. If rates increase by 1%, the price of a bond with a duration of 10 will fall by about 10%." Here from The Wall … [Read more...]
This is What Makes Investing in Technology Dangerous
The technology sector is one of the most exciting sectors of the stock market. Tech companies are on the cutting edge of innovation and opportunity. It also helps that in tech, unlike in almost any other industry, massive fortunes can be made in a relatively short period of time. The thrill of finding the next Microsoft or Apple before it takes off attracts many to tech shares, but investing in tech also has a downside. Technology may be the most innovative sector, but that also makes it one of the most competitive. For the economy competition helps increase growth and productivity, but … [Read more...]
Just Five Ways this $11 Billion Satellite Can Save Lives and Boost GDP
On November 19, NASA will launch the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) satellite into orbit over America. The GOES-R is a leap ahead of the previous system (GOES) and will sit over 22,000 miles above the earth’s surface. Nature describes GOES-R saying: GOES-R can take pictures as often as every 30 seconds, much faster than the several-minute intervals of current GOES weather satellites. That rapid-fire imagery allows the satellite to track developing changes in thunderstorms, hurricanes and other severe storms. It also enables meteorologists to follow plumes … [Read more...]
Does Trump offer hope for Income Investors?
Eight years of near zero interest rates in the bond market have inflicted untold pain on America’s retired investors and savers. Those who saved diligently year in and year out for a comfortable retirement have been punished by an activist Fed. A Fed that has tried to use monetary policy, a tool designed to smooth out cyclical speed bumps in the economy, to repair structural economic problems best addressed by fiscal authorities. Could a Trump Presidency spell the end of America’s failed experiment with Monetary Keynesianism? As the WSJ points out here, a Trump presidency may offer hope. … [Read more...]
No Surprise here as Pension Losses Mount
Public pension managers are coming to the realization, too late I might add, that retirees don’t belong in hedge funds. I’ve warned against this misstep for years (see here, here, here and here for starters). Today, The Wall Street Journal rings the alarm bell on the issue as well. In the U.S., the country’s largest public-pension plan is struggling with the same bleak outlook. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which handles benefits for 1.8 million members, recently posted a 0.6% return for its 2016 fiscal year, its worst annual result since the financial crisis. Its … [Read more...]
Consider the Extraordinary Security Risks of Social Media
Here, hpematter.co explains the enormous lifetime security risks of social media. Social media’s dark side: It isn’t just the vast amount of personally identifiable information (PII) that’s there that makes it a treasure trove for hackers and other criminals. It is also that the shared information may be around forever. Social media sites use terabyte upon terabyte of storage right now, which is expected to increase, said Mark Painter, security evangelist with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The PII gathered is too valuable to discard. Too many people use social media for digital … [Read more...]
Is it Possible Dodd-Frank Could be Repealed?
With the election of Donald Trump as the next president, and the maintenance of control over the House and Senate, Republicans have the opportunity to repeal the Dodd-Frank law, which has given businesses headaches since implementation. The best part of the Dodd-Frank bill was a promise by the Federal Reserve and the government to end the practice of "too big to fail." That main goal has, as of now, gone unmet, as I wrote to you about here earlier this Autumn. But while the bill's main goal has gone unfulfilled, a host of burdensome regulations and requirements on business have been … [Read more...]
This is what Dr. Copper thinks of President Trump
Copper prices have soared almost 20% since Donald Trump was elected president. Copper is said to have PhD in economics because it has applications in a range of industries. Everything from the construction and automotive industries to electronics. Copper prices tend to move with the business cycle. Copper prices didn’t just start rising after Trump was elected. They started rising well ahead of the election and they have been up for 14 consecutive days. Did copper see a Trump victory when few others did? Maybe, but a new plan from China that calls for additional spending on building and … [Read more...]