A Proposal 83% of Americans Support
Caroline Baum writes that 83% of Americans would support term limits in the House and Senate. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has introduced a “Term Limits for All” constitutional amendment. His amendment would limit every House member to three terms and every senator to two.
Wall Street’s Dirty Secret
The New York Times ran a must-read article this week on the important differences between brokers and investment advisors. As I have written in the past, the difference between brokers, or self-labeled “financial advisors” who work for big brokerage houses, and registered investment advisors is stark. Brokers are held to a suitability standard whereas investment advisors are held to a fiduciary standard.
Avoid These Securities
One sector of the financial markets that is greatly underpricing risk today is municipal bonds. State and local governments are facing extraordinary budget pressure.
A Snapshot of the Economy
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) came out this week. The LEI increased 0.3% from December. Each month when the Conference Board releases the leading, coincident, and lagging indicators, my staff sends me an updated table of the numbers.
A Grave Threat
Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s top economist, is calling for a doubling or tripling in the rate of inflation. He wants central bankers to raise their inflation targets to 4%-6% from an average of 2% today. What would possess anyone to recommend more inflation?