Today the Supreme Court has decided states are allowed to collect taxes from online retailers. Ten states already have laws requiring out of state sellers to notify buyers of taxes owed and to inform states of unpaid sales taxes. Retailers opposed the laws on the grounds that they had no presence in the states where taxes were being levied. In a 1992 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that companies with no physical presence in a state didn't need to collect that state's sales taxes. But now that online sales account for 10% of shopping, the old rule doesn't work anymore. The change in … [Read more...]
Hyundai and Audi Make a New Push for Hydrogen Cars
Fuel cell technology, like cold fusion, is one of those often promised but never delivered dream-technologies. Hydrogen fuel cells could, on paper, solve many of the problems with both petroleum fuels and electric battery technologies. Fuel cells combine petroleum-like easy fill ups with zero local emissions like battery electric vehicles. Now Hyundai and Audi have worked out a deal to combine efforts on hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies. Costas Pitas reports at Reuters: LONDON (Reuters) - Hyundai (005380.KS) agreed a deal with Audi (NSUG.DE) on Wednesday to collaborate on hydrogen … [Read more...]
Growing-Up in Mattapoisett/Rochester/Marion: Going on Survival, Part II
As I wrote to you yesterday in Part I, my nephew is on a week-long camping trip called Survival with his seventh grade class from Old Rochester Junior High School—the tri-town regional junior high school for kids from the towns of Mattapoisett (where I’m from), Rochester, and Marion, Massachusetts. I remember like it was yesterday boarding the yellow school bus and driving several hours not knowing where we were going, but seeing fewer and fewer houses and then no houses, and realizing we were a long way from home. When the bus stopped we lined up at the base of a rural dirt road and found … [Read more...]
Housing Starts Rise 5% in May
In a surprise to many economists, housing starts rose 5% in the month of May. Despite rising housing starts, the housing market is still sluggish when starts are viewed as a percent of U.S. households. By that measure, current start rates are barely above the lows of the 1991 housing collapse. Sharon Nunn reports in The Wall Street Journal: Housing starts rose 5% in May from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Compared with a year earlier, starts were up 20.3%. The strong improvement was spread fairly evenly … [Read more...]
GE Kicked Out of the Dow
It is a sad day for General Electric. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index committee has decided to give GE the boot. GE was an original member of the Dow and had been part of the 30-stock index continuously since 1907. It was the Dow’s oldest constituent. Once America’s most venerable industrial company, GE stumbled badly at the hands of former CEO Jeff Immelt. Mr. Immelt should have been shown the door years ago, but the board kept him around. GE is now a shadow of its former self and the current CEO was pushed into cutting the dividend (another poorly handled decision) and selling-off … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: A Simple Way to Retire where You want to Live
You want to make sure your retirement plans are right for you. As I wrote to you yesterday, testing or experimenting by actually living in your chosen destination, for at least one season makes sense to me. You could also see what it’s like to be retired by taking a prolonged vacation. Put yourself in that retirement mindset. In other words, you are in charge of your retirement. It’s no secret retirees are moving to places where their money is treated with respect. But it’s beginning to become pretty crowded in certain spots. Take Nashville, TN for example. Cameron McWhirter reports at The … [Read more...]
This is One Ugly Looking Chart
Emerging markets stocks have gotten clubbed since hitting a high in January. The iShares Emerging Markets ETF is down 14% from its January peak and more than 5% on the year. And if you believe the charts, EM could hit an air pocket before the asset class sees support. For what was one of the most lauded investments of year, it has been an ugly five months. … [Read more...]
Crisis at Vanguard: Part I
Originally posted August 1, 2016. Vanguard Dividend Growth Closes to New Investors No, it is not the end of the world, but if you are a loyal Vanguard investor, as am I, having one of the few dividend-based funds in the world I advise for purchase close is a “Vanguard Crisis” for me as well as for many individual investors. How is this “Crisis at Vanguard” going to play out for the individual investor? I have been anticipating this “Crisis at Vanguard” for a long time. And it is going to become a broadening industry crisis, not just a “Crisis at Vanguard.” The handful of big mutual … [Read more...]
If You do this, Will You Improve Your Happiness?
“Americans are devoted to the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, research shows that many of us don’t actually know what makes us happy, so we end up pursuing the wrong things,” writes Dr. Shlomo Benartzi, professor and co-head of the behavioral decision-making group at UCLA Anderson School of Management. One way to help your happiness is to do a test. It’s called A/B testing. I’m familiar with A/B testing with our websites. Change a couple of words in the title of a piece and it’s shocking what a difference it can make in reader interest. As Dr. Benartzi points out: In research … [Read more...]
Short-Sellers Bet Against Twitter
After posting its first two profitable quarters, Twitter's share price has been soaring, but Ben Eisen reports for the Wall Street Journal that short sellers have the social media network in their sights. He writes: Now, as optimism about the company prompts a slew of analysts to lift their price targets, some short-sellers are betting on a reversal. They have amassed positions worth more than $2 billion this month through Thursday, according to s3 Partners, a financial analytics firm. “Shorts have been selling into this rally, backing up their original bets and looking to double up on … [Read more...]
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