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Sleepy Joe Pulls 7 Million Americans Off the Couch

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As Sleepy Joe reluctantly attempts to pull more than seven million unemployed Americans off the couch, he may want to take a look down his party line to seek out the rot. Because when he drills down into the deep Blue States, especially big blue blob cities, he’ll see years of political largesse finally coming home to roost. Take a look at Newport, RI, for example, where the streets are lined with cars from New York. Woke workers who could afford to work remotely are already here as local restaurants struggle to staff up. For years, politicians treated Newport properties as an endless piggy … [Read more...]

BATTERY BATTLE BEGINS: Toyota Takes on Tesla

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Toyota, a pioneer in electric vehicle technology, has announced it will invest $13.6 billion in battery development over the next decade to remain on the cutting edge. Kana Inagaki reports in The Financial Times: Toyota will invest ¥1.5tn ($13.6bn) in battery development and supply over the next decade as the world’s largest carmaker aims to stay ahead in the race for cheaper and longer-lasting electric and hybrid vehicles. The Japanese group outlined its plans as it attempted to quell criticism it had been slow to shift to electric cars because of its dominance in hybrid vehicles that use … [Read more...]

FLIP THEN FLOP? Banks Fund Eerily Familiar House Flipping Boom

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Big banks and investors are putting a lot of money into a house flipping boom that is eerily familiar to anyone who survived the carnage of the financial crisis. Ryan Dezember reports in The Wall Street Journal: Wall Street has made a mountain of money available to house flippers, and selling move-in-ready rehabs has rarely been easier. The challenge is finding beat-up and out-of-date properties that can be renovated and resold for a profit. “Investors like me, we’re like ants on a sugar hill all fighting for the same projects,” said Ed Stock, who started fixing and flipping houses on New … [Read more...]

Four Letter Word I’m Celebrating this Labor Day

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Your Survival Guy wants to share a personal story with you. It’s from a client who’s finally calling it quits. Dr. Lee Payne and I have been working together for close to 20-years but when you consider his affiliation with Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report, we’re talking more like 40-years, and many more to come. Dr. Payne remembers reading Dick’s investment letters, believing in Dick’s philosophy and putting it to work. Dick’s letter was a monthly reminder that helped Lee beat inertia. Lee invested in himself (my favorite investment) and his business, and what was left over he invested … [Read more...]

SHORTAGE: Strikes Push Stressed Economy Toward Breaking Point

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The inflation being caused by expectations for Joe Biden's absurd spending plans and the Federal Reserve's irregular liquidity operations has put big companies in a bind. Their customers don't want to pay more for their products, their suppliers want more for supplies, and employees want more money to pay for the rising prices they see in their home budgets. It's a balancing act that not every company is managing with ease. In the face of inflation, Mondelez International, one of America's largest snack companies, developed a plan to cut costs that would reduce the overtime pay many of its … [Read more...]

Should Stock Buybacks be Taxed Like Dividends?

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Democrats on the Senate Finance committee want to tax stock buybacks like dividends. The Democrats desire is of course to generate revenue so they can spend more money, but taxing stock buybacks like dividends isn't the worst idea. Dividends and capital gains should be tax-free as that money has already been taxed once. Short of that, it you are going to tax dividends and capital gains, buybacks should be put on equal footing in terms of taxes. Taxing buybacks is certainly better than raising the dividend and capital gains tax rate to 39.6% which is also under consideration. Bloomberg … [Read more...]

GET OUT: The Escape from California is Accelerating

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Last year, Americans in blue states and cities across the country fled the violence and disease in their cities, buying homes in places like Florida, Texas, New Hampshire, and Wyoming. The truth is, many of them had been looking for the chance to get out for years, but until remote work gave them the opportunity, they were stuck paying high taxes and suffering the high costs of living. With COVID and looting subsiding it was possible the trend would reverse, but in fact in 2021 in California, it's accelerating. A new study from Stanford reports that more businesses have already left … [Read more...]

A Master Class on Value Investing

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GMO's second-quarter letter to investors, written by Ben Inker, is a master class on value investing and why value shares today look especially attractive relative to growth, aka glamour stocks. Most will likely brush off GMO's letter as the musings of a firm that has lost touch with a new paradigm in investing. "Today's growth stocks are different than your father's growth stocks," the growth bulls will explain. "It's all about innovation and disruption," as if innovation and disruption are new phenomena. Inker provides many insights on the Value vs. Growth debate, including why the … [Read more...]

BIDENOMICS: Inflation, COVID Failure, Drive Plunge in Consumer Confidence

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Americans are not happy with Joe Biden's economy. Soaring prices and concerns about Biden's strategy for fighting COVID have undermined Americans' confidence in the economy. The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence fell from 125.1 in July to 113.8 in August, the lowest level since February. The report stated: The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® declined in August, following a decrease in July (a downward revision). The Index now stands at 113.8 (1985=100), down from 125.1 in July. The Present Situation Index—based on consumers' assessment of current business and … [Read more...]

INFLATION: How Much is a Dollar (Store) Worth?

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Dollar stores are among the first to see trouble ahead from inflation in dollar prices. The Financial Times reports: Dollar stores have spread rapidly across the US since the Great Recession, pulling in cash-strapped consumers with their 21st-century twist on the “five and dime” model Woolworth popularised a century earlier. Dollar General now operates almost 17,800 stores and Dollar Tree has more than 15,900, compared with Walmart’s 4,740 larger US outlets. Close to 2,000 new dollar stores are expected to open this year, according to Coresight Research. That represents almost half of … [Read more...]