Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute shines a spotlight on politicians and activists who advocate for higher taxes but don't voluntarily pay the rates they recommend. The obvious takeaway, these folks don't put their money where their mouths are. If you want to see a bunch of hypocritical leftists squirming with embarrassment, there’s a very clever video [watch below] showing what happens when a bunch of pro-tax hike millionaires are asked to voluntarily pay more money to the IRS. I’ve even debated some of these rich, pro-tax statists on TV, telling them not to make the rest of us victims of … [Read more...]
Churchill, Roosevelt & Company—Studies in Character and Statecraft by Lewis Lehrman
Conservative icon, prolific writer and editor David Franke offers a spellbinding review of Lewis Lehrman’s book on Churchill and Roosevelt. No one in the world is more qualified in judging David Franke’s contribution to America’s conservative movement than I am. Back in the gold rush era, David Franke was the editor of Silver & Gold Report, by far the most valuable reference on all the movers and shakers in the world of gold and silver. The owner and one of the finest copywriters at the time was Dan Rosenthall, a gentleman I knew well and much admired over our years of … [Read more...]
Bezos and Musk Ignite The American Rocket Revolution
If you're near Oshkosh, Wisconsin from the 24th to the 30th, you'll have an opportunity to check out Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket and astronaut space capsule at the Experimental Aircraft Association's 65th annual fly-in convention. Blue Origin, funded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, calls the New Shepard "fully reusable," explaining: The New Shepard system is a fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) space vehicle. Blue Origin explains: The system consists of a pressurized capsule atop a booster. The combined vehicles launch vertically, accelerating for approximately … [Read more...]
This Tech Company is More Profitable than Apple
Samsung edged past Apple to become the most profitable tech company in the second quarter, but there's a twist. Samsung will likely supply flexible displays to a new version of the iPhone, and to keep up its profitability, Samsung may want Apple to sell as many of the phones as possible. Jacky Wong writes at The Wall Street Journal: Still, strong sales of the newest iPhone model, expected later this year, could actually benefit Samsung. The Korean company will supply flexible displays, called organic light-emitting diodes, to at least one version of the new phone, The Wall Street Journal has … [Read more...]
Are the Chinese Set for a Housing Bust?
Every time their government puts a new restriction on home buying, Chinese investors put more money in new apartments and homes. Some are certain that the government will prop up housing prices forever, some are scared that if they don't buy now, they may not get a chance later. Investors in China are trapped in a TINA market, as in "There Is No Alternative," to investing in homes. As Pei Zhiyong, a housing investor told the Wall Street Journal, "No other investment is as profitable as property. Stocks are too risky.” Lingling Wei and Dominique Fong report the excesses in the market: With … [Read more...]
This Major American City is Looking at Bankruptcy
I have recently written to you about the possible bankruptcy of the state of Illinois, potentially the first state in the country ever to go under financially. But travel a thousand miles east from Springfield, and you'll land in Hartford, CT a major American city that just had its debt rating cut to junk status. Zerohedge writes: ...on Tuesday afternoon, S&P pulled off the band-aid, and downgraded the city's bond rating by two notches to BB from BBB-, also known as junk, citing "growing liquidity pressures" and "weaker market access prospects", while keeping the city's General … [Read more...]
Sentiment Change Could Flip Yield-Reaching Market on its Head
Low long-term bond yields in the face of a Fed that is hiking short-term rates has helped sustain one of the greatest yield reaching episodes on record. As the WSJ explains, a reversal in sentiment is all it would take to drive yields back to more normalized levels, likely leading to an unwind in the trade. Not a comfortable foundation to build one's retirement portfolio upon. On a related note, stay tuned for a post explaining why investors assuming today's inflated stock market valuations are justified by low long-term bond yields have it wrong. It has been “TINA” for the last seven years. … [Read more...]
Can GE Go Local to Avoid Protectionism?
With protectionism heating up around the world, GE is adopting a strategy of localization. It's building plants and facilities in places it never otherwise would in order to avoid protectionism. Can this strategy work long term? Ted Mann and Brian Spegele write in the Wall Street Journal: In India, GE began to push harder on localization after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected in 2014 on a “Make in India” platform. He promised economic development fueled by major investments in India’s infrastructure. GE says it wouldn’t have won its India locomotive deal in 2015 without first … [Read more...]
My Most Popular Post so Far this Year
This year my investment readers, focused on their long-term retirement survival, have been tuning in to one post more than any other. "Why Vanguard GNMA Works for You in 2017" has been a hit. Read it below. It’s time to get your lazy money off the couch and back to work. You know the lazy money I’m talking about. The rainy day fund that’s turned into a big-screen TV, the matured CDs that took a cruise to the islands, and the emergency cash that’s betting on Apple. Let’s not forget where your safe money should safely be employed: At Vanguard GNMA. Did you know that over the last … [Read more...]
Famous Last Words: “This Time It’s Different.”
Howard Gold, a columnist at MarketWatch, explains that Millennials are making the same investing mistakes their parents made. But rather than making those mistakes on a clunky old desktop, they're making them on their smartphones. Millennials' favorite stocks are those without dividends, and instead of trading for value, they're trading the stocks of companies they're familiar with. According to TD Ameritrade, the five stocks most owned by its millennial customers are—wait for it—Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.26% Facebook Inc. FB, +2.39% Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +1.35% Tesla Inc. TSLA, +1.03% and … [Read more...]
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