Hotels, mansions, and affordable homes are being built by robots today. You may not be able to tell as you drive by your neighbor's house, but a shortage of skilled labor in the construction market has left home builders relying on machines to produce more and more of each house. Inside the factories where the robots, with help from both skilled and unskilled humans, make the homes, conditions are controlled. There's no down time caused by foul weather, and every nail driven by a robot ends up right where it's meant to go. And perhaps most essential to the growth of the prefabricated … [Read more...]
Are You Ready to Put Your Family in a Self-driving Google Car?
If you live in or around Phoenix, you will soon have the opportunity to trust the lives of your family members and yourself to a self-driving car from Waymo, the subsidiary of Alphabet (still known to almost everyone as Google). Waymo began a public test of its vehicles in February, the first since development began in 2009. The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins reports on the new tests: Waymo said that, starting Tuesday, it will begin accepting applications through its website from people who want to be part of the Early Rider program. It isn’t clear when people will begin riding in the … [Read more...]
This is Where Active Management Reigns Supreme
With the craze over index-based investing continuing to gain momentum, there is one asset class where active management still reigns supreme. That is in the fixed-income space. Barron’s reports that according to a recent PIMCO study (yes there is a conflict there) the majority of actively managed bond funds have beaten their passive peers over the past one, three, five, seven, and ten years after fees. A full 63% have outperformed over the past five years. There are many reasons indexing shouldn’t be viewed as your first choice for bond investing, but one of the reasons cited by PIMCO, for … [Read more...]
Who is the President Listening To?
Who is Donald Trump? Answer: The candidate who understood the anger in the question of “Where’s my bailout?” I hope he doesn’t forget that. Trump understood the “heartbeat” of America, even before he was elected. The Trump adviser who also understood and who helped Trump gauge that “heartbeat,” was Steve Bannon, now White House Chief Strategist. Bannon helped Trump formulate a policy system of “economic nationalism” that spoke to Americans who never got a bailout after 2008, and who would ultimately push Trump to victory in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin where no … [Read more...]
Singapore Poised to Change How Large Cities Operate
Singapore is advertising (literally, this is from paid content on CNN) itself as the country best positioned to turn itself into a "Smart Nation." According to the ad campaign by the city-state, big data, analytics and next-gen sensor networks will change how big cities operate, and Singapore will lead the charge. It's hard not to agree given the list of bullet points the ad proffers to readers about how advanced the small nation is: According to the 2016 Global Innovation Index, Singapore is Asia’s most innovative economy. Singapore was ranked as the world’s top network-ready … [Read more...]
A Boater’s True Companion
I’ve used the Eldridge Tide and Pilot book for years as a boater. It’s a great reference tool and an entertaining read while on the water. I thought you’d like this story in the Boston Globe. Over the last century, most New England fishermen and merchant sailors have gone to sea with a copy of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book on board. It boasts clean lines and uncluttered grids that can easily be read on a rolling vessel, and there’s a hole drilled into the top corner so it can be securely fastened with a nail or hook when the wind is howling. The iconic yellow nautical book has been in … [Read more...]
These Are the Weak Spots in the Economy
Despite strong sentiment in surveys, a stock market that won't seem to quit, and overall decent data, there are some weak parts of the economy. Two of the most concerning are the declining growth rates in automobile loans and commercial and industrial loans. … [Read more...]
The Winner of France’s Election Will Be Handed Fiscal Dynamite
Markets are rumbling at the idea far right candidate Marine Le Pen and far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon might squeak through the first round of French voting. Both candidates are advocates against many (or all) European Union policies and either one winning the presidency would rock Europe's foundations. But no matter which candidate is victorious after the second round, the new president will be handed a fiscal situation as explosive as dynamite. Dan Mitchell writes that France has promised pensions far beyond the ability of private sector tax revenues to deliver. We’ll start with … [Read more...]
Tropical Greetings! From Steve Forbes and…
Is there anything better than a snow storm back home while you’re in sunny Florida, Arizona or St. Somewhere? How great is it looking at your iPhone weather app in flip-flops at cocktail hour smiling at the arctic blast settling in back home? Life is good, right? Makes one want to send a postcard home. On your way to the post office, you could also mail your tax-returns. In a perfect world--and yours is pretty good in this story--your taxes would be one flat rate; a postcard sized filing, simple enough that your big problem that morning is beating the piss out of your opponents in pickle … [Read more...]
Is China the Linchpin to the Global Outlook?
The FT reports that China may be as important to the global investment outlook as the pro-growth reforms that Trump administration is trying to put into place. In the case of Donald Trump, expectations that the US president would act swiftly to push though tax reforms, deregulation and bold infrastructure investments are starting to ebb as signs of administrative delays proliferate. For China, an ebullient first quarter of GDP growth is giving way to anxieties that the world’s second-largest economy may have peaked. This belief has already depressed the prices of key commodities, upon … [Read more...]
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