What Happens When Markets Fluctuate: Maintaining Balance While Others Are Not
After the cascading decline of year-to-date, the market indexes are down 10 percent in terms of the Dow Jones Industrial Averages, 13 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500, and 23 percent for the NASDAQ Over-the-Counter Market. Relatively recent market participants ask the question: what is going on? What is going on is […]
1938 Redux: Who Will Gain and Lose From Ukraine
Someone once wrote, “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” The current Russian invasion of Ukraine has been compared to the 1938 German invasion of Czechoslovakia. Like Nazi Germany, Russia made a series of escalating demands on Ukraine and used their lack of compliance as a pretext for invading the country. The key […]
Ukraine, Russian, and the End of Free Trade
As this is written, the invasion of Ukraine continues to evolve. While talks are scheduled, there is little hope of a diplomatic solution. A product of the Ukraine war waged by Russia is an international condemnation of the conduct of the Russian government in general and of its head, Vladimir Putin, in particular. […]
So Long 60/40: How Circumstances Can Get in the Way Of Recipe Investing
For at least 60 years, it has been an article of faith to invest one’s assets along the lines of 60 percent stocks, 40 percent bonds. This formula was originally coined by the Ford Foundation; they advocated the allocation to endowments and large charities who previously had invested only in bonds. The idea was […]
Forecasting 2022: The Road Steepens
The New Year will bring all sorts of changes. A stock market floating on cheap money and excess funds will learn to float with less or capsize in the process. Many speculative enterprises like cryptocurrencies, electric vehicles and the like will face a time of testing. Not all will survive. Inflation will become both […]
Can Crypto Go to Zero? You Betcha!
Can Crypto Go to Zero? You Betcha! Of all the asset classes traded today, none has the need for a collective set of beliefs as much as cryptocurrencies. These virtual assets fluctuate widely in value, which is set supposedly by supply and demand. The problem is that, with no central place to trade, transactions are […]
Maximum Gain, Minimum Pain: The Current Approaches to Tax
Back in the day when Russell Long of Louisiana was chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, he used to tell a ditty to his colleagues: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, go tax that fella yonder under the tree.” Long was in effect telling the other senators that the easiest taxes to pass […]
Watching Sausage Being Made: The $3.5 Trillion Budget Reconciliation Package
Otto Von Bismarck, the man credited with uniting various fiefdoms into what is today Germany, once said there are two things the public must never see: one is sausage being made; the other is how legislation is passed into law. The $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending bill before Congress this week is already known for its […]
Bernie Madoff Redux: The Case of Southport Capital
Investors were told that their monies were invested in government debt and real estate projects that would produce a return of 6-7 percent per annum..
Riding the Chinese Tiger: How Changes in Chinese Securities Laws Will Impact US Investing
There is an old maxim in China: “He who chooses to ride the tiger goes wherever the tiger goes.” This has gained relevance for investors after China decreed over the past weekend that private schools set up to tutor Chinese students will have to become non-profit in order to continue operating.
