My Comments: OK, maybe “funeral” is too strong but the bloom is clearly off the lily. I’ve been registered as a Democrat since I was in college. This was when you had to be if you wanted to vote in the primaries. The only people running were Democrats. I’ve called myself an economist since my …
Continue reading RIP Obama’s Stimulus: Funeral for a Policy Success
My Comments: I confess to having been naive when it comes to some people having a greater influence on political outcomes than others. But now I've read about this report, and what it claims, and my naivete is now boundless. Some friends and family stopped voting long ago. They have accepted that their votes are …
My Comments: Over the years I’ve had people wonder why I’m an optimist. They’ve decided I’m simply blinded by whatever it is that causes me to lean to the left instead of the right. To their mind, the world, and in particular America, is going to hell in a handbasket. I believe that for centuries, …
Continue reading Forecasts of US Fiscal Armageddon Are Wrong
My Comments: This article was published two months ago, so it is interesting to see how the ideas expressed were validated or not over February and March. At the time, the focus was a just ended and very dismal January. Everyone was asking me about the rest of the year. And I didn’t have a …
My Comments: Now that the University of Florida's march to the national title game in basketball is behind us, (Congratulations, guys, for giving us several months of enduring pleasure as we watched you grow and succeed!) it's time to come back to earth and consider how life is likely to play out on other fronts. …
Continue reading A Deal Over Ukraine is Ugly But Unavoidable
My Comments: China is today the 2nd largest and arguably the 2nd strongest economy in the world. It differs from us in a material way in that it has few of the myriad infrastructure elements of our economy, which have evolved over the past 235 years. In China, it’s very much a work in progress. …
My Comments: Many, if not most of us, are sick and tired of the arguments about ObamaCare, the nickname for the PPACA, passed by Congress and essentially OK’d by the Supreme Court. Between you and me it's here to stay, and yet needs a lot of adjustments to make it realistic and meaningful over time. …
My Comments: There are just as many ways to lose money with bonds as there are with stocks. The risk is different; what happens to interest rates in the future vs corporate earnings and their relative size. That’s an oversimplification but you get the idea. The chart above shows interest rates from 1790 – 2012. …
My Comments: Followers of this blog may remember my frequent mention of Thomas P.M. Barnett, a prolific writer and thought leader on global economics and political forces. Years ago he said that within a couple of decades, the US would become a net exporter of energy. He asserted this transformation would re-write a lot of …
Continue reading Energy Price Spread: Natural Gas Vs. Crude Oil In The U.S.
My Comments: Yes, the title above is a little odd, but the word "optimism" caused me to stop and read. By every contemporary, standard definition, I am a “financial advisor”. That term is restricted, or should be, to those of us providing financial advice to clients that conforms to a fiduciary standard. Simply put, we …
Continue reading It Is Informed Optimism To Wait For The Rain
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