Obama Has Four Years to Fix the Economy

My comments: When I saw this title, I had my doubts. Part of that is because no President has enough necessary tools, and because one doesn’t “fix” the economy; it more or less has a life of its own. If I “believe” things are better, which is a mindset, and not written in stone, then …

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A Glimpse Into the Future

My Comment: As a reader of this blog, you’ve come across ideas from Tom Barnett that I recycle from time to time. If you do nothing else today, I encourage you to read some of his thoughts that I re-post here. Fascinating stuff! Regardless of our political leanings, all of us are a little scared …

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Is Economic Disaster Assured? Preparing for the Perfect Storm

My Comments: Many, if not most, writers and pundits in the financial world proclaim to be conservatives and many, if not most, believe the world is soon to come to an end. To me that’s a radical position to take, not a conservative one. In 1770, in America, there was talk of breaking away from …

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How Will the Presidential Election Impact the S&P500?

My Comments: Oceans of ink will be used in the next several weeks as pundits from across the spectrum weigh in on the likelihood of their favorite candidate winnning the White House. My sense of the issue when it comes to investments is that there are forces way beyond the influence, much less control, of …

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The US Economy May Surprise Us All

My Comments: Yes, the last few years have been very frustrating for those of us concerned about jobs, earning a living, having confidence that life will return to normal. The stock market has done OK, but you don't have to listen to politicians to notice all the empty buildings around town. To those who will …

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Romney’s Dodd-Frank Kill Pledge Collides With Wall Street Agenda

My Comments: For the past 3 and 1/2 years, I've been listening to negatives from the right. Some of them have been justified. But many of them simply appeal to the inability of voters to understand the most basic facts of life. For example, after about 40 years as a financial advisor and insurance agent, …

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Americans’ Sense of Security Rises

My Comments: There are six questions asked here and the responses to these questions lead the author to conclude that we as Americans are experiencing more comfort as the economy slowly improves. At least that's my conclusion. This is not easy to follow but on a rainy Monday, this might give you a measure of …

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The backlash against the rich has gone global

My Comments: Someone once asked a famous bank robber why he robbed banks and the reply was to the effect "that was where the money was." Right now, it's money in accounts owned by corporate America and those who are considered among the rich. There's an element of that involved in the politics of whether …

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Stimulate Your Customer’s Lizard Brain to Make a Sale

Or: Stimulate Your (fill in the blank) Lizard Brain to Make a (fill in another blank) Apart from the fact this is a fun photograph to look at, there's a message here that applies to me as a financial advisor looking for new clients, for a politician hoping to get people to vote for them, …

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A Modern-day Depression: The Current Secular Market Cycle Mirrors the Past

My Comments: This article is further confirmation that these are not “normal” times. My efforts to help you manage your money cannot follow the traditional “buy and hold” approach that worked in the eighties and nineties. If you expect to have more money in the future than you have now, you have to be either …

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