My Comments: China First! Are you OK with China leading the world through the 21st Century? While I have issues with the politics of Steve Forbes, I have no issues with the credibility of Forbes Magazine, who published this article by Winter Nie. Now that Trump has ceded global economic leadership to China, it’s important …
Tag: economics
Opinion: This Market Bubble is About to Burst
My Comments: Yesterday, I decided it was time to think about moving my clients out of cash and back into the markets. At least with some of their money. Now, once again, I’m not so sure. If you are retired, or about to be retired, and have the ability to control the investments made inside …
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The Biggest Losers in Trump’s Potential Trade War
My Comments: It’s been hard to tell if the mistakes coming out of the White House are simply the result of the learning curve necessary to be competent or whether it’s the result of overt incompetence. But I do think it’s increasingly clear that Donald Trump is in over his head. The person most likely …
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Trade Is Not the Driver of Major Job Loss
My Comments: This chart shows the decline, in relative terms, of the number of people who define the US labor force over the past 30 years. Without population growth, it's very hard to maintain economic strength. So I find myself strangely untroubled by President Bannon, the avowed Leninist now more or less running the White …
Maintain a Level Playground
My Comments: This is about a soon to be imposed rule that applies to those of us who provide professional advice about the money you are accumulating for your retirement. It’s called the Department of Labor Fiduciary Standard rule and it’s long overdue. As a financial planner, my role is to identify the existential threats …
America’s Rise of Nationalism Has It Barreling Towards a Crisis
My Comments: The past 70 years have seen a remarkable transformation from what was essentially a sophisticated tribal approach to security for a given group of people, to one that begins to recognize we are one planet and all of us, to some degree, are intricately connected as we attempt to survive and thrive as …
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The Trump effect has rallied US markets – but it’s based on illusion
My Comments: Well, today is Monday. I wonder what the markets will do today. This appeared last Thursday, from a highly respected economist whose thoughts I value. I’ve been keeping my money, and that of others for the past few months, in cash. My assumption has been that we are overdue for a correction of …
Continue reading The Trump effect has rallied US markets – but it’s based on illusion
Republican Presidents and Recessions
My Comments: As an economist, I readily acknowledge that political parties and recessions have little to do with each other. There are too many other variables that result in economic downturns. But the records suggests they are somehow correlated. We are due for one, and if history is any indication, Trump will have the pleasure …
The Risks That Threaten Global Growth
My Comments: Readers of this blog will recall my observations about risk in general and in particular, those that will influence our economic well being in years to come. With the new administration seemingly in favor of conflicts over trade between nations, and of retreating from the forces that have fostered global economic growth for …
Income Inequality Is Off The Charts
My Comments: The greatest economic threats to the health and welfare of the world I will leave to my grandchildren will arise from the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. One side of this argument arises from the contempt that was pervasive across the planet toward a political movement driven by what came to …
Helping Define Your Financial Future 