Social Security: A Windfall For the U.S. Government?

My Comments: I’ve talked about Social Security from time to time in this blog. I’ve expressed my opinion which contradicts that of my son (age 41). He thinks it’s unlikely he’ll ever see any benefits from what all of us know as Social Security. Some 30 years ago, there was widespread perception that it could …

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Bits and Pieces – August 20, 2013

DOW DIPS - Familiar story behind a fall in stocks: fears that the Fed is about to begin a taper off of its bond-buying program. The indexes moved lower as St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said there could be risk of excessive inflation in the future. Yesterday, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart lifted …

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How the Wealthy Keep Themselves on Top

My Comments: I've expressed my opinion, in earlier posts, that among the challenges facing my children and grandchildren will be the disparity in this country between what we call the "haves" and the "have nots." If they allow this disparity to get too great, then they are dooming their children to eventual social chaos. This …

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Correction Seen as Welcome

My Comments: You should first note the date when Jeff Benjamin posted these comments. For whatever reason, I saved them and decided this morning would be a good day to bring them to the table again. What is happening to the DOW and the S&P500 and Russell 2000 is a good thing. In the short …

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Prospect of Financial Crisis Tops Fears of Pre-retirees

My Comments: You will note to the right of my image as you look at this page a comment about my professional objectives as a financial planner and consultant. None of us live in a vacuum where we avoid the influence by what we hear on TV, what we read in the papers and somehow …

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Bump Up the Minimum Wage

My Appologies for no post yesterday. I had the pleasure of having a kidney stone surgically remove. Those of you who have had kidney stones know how much fun I had. When I entered the workforce many, many years ago, I think the minimum wage was $1.75 per hour. Everyone screamed that it would put …

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How “Safe” is your money?

For those of us in the financial advice business, there is a never ending circulation of ideas that question the future outcome of our recommendations. It’s less so when the markets go up every day, but there are always uncertainties that surface. Recently, the questions have been much louder than usual. There are a number …

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Happy with RomneyCare

My Comments: Readers of this blog know that while I support PPACA, I know there are flaws and that over the next ten years or so, it will morph into something different than what it is today. But that DOES NOT mean it should be repealed. It was absolutely critical that an alternative to what …

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Why Obama should pick Summers to lead the Fed

My Comments: I’ve made it clear over the past few years that I am not a fan of austerity. I believe the government has a mandate to push the envelope to make sure that ALL of us are included when it comes to sharing the pie. Can we push too hard? Oh, yes, and the …

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Bits and Pieces

DOW HIGH - The Dow swung in and out of negative territory July 31st, but was up more than 100 at its session high, setting a fresh intraday record of 15,634.32. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq held their modest gains. Earlier, the Nasdaq hit its best level since October 2000. All three major averages …

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