The late Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter popularized the idea that good things can result from bad things and described it as creative destruction. When President Trump appointed Peter Navarro to the newly-created office as Trade Czar, AKA as Director of National Trade Council, I had mixed emotions. He has the affable persona one would expect from a musician-father and secretary-mother, but he was regarded as…
What is it about dumb criminals that make them seem almost funny? Ponzi schemes are always described by the media as an example of the way unscrupulous financial advisors steal from their clients. Actually, it is a way that really DUMB financial advisors steal from their clients for a period of time. By its nature, ALL Ponzi schemes are doomed to failure, by their ever-increasing…
When I enjoyed some graduate work at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, I especially enjoyed meeting Dr. Jeremy Siegel. Shy, self-effacing, and slightly bumbling, he was the stereotypical professor . . . except he is also a brilliant investment strategist. Here are some of his most recent observations. Inflation will be picking up, to the 4-5% level, caused almost entirely by the…
I am thankful . . . to be born in America. I am thankful . . . to have good health. I am thankful . . . to have plenty of food. I am thankful . . . to have enough money. I am thankful . . . to have a wonderful wife. I am thankful . . . to be a privileged white male.…
Shortly after President Trump became President, I recalled Barbara Mandrell’s 1981 classic “I was country when country wasn’t cool’. One of my degrees was in World Trade, where I was deeply steeped in the economic Principal of Comparative Advantage, which provides a logical, coherent basis for bilateral international trade and, by extension, multilateral trade. I had been a big supporter of NAFTA and other multilateral…
The Senate should not approve the nomination of Dr. Judy Shelton to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She has frequently expressed interest in returning to the gold standard. If gold is pegged at $35/oz ,for example, our total money supply is a direct function of how much gold we have. We can quibble about a return to the gold standard and…
Imagine a newspaper headline that said “Clocks showed five o’clock twice yesterday.” Well, duh . . . David Rosenberg is one of the most respected investment strategists on Wall Street. He was interviewed by a magazine that carried the headline “There will be another big correction in the stock market.” Well, duh . . . There has never been a time in our economic history…
The government told me to register with Selective Service. I didn’t like it but did it anyway . . . and I was still a man. The government told me “Uncle Sam needs you.” I didn’t like it but did it anyway . . . and I was still a man. The government told me I had to have a drivers license. I didn’t like…
If you have any gray hair, you’re probably unfamiliar with “TikTok” which is an app to upload and watch short videos, which are usually less than a minute and produced by millions of our friends and neighbors, mostly young friends and neighbors. It has been in the news recently, because President Trump wants the app to be owned by an American company, instead of the…
When a new company wants to sell some of itself, in the form of shares, to the general public, it normally does an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This is a long, arduous process that is closely regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Certain forward-looking projections are required, such as sales and expenses. If any of those projections are off wildly, the SEC will ask…
The mass media is mildly annoyed by privacy but is enraged by secrets. We could not even keep the atomic bomb secret. Now, we are asked to believe that many Democrats in many states conspired to defraud American voters. I’m not saying Democrats are “above” that sort of thing, because neither Democrats nor Republicans are smart enough or organized enough to coordinate a multi-state fraud…
I try to seek out the Libertarian view on most issues and often agree with those views. The current controversary over lockdowns is no exception. The conventional wisdom is that lockdowns are effective tools to combat the coronavirus. The Libertarian wisdom is explained in their new Great Barrington Declaration — that people are different and different tools should be used for different risk profiles. The…
Yesterday’s employment or “jobs” report was better than expected, which is a nice way of saying . . . not as bad as feared during a pandemic. Economists expected 350 thousand jobs were created last month and were pleasantly surprised to learn it was 638 thousand. This was despite a drop of 138 thousand in Federal employment, due to “completion” of the decennial census. The…
Television advertising will drop on both November 3rd and again on December 1st. First, the never-ending Presidential election will finally be held on November 3rd – WHEW! Second, December 1st is the end of the annual Medicare enrollment period and the end of those annoying television commercials – WHEW! But, what should you do? The textbook response is that you should closely compare your current…