"Wealth creation" versus "the redistribution of wealth" is an age-old political/economic battle. And once again, Senator Elizabeth Warren - among others - has capitalism in the crosshairs. Adam Smith defended capitalism in 1776. Karl Marx attacked it in the 1800s. William Jennings Bryant attacked it; Grover Cleveland defended it. FDR attacked it; Ronald Reagan defended [...]
One of the hardest things for me to put aside when writing blogs and similar posts is the focus on the big picture. The “Why”. Why do we plan? Who is this money ultimately for and when do they need it? Most of you know we have spent decades warning about the misinformation in the [...]
Since March of 2009, the predictions of economic, and stock market collapse have been non-stop. Doom-and-gloomers have been unrelenting. And it's doubly frustrating since you can't disprove a negative until it doesn't happen. We have written hundreds of pieces since the recovery - and bull market – began, arguing that the pessimism was unjustified. We've [...]
To our clients - We are in the process of updating some of our communication and reporting systems in order to enhance our relationship with you as well as stay up to date with constantly changing technology and security needs. Our client portal - known to you as our “Wealth Management System” - has been [...]
Something strange happened after last Friday's jobs report - the yield on the 10-year Treasury Note fell, finishing Friday at 2.95%, down four basis points from Thursday's close. To us, this makes no sense. If anything, it serves to reinforce our view that the bond market is making a big mistake. Yes, we realize that [...]
The Federal Reserve made no changes to monetary policy today and it barely changed the language of its statement. That makes sense to us because we haven't changed our outlook for monetary policy or the economy, either. The investor consensus, the Fed, and our view are all agreed that the Fed will raise twice more [...]
Paul Krugman, Larry Summers and Bob Gordon have some 'splainin to do. Where's that "secular stagnation?" Since 2009, they, along with many others, have said the US economy is stuck at 2% real growth. Their theory got traction after 2009, as the U.S. saw what we called a Plow Horse Economy. But, we never believed [...]
Economic growth surged in the second quarter this year. The only question is, by how much? Predicting this Friday's GDP report is trickier than usual. First, it's the initial report for the quarter. Second, we have to wait until Thursday for key data on exports and imports, which is particularly important because the trade sector [...]
The yield spread between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury Note has narrowed to 25 basis points, its smallest spread since 2007. This has many investors worried the narrowing spread will lead to an inversion of the yield curve (when short-term rates exceed long-term rates) – which throughout history has often occurred prior to a recession. [...]