Save Fannie and Freddie, Save the World?
It’s an old Hollywood trope. You’ve seen it a million times at your local multiplex. To save the family ... the house ... the marriage ... the screw-up (deep in debt) from bodily harm – you have to get your hands on a gazillion bucks. Somebody gets an inspired idea. Somebody else says it’s too late ... too hard ... too dangerous ... but they do it anyway. Think Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13. It was too hard ... too dangerous ... and pretty much too late. But, by...
Read More >>China: Good, Bad and Ugly
I recently spent 18 days in China. Does that make me an expert? Hardly. Their culture has been around for 6,000 years. Only a partial snapshot in the present time could realistically be garnished. Still there is much to be shared with you. Even more so as China has taken center stage with their Olympics. My wife and I experienced the trip of a lifetime. It was nothing short of exhilarating from start to finish. If you ever have the opportunity to go, you simply must get there. It will change...
Read More >>Want to Know Where Natural Gas Prices are Headed?
One of the most volatile (and potentially profitable) commodities is natural gas. Sure, there is a lot of it out there, but it’s mostly waiting to be produced. That means any demand spike can quickly push up the price of natural gas. And what the Farmer’s Almanac says about this winter should perk up your ears. The Almanac (which is right 80 percent of the time) predicts a cooler than average winter this year. So far, it looks like that will be the case. According to the UK...
Read More >>My Fellow Amero-cans
Are we likely to hear those fateful words one day? The answer is a resounding yes if conniving globalists have their way. Canada, the US and Mexico are destined to be one more major currency block. What exactly will that mean for you and your progeny? First of all, we need to comprehend exactly what is to bring forth this new “arrangement”. What is wrong with the old one? The US dollar is on life support. The failing debt markets in the US are the foundation of the dollar. The buck...
Read More >>Energy Sector Shows Renewed Life (Without the Help of China!)
The XLE ETF – which follows oil and gas companies, energy equipment makers and energy services companies – had a pretty good week. It was up over five percent. It passed several tests last week. It bounced off its previous low and surged higher. It touched below its 100-week moving average before moving back up with conviction and on high volume. It moved back into its long-term upward trending channel. On the other hand, it failed to break through its 50-week moving average which...
Read More >>When a Tax Credit isn’t Really a Tax Credit
Bait and switch In the retail world, bait and switch is a form of fraud that lures customers in by advertising something at a ridiculously low price, and then once you go in to get the item, it’s revealed the item isn’t available, but a reasonably priced alternative is. This reminds me a lot of what Uncle Sam is doing right now. In the recently passed housing legislation, there is an offer of a tax credit for first time homebuyers. For those that don’t know, a tax credit...
Read More >>How Hollywood, Hedge Funds and Billionaires Can Show You Where to Invest
Ever since Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations, we’ve known the first rule of unfettered economics -- supply and demand balance each other. The second rule is that money moves on. There are numerous interesting examples of this at work right now. Knowing where money is flowing might help you make some slightly different investment decisions. It also makes some mysteries clear. Last Thursday, in IDE, for instance, I’d found an interesting study of dollar strength and stock...
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