The 800 pound gorilla in the room just put on some serious weight. The financial health of Social Security and Medicare has gotten much worse, with Medicare paying out more than it receives. Trustees of the program stated that Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes 2016, one […]
President Barack Obama’s former Commerce Secretary nominee and United States Senator Judd Gregg made this amazing point… “We won’t even be able to get into the EU, if we wanted to, because our government is so large and so huge. We’ve been lectured by France on the fact that we’re not fiscally responsible right now.” […]
A little perspective by the numbers…As of December 15, 2008… BEAR MARKET – 100 days ago the S&P 500 was down 14.1% YTD (total return). As of last Friday, the S&P 500 is down 38.7%YTD. Thus the S&P 500 has fallen 28.6% in the last 100 days, a performance that would rank as the 6th […]
One of the most beautiful places I have had the opportunity to visit is the Greek island of Santorini. I am well-aware of my own limitations as a writer; therefore I do realize I do not have the descriptive abilities of a John Steinbeck, so I will not even attempt to illustrate how striking the […]
My youngest son’s favorite program is the Disney produced Little Einsteins. On this show, an eclectic bunch of kids travel around the globe on a rocket ship on various adventures. Along the way they learn about famous artists and classical music composers. On one recent episode, I noticed Nicholas was a little frightened by a […]
There has been some interesting and in our opinion bullish news regarding closed-end investment funds. The Wall Street Journal reported on April 24… Fund Company Eaton Vance, a leader in closed-end funds, announced it has raised the financing to redeem another $580 million in auction-rate preferred securities issued by three of its closed-end funds. On […]
In Greek Mythology the Hydra was a fearsome water beast that had multiple heads, poisonous blood and breath. The Hydra guarded the passage to the Underworld. When a warrior attacked the Hydra and was lucky enough to sever one of its heads, another two grew back. The current subprime/financial situation that the economy is in […]
Its Christmas time and retailers around the country are vying for your money. Markdowns, sales and rebates are abounding in a battle to win your business. I am a bargain shopper. I happen to live very close to an outlet mall where I do all my shopping because I hate paying retail. I just so […]
What if Congress in their infinite ability to pander and demagogue decided on passing a law setting a minimum price on used cars? For arguments sake let’s say $20,000. Here is the deal…If you have an old rust-bucket VW van that still reeks of a popular contraband and want to trade it in for the […]
Earlier this past year I was at a dinner party hosted by my friends and Godparents to my daughter, the Corcoran’s. Dinner parties at the Corcoran’s are great fun unless of course you are dieting. It is nearly impossible to articulate the quality and quantity of food that is served at Corcoran events but, put […]