Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
The surprise at the beginning of the day yesterday was China's announcement that it would end the dollar peg.
The surprise at the end of the day was that it didn't make any difference. The news got investors all antsy…they spent the day preparing to drive prices higher. But at the end of the day the Dow finished lower – by 8 points.
[Read more...]In yesterday's edition of The Daily Reckoning, Casey Research shared five of the Ten benefits of expatriation. Today, we share the second five:
1) Freedom to invest without tax distortions that encourage capital misallocation. The US tax system encourages misallocation of your investment capital. It obscures the act of buying and selling securities based on a rational assessment of their value. For instance, you end up not selling a security you otherwise would simply because you don't want to trigger taxes yet. Or you hold on longer than you might otherwise to get long-term capital gains treatment. Or you sell securities you normally would keep – for “tax loss harvesting.�
[Read more...]“The great enemy of the truth,� John F. Kennedy declared in a 1962 commencement address at Yale University, “is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.�
Fifty years later, a Yale education, itself, may be one small part of a vast American myth – the idea that America is forever and always the land of the free; the land of opportunity; the land of true capitalism. A degree from Yale, like so many other facets of the American economic myth, may possess more prestige than genuine economic value. But the declining value of a college education is a mere sub-plot to the de-mythologizing of American economic prowess.
[Read more...]Front and center today… Gold has reached a new all-time high this morning. Yesterday I kept watching the shiny metal tick higher and higher, and I would yell out across the desk each rise in gold… Gold was $1,250 when I turned on the screens this morning. It has given back $2 since, as I did some reading and research… But shoot… The move yesterday was something to admire!
[Read more...]I have long maintained that there is, actually, nothing new under the economic sun for (checking my watch for the precisely correct time) the last few thousand years or so, and if you look deep into my Serious Mogambo Eyes (SME), you will see, as the acronym suggests, total sincerity when I tell you that there have always been the usual few things; income, taxes, spending, saving, borrowing and debt, and something along the lines of interest, which is not to forget, of course, money itself.
[Read more...]“Panel will tackle national debt,” says a headline in this week’s Washington Post.
Would anyone like to bet?
Who writes these headlines? What are they thinking? Are they thinking at all?
While the bi-partisan group of bumblers may do something; tackling the national debt – or even slowing it down – is not one of them. It would be going against the tide of modern financial history, which rolls debt into bigger and bigger piles and turns small problems into huge ones.
[Read more...]We recovered from our spell of passion yesterday, only to discover the index of America’s largest companies really has crossed 11,000, closing the day at an 18-month high.
Barely a year ago, investors were clutching their Bibles, soaked in sweat, watching the Dow plunge below 6,600. Today? Who’s’ worried about a correction?
[Read more...]Data released yesterday showed that the US posted a budget deficit for a record 18th straight month. The budget gap was $65.4 billion last month, which was wider than the $62 billion figure predicted by most economists. The data proves we are still on path to reach a record $1.6 trillion shortfall this fiscal year. The only good news from the report is that revenues were slightly higher than a year ago, but the problem is that government spending continues to outpace any increase on the revenue side.
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Final Revisions of First Quarter GDP: Stimulus Not Working
This past weekend was the G-20 meeting, and the anticipated brawl between the US and Germany on spending versus cost cutting… Well, the brawl didn't happen, instead they agreed to say that they will “tackle deficits once economic recoveries are assuredâ€?… Which here in the US means… NEVER! Not that the economic recovery won't eventually come along, but that our lawmakers aren't going to stop spending… However, there are elections that might just change their minds, eh?
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