Perspectives

In western societies, the concept of government helping the private sector is done infrequently.Except for perhaps support for original research, governments do not in general support specific firmsor industries outside of wartime. While there have been tax incentives...

The recent dismissal of Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, by members of his own party has a certain thespian quality to it. Sort of like watching a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. It is not every day that a...

As the concept of “higher-for-longer” interest rates sink in, there are three areas of concern:consumers, businesses, and the stock market. Each segment responds differently. Consumers areexpected to, in time, curtail spending in favor of saving now that interest...

Wall Street jargon has now embraced aeronautics. Pundits have been busy talkingup how The Federal Reserve will “glide the economy to a soft landing”. In this analogy,the earlier stimulus spending by the government is the propulsion. The Fed’s applyinginterest rates is...

Economists keep scratching their collective heads about the ongoing strength of the economy. With the COVID stimulus funds close to spent and the Federal Budget deficit flattening out the question is: where does the economy come up with the ability to grow at a rate...

Speculators who treat the stock market as a casino love concepts. They are new, unburdened by history, can be projected far into the future, and thus can justify almost any stock price. For those who foist stock ideas on an unsuspecting public, it is a rich vein to...

Sometime in the next 15-45 days, the United States government is going to run out of credit. This is the result of a law, passed in 1917, that placed a limit on what the country can borrow as described by law. The United States is the only developed country in the...

Many index investors, after the drubbing taken in 2022, have looked at their statements for the first quarter of 2023 with some relief. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index is up seven percent this quarter. However, the average stock is up less than one percent. This...

The closing of three financial institutions in the past week has sent a sense of crisis through the financial world. Deposits are insured at FDIC institutions up to $250,000. Some accounts are many times this number. Venture capitalists (VCs) typically deposit in the...