Perspectives
Can Crypto Go To Zero? You Betcha!
Can Crypto Go to Zero? You Betcha! Of all the asset classes traded today, none has the need for a collective set of beliefs as much as cryptocurrencies. These virtual assets fluctuate widely in value, which is set supposedly by supply and demand. The...
Maximum Gain, Minimum Pain: The Current Approaches To Tax
Warren Barnett 24 June 2021 Back in the day when Russell Long of Louisiana was chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, he used to tell a ditty to his colleagues: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, go tax that fella yonder under the tree.” Long was in...
Watching Sausage Being Made: The $3.5 Trillion Budget Reconciliation Package
Warren Barnett 19 October 2021 Otto Von Bismarck, the man credited with uniting various fiefdoms into what is today Germany, once said there are two things the public must never see: one is sausage being made; the other is how legislation is passed into law. The...
Bernie Madoff Redux: The Case Of Southport Capital
By now, most of the public has at least heard of the Ponzi scheme of John Woods, majority owner of Southport Capital, a Chattanooga, TN brokerage firm which has, in a complaint filed with the SEC, received $110 million from some 400 investors over the last ten years....
Riding The Chinese Tiger: How Changes In Chinese Securities Laws Will Impact US Investing
here is an old maxim in China: “He who chooses to ride the tiger goes wherever the tiger goes.” This has gained relevance for investors after China decreed over the past weekend that private schools set up to tutor Chinese students will have to become non-profit in...
The Zombies Among Us: How COVID Has Affected Some Companies
A grim milestone was reached this week as this country recorded 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 and its offshoots. Still, the trend is decelerating rapidly, vaccinations are being accepted no matter how unevenly, and there is an air of, if not victory, at least hope in...
Inflation Is Coming: Are You Ready? Are You Sure?
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...
How Indexes Mislead: Performance Of The S&P 500Relative To Other Benchmarks
As of last Friday, the Standard & Poors Index, the basis for index funds under the same banner, had recorded a year-to-date appreciation of 11.29 percent. While this is a commendable number, it was attained entirely (and then...