Since I was born, there have been twelve U.S. Presidents. I’ve been in the homes of two, one has been in my home, and some have sent me personal, handwritten correspondence. They include JFK, Jimmy Carter, Eisenhower, and both Bushes. Ever since I was a child, I knew quite a bit about our country’s current […]
Barack, Nancy and Harry’s “No Stimulus” Plan
There were three earth-shaking events in the year 1776: The American Revolution, the publication of Wealth of Nations and the invention of the “cocktail.” The latter was invented by my great-great-great-grandmother (originally from a small village in Denmark) who owned a New York tavern catering to Revolutionary soldiers and decided to decorate her alcoholic concoctions […]
Equity Risk Premiums Still too High
If the equity risk-premium (versus Treasuries) were to return to its historic average of 4.5%, the S&P would be 50% higher than it is today. Now, I don’t know when or if that will happen, but my numbers are based on real facts: the historic spread between corporate bonds and Governments, the least-squares regression of historic […]
The Liberals Are Still Whining
When the Republicans controlled the legislative, judicial and executive branches of our government, the conservatives always pointed out how the liberals were “whining” about everything. Now the Democrats are in charge and the liberals are still whining. But, this time the whining is coming from the top. Congress moaned about having to work on Christmas […]
What Are Liberals Saying Now?
Do you remember the Liberals’ biggest complaints about George W. Bush? They were: 1) Bush spent too much of our tax money. Well, HELLO? Obama has increased the federal budget deficit and debt way beyond anything previously imaginable. 2) Bush had too many troops in harm’s way in the Middle-east. Well, HELLO? Obama not only […]
My Stimulus Plan
1) Obama’s Energy Policy/Program – TRASH IT! Every recent President or Congress has had an energy policy that didn’t work. During the 1970’s when energy prices first went to the moon, we initiated a Windfall Profits Tax on the oil companies thereby taking funds away from the very entities we needed to find more reserves. […]
Common Stock Diversification
In 1990, John Wiley & Sons, the second largest publisher of business books, asked me to write the first book dedicated solely to the subject of asset allocation for investment professionals. The book, Dynamic Asset Allocation, was a big seller, having been in print for eleven years. The following are some of my thoughts back […]
The Real Nature of Investment Risk
When I got into the investments business well over 40 years ago, nobody had figured out a way to actually measure the risk of an investment. But several people, notably some professors at well-known business schools, were working on the idea that risk could be considered the same as variability of periodic return. Even better, […]
What If You Were President?
If you were the person in charge of this nation would you do any of the following? 1) While corporate profits are sinking (causing companies to be less likely to create future jobs), would you raise corporate taxes like Obama wants to do, or cut them as I would do? 2) Would you reduce […]
Simple Way of Boosting the Economy
Forget about all the increases in Government spending and taxes! President Obama’s rescue package is nothing more than using the economic downturn as an excuse to promote a socialist spending agenda and has little in the way of economic stimulus. All the Government has to do is cut the corporate tax rate to the same […]
