June 20, 2023 CPI — the almighty economic report around which our entire financial system currently revolves — came out last week. For the month of May the headline number showed prices rose just 4% from the previous year, slowing from April when prices rose 4.9%. You’d be justified in thinking this is good news. …
June 16, 2023 How do you know whether a business idea is or isn’t ready for prime time? You could spend months (or longer) planning and developing every detail of it… Or you could invite feedback from other entrepreneurs… But pretty much the most definitive way to know is by taking your product, plan, or …
June 15, 2023 Congratulations!! We’re all rich! From the department of misleading and meaningless economic data, the Federal Reserve just announced that US household net worth grew by $3 trillion to $148.8 trillion. Some media even made note of the fact. MarketWatch noted Americans’ “big cushion” against recession… CNN was a little more cautious noting …
June 13, 2023 Last Thursday, the S&P 500 closed at 4,293. That’s up 20% from its October low. According to some schools of thought, that move puts the index into a new bull market. Bear’s over! Huzzah! But not so fast. There are some underlying characteristics of the past eight months of strength you need …
June 9, 2023 If you needed any more proof about the level of uncertainty that’s permeating the economy and where it might be headed, you need look no further than this article box in the Wall Street Journal this past week… Wrapped around an article explaining how the Saudis would now unilaterally cut production by …
The Recession Debate Goes On (But These Diverging Indicators are Signaling Trouble) Read More »
June 8, 2023 It’s called the Fallacy of the Broken Window. It was first put forth by a 19th century economist named Fredric Bastiat. The main thesis of his argument was that going to war and blowing stuff up doesn’t create economic growth. Here’s the gist… A young boy breaks a business owner’s shop window. …
June 6, 2023 It was a real nail biter… Came right down to the wire… An eleventh hour save… There’s another saying that I’m sure is hanging as a motivational poster in the Congress cafeteria somewhere… Throw out whatever cliches you want but… Disaster averted. In a battle that was marked out since the beginning …
June 01, 2023 While the government is resolutely determined to set the residential real estate market up to fail by enticing people to buy houses they cannot afford, there’s another branch of the real estate market that’s also starting to feel some pain. And the main players who are going to feel the pain in …
May 30, 2023 Nowhere has the impact of soaring interest rates been felt more than in the residential real estate market. This past month’s economic reports from areas of the housing sector put the chaos on stark display. → Mortgage rates are at or near 20 year highs while mortgage application rates are, not surprisingly, …
May 26, 2023 There’s no denying that things have gotten weird where the culture landscape goes. This is a financial letter so I try to stick to topics of that nature. I don’t judge people’s personal beliefs. And I don’t want to make this about social issues per se… but the overlap between finance and …
