Last week I wrote about the proposed 2018 Trump Budget. The Trump 2018 budget did not focus on Entitlement Programs, which represent about two-thirds of government expenditures. Since then I thought about the impact [...]
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates Wednesday by 25 basis points, to 1 percent, and the U.S. central bank has indicated it plans to raise rates aggressively. Most economists expect the [...]
Last week, the Standard & Poor’s stock index increased to a record high market capitalization above $20 trillion. This compares with $5.9 trillion when the market hit a low on March 9, 2009. It [...]
During his campaign, Donald Trump said his policies would grow the economy by 4 percent per year and increase employment by 25 million over the next decade. While these are laudable goals, they also [...]
“Pursuing protection is just like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air.” — Xi Jinping, Chinese president During his campaign, President Donald [...]
I recently returned from Portugal where I met with two important people in the Portuguese Jewish Community. (Jose Carp who headed the Portuguese Jewish Community for 14 years and Hugo Vaz, a Portuguese Jewish historian. IntroductionAlthough [...]
“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” —Warren Buffett American consumers are more confident about the economy and their financial future than they have been in years. As 2016 [...]
Introduction We hear repeatedly that America is unlike European nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, and Portugal in terms of our desire for colonial expansion. Whether right or wrong, America almost [...]
In the largest bankruptcy of a U.S. state or territory, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello requested court protection for his U.S. commonwealth to resolve a large number of lawsuits from creditors. The Puerto Rico Financial [...]
Pfizer will purchase Array BioPharma for $10.4 billion. It hopes to expand its cancer portfolio with targeted therapies. This acquisition underscores the importance of cancer drugs to the pharmaceutical industry. Because cancer drugs have [...]
“My goal is to get rid of the attribution ‘starving artists’ to Ringling College graduates.” — Larry Thompson, Ringling College Art and Design president In an editorial for USA Today entitled, “We need to [...]
I feel very fortunate to possess a collection of cartoons from Puck, the humor magazine that ceased publication in 1918. My favorite is a 1901 cartoon by famed illustrator Joseph Keppler depicting industrialist J.P. [...]
Is the world in danger of drowning in debt? The International Monetary Fund this month issued a report highlighting its concerns about worldwide debt, which it said totals some $152 trillion. “The period of [...]
Introduction: In the October 1st-7th issue of The Economist, the magazine highlighted the stupendous amounts generated by the Clinton’s personal accounts and the Clinton Foundation. In fairness while The Economist is very critical of [...]
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen told global monetary policymakers, “I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months.” She implied that internal forecasts have [...]
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffett Warren Buffett, a legendary investor with a pristine [...]
Today’s Wall Street Journal had an article, which focused on John Bogle, founder of Vanguard—a money management company that focuses on index funds. The article contained two ideas that I wish to share: Bogle [...]
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig discussed the fortieth anniversary of index mutual funds—the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. The initial public offering, $11.3 million, was a major disappointment to Vanguard’s founder, John C. [...]
Unfunded pension liabilities of cities and states have doubled as their returns have fallen over the past decade and are now approaching $1 trillion. The problem has escalated a national debate about whether these [...]
Adam Cohen traced the infamous story of the sterilization of Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal woman for being an “imbecile.” The Supreme Court (Buck v. Bell), in a 8-1, decision upheld a Virginia Law [...]
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced that it would not only keep its benchmark interest rates unchanged but might only raise rates once over the next two years. The Fed policymakers’ altered rate outlook [...]
By Gretchen MorgensonIn today’s New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson wrote another outstanding investigative journalistic article. Morgenson focused on several important issues:The failure of several for profit schools to provide the educational benefits that were promisedIt [...]
On Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations ministers failed to agree on a new production ceiling. The cartel that controls over a third of the world’s oil has been pumping all out [...]
The U.S. Labor Department on May 6 reported that our economy added the fewest number of jobs in seven months, 160,000. So far in 2016, employment gains have averaged 192,000 per month. This is [...]
I recently heard on audible, All the President’s Men. Although I had read the book many years ago, I do not believe that at the time I appreciated the incredible investigative journalism that was [...]
For years I have admired Warren Buffett. Moreover, his eternal optimism is contagious. That is, it is hard to listen to Warren without buying America. Nothing seems to deter his belief that America is [...]
MetLife, the insurance giant that in 1985 secured the rights to use Snoopy in its company logo, has won a major victory, allowing it to avoid more strict federal scrutiny. Despite being the nation’s [...]
Six years after the government bailed out U.S. banks and auto companies, Chinese regulators are coming up with strategies to clean up their own banks’ bad debts, primarily caused by loans to state-owned enterprises [...]
“Negative interest rates are spreading like the Zika virus.” — Bill Gross, co-founder of PIMCO Bill Gross, a legendary fixed-income investor, recently expressed his alarm in his monthly newsletter over the increased use of [...]
On Thursday, Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker, warned that 2016 would be a grim year for it. It predicted that its revenues would decline for a fourth straight year — [...]
As 2015 ended, the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Christine Lagarde, lowered her forecast for 2016 in a guest column published by the German financial newspaper Handelsblatt.Earlier, she had said at a Brookings Institution event [...]
Israel became the first country to earn World Health Organizations highest ranking for its field hospital unit. The UN World Health Organization recognized Israeli Army’s field hospital as the number 1 in the world [...]
“The junk bond market was a keg of dynamite that sooner or later will blow up” — Carl Icahn, on CNBC On Dec. 12, Carl Icahn warned that a lack of liquidity could cause [...]
The United Nations has released a surprising report showing that, for the first time since 1950, the working-age population in the world’s advanced economies is forecast to decline in 2016. And this drop is [...]
Pfizer has approved a deal to buy rival drugmaker Allergan for $160 billion, making it the largest pharmaceutical merger ever. Pfizer CEO Ian Read has repeatedly stressed his desire to move his New York-based [...]
The Labor Department last week reported the strongest jump in payrolls this year, some 271,000 in October, the fastest rate of wage increases since 2009. Unemployment fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent. Average [...]
