A big part of America’s economic output travels by rail and truck. When conditions soften for the rails and for truckers, a warning sign flashes for the economy as a whole. I track the Dow Jones Transports (DJTA) daily versus the Dow Jones Industrials (DJIA). When the transports weaken versus the DJIA, it is a bad sign.
Terrified Investors Watch Life Savings Evaporate!
Events of the past week have again driven home to investors the fact that the financial markets, dominated by computer-driven institutional trading, can feel like WWII’s Battle of Bastogne. The word terror becomes an understatement. I have been advising conservative, small business owners and retired and soon-to-be-retired investors for nearly five decades. My two monthly […]
The Wrecking of America
If you have paid a lick of attention to the recent budget/debt charade, you may be as sick to your stomach as I am. Presiding over the sinking ship is a president who in all honesty does not have a resume to run a tiny business, never mind the most productive country in the world. […]
Is America Collapsing Back Into Recession?
In many ways our country has never really recovered from the 2008/2009 economic debacle. The modest recovery that has emerged has come as the result of a historical running of the money printing presses by the Fed. It’s a scheme of monetary bribery. The administration in Washington is at sea and is a co-conspirator with the Fed and Congress in setting the stage for the current asset bubble and collapse in purchasing power of the dollar. What a disaster, and yet we are in but the early act of a multi-act, bad-ending financial play.
With interest rates now at about zero, the Fed is in a box, and, despite erudite public commentary to the contrary, really has little running room left. America is functionally leaderless. There is no chance the anti-business administration will do one darn thing to produce a turnaround. The broom needs to come out in 2012, with tea party candidates racking up big gains in the House and Senate. A powerfully backed tea party presidential candidate will easily unseat the current occupant of the White House. The little rub comes when you look at the lame roster of current White House pretenders.
I want to be clear here, President Obama was elected because of a perfect storm. Mr. Obama had that festering, watermelon-size target that was President George Bush to kick. Bless his soul, President Bush was a disaster, deserving of the unpleasantness heaped upon him by the Obama collectivist crowd. Moderate John McCain offered a grizzly option, leaving hard-hitting conservative radio talk show hosts to sit on their hands. No energy, no jazz was created.
This time around the collectivists have no Bush can to kick down the road. John McCain is, well, gone. America faces an official unemployment rate of 9.1%. Debbie and I and friends from Virginia are on a seven-state motorcycle tour. As I poll business owners along the way, it is becoming increasingly clear that Washington is cooking the books. True unemployment is far above the 9.1% admitted to by officialdom.
OK, America’s next president needs to be a card-carrying jobs-creator with a proven and visible record. After studious review, a shockingly good candidate emerges. And I doubt that either President Obama or former President Bush will be too captivated by my selection. I, of course, am leading up to—–
Too Little, Too Much, Too Late: The Arab Spring Speech
The president gave a speech billed as a major policy address last Thursday. In it he made a major change in the U.S. stance on Israel/Palestine. According to the Israelis, it showed that he knows too little about why the region finds itself in this predicament in the first place. The president also promised billions […]
AN ECONOMY ON THE EDGE
Americans need to know just whose hand is on the tiller of our economic ship of state. We need to know where to point the finger for the unfolding disaster that is the U.S. economy. Periods of sustainable economic expansion must feature a strong housing sector, highlighting, of course, an upside trend in new home […]
Radicals are Most Adept at Breaking the Necks of Conservatives
“The radical does not sit frozen by cold objectivity…. Society has good reason to fear the radical…. Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action—by using power…. If you have a vast organization, parade it before the enemy, openly show your power…. If your organization is too tiny even for noise, stink up the place…. Ridicule […]
Slappin’ Around the Dwarfs
Yesterday, Matt, Debbie, and I met at our Naples office with Cato Institute chairman Bob Levy and cofounder and president Ed Crane. The goal was to increase our awareness of Cato’s research efforts and discuss the vital Cato capital campaign. Following the meeting, we all participated in the first of Cato’s Naples policy lunch briefing […]
End America’s Foreign Oil Addiction
One president after another has done nothing to end America’s addiction to foreign oil. The current president is doing his best to get Americans to buy MORE foreign oil. President Obama will not give up his drive to stall drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. His Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, has approved 1 out of […]
The Greatest President of the 20th Century—Ronald Reagan
With the tidal wave power of the tea parties, the Republican candidate for president in 2012 is going to have to come right out front with the power of Reagan. The following four quotes from President Reagan reasonably sum up what Reagan was all about, what the Tea Party movement is all about, and where […]