At a rather amazing and informative recent meeting of the Charlotte Economics Club, a mild-mannered senior Republican Congressman was asked the following question by a self-admitted hard-nosed, go-strictly-by the-numbers accountant from a major accounting firm: “These numbers about the deficits and debt going forward are so astounding. Why don’t the Democrat leaders of Congress such as […]
The Daily Diatribe: The Greek debt situation is conjuring up some serious muscle memory for me. To those of you asleep for the last three years, you will not recognize the European financial crisis currently underway. It is widely accepted that Greece may default on its sovereign debt unless the EU bails them out. Sound […]
The Daily Diatribe: How does one recognize an opportunity in the stock market? I actually think that it is pretty easy to do, but equally hard to capitalize on. The opportunity would exist when nobody wants to buy a stock. For example, with all of the problems going on in Greece, it would be hard […]
The hits just keep on coming don’t they? First, we get a lousy health care insurance bill crammed down our throats and turned into law against the wishes of almost 60% of the American people. While that firestorm is still raging, another fight has taken hold as well. This time, however, the Republicans have thrown […]
The Daily Diatribe: The Securities and Exchange Commission, the government agency charged with being the financial industry watchdog, was tainted with scandal last week when it was discovered that, during the financial meltdown of the last few years, several of their senior managers were surfing porn sites on the internet. The media loves this story. […]
For the last year or so since Rick Santelli sounded the clarion call on CNBC, I have watched with fascination and awe as the Tea Party has burst onto the scene across the country. Santelli, standing in the commodities pit on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, simply stated what so many Americans were […]
Capitalism without greed is a carnival without a roller-coaster. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko, the villainous Wall Street investor portrayed by Michael Douglas in the movie “Wall Street,” greed is good. Now, I can hear every liberal in America screaming their condemnation, especially in light of the Goldman-Sachs allegations, but hear me out before you misinterpret […]
A frequent argument for nationalized healthcare is the comparison to auto insurance. Obamacare advocates reason that since government requires people to purchase auto insurance government can also require people to purchase health insurance. The flaws in that argument are numerous. Compulsory auto insurance coverage is a state issue. Each state establishes minimum bodily injury and […]
What is the VAT or Value-Added Tax anyway and why would we Americans want anything that resembles the tax structure of Europe? The VAT is sort of a national excise tax except that it is applied to every marginal level of ‘value-added’ during the production process when a transaction is made. For example, when an […]
After 27 years in the investment business, I can tell you that most folks don’t know the difference between gambling and investing. Indeed, most folks think investing is gambling and I can tell you that, having watched people invest improperly over the years, the way they do it is gambling. The difference between the two […]
