I diagnosed U.S central government with an illness I call Management Deficit Disorder (MDD) in February of last year. Since then they have shown no inkling of getting better. Instead the disease is getting worse, as widespread abuse is being uncovered everyday in Washington DC. It is a place gone mad. In the face of widely available remedies,...Read More

Japan bucked the trend of bleak news this week by reporting GDP growth of 3.5% for the first quarter. While three-and-a-half percent growth cannot be considered a boom, it might feel like one in Japan. Their economy has never really recovered from the tsunami, and until this welcomed first quarter news, has contracted for six...Read More

This week the Dow Jones Industrial Average did what it couldn’t do last week – it found the courage to close over 15,000 points for the first time in history. The chart below compares the Dow’s performance to Real and Nominal GDP; a discussion follows. In terms of today’s dollar, the DJIA has 500 more...Read More

If the Wall Street establishment had any guts the Dow Jones Industrial Average would have blown past the 15,000 mark and ended the week comfortably above it, say 15.3 or 15.5. That would have made a huge statement that this Bull Run is legitimate and worth investing in, and not just another fluff and puff...Read More

Gold bounced this week as traders covered shorts and pushed gold 8% over its April 15, 2013 low. That’s the story this week. Aided by rumor, pomp and circumstance, traders create volatility by placing huge bets on future movements of securities. Recently at record highs, short activity for gold has been well publicized. (Shorting is...Read More

I’m hearing more and more confusion about the investment markets these days. The stock market won’t down, some say, and gold is going the wrong way. What’s going on? Admittedly, if you have to make money in this market your situation gets much harder. Most of your money should have been made when it was easy. Now it’s...Read More

Analysis of the investment markets is a two part story this week. It starts with gold and ends with stocks. Gold took a nose dive this week, dropping 5% on Friday and 7% for the week. Why such a dramatic move? Speculation. Gold is widely used as an indication of inflation. The thinking here is...Read More

I was a little lost about what to say in this blog this week. I mean, how many times can you say the economy stinks, the stock market is overvalued, and conditions are ripe for gold? But the truth is nothing much has changed. There was little new in the news this week, and what...Read More

Since little has changed in the stock market this week, I’ll take this blog in a slightly different direction. I was drawn to three Wall Street Journal articles this week, entitled: Workers Saving Too Little to Retire Health Insurers Warn on Premiums Older Households Loading Up on Debt The first article reports that 57% of...Read More

I almost choked on my tongue while reading a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses. The author, Justin Lahart, began that article by describing the Dow Jones Industrial Average as an “arbitrary collection” of stocks that is “arcanely constructed.” Charles Dow must be rolling over in his grave to think...Read More