The government’s official inflation figures surged in January, with the producer price index (PPI) rising by 0.4% and the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 0.5%. If those trends continue throughout the year, that could be dangerous for consumers and investors. Combined with newfound uncertainty in stock markets, it makes it all the more important for investors to keep...
Many American households have their wealth tied up in their houses. For many Americans across all different income levels, the value of their houses exceeds the value of all their other financial assets. There is also a history in the United States of home ownership being recommended as a sure way of becoming wealthy, or at least financially comfortable....
The stock market correction of the past couple of weeks is a warning to investors that equities are fundamentally overvalued. The euphoria that had infested markets in recent months was reminiscent of the dotcom bubble, especially since the major stocks pushing indexes higher are tech stocks such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple, etc. While stock markets are rebounding to begin...
One of my foils while I served in Congress was Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. For many years while I served on the House Financial Services Committee I had the opportunity to question him during his semiannual testimony before Congress, and I never could get a straight answer from him. Greenspan was notorious for speaking in such a vague...
We’re not too far away from another government shutdown drama, as Congress continues kicking the can down the road. Neither side in the budget debate is willing to admit that government spending is out of control, just as neither side is willing to accept budget cuts to their sacred cows. Both welfare and warfare spending will continue to rise,...
Much of the recent news has focused on the government shutdown, the first since 2013. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about how awful it would be when the government shuts down. Those who understand exactly what the federal government does, however, realize that it’s not the end of the world. From some of the press coverage,...
Proposals to reform the US banking system pop up every now and then but often never go anywhere. It’s only in the aftermath of a crisis that legislation gets passed, and at those times it’s almost universally awful, such as the Dodd-Frank Act that was passed after the last financial crisis. What most banking “reformers” fail to understand is...
The latest employment figures reported by the Department of Labor came in well under expectations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 148,000 new jobs were created in December, well below the 190,000 that had been expected by economists. Not only was the figure disappointing in and of itself, but it was also well below the figures from November. Particularly...
Total worldwide debt totals reached a record $233 trillion by the end of the third quarter of 2017, up $16 trillion from the end of 2016, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). That total encompasses total debt incurred by households, governments, and both financial and non-financial corporations. While the IIF report stated that debt to GDP levels...
2018 has started off with a bang for the gold market. The price of gold started the year over 13% higher than last year and continues to leave the $1300 price level in its wake. With such a good start, 2018 could be a breakout year for more reasons than one. Federal Reserve Monetary Policy With a new incoming Federal Reserve...
