Last week marked the 242nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which began one of the greatest experiments in liberty the world has ever seen. But while we can see with hindsight how successful the American Revolution was, there were a number of times when it came perilously close to failure. Learning their lesson, the Founding...
With the Federal Reserve having raised its target federal funds rate for the past year and a half and showing commitment to slowly drawing down the size of its balance sheet, many have declared the era of easy money to be over. But that’s not really the case. Yes, interest rates will rise as the Fed tightens its policy,...
Recently released data from the Federal Reserve shows that the wealth of American households has surpassed $100 trillion for the first time. But are American households really better off? Much of the wealth of American households isn’t immediately liquid, being held in the form of financial assets such as stocks, or tied up in the value of housing. As such,...
Despite the unsustainability of the 2016-2018 stock market run, many bullish analysts and investors still think that there is room left for markets to rally. The unease of the past few months that has seen the Dow lose over 2,000 points from its all-time highs is, to their minds, just a temporary correction, a speed bump on the way...
The Dow Jones dropped over 400 points in early trading to start the week, on renewed fears of a heightened trade war. The European Union began its implementation of tariffs on $3.2 billion of US imports on Friday. President Trump responded by threatening a 20% tariff on imports of European cars, and an insistence that any tariffs or barriers...
Investing money make many people nervous. Especially when your life savings are at stake, the thought of losing any money, let alone thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, is enough to make you think twice about putting any of your assets at risk. But investment ultimately is necessary in order to build up wealth. Sticking money under a...
Market events this week have made even the most bullish investors realize that the US economy isn’t what it used to be. In an attempt to ensure “fair trade,” President Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports last Friday. The Chinese retaliated, and Trump threatened on Monday to place additional tariffs on another...
President Trump late last week slapped $50 billion worth of Chinese imports with a new 25 percent tariff. While the tariff had been long discussed, negotiations with the Chinese government in recent weeks seemed to have indicated a softening of Trump’s position towards China. That was particularly the case with Trump’s attempts to find a solution to keep troubled...
The millennial generation has become the largest generational cohort in the United States. Much ink has been spilled trying to analyze millennials and their behavior. While many of the characterizations of millennials tend to focus on personality traits and work ethic, there’s no question that millennials are vastly different from generations that preceded them. They aren’t making as much money...
Monetary policy is one of those topics that only a handful of people ever devote much time to studying. Most people ignore central banks during good times and beg them to intervene during bad times. During the worst part of the financial crisis Wall Street clamored for more assistance from the Federal Reserve. They got that assistance in spades,...
