With everything going on in the world today, we thought it a good time to catch up with the views of longtime friend Richard Maybury, a low-key but highly respected author, lecturer and analyst. In addition to his work consulting with businesses and high net worth individuals on strategic planning, Richard is the editor of ... Read More »
It’s tax day in the United States. My friends and family understand that this means I’ll be a little grumpier than usual. Taxes in the United States are too high for many, too low for many, and are absurdly complicated. Our tax code is something like 70,000 pages long, and essentially no one understands their ... Read More »
Here’s an experiment. Take an economy that’s facing high unemployment, a stagnant growth rate, and excessive tax burdens. Then create a gargantuan unelected bureaucracy with nothing to do but bind up businesses and individuals with a slew of regulations that costs the economy trillions annually. Put the two together, and it won’t be pretty. Here’s another ... Read More »
Despite so much focus on the policies of the Fed, its operations remain somewhat of a mystery to most investors — in no smaller measure, due to their complexity. So, we put together a free resource for our Club EWI members: a 35-page report that explains the Fed, its goals and, very importantly, its limitations ... Read More »
Amid the fierce debate over our tottering Social Security program, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Social Security isn’t just an entitlement for those over the age of 65. It’s also a government-run disability insurance program for over 152 million American workers. And not surprisingly, it’s a government program that is poorly ... Read More »
These days, it’s hard to draw any conclusion other than that the train is gaining speed on wobbly tracks perched over a rickety bridge. Most notably, unemployment has again risen – to 9.8% from 9.6% – very much not the direction things should be headed given the amount of money the government has pumped into ... Read More »
This is probably one of the most powerful videos of recent news events I’ve seen. It’s a speech by Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party. He’s also a member of the European Parliment, meaning he gets to speak his mind to the other members of the European Union’s parliament. A few days ago, he ... Read More »
The Fed is a corrupt and powerful institution, and Chairman Bernanke is making the global crisis worse. His new speech given last week in Europe was terribly misguided and will upset markets as the Chinese and Germans won’t ignore his challenges. Bernanke’s interpretations of the markets have been wrong since before he was appointed to ... Read More »
While I am daily reminded by many things of how the world has seemingly gone mad, nothing reminds me quite as forcibly about that fact as politicians. Nothing seems to remarkable for them as they seem to be in a perpetual game of one-upmanship in their ridiculous antics. So, in hindsight, I wonder why I ... Read More »
It’s Sunday morning, so I’ll keep this message short. It might be a little fitting, actually, because of the topic: human fallibility. Humans make mistakes. Human projects collapse in the end. Organizations, businesses, governments — they all fail in the end, because no human designed institution can last for long. It’s human, and part of ... Read More »
In late September, there was a modest gathering of law enforcement officers, military personnel, and mental health professionals in the small western New York town of Hamburg. It was totally ignored by the mainstream media, with just a reporter from the Buffalo News on hand to record the proceedings. Lucky for us. The 120 men and ... Read More »
Yesterday was a pretty big day in American politics. The Republican party essentially “won” the election across the board, putting 60 more republicans in the house of representatives. If you’re a conservative, this is great news. Unfortunately, some people seem to see this one victory as a sign that everything is going to be OK. ... Read More »