Rates Are Down

Folks,
if you have a mortgage at 6% or above, you may want to explore refinancing. Some of the recent actions by the US Department of Bailouts might benefit those of us who save. Conforming rates are bouncing around 5.5% and nonconforming rates have been quoted around here in the low 6’s.
I won’t advise you on […]

Just Enough Time to Convert to a Roth?

With the economic turmoil, Obama’s plan to raise taxes is being put on the back burner as he focuses his team on “fixing” this economy (we’re going from the weird to the bizarre here).  Read the story here:
Tax Hike on Hold
For those of you who read me often, you know what I’m thinking - […]

Exactly Why Our Immigration Policy Will Kill Us

Some time ago, I wrote an article titled “Sorry Billy but Punjab is not Stealing YOUR Job” In it, I stressed the point that immigration IS a big source of growth for our country. I was reading an article about an exciting battery company based in Watertown, MA called A123 Systems.
Before I continue, please do […]

A “Picture” of the Auto Market

Click here for a fantastic visual on our current auto market. By the way, the auto execs (from GM, FORD, Chrysler - 3 companies from which NO ONE under age 50 buys a car unless it’s from a relative on the cheap) testified before Congress yesterday in addition to the many auto dealers that were […]

Elderly Criminals Leading the Trend?

An article I read this morning on Bloomberg reminded me of a prediction I have been making. And I think it’s an obvious one - about something that will surely rise in a bad stock market/bad economy situation. And I am not talking about any investment - I’m talking about something that isn’t discussed much […]

People Just Don’t Understand the Problem with GM

I just read the headline on Yahoo finance that the United Auto Workers (UAW) will not offer any more concessions in their contracts with the “Big 3″ automakers.
Article
My favorite line in the article is this:

What Would Make SF Real Estate Prices Fall

“My investment outlook is simple, expect the 4 standard deviation event”
-me
Now I agree, this is a hard thing to do. SF is one of the most resilient real estate markets in the USA. But many of my friends in SF are currently priced out of the market. And they wait hoping that prices will break […]

Dr. McDougall’s Response to the NEJM Statin Study

I’m getting a bit tired of discussing economics (amazingly) and bailouts - and conceded for now that our government will spend us into oblivion. Therefore, I thought I would bring an interesting health topic to you. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a health article but I thought this rebuttal from Dr. John McDougall, […]

AIG Gets $40B, You Get a Great Big Slap in the Rear

Folks, this is getting out of hand. Just like with any addict, once they get money from you, they continue to ask for more. And it seems the giver can’t stop giving either. But of course, in order to give, they’re going to take.
Today’s headline shows our good government giving AIG another $40 billion with […]

The Attack on Savers Has Begun

I mentioned in a previous article why you want to consider the Roth IRA - that government, with their budget deficits and the election of multiple new members of the socialist party to power, will go after an easy minority:  savers.
Apparently, before Obama was even elected, democrats had been working on

“Greenspan Took the Socialist Approach”

As a follow up to my response to Charles Wheelan in my last post, who tried to claim that capitalism had failed the market because “free market Greenspan” had failed,  I am posting a good interview with Jim Rogers where he covers this quite efficiently as well as outlines many of his other thoughts on

My Response to Charles Wheelan

Charles Wheelan, PhD posted this article on Yahoo Finance Friday Oct. 24 entitled “The Twilight of the Free Market.”
Article
In this article, he argues that the “free market” philosophies of the Greenspan Fed period have brought about the end of the era of a free market. For those of you angry about the recent financial […]

Stossel Explains a Free Market Perfectly

I don’t watch much TV so I did not see this last year. It talks about how a free market system allows growth and personal advancement and how we steal the best talent from other countries because their regulations stifle and drive away entrepreneurs who come here and create companies:
  Stossel - Is America Number […]